Conducting Effective Meetings

Meetings are complicated things and there are lots of reasons why they might fail to be full effective. The biggest single complaint, however, is that meetings are poorly chaired. This is partly because the chairperson is a natural scapegoat (it is too easy for people who have behaved badly in a meeting to blame the chair for not keeping a grip on discipline) and partly because chairing is a tough assignment.

Even though there are so many different aspects for the chairperson to manage simultaneously, the magnitude of the job is invariably underestimated. An effective chairperson needs to concern themselves with structure, time, communications, problem-solving, decision-making and, perhaps the most taxing of all, behaviour. This course will show you how.

Participants will:

• Realise why many meetings fail and the implications involved.
• Identify their own strengths and development areas in running meetings.
• Prepare for and conduct meetings effectively and with confidence.
• Adopt a continuous improvement approach to meeting they chair.

This course is suitable for individuals who are, or will be, required to run, conduct and lead any kind of meeting and who wish to achieve success.

The Problems with Meetings

• Practicing basic meeting skills within a simulation exercise
• Identifying common problems and difficulties that occur in meetings

Building a Personal Skills Profile

• Participants have the opportunity to build a personal chairing skills profile. This uses a self assessment of their own chairing skills and the perceptions of those who attend the meetings.
• The role of the chair: five key areas
• Setting improvement goals

Essential Planning and Preparation

• Establishing the objectives and preparing the agenda
• Inviting appropriate participants

Managing the meeting

• Keeping the discussion focussed and on track
• The difference between content, method and process
• Involving others in problem solving and decision making
• Managing challenging behaviour
• Reaching agreement
• Summarising and recording decisions

After the Meeting

• Minutes/Action Points
• Evaluation for continuous improvement

Video Content

• The award winning Video Arts production ‘Meetings Bloody Meetings’ is used to reinforce learning. The video defines the five disciplines that transform a gathering into a professionally run business meeting

Personal Development

• Action planning the transfer of learning to the workplace.

“I have gained a whole range of principles for running meetings to be applied including preparing agendas, setting objectives, chairing issues, management of the meeting itself and evaluation. The course was a really excellent experience.” Pauline Lancaster, Information Services Team Leader, Calderdale M B Council

“We were impressed by how our staff meetings improved after attending the ‘Conducting Effective Meetings’ course. They are now far more productive and we manage our time much more efficiently.” Karen Jones, Practice manager, Fountain Medical Centre

• Successful Minute Taking
• Effective Facilitation Skills
• Effective Influencing Skills