Tips for Chairing a Meeting
Have you ever chaired a meeting? Whether it’s a meeting in the RT (neighborhood association), in the village ward, at the office, or at larger events such as at a company or even at an international preparation event. The person who leads the meeting is often called the chairman.
How can the meeting run smoothly and the meeting objectives are achieved without disappointing all parties or meeting participants? This is not an easy thing because it is impossible for a chairman to satisfy all meeting participants. In my opinion, if 80% of the meeting participants are satisfied with the decisions made at the meeting, then this meeting is considered successful. Decisions of the meeting that were mutually agreed upon should be implemented without encountering obstacles.
This time, I share knowledge about how to chair the meeting, which I got from reading various sources on the internet and from attending public speaking training with native speakers from the British Council as well as the Language Education and Training Center.
A chairman who has a role as a facilitator can make the meeting run smoothly and effectively by going through various stages as follows:
Before meeting
If you are the chairman, then before holding a meeting you need to think about and ask yourself the following:
Why do you need to hold a meeting?
What will you discuss in the meeting?
What is the end result you want to achieve?
Is it necessary to bring in speakers from outside or speakers from within your institution?
Do you need more information for discussion?
Would you like to ask someone to prepare your speech?
Would you like to distribute the information broadly before the meeting?
There are many things to think about, so a chairman needs help from the meeting team such as the secretary and other staff. By working with the team, determine the schedule of events. The schedule of events contains the things you will discuss in the meeting as well as the time required for each point to be discussed.
Timing is very important to the success of the meeting. The time depends on the topic to be discussed. The meeting should not take long. If you really have to take a long time, there should be time to take a break.
2 (two) hours or less is the right time to hold a meeting because the meeting participants will not last long to focus on the meeting topic if the meeting is too long. However, if there are breaks for 30 minutes, the meeting participants will feel refreshed to continue the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting
Before the meeting begins, the meeting organizer staff has prepared the room and the meeting equipment needed such as meeting materials, paper, and stationery as well as slides to be presented. Mineral water, snacks, and tissues are also prepared at the table of the meeting participants. The seating arrangement also needs to be arranged so that meeting participants can easily get in and out of the room. If the meeting participants are officials with different ranks or positions, it is necessary to give a name to each chair or table for each participant.
However, if you do not distinguish the status of the meeting participants, the table or chair does not need to be named. Those who come are free to choose their seats. The receptionist will be very helpful for meeting participants to know their seats.
Before the guests enter the room, there should be an arrow sign indicating the room that will be used for the meeting. Near the door of the meeting room, there is a desk for the receptionist which is equipped with the attendance list of meeting participants, so that meeting participants can easily initial or sign their attendance. If necessary, in the guest book, a cell phone number and email column are also prepared. This will help the organizers to know who is present and who is unable to attend or be represented by their staff.
The chairman opens the meeting by first introducing himself and introducing other speakers at the beginning of the meeting. If the meeting is attended by only a few people then everyone is welcome to introduce themselves such as their names and titles. This is to create a comfortable atmosphere and can be used as an ice breaker.
After the introduction, the chairman begins the meeting by conveying the purpose of the meeting, the theme of the meeting, and the agenda to be discussed in the meeting. The chairman also informed several rules during the meeting such as the time for presentations for each speaker (if there were speakers from inside and outside the institution) and when it was time to ask questions. During the meeting, participants were welcome to drink and enjoy snacks. The chairman’s role is flexible depending on the type of meeting. At large meetings, there is an MC who helps to guide the event but only at the beginning and at the end. Furthermore, the biggest role is on the chairman. Usually, high officials of the institution also present to give speeches, and then the chairman takes on the role.
During the meeting
The Chairman is expected to play a fair role to all participants when controlling the meeting. Everyone is given the same opportunity to express their opinion. If there are several people who dominate the meeting, the chairman has the right to politely remind and give a turn to the other participants. The opinion of each participant will be heard by the chairman regardless of his position.
If any participant expresses an opinion outside the topic of the meeting, the chairman has the right to remind the participant in a language that does not offend the participant’s feelings.
The chairman is expected not to use his position as chairman to dominate the meeting and consider his opinion the most correct to the exclusion of the opinions of others. Because the result of the meeting is a joint decision.
All meeting agendas must be discussed to get a mutual agreement as a clear meeting outcome.
A lively meeting if the majority of meeting participants are involved in the discussion. The chairman must also have a list of attendees at the meeting. This will help remind him of the name of the participant so that there are no mistakes in calling the name of the meeting participant. The chairman can also make rules when meeting participants will express opinions by mentioning their name first and from which agency.
Achieving the decision in a meeting
Often occurs during meetings, discussions tend to be long-winded so it will be difficult to get a mutual agreement. Because there is still dissatisfaction from the meeting participants. Sometimes discussions hit a stalemate to reach an agreement, while the scheduled meeting time was soon over. So the role of the Chairman is needed to immediately get an agreement.
The chairman needs to remind all participants of the general overview of the meeting, convey the points of view of the participants and if there are two or three different points of view, it is necessary to summarize them and present them clearly.
The chairman reiterated what had been agreed at the meeting. This is to find out if all agree on the same thing, and helps the note taker to make a resume about the activities of the meeting. After listening to the explanation from the chairman, it is hoped that the agreement that has been obtained can be accepted by all meeting participants.
Nani Kusmiyati
Jonggol, 18 September 2021
Artikel ke-26
Ref:
https://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/information/chairing-a-meeting/
