Effective Meetings

Agdex#:	057
Publication Date:	11/96
Order#:	96-039
Last Reviewed:
History:	Replaces #94-001 -- "Effective Meetings"
Written by:	Amber Underwood - Rural Organization Specialist/OMAF

Table of Contents

• Effective Meetings
• The Chairperson
• The Agenda
• Group Decision-Making
• Group Discussions
• Physical Set-up
• References

Effective Meetings

Every organization has meetings, but not all of those meetings are effective. To make yours effective, you need to consider at least five components: an effective chairperson, an agenda, a process for making decisions, a well-managed discussion, and a productive physical set-up.

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The Chairperson

As the chairperson of a meeting, you have several important roles: knowing the group, helping members get started, planning ahead, preparing for meetings, presiding at meetings, and evaluating meetings.

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The Agenda

An agenda is a step-by-step outline of the points to be covered at a meeting. Everybody attending a meeting should receive a tentative agenda a few days in advance for the following reasons:

• to insure that important business is not over-looked
• to remind people of the meeting
• to help members identify important items and prepare to discuss them
• to help members focus on issues, to contribute and to feel a sense of progress

The following agenda outline is often used:

1. Call to Order
2. Approval of the Agenda
3. Reading and Approval of Minutes
4. Officers' Reports (president, treasurer, etc.)
5. Standing Committees' Reports
6. Special Committees' Reports
7. Unfinished or Postponed Business
8. New Business
9. Adjournment

However, feel free to be much more flexible with your agenda planning providing that you keep these points in mind:

1. The early part of a meeting is usually the most lively and creative. Therefore, items requiring mental energy, bright ideas and clear heads should appear early on the agenda. An item of great interest to everyone might be scheduled for 15 to 20 minutes into the meeting to avoid the attention lag that typically occurs at this point. Place key items early on the agenda so they are not left until the end of the meeting. Some groups put their agenda items in declining order of importance.
   
2. The order of items influences the meeting atmosphere. Some items tend to unite the group, while others divide it. The chairperson may want to start on a point of unity, move to items likely to create differing opinions, and end the meeting on a unifying note.
   
3. Put time limits on agenda items to help focus discussion and encourage decision making. Allot the most time to major items. Consider how long your total meeting should be. If it's an evening meeting, 2-3 hours with one short break is long enough to get something accomplished without leaving members tired and unproductive.
   
4. Review the agenda at the start of the meeting to make any additions, deletions or revisions.

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Group Decision-Making

Establishing the purpose and agenda of a meeting is often easy compared to making decisions as a group. Since there will be decisions to make at every meeting you attend, it is worthwhile to spend a few minutes looking at how groups make decisions. These are the steps in group decision-making:

1. Define the problem - In some discussions, there may be more than one problem to solve. Issues must be clearly defined and separated.
2. Ask for alternatives - Members will offer suggestions. All suggestions should be accepted without criticism by the group.
3. As a group, explore the pros and cons of each idea; what are the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative.
4. Choose an alternative based on what you have learned after exploring the advantages and disadvantages of each. Choosing a solution can be done by voting, either secret or public ballot. It can also be done by consensus. The chosen solution might be modified to satisfy all members. It doesn't matter how the decision is reached. It does matter that every member in the group has had the opportunity to participate in making the decision. If everyone doesn't have input into the decision, implementing the solution is difficult.
5. Evaluate the outcome. This is usually done once an action has been implemented. It can be done through a discussion or through a report by one member.

The ability to make and implement decisions during a meeting results in a productive group, and members who are motivated to carry on.

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Group Discussions

Methods

Well-managed group discussions allow members to have input, and feel part of a decision. The key to productive meetings is involving people - try out some of these techniques.

1. One-liners. The chairperson of a large group might say: "You've been listening for the last half hour, and I appreciate your patience. Before going on, let's find out what is on your minds. Let's have comments from anyone who wants to speak, but limit yourself to one sentence."
   The one liner technique provides members of the group with a chance to find out what everyone else is thinking. Members get a number of abbreviated opinions instead of one or two long speeches. The one-sentence limit may seem like an imposition, but once this pattern is set, each person will make a point of being clear and concise.
2. A survey. After a short discussion, ask for a quick show of hands to determine group support for proposed ideas, to decide what to do next, and so on. Even this minimal level of participation gives people the opportunity to express an opinion.
3. Buzz groups. Buzz groups are subgroups. They break the ice, generate ideas, and enable everyone to participate. In a buzz group session, about four to eight people talk for a short time on an assigned topic. A person should be assigned as recorder to make lists of the group's quick conclusions. The buzz groups then return to the main group with their ideas. Buzz groups can convene and reconvene, report, and report again many times. In this way, the intensity of the small group alternates with the diversity of the larger group.
4. Brainstorming. Brainstorming is a procedure for generating many spontaneous and diverse ideas in a short period of time. To ensure success in a brainstorming session, follow these ground rules:
   • Don't criticize while brainstorming.
   • The wilder the ideas, the better. Even offbeat, impractical suggestions may trigger practical ideas to other members.
   • Quantity counts. The more ideas, the greater chance for a really good idea.
   • Build on the ideas of others. Pool your creativity. Feel free to improve on a previous idea or to combine several ideas.
   • Choose a person to record all ideas on a flipchart or blackboard briefly and accurately for everyone to see.
   Following brainstorming, the idea list must be critically screened. Clarification of some unclear ideas may be needed. Encourage group members to review their list and to state four or five priority items. If several groups have brainstormed, arrange for them to review all the lists and mark ideas they find constructive. Look for something sound in even the most unique ideas.

Handling Conflict

It is in the discussion part of the meeting that conflict often arises. Most people assume that conflict is negative but it can be positive if it leads people to innovation, change and agreement.

However, as a chairperson or a member, you may need help to resolve conflict within your group in order to reach a decision that everyone can live with. You can use the same steps in resolving conflict as you do in solving a problem.

1. Recognize that there is a conflict and what it is about, or in other words, identify the problem. (Often only one party may recognize it and must introduce the idea to the other(s).
2. Collect all information relating to the conflict, share it and help to assess the cause or causes; equally important, ensure that all parties concerned understand all the information. Thus, areas of agreement between two sides can be identified and positions of others known.
3. Propose possible solutions which will include openly sharing feelings about the conflict situation and consequences of the proposals.
4. Find a mutually acceptable resolution without coercion.
5. Carry out the agreement and evaluate its effectiveness, with both (or all) parties sharing in the evaluation.

If a meeting does get out of hand, take a short break. When the group reconvenes, summarize the discussion up to that point or have opposing sides summarize the other's position, then move towards proposing possible solutions.

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Physical Set-Up

All of your best planning efforts can be wasted if you forget about the physical surroundings of your meeting. A seating arrangement where everyone can see each other is of prime importance. But don't forget lighting, the size of the room, the acoustics, temperature, ventilation, the comfort and position of the seating, writing materials and space, rest rooms, coat racks, parking, name tags, ash trays, refreshments, and audiovisual aids including extension cords and outlets.

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References

Brief Encounters - A Leader's Guide to Productive Meetings. Alberta Agriculture.

The Chair's Role, Factsheet #9. Pennsylvania State University, College of Agriculture, Co-operative Extension Service.

Dealing with Conflict. Archer, Glad. Leadership Development, Toronto.

Group Discussion Techniques. Factsheet #17. Pennsylvania State University, College of Agriculture, Co-operative Extension Service.

Managing Meetings: Using Agendas, Factsheet #4. Pennsylvania State University, College of Agriculture, Co-operative Extension Service.

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