How to prepare for Meetings
Determine the meeting’s purpose, attendees, date, time, and location. Clarify the meeting’s goals Set meeting time and date Identify the meeting site Check attendee availability Find a note taker (if necessary) Identify any pre-work Notify attendees	Prepare meeting materials Decide what interventions you are likely to use Prepare any intervention materials you will need Finalise the agenda and create an evaluation form Organise your resources Write an introduction Prepare a list of attendees Check on equipment, supplies, and other logistics Confirm site arrangements Confirm attendance
Manage meeting logistics Identify material and equipment needs Order supplies/equipment Arrange for signs and visual aids Arrange for beverages Arrange for telephones, fax access, copying and other services Arrange for transportation and parking permits.	Inspect final details on the day of the meeting Inspect room for correct set-up, temperature and lighting Set up signs and arrange other materials Check equipment / supplies Check beverages and transportation Distribute agenda and list of attendees

How to determine your role as a facilitator

Clarify your role before the meeting If the meeting involves only people from your branch, then your role may be pre-defined. But if you’re meeting others, then you may need to clarify which role you are expected to play. In many cases, you will have no explicit authority in the meeting but will be expected to take charge. In others you may be officially designated as the meeting facilitator. In any case, determine what expectations the others have. Reach a shared understanding of the facilitative actions you will take. Many people won’t be aware of the actions facilitators can take during meetings, so be specific in agreeing on your role. Identify the potential actions you can take and the facilitation role you will assume:

Task Functions : Setting and monitoring the agenda and meeting goals Defining problems Establishing procedures Generating ideas Soliciting information Giving information i.e. providing expert content Identifying alternatives Synthesizing ideas Summarizing Checking for consensus   Maintenance Functions: Encouraging and balancing participation Reconciling disagreements Resolving conflicts Gate keeping Setting the right climate Coaching Building relationships.

How to Open the Meeting

Welcome everyone. Distribute the list of attendees and make introductions. If people are not acquainted, introduce them or ask them to introduce themselves.   Distribute the agenda and discuss the meeting’s purpose and goals. Note how much time is available for this meeting and then allow time to review and discuss the agenda, including the purpose and goals or desired outcomes of the meeting. End the discussion by setting time frames for each major item on the agenda.

If applicable, review the minutes from the last meeting. If you are facilitating a series of meetings, you will need to establish continuity between them. It may help to create a brief summary of decisions reached in previous meetings.   Set or review the ground rules for the meeting. Proceed with the meeting if you have previously set the ground rules. Otherwise, take time now to establish ground rules.   Initiate discussion.   Go the first item on the agenda and open the discussion by asking an initiating type question : The first item is: Who would like to begin? Or: Any ideas ?

How to run the Middle of the Meeting

During the meeting, observe the group’s dynamics and intervene when necessary.   Ensure that everyone is contributing. Call on people who aren’t speaking up. Deal with disruptive behaviours. Silence side conversations.   Monitor progress through the agenda and pace group members through it. Keep one eye on the clock and the agenda time frames. When it’s time to move on, suggest that the group do so. If people want or need to keep talking on this topic, then renegotiate the agenda or defer the topic for another meeting.

Use interventions to stimulate thought or action.   Use brainstorming, nominal group technique, and other interventions to generate ideas, rank alternatives, and reach consensus.   Check for consensus when appropriate.   Balance your content and process contributions. Remain neutral on content if your role is pure facilitator. If you have a content role, contribute wisely and avoid dominating the discussion.

How to Close the Meeting

Review the agenda. Summarize what has been covered during the meeting. Identify any items not covered or issues raised during the discussion that must be addressed later.   Identify agenda items for the next meeting.   Add items identified for discussion during the next meeting. Assign responsibility for creating the next meeting’s draft agenda.   Review key decisions and action steps/ assignments.   Review the key decisions. Review the action steps. Gain each person’s commitment to the action steps.   See if the minute taker has any questions or needs clarification of any points. If you are using a minute taker, ensure that the person is clear about everything that occurred.

Evaluate the meeting. How do you feel about the meeting?   How were the pace and tone of the meeting?   How was the agenda?   How effective was the interaction among people?   Did you feel that your contributions were valued?   What might we do differently in future meetings?   How well did we stay on topic?   How well did we respond to one another?   Communicate?   Resolve conflicts?   Reach consensus?   Was this meeting worth your time?

Before the Meeting

Make sure everyone knows the time and place. It helps to establish a consistent meeting day, time and location, so people can make it a habit. If they must search for you or keep track of an ever-changing meeting time, they’re far more likely to forget or not to bother.

Develop an agenda.

An agenda gives people time to plan, to think over things that will be discussed, to do assignments and bring necessary information and materials. It doesn’t have to be set in stone-you can always add and adjust as needed, even during the meeting.

The agenda can be printed and distributed, either in advance or at the meeting. Or, it can be written on a chalkboard or whiteboard where everyone can see it. This helps keep people on topic and lets them know what will be covered and when.

An agenda should include all of the following items that apply to your group:

• additions and approval of the agenda
• reading, corrections and approval of the previous meeting’s minutes
• announcements
• treasurer’s report
• committee reports
• unfinished business (issues left over from previous meetings)
• new business

Make sure the room is open and set up properly. Have you ever arrived at a meeting only to find the door locked, and everyone had to stand around waiting while the facilitator scrambled to find the key? Or have you ever been in a meeting where there weren’t enough chairs, and each time a latecomer arrived, they had to interrupt and search for one and move it in? Not especially effective ways of inspiring confidence and credibility or getting things done efficiently, are they?

During the Meeting

• Start on time
• Make sure someone is taking notes.
• Encourage group discussion to get all points of view.
• Turn questions back to the group for their input. Ask people to comment on something just said.
• Compliment people on their ideas and thank them for their input. Ask open-ended questions.
• You may need to ask the more quiet people for their thoughts and tactfully interrupt the longwinded ones to move the discussion along.
• Encourage people who just want to agree with a previous speaker to say “Ditto” rather than taking the time to repeat her/his point.
• Set a positive, enthusiastic tone. Expect people to be motivated, creative, and productive. They will usually live up or down to your expectations.
• Stay on top of things. It’s part of your job as facilitator to manage the traffic and help the discussion move along.
• If several people are trying to talk at once, ask them to take turns. Try to identify who was first, second, etc. to speak up, and make sure to get back to everyone in their turn.
• If the discussion is getting off-topic, point this out and redirect it back on course.
• If someone is getting hostile, argumentative or needlessly negative, tactfully intervene and try to turn the discussion in a more constructive direction.
• If necessary, ask the group to agree to a time limit on a discussion that might take too long. You might want to agree to limit each speaker’s time, or say that no one can speak a second time until everyone has spoken once.
• If the group is spinning its wheels and people are only repeating themselves, restate and summarize the issues and ask if there is at least the beginnings of consensus.
• If it just doesn’t seem that the group can make a good decision right now, suggest tabling the matter until another time. You may want to ask someone to bring back more information, or form a committee to work on the issue.
• Don’t use your position as facilitator to impose your personal ideas and opinions on the group.
• If you have strong feelings on a particular issue, you may want to step aside and let someone else facilitate that discussion. At the very least, keep your own comments to a minimum, try to let others speak first, and identify them as your personal beliefs, outside of your role as facilitator.
• Avoid criticizing the ideas of others–your position gives your comments undue extra weight.
• Nonverbals are important, too. Be attentive to people who are speaking–look at them, lean forward, smile, nod. Make eye contact with people who may need encouragement to speak.
• Don’t be afraid of silence. It’s a very useful tool. It gives people a chance to consider and collect their thoughts. It may encourage someone to voice a comment they’ve been thinking about but hesitant to say.
• Guide the discussion toward closure.
• Restate people’s comments to make sure everyone understands their point.
• Ask for clarification.
• Summarize what has been accomplished or agreed and what is left to resolve.
• Suggest when it’s time to wrap up and make decisions or take action.
• Take time at the end of the meeting to process. Reflect on what went well and what people appreciate about others’ input and actions. Check out assumptions. Encourage people to share any lingering concerns or things that just don’t sit right.
• End on time. Nothing makes people dread and avoid meetings more than knowing they’re likely to go on and on and consume far more of their time than they want to give.

After the Meeting

Make sure the minutes are written up and, if necessary, posted or distributed.

Follow up with people. Thank them for their input. Make sure they understand assignments and have what they need to do them.

Tips for Minute Taking

• Record the main idea of what’s said
• Use the speaker’s own words – ask the speaker if you “got it right”
• Remember that abbreviations and misspellings are OK (check them later)
• Write fast but ask the group to slow down if you are behind
• Write legibly and large (text should be about one and a half inches tall)
• Alternate colours by line, and use two different, easy-to-see colours
• Use bullets, numbers, or horizontal lines to make each point distinct
• Put the topic and date on top of each page
• At the end of the meeting, number the flipchart pages consecutively
• For fast-moving brainstorming sessions, use two minute takers

Additional Thoughts

There are several types of information that can be recorded at a meeting. It is valuable to preserve the key points of discussions and the ideas in a brainstorm. Other flipcharts that a facilitator can label and hang ahead of time include Action Items, Decisions and Parking Lot. A description of each follows.

Action Items: This is a place to record the items people have agreed to complete after the meeting. Be sure to record the item, the person’s name and when the item is due (what, who, by when).

Decisions: The Decisions chart records the agreements reached at your meeting. Writing decisions on a flipchart gives group members an opportunity to confirm that they have the same understanding of an agreement or decision.

Parking Lot: The Parking Lot (also known as the “Bin” or “Issues”) is a place to record ideas, questions, or future agenda items. This chart is especially useful in deferring a conversation to another time, without losing track of the current agenda. At the same time, it ensures that the item will be addressed in the future.

Sometimes a minute taker may simply take notes at his or her seat, other times a note taker may stand at the front of the meeting room and write what is said on a flipchart or whiteboard.

If you’ve never recorded on a flipchart or whiteboard before, it may feel strange at first. This method can be effective and may help groups work more collaboratively:

• people have a place to focus their attention
• speakers can check how accurately their words were recorded
• flipcharts can be saved and brought to the next meeting
• speakers feel legitimised by seeing their words in print
• the group can think more effectively when they can see proposals and ideas in print

Neil Benbow

©neilbenbow2026

neilbenbow@consultant.com