February, 2007
The Art of Conducting Effective Meetings
By Tim Trotter

I have been asked by a few corporations and organizations lately to share some insight on how to make organizational meetings more effective – a huge dilemma for many leaders. I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about – poorly run meetings lack focus, make inefficient use of participant time, run over the time allotment or suffer from a lack of attendance or poor participation.

What can you do? More than 20 years ago, I had the opportunity, as part of my leadership development training for a national association office, to attend a conference in Washington, D.C. The meeting focused on how to conduct effective meetings, and was directed by an expert parliamentarian.

This particular speaker noted that first you must understand if your organizational bylaws, an operating agreement or an organization structure have adopted a formal governess and parliamentary procedure. Having such a structure helps guide the purpose, responsibilities and actions of your governing board, committees and departmental meetings. Many organizations use Robert’s Rules of Order. Be sure your board and top officers are clear on its use.

Secondly, you must structure your meeting before it occurs. Send your agenda, previous board meeting minutes, committee/department/project reports a minimum 10 days prior to meeting date. If you can include the action items to be discussed at the meeting, it is usually helpful. Doing so allows your members an opportunity to review, analyze and study the information requiring action.

Thirdly, truly call the meeting to order. From the time the meeting starts, stick to the agenda. The presiding officer should ask if any items need to be added or realigned in the agenda. Action items should be early in the agenda.

From this point forward, the chair must keep the meeting moving. If reports have been issued, they need not take additional time unless requested. Action items should follow parliamentary procedure in the form of a motion and a second. Then, the items can be opened for discussion.

If the topic is not ready for board review, no motions or seconds will occur. In addition, members can see what ultimately is being recommended, which may result in more focused discussion and better resolutions. If the discussion strings out, any member can “call for the question,” and the chair can ask for a vote.

Your members generally want time to discuss other ideas; that’s human nature. Some organizations offer a short time at the beginning or end of an agenda for open discussion to manage input in a productive, timely manner.

Remember, everyone’s time is precious. Organizations that find ways to utilize board member time wisely get noticed. Hopefully, this information will help you foster better meeting results in the future.

Some Interesting history on Henry Robert
According to the official Roberts Rules website, “Henry Martyn Robert was an engineering officer in the regular Army. Without warning he was asked to preside over a church meeting and realized that he did not know how. He tried anyway, and his embarrassment was supreme. This event, which may seem familiar to many readers, left him determined never to attend another meeting until he knew something of parliamentary law.

Ultimately, he discovered and studied the few books then available on the subject. From time to time, due to his military duties, he was transferred to various parts of the United States where he found virtual parliamentary anarchy since each member from a different part of the country had differing ideas of correct procedure. To bring order out of chaos he decided to write Robert's Rules of Order.” For more information, go to www.robertsrules.com.