When chairing a meeting, you can think of yourself as a facilitator who ensures that while the meeting runs to schedule, it also does all it sets out to do by hearing everyone’s views and reaching actionable conclusions. You also will coordinate with the meeting secretary to decide on logistical issues, such as location and technology (including provision for anyone who needs to attend online).

As you prepare for the meeting, you will want to set the agenda to reflect the purpose of the meeting. You can email attendees to ask for any topics they would like to include, and then work with the secretary to plan how long each item will take, and share the agenda via email in advance of the meeting. This ensures that you are creating a respectful, productive foundation because you are communicating that you are planning, that you wish to hear different perspectives, and that you are ensuring fairness.

When the meeting is set to occur, your role will be to facilitate the discussion. You should start and end the meeting at the scheduled times, even if not everyone has arrived, as this respects everyone’s time and preparation for the meeting. During the meeting, you should be sticking to the agenda, giving a brief introduction to each item in case some attendees are not familiar with why the item is there, and then moving into problem-solving. Deciding not only what will be done but also who will be doing it (and on what timeline) will ensure that agreed solutions are indeed acted on, so do ensure that your meeting secretary has a record of the specific solution and action steps so that your committee can revisit them. At the end of the meeting, briefly summarize what was discussed and the agreed actions, including who will handle them and by when.

After the meeting, allow sufficient time for collating notes and gathering feedback from attendees, if they are looking to provide it. It will also be helpful to have as much clear information as possible in case the chair of the next meeting is someone who is not familiar with the activities of the committee. You can also get in touch with the Academic Representation team on representation@exeterguild.com if you would like to discuss how the meeting went, and if you have any follow-up queries or concerns.