How to Chair a Meeting
The Chair of a meeting is responsible for ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to be heard and that business is dealt with as efficiently as possible. A lot depends on good preparation.
Preparation
Consult with the Secretary to arrange an agenda and ensure that this has been sent out with the meeting notice in plenty of time. The agenda should include the date, time, place and a phone number for queries and apologies.
If possible, send out minutes of the previous meeting with the agenda, or make them available on the Internet (provided there is nothing too controversial on the minutes).
Check that all the necessary reports have been prepared (Treasurers should usually report every meeting).
Photocopy extra copies of the meeting agenda, minutes of the last meeting and other attachments for distribution at the meeting. People seldom remember to bring the agendas which they have been posted.
Do a revisionary re-read of the standing orders which will govern your meeting beforehand. Anticipate any controversy which may arise and circle the particular standing orders which you would require to resolve such controversy.
The agenda is simply a list of business to be conducted at the meeting. The skeleton elements may include:
1. "Opening" - You open the meeting promptly.
2. "Apologies" - from people unable to attend.
3. "Minutes" - which record decisions from the previous meeting -
to be ratified as an accurate record.
4. "Matters Arising" - Issues left over from the last meeting.
5. "Correspondence" - letters coming in and going out.
6. "Reports" by officebearers on events, finances, election preparations, etc.
7. "Motions On Notice" - Resolutions on Policy Issues or on organisational matters.
8. "General Business" - where miscellaneous issues can be discussed.
9. "Next Meeting" - Disclose the date, time and place if possible, or ask the room for ideas.
10. "Close" of the meeting.
Crowd Control
Start the meeting on time! People who have turned up early will be appreciative. Late comers will soon get the message and arrive on time for subsequent meetings.
Respect the Quorum Rule. But before starting, check if there a quorum. A quorum is the minimum number of members that must be present, before your meeting can make binding decisions (the quorum is stated in your constitution as a specific number, or as a percentage of the financial membership). If there is no quorum, then either:
1. Pack up and go home.
2. Wait for a short while in the hope that more people will arrive.
3. Open the meeting, but do not vote on decisions unless you get a quorum later in the meeting. If, by the end of the night there was still no quorum, then the meeting can still make some resolutions which can then be carried over for the next quorate meeting to endorse or reject.
Be Flexible. Agendas should not be treated by the Chair as a rigid framework that debate must conform to - that approach often stifles debate and turns away members. An agenda is simply an approximate guide to what issues will be raised. The Chair should be sensitive to the "will of the floor". Avoid applying the standing orders too rigidly, unless you have a situation where a few big-mouths are hogging the floor; or where debate is getting heated; or where people are talking over the top of each other; or where insults begin to fly; or where a single motion is being discussed aimlessly without resolution.
Appear Impartial. If people are to respect the rulings of the Chair, then they will appreciate it if you do not make biased running commentary during debates. Avoid favouring one side. Remember that people can vote "dissent" in the ruling of a Chair, so you never want to provoke the meeting into doing that. If you want to speak to a motion, you will have to temporarily hand the Chair over to someone else. Also remember that the Chair does not usually vote, unless a motion is tied - with half the room for it and half against.
Give Everyone the Chance to Speak. Occasionally you could try the "go-around" technique at meetings. Many Chairmen, even those who think they are democratic leaders, rarely check to see if every member at a meeting has expressed an opinion. Go around the group in order and ask the opinion of each participant. New members tend to be silent, but may be bursting to throw their opinions into debate. If someone is frowning furiously while someone else is speaking, you may want to nominate them next (“John, I got the impression that you didn’t agree with all that. Would you like to add some words here?”)
Keep the Agenda Moving. The cardinal sin of chairing a meeting is to let it become bogged down on one matter. A succession of speakers may be repeating the same points, or someone with a strange personal agenda or a chip on the shoulder may be trying to complicate proceedings. The debate may be going in circles. One issue may have a small proportion of the meeting very excited, while everyone else is becoming bored by the issue. If such problems arise, then consider short-circuit techniques.
1. Propose to the meeting that if there is no dissent, then the mover can briefly summarise their motion before someone else moves "That the motion be now put."
2. If discussion has been without a motion, summarise the discussion and ask someone to move "That ..."
3. Often a debate drags on too long, because the opposing sides are arguing about slightly different things. Sometimes opponents of a motion have misunderstood the motion - if this is the case then they can be ruled out of order whenever they speak off the topic. On other occasions the proponents of a motion are arguing for one proposition, but have moved a motion which is calling for something slightly different. In this case, you could urge someone to move an amendment, so that the motion is in alignment with the intent of its supporters.
4. If one or both sides in a debate are reluctant to end the debate immediately, you could nevertheless broker an agreement between to set a deadline on the debate. For example, you could set a time at which debate will end and a vote will be taken. Alternatively both sides might be agreeable to have only a further 2 speakers in favour of the motion plus 2 against, before putting the motion to the vote.
Keep Order. If someone is causing sufficient disturbance or noise, then it is the Chair's job is tell them to be quiet. If someone refuses to come to order, then the Chair is empowered to order them to leave the meeting. One person should not be able to hold a meeting hostage to their personal agenda. The common law position in many jurisdictions is that you can call the police if an "expelled" person fails to accept their marching orders. If a meeting ever gets totally chaotic, then the Chair may adjourn the meeting, to be resumed at a later time and place. This situations are extremely rare and do not reflect well on your abilities as a Chairman if they occur, so avoid closing "due to chaos" if possible. Be aware that if you depart the Chair, someone else may purport to take over the role and continue the meeting.
Allow Legitimate Grievances to be Aired. Someone may want to make a "Point of Personal Explanation". This short speech allows them to explain themselves, where they have either been misquoted or misunderstood. Such speeches seldom occur, unless someone has been badly crucified at the meeting. When a personal explanation is made, this may inspire those on the other side of the debate to try the same tactic, to air some of their arguments. Be strict and do not let people use personal explanations to score debating points. If anyone wants to make a personal explanation, then ask them these two questions first to test if their complaint is legitimate: 1 Do you claim to have been misrepresented? 2 How were you misrepresented? If people are disgruntled by a motion at the meeting, but they do not qualify to make a personal explanation, then let them know that their dissent against the motion can be recorded in the minutes.
Know the Rules Better Than Anyone Else. If someone wants to be disruptive, or dominate debate, then they may try to exploit the standing orders. However standing orders are designed to protect minorities in a meeting, so if you uphold the rules strictly, then a disruptive faction will be hampered in their efforts. Be sure that you can quote section numbers, to outsmart those who are playing procedural games. Without any standing orders, a majority faction could silence all opposition and pass all their motions with little debate. A common gagging technique is to move "That the motion be now put." Check if there is a provision in your standing orders which prohibits the "gag" until a couple of speakers have spoken for either side. If not enough speakers have spoken either way, then a gag motion can be ruled out of order. If your standing orders a tough, then a determined majority can only kill a debate early on if they move a "guillotine", which involves suspending standing orders first, so that they can close debate at any stage.
Be Good Humoured. Since the Chairman is the only person who does not take a side in the debate, you are best placed to inject some impartial humour when debate gets too serious. Sometimes the most memorable moments from a meeting are the small bursts of levity.