13.2: Running Your Meeting

You won’t peg out anyone’s fun meter by dragging a meeting out unnecessarily. It’s your job to keep it focused and separate "the wheat from the chaff."

A word about Robert’s Rules of Order

Formal meetings sometimes follow the sequence, procedures and terminology documented in Robert’s Rules of Order, a set of rules used in Parliamentary procedure. General Henry M. Robert first published the rules in 1876 and there are several updated versions and summaries available in print or on the web. (For example, the complete 1915 version is available on line at http://www.bartleby.com/176/).

Most Air Force meetings do not use Robert’s Rules of Order and we won’t go into them here. The terminology is somewhat formal and the structure seems overly constraining to some. Even so, you should be aware that they exist as agreed-upon set of guidelines on how to organize a potentially chaotic situation.

Also, some day you may find yourself in a meeting where there are a lot of rules, where people read out the minutes of the previous meeting and where parts of the meeting seem scripted ("With a quorum present, the meeting is called to order..."). If this happens to you, don’t panic. They’re probably following some form of Robert’s Rules of Order. Ask about them, or look them up yourself. Everything will become clear.

Start on Time; Stay on Time

Start on time with an upbeat note and don’t wait for tardy attendees. Spend meeting time wisely to accomplish the goal for the meeting. Experienced meeting organizers suggest the following time allocation for meetings:

• 1/4 of meeting-past agenda items and follow-up (old business)
• \(1 / 2\) of meeting-current agenda items
• \(1 / 4\) of meeting-future agenda items

Follow Your Agenda

One of the worst things you can do is to ignore your own agenda. It drives people nuts! Consider a review of the detailed agenda in the opening minutes of the meeting to remind people of the goals and plan for the meeting. Regular meetings usually follow a fixed order of business. Below is a typical example:

1. Introduction and call to order.
2. Attendance or roll call of members present. 3. Acknowledgment or correction of previous meeting minutes.
3. Reports from committees [these items were previously identified in the Agenda].
4. Old Business from previous minutes and Action Items.
5. New Business previously designated for consideration at this meeting [per Agenda].
6. Round table or New Business not previously identified for consideration at this meeting.
7. Appointments and Assignments [new committees or personnel changes].
8. Establish the date, time and location of the next meeting, if needed and if ready.
9. Evaluate the meeting before adjourning. Are there things that need to be improved?

Understand Group Dynamics and Look for Ways to Make Meetings Fun

If you’re in charge of a group that will be meeting over a period of time, it pays to learn the basics about group dynamics. Also, if you dare, you might want to try to inject some fun into your meetings. As always-know your audience.

Following Up: Preparing Meeting Minutes

If you did your homework, following up is a snap-it involves sending out meeting minutes and starting the whole cycle over again. Prepare meeting minutes in the official memo format.

Minutes are a clear summary of the agenda items, decisions made and participants’ comments. The meeting minutes document planned or completed actions and information regarding any future meeting is in the last paragraph. When a person signs a paper as a member of a board or committee, the signature element indicates that person’s status on that board or committee, not any other position the person may hold. Type "Approved as written" two lines below the recorder’s signature block, followed by the approving authority’s signature block.

Formatting Meeting Minutes. All formatting should be neat and orderly, paying particular attention to uniformity of margins and text. Minutes usually show that a meeting was scheduled for a specific date, time, location, the members present and absent, the order of the agenda, actions taken or decisions made, and any pending tasks. It should be clear to readers the name of the body (The Executive Steering Committed), the kind of meeting held (regular or special), and the word "Minutes" should appear in the subject line. The opening paragraph usually contains a simple statement that includes many of these identifying details, such as "The Executive Steering Committee held a regular meeting on (day, date, time, and place).

Meeting minutes are formatted either single or double-spaced, with additional space between items of business and paragraphs. All names should be spelled correctly. Acceptable grammar should be used; sentences should be well constructed and correctly punctuated; and all verbs should be in the past tense. The narrative should include key points, conclusions or decisions regarding any committee reports, old business carry-over items, current business and new business. The last item of the minutes should state when the meeting was adjourned.