MODULE 4

MEETINGS

Unit 10 - Making meetings effective

➔ What makes a good meeting?
➔ Chairing a meeting
➔ Establishing the purpose of a meeting

1 What makes a good meeting?

Some comments on business meetings:

‘Two or more people getting together for a specific business purpose.’
Gower Publishing Ltd., 1988. Extracted from The Gower Handbook of Management,
p. 1185.

‘The fewer the merrier.’

© Milo O. Frank 1989. Extracted from How to Run a Successful Meeting in Half the
Time published by Corgi, a division of Transworld Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. What makes a good meeting? Suggest what you think are the characteristics
of a successful meeting.

2. Listen to the recording of Allan Case, an engineer, talking about the

characteristics of successful business meetings. He makes five of the eight
points below. Identify the correct order of these points.
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 There is a written agenda. ⃞
Clear objectives — known to everyone. ⃞
Respect for the time available / time planning. ⃞
Good chair — effective control. ⃞
Emotions are kept under control. ⃞
Good preparation. ⃞
Everyone gets to say what they need to say. ⃞
Reaching objectives. ⃞

2 Chairing a meeting

What do you think the function of the chairperson are during a meeting?

1. Listen to a recording of a meeting at Hilo Co., a small subsidiary of a meeting

multinational company. The meeting is to discuss the decline in profits. Listen
once. Say which of the following are given as reasons for the fall.
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Prices are too high. Yes/No

The company has wasted money on research and
development. Yes/No
Sales are down. Yes/No
The sales budget is too low. Yes/No
No one likes the Chief Sales Executive. Yes/No
The products are old. Yes/No

2. Listen again, paying attention to the role of the chair in the discussion. Tick
(✔) which of the following functions the chair performs at this meeting.

Thanks people for coming. ⃞

Start the meeting on time. ⃞
States the objective. ⃞
Refers to the agenda. ⃞
Changes the agenda. ⃞
Talks about a previous meeting. ⃞
Introduces the first speaker. ⃞
Prevents interruptions. ⃞
Makes people stick to the subject. ⃞
Gives a personal opinion. ⃞
Summarises. ⃞
Asks for comments. ⃞
Decided when to have a break. ⃞
Closes the meeting. ⃞
3. Suggest phrases which could be used by the chairperson in the following
situations in a meeting.
a) To welcome the participants to a meeting.
b) To state the objectives of the meeting.
c) To introduce the agenda.
d) To introduce the first speaker.
e) To prevent an interruption.
f) To thank a speaker for his/her contribution.
g) To introduce another speaker.
h) To keep discussion to the relevant issues.
i) To summarise discussion.
j) To ask if anyone has anything to add.
k) To suggest moving to the next topic on the agenda.
l) To summarise certain actions that must be done following the meeting
(for example, do research, write a report, meet again, write a letter,
etc.)
m) To close the meeting.

Practice 1
Work in groups of four. Decide on a chair and have a brief meeting using one
of the situations below.

After a few minutes’ preparation, the chair starts the meeting, introduces the
agenda, invites the first speaker to make his/her proposal, prevents
interruptions, brings in other speakers, summarises, etc.

Situation 1
Meeting
To identify ways to reduce company costs.
Time: Finish:
Place:
Participants:
Agenda
1. Staff cuts.
2. Reducing the research budget.
3. Cutting salaries and running costs.

Situation 2
Meeting
To decide on training needs and how to spend $100,000 on training.
Time: Finish:
Place:
Participants:
Agenda
1. Decide priorities:
marketing / information technology / languages.
2. Allocate costs.
3. Decide outline programme.
3 Establishing the purpose of a meeting

1. Below is an incomplete agenda for a meeting of an Environmental Research

Unit. listen to the recording of the start of the meeting. You will hear the
opening remarks from the chair, Victor Allen. Note the objectives of the
meeting by filling in the spaces in the agenda.
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Environmental Research Unit

Quarterly Meeting
24th May 19 --
Room A 32, South Side Science Park
Participants: Victor Allen (Chair), Sonia Sandman, Vince Hamden, Russell James
Time: 10.00 Finish: 12.00

Agenda
1. (a) _____________ present projects
1.1 Hydroclear
1.2 PCB Production
2. (b) _____________
3. (c) _____________
- government
- United Nations / World Health Organization
- industry

Practice 2
1. In groups, work out a brief agenda, with an appropriate order, for a meeting of
the marketing department of Axis Finance Ltd., a medium-sized financial
service company. Your agenda should include the points listed here:

any other business

minutes of previous meeting
date of next meeting
personnel changes
chair’s opening address
new products
marketing plans for next year
review of marketing performance in the current year
apologies for an absence.

2. In pairs, prepare a brief opening statement by chair to introduce the

meeting above:
● think about what the opening statement from the chair needs to
say
● use your agenda as a guide
● refer to the Language Checklist
● practise in pairs.
Role play
Work in groups of four.
Ash and Whitebeam is a manufacturing company. The Board has decided to set up
a subcommittee to examine the four problems contained in File cards 20-23. Your
group is that subcommittee and you are meeting to discuss these problems and to
make recommendations to the Board. Read through the information on the File
cards. Decide in groups who should lead discussion on each of the four topics. Each
group member should prepare his/her introduction. When everyone is ready, begin
the meeting. If possible, also choose an overall Chair for the meeting.

Transfer 1
Think about the role play meeting that you have worked on in this unit and your
role in it. Evaluate the meeting by considering the following:

What were the objectives?

What was your role in the meeting?
Did you use any visual supports?
What was the result of the meeting?
How did you feel about this result?
What action or follow-up was agreed?

Transfer 2
If you were the Chair of the meeting, again think about your role. Consider all the
above questions but also the following:

What were the objectives?

How long did it take — was this too long or too short?
Were you an effective Chair?
Did you summarise the meeting?
How could you have chaired the meeting better?

Transfer 3
If you know of any meeting that you are going to participate in, think about your
preparation for that meeting. What do you need to consider?

Language Checklist
Chairing and leading discussion

Opening the meeting

Thank you for coming … (It’s ten o’clock). Let’s start …
We’ve received apologies from … Any comments on our previous meeting?

Introducing the agenda

You’ve all seen the agenda … On the agenda, you’ll see there are three items.
There is one main item to discuss …
Stating objectives
We’re here today to hear about plans for …
Our objective is to discuss different ideas …
What we want to do today is to reach a decision …

Introducing discussion
The background to the problem is … This issue is about …
The point we have to understand is …

Calling on a speaker
I’d like to ask Mary to tell us about … Can we bear from Mr. Passas on this?
I know that you’ve prepared a statement on your Department views …

Skills Checklist
Preparation for meetings

Chair
● Decide objectives.
● What type of meeting (formal or informal, short or long, regular or a ‘one
off’, internal / external information giving / discussion / decision making)?
● Is a social element required?
● Prepare an agenda.
● Decide time / place / participants / who must attend and who can be notified
of decisions.
● Study subjects for discussion.
● Anticipate different opinions.
● Speak to participants.

Secretary
● Obtain agenda and list of participants.
● Inform participants and check:
- room equipment, paper, materials.
- refreshments, meals, accommodation, travel.
Participants
● Study subjects on agenda, work out preliminary options.
● If necessary, find out team or department views.
● Prepare own contribution, ideas, visual supports, etc.

The role of the Chair

● Start and end on time.
● Introduce objectives, agenda.
● Introduce speakers.
● Define time limits for contributions.
● Control discussion, hear all views.
● Summarise discussions at key points.
● Ensure that key decisions are written down by the secretary.
● Ensure that conclusions and decisions are clear and understood.
● Define actions to be taken and individual responsibilities.