1 How to Run a Meeting.

At This very moment thousands of meetings are taking place throughtout the world. Many of these will prove highly productive; but many will be dismal failures- a wasted of time and money. This chapter shows how to avoid such a destiny for any meeting you run.

To streamline the discussion, the term chairman is used to apply to any person running a meeting , male or female. The word group is used of any committee, board, team, task force, or simmilar body.

IS YOUR MEETING REALLY NECESSARY?

Before calling a meeting, ask yourself this simple but curcial question; 'Is the meeting really necessary?' If the answer is no, don't call one. This may seem thumpingly abvious - except that people routinely ignore it. pointless meetings take place in obedience to the law of intertia - it has long been the custom to have such meetings, and it take too much imagination or effort to change the pattern. Such meeting can be seriously discruptive.

Never initiate a meeting unless it looks cost -effective to have one. if any other means of communication will server the purpose - such as a circular , notice, fax or phone call - make use of that instead.

If you decide that a meeting really is needed, use the 'six-P guide' to help you through it:

Purpose

participants

preparation

procedure

performance

post-mortem