GUIDE TO RUNNING A SECTION BOARD MEETING

THE MEETING ROOM

Acoustics, seating, ventilation, lighting, telephones and accessibility must receive your personal attention. Too often these seemingly minor details come to mind after a meeting has been a complete flop.

1. Select a location convenient to those attending. Consider carefully the problems of each Director in getting there. Attending your meeting is sufficient burden for everyone without making it difficult to get there.

2. Avoid distractions (ringing phones, audible fans, outside noises).

3. Please remember ventilation. A hot, smoke-filled room does not improve attention or tempers.

4. Be sure the lighting is good; board members want to see you and each other. If you must hold the meeting at luncheon or dinner, use a well-lighted private dining room, not the dimly lit, noisy lounge.

5. The ideal room is slightly longer than wide, should not be cut up by columns or other obstructions. Its size should be sufficient to accommodate the group comfortably, but not so large as to swallow them in a vast space. Most hotels and motels furnish such private dining rooms for the cost of the meal. They are also available at engineering clubs and private clubs. Company meeting rooms may also be available. Public dining rooms and private homes are not recommended.

6. If you are meeting around a table, see that the table is there beforehand, that it is large enough with a sufficient number of chairs to meet requirements. Seat yourself alone at one end of the table, with your President-Elect on one side, and your Secretary on the other. Seat your other Officers near your end of the table. Leave the other end vacant. If you have a particularly vociferous Board member (and who doesn’t?), seat him in the middle on one side of the table; never seat such a member at the end opposite yourself. Place cards are advisable. You’ll find that by controlling the seating of your Board, you’ll be able to control the meeting better; you owe it to the majority to do so.

PRESIDING AT BOARD MEETINGS

Success of your Board of Directors meeting depends largely on your ability to preside and guide the meeting to a definite conclusion. Much has been written on this subject, but it’s pretty well summarized in the following brief rules.

1. Start the meeting on time. Get your Board into this habit with the first meeting, and keep it up.

2. Always have a definite Order of Business. It saves time. A docket or agenda keeps the meeting on the beam. Don’t waste time by digressing from it without good reason.

3. State the purpose of the meeting at the outset and read the docket or agenda. Odd as it may seem, Board members are not always acquainted with why they are there. They must be so informed. It helps them concentrate on what the meeting is to accomplish.

4. Keep the meeting moving; interest lags when action lags. Get as many as you can to participate; keep responses short and to the point.

5. Speak clearly. If you can’t be heard, you can’t exercise control.

6. Prevent general hubbub. Insist on order. When a single conversation is going on, it’s a good trick to stop and look intently at the participants as if you are waiting for them to finish in order to proceed. This usually takes five seconds or less.

7. Keep the speaker talking clearly and audibly. Interrupt him and ask him to repeat what he has said if you have the least suspicion that some may not have heard him.

8. Sum up what the speaker has said and obtain a decision.

9. Stop aimless discussion by recommending committee study. (You, of course, appoint the committee). Sometimes the following statement is in order: “This looks like a knotty problem. If there are no objections, I’ll take this up with the Executive Committee and bring in a recommendation at the next Board Meeting.”

10. Keep control, but don’t stifle free comment. Invite constructive criticism and even disagreement. Ask for support. Clarify issues by obtaining majority support.

11. Don’t argue with the speaker. Ask questions if you disagree, but remember you are supposed to be neutral.

12. Ask for the floor as a participant if you have a comment.

13. Avoid squelching a troublemaker. Let the meeting handle it.

14. Check at the end of the meeting to see if members feel that particular subjects have been properly covered. As good as you may become, oversights are possible.