Three Jobs for the Meeting Facilitator

Start with an agenda. Ask your manager what (s)he wants on the agenda.  It’s also a good idea to send an e-mail to the meeting participants, asking them what they’d like to see on the agenda.
If you have any issues you’d like to see discussed, put them on the agenda,too.  Perhaps you’ve read an interesting article in an industry publication or heard about something a competitor is doing. Put it on the agenda.  As the facilitator, you can use these tidbits of information as ice breakers, too.
Include everyone in the meeting. As you move along the agenda items, be sure to solicit input from everyone who’s logged in.  If someone hasn’t contributed to an area, ask him or her to summarize what the others have said.  In that way, everyone will feel a part of any decisions that are made.
Last, set a time limit for each agenda item … and stick to it!

Keep the meeting on track. The main reason facilitators are necessary is because meetings have a habit of getting off track, taking too long and not covering what needs to be covered.  A good facilitator takes care of the details, watches the times and makes sure everyone’s opinion is heard.

If you are planning any brainstorming sessions, be sure to keep them positive and encourage everyone’s input.  Remember that brainstorming is not a time to judge ideas. It’s a time to put everything on the table. Even the wildest, craziest ideas can sometimes trigger a workable solution, so you don’t want to discourage anyone.

Summarize agenda items before moving on. Once you’ve completed an agenda item, summarize everything that was discussed as well as any assignments that were made. Leave no dangling ends as you move to the next point.

Send out meeting notes. Write a summary of the entire meeting and send it to everyone who attended as well as those who should have been there but couldn’t, such as your manager. Get it in their hands within three days of the meeting, then encourage the participants to get back to you if they notice any discrepancies.