In this guide, we provide you with a script for facilitating a meeting from beginning to end.

📚 This guide is part of a series on how to facilitate a meeting.

This guide gives an overview of the tasks facilitators may need to undertake in a meeting. Every meeting is different. Not all the points mentioned may be appropriate – use your own judgement and innovation. It's important that these tasks happen, but it doesn't have to be the facilitator that does them all! Draw on volunteers in the group to help with the facilitation. Make sure that the goals of the group and expectations on the facilitator are clear to everyone. This helps people understand and get on board with the facilitators' suggestions.

Preparing the meeting #

These tasks help the meeting get off to a good start. In an informal meeting where you know each other well, you may do these tasks together at the begin­ning - e.g. whoever arrives first arranges the chairs and puts the kettle on. Sometimes it will be better to make someone responsible for arranging all this in advance. For example, if you are hosting a public meeting, or you have very limited face to face time and need to get straight into discussion.

Find a time that most people are able to make. Think about patterns of daily activity, such as parenting, work, dinner time.

Find a venue that is big enough to accommodate everyone comfortably. Ensure the venue is accessible and welcoming (e.g. pubs and venues with religious affiliations could put some people off). Finally, have you put clear access information on your publicity? Our guide on Venues and Accessibility has more information on this topic.

Ask about and plan for any specific requirements for people attending the meeting. This is not just about physical access requirements such as lighting, seating, moving around, but also facilitation techniques that will make the meeting more accessible to them. Prepare your facilitation accordingly: even small changes in styles of facilitation and careful choice of exercises can make the difference between people finding it hard to participate and everyone being able to take a full and active part in meetings. The most important step is to ask people about their access requirements in advance of the meeting and their specific suggestions for how to enable their full participation.

Prepare an effective agenda (see the meeting agenda above).

Ensure everyone is informed about time, place and content of the meeting. Send out pre-meeting materials if necessary. Check how people want to be communicated with and be prepared to use a variety of methods, e.g. social media, email and post.

Consider physical arrangements such as temperature, air quality, ability to hear and see. Think about requirements different people have and how to cater for them. Arrange the seating in an inclusive way – some groups find circles are best because they allow everyone to see each other, while other groups prefer rows so that people can seat themselves according to how committed they feel to the group. In the case of rows, many groups find a V formation useful, like sergeant's stripes with the point away from the front.

Gather materials needed for the meeting, e.g. watch, pens, marker pens, flipcharts, written presenta­tions and proposals.

Find co-facilitators who can take over in an emergency, if the main facilitator tires or wants to participate more actively in the discus­sion.

For more tips on preparing meetings have a look at our guides on Organising Successful Meetings and Venues and Accessibility.

Preparing yourself #

Even if you don't have a detailed plan for how the meeting will go, it can help to give a bit of time getting yourself in the right headspace.

Remind yourself of key information about the group and the agenda. What decision making process does the group use (e.g. consensus or voting)? What's on the agenda and why? What access requirements will you need to bear in mind throughout? Are you aware of particular dynamics or issues that will impact on how people participate? (For example, items on the agenda may be very straightforward, but if the group is in a state of crisis for other reasons, then tensions may still run high.)

Also take time to notice how you are on the day of the meeting. Do you have the necessary physical and mental energy to facilitate effectively? How are you feeling, and how might that impact on how you behave? Is there anything that could help you focus more on the group (e.g. take a short nap, or a have phone chat with a friend to talk through personal issues that are distracting you)? Is there anything you need to ask the group for in order to make it easier for you to fulfil your role (e.g. "I need to leave exactly on time to catch my train, are people up for trying to keep focused, and coming back on time from the break?" or "I've got strong feelings of my own on some of the agenda items. I've spent some time processing them and I think I will be able to listen and facilitate. But if you feel like I am showing biases please feel able to say.")

Getting the meeting off to a good start #

Make sure everyone is welcomed as they arrive. Some groups designate a welcomer or ‘doorkeeper’ for newcomers, whose job it is to point people towards refreshments, explain where the toilets and fire exits are, and bring late arrivals up to speed with the meeting progress.

Introduce yourself and explain the role of the facilitator(s).

Follow this up with an introductory activity. What you do really depends on the group. It might be a formal icebreaker or a few minutes chat. If people don’t know each other or there are newcomers to the group, get everyone to introduce themselves.

Set an inclusive and welcoming tone for the meeting. Think what information participants might need from each other. You could ask participants to explain what they require from each other in order to join in effectively (“My ears are blocked today, can everyone speak up, please.")

Many groups start with a 'pronoun round' where people say whether they'd like others to refer to them as she, he, they or another personal pronoun. (This question is because we can't assume a person's gender based on how they look). Many people will also be more relaxed if they know a bit more about everyone else in the room, e.g. you could ask each person to explain in one sentence why they've come to the meeting.

Make sure people know how the meeting works: explain the time frame, subject, aims of meeting, the process for making decisions, the responsibilities of the facilitator. Agree with the group what behaviour is acceptable/not acceptable in the meeting (e.g. avoiding jargon, asking questions if you don't understand, trying to understand someone's views even when you disagree with them). This may be agreed for a series of meetings, or unique to a particular meeting. It can be useful to have the group agreement, as it's sometimes called, on display to remind people of what the group agreed on.

Explain the proposed agenda, then ask for comments and make necessary changes. Be conscious of how long the agenda-checking process is taking. It is often better to be firm and go ahead with a plan for the meeting than to spend half the time talking about what to talk about! Allocate time for each item and set a real­istic finishing time. Keep to this. If using consensus decision making allow for extra time to go deeper into the issue if neces­sary.

Ensure roles such as minute-taker, timekeeper and vibes-watcher are covered if needed.

During the meeting #

Make sure everyone can see the agenda – display it on a large sheet of paper or screen and have printed copies for those who want them. Projectors, flipchart paper or the back of a roll of wallpaper work well for large displays. You can cross off points from the agenda once they are dealt with as a visual reminder that the meeting is getting things done.

Go through the agenda item by item. Keep the group focussed on one item at a time until you've reached a decision (or made a conscious choice to deal with the matter another time). If new items come up in the discussion make sure they get noted down to be dealt with later.

Vary the pace of the meeting: use short items, fun items, announcements and breaks throughout the agenda to provide rest and relief from the more taxing items.

Make sure that decisions on action points include what, how, who, when and where. Ensure any action points are noted down along with who will do them and any deadline. Encourage everyone to feel able to volunteer for tasks and roles. If the same people take on all the work it can lead to tension and informal hierarchies within the group. It can help if the more experienced members of the group offer to share skills and experience.

Invite and move forward discussion. Clarify proposals that are put forward. Use short summaries of where the conversation is at to keep yourselves on track. ("We seem to be agreed on x and y, concerns have been raised about z. Shall we explore z some more?")

Introduce techniques such as ideastorming options, forming small groups for discussion, delegating to working groups, and go-rounds, to make the meeting more efficient and participatory. Some exercises may not be suitable for everyone – consider what role hearing, sight and mobility might play in activities. For a short explanation of these techniques see the section Facilitation techniques below.

Regulate the flow of discussion by calling on speakers in an appropriate order. Often this will be as they indicate they want to speak. Sometimes you may ask more vocal people to hold back from speaking in order to open up space for others have their say. If an idea is receiving lots of support, you might create space for people to raise concerns they may be holding back.

Help everyone to participate: draw out quiet people, limit over-talking, don't let anyone dominate the discussion. Use techniques such as breaking into small groups to equalise participation and to create a safe atmo­sphere for expressing opinions and feelings. Make sure the discussion is not moving too fast and that everyone is able to actively take part. Bear in mind any specific requirements that people have told you about.

Check on the overall feeling of the group throughout the meeting: energy levels, interest in the subject, whether the aims are being fulfilled, whether the structure is appro­priate (e.g. large or small groups) and time.

Be positive: be appreciative of everyone's contribution and draw out points of agreement and common ground.

In tense or tiring situations try humour, affirmation, games, changing seats, silence, taking a break etc. Some groups might rebel at the suggestion of “wasting time” on a game, but will welcome a stretch break or informal hilarity.

Challenge put-downs and discriminatory remarks. The facilitator has extra responsibility for making sure that the meeting is a safe space. If one participant says or does things that are offensive or hurtful, it is important that this is challenged - even if you don’t think the comment applies to anyone in the room. At the same time, remember that people often cause offence without meaning to. As a facilitator, it is usually most effective to show respect for everyone concerned. A guideline is to address someone's behaviour, or the words they said, without passing judgement on them as a person. (E.g.: "You may not know this, but the word you just used has racist origins." or "Sorry Jo, you didn't let Sia finish making their point. Sia, are you up for carrying on with what you saying?")

Ending the meeting #

Make sure the meeting finishes on time, or get everyone's agreement to continue.

Ensure someone has taken on writing up and circulating the minutes or notes in the next few days.

Make sure a time and place for the next meeting has been agreed and that people leave their contact details if they want to be updated or receive minutes for the meeting. Do this before people start leaving.

Provide some satisfying closure to the meeting: sum up, remind people of what they're committed to doing before the next meeting and remember to thank everyone for turning up and contributing.

Evaluating your meetings can help to constantly improve them. It’s a good idea to leave a few minutes at the end of every agenda and ask the group what went well and what needs to be improved. You could also get together afterwards with the other organisers to evaluate the meeting. Remember to celebrate what you have achieved!

It can be nice to follow the meeting with an informal social activity like sharing a meal or going to a café. Think about any special needs – not everyone drinks alcohol, you might have vegetarians or vegans in your group and so on, so try to choose an inclusive venue or activity.

Attribution #

Work from the following sources was reused:

• Facilitating Meetings by Seeds for Change (2019)