How to Have a Good Meeting Carol U. Merriam Dean, Faculty of Humanities

The Most Important Things: Don’t Panic! Don’t take it personally.

When to Have Meetings CA (Arts 16.02.d, 16A.03.e) requires Department or Centre meetings once per term; more often is better. Know when various things are due to other offices of the University, and plan your meetings accordingly. E.g.: APC, T&P files, sabbatical apps. Plan meeting times for the whole term or year in advance. Consider teaching schedules of all members and try for a time when all can attend. If this is not possible, spread the pain around. What about research days?

Who should come to the meeting? Check the Collective Agreement! (Arts 16.02.b, 16.04.c, and 16.04.d) Check your department, centre, or programme rules to see who else is to be included. The short version: All full time faculty members appointed or cross-appointed to the Department or Centre, plus anyone identified in the Rules & Procedures. The committee identified above may invite other members as it wishes.

The Agenda What must be included? Department rules or customs may indicate required items. The usual required items: Approval of the minutes; Reports of officers and committees; Unfinished business; New business. To save time, circulate announcements electronically instead of at the meeting. Prepare and circulate the agenda well in advance of the meeting: Departmental rules may say something about this; One week is a good standard.

The Meeting Itself Start on time! Don’t wait for latecomers. Be more formal than you may consider necessary: it can help if things get difficult. Be guided by a recognizable set of rules; Roberts are generally accepted. Develop specific rules to fill in the gaps; the Faculty Handbook procedures for Senate are a good guide (FHB 2.7.2)

Meeting Guidelines from Robert’s Rules

Motions, Debate, and Voting A motion requires a seconder before it can be discussed. Each member should be allowed to speak to a question no more than twice. Consider setting time limits on the right to speak to any issue. No more than ten minutes in total per person is a good guideline.

Comments must be relevant to the motion at hand. Comments should be addressed to the Chair. Amendments to a motion: either universally accepted, or voted on. There’s no such thing as a “friendly amendment”!

When everyone has spoken to the motion, the Chair calls the question and a vote is taken. A tie vote is a lost vote. “Call the question”: cannot be used to stop debate. If there are still speakers waiting, then this must be voted on – must be seconded and receive 2/3 of the vote.

Minutes Minutes are a record of actions and motions, not of words. No individual can dictate what goes into the minutes.

In Camera Used for confidential matters. Not minuted. After return to open session: the minutes should reflect any decisions made while in camera.

The Chair’s role in discussion The Chair keeps everyone on topic and on time. The Chair should keep a speakers list and stick to it. Chair has the same rights as any other member, but this is balanced by the necessity of impartiality. If a Chair wishes to speak to a motion, then the figurative gavel should be passed to another. The Chair may vote, but (RR p.53) should consider very carefully whether or not to do so. Special case for secret ballots

What if it all goes wrong? If you notice a breach of rules, correct it immediately! If another member thinks there is a violation, that member can call a “point of order” – one of the few occasions when interrupting is allowed! The Chair shall rule on the Point of Order.

What are some breaches of rules? Straying from the topic at hand; Attacking a member’s motives or saying anything personal; Addressing remarks to other members instead of to the Chair; Speaking adversely about a motion that has been passed; Speaking against one’s own motion. (for a more complete list, see pp. 391-393 of Robert’s Rules)

Stepping Away from Robert’s Rules

What happens after the meeting? Be prompt with communications resulting from the meeting. Be clear about who has responsibility for what actions after the meeting. It’s always the Chair’s responsibility to follow up.

If it was contentious: Figure out a way to bring the group back into alignment before leaving the room. Help the group remember that we’re all colleagues, even if we don’t agree.