How To Chair A Meeting

How to Chair a Meeting: As a voice coach, this is something I get asked about a lot, because for most people chairing a meeting is, frankly, a little bit terrifying. The good news is that actually anybody can learn to chair a meeting. What you've got to do is remember that when you're chairing a meeting, basically, you're the pilot of the plane.

Now, what I mean by that, is that I got on a plane, quite recently, to Amsterdam, and it was very early in the morning, and as I sat on the plane, I heard the pilot's voice come over the intercom, and it sounded a little bit high, it sounded a little bit shaky, and frankly, I was terrified, because when I go on a plane, I want the pilot's voice to be low, and slow, and I want the pilot to sound like they're completely in control, and this pilot wasn't. They sounded more like the air steward.

Now, when you're chairing a meeting, you basically have to be the pilot of the plane.

So John Wayne, the actor, had the advice, which is Talk low. Talk slow. Don't say too much€, and that really is the essential to chairing a meeting.

You have to sit up well to make that work. You need to sit back in your chair; you need to get your seat bones and your tail bone glued down in your chair, so that you can sit up-right, and look relaxed. You need to have a long, straight spine; No slouching, it looks far too informal.

And you need to have your shoulders relaxed, so that you seem in control.

You also need to be really structured. You need to have a clear agenda, and you need to know exactly what you're going to say, in what order.

You've got to keep a good control of time, to know exactly how long each section is going to take. And you need to make sure you really bring everybody in, so that means you have to be able to listen and really pay attention, and that's another reason to make sure your structure is clear.

The last thing you have to think about when chairing a meeting is how your voice is.

You want your voice not to be too high, you want your voice to be in your gut, because that gives you a more authoritative tone, and I'm going to give you a really good trick to help you with that. If you turn your palms up and say the days of the week, and we're going to do it - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - that makes you sound more approachable and warmer, it's more like an air steward. If you turn your palms down, instantly - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday “ your voice is lower, and it's more authoritative.

So I would say, if you want to be chairing a meeting, be the pilot of the plane and make sure your palms are down, and your voice is nice and low and slow.

So that's How to Chair a Meeting.
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