14 tips for effective local meetings

Everyone’s time is valuable – yours, the executive board’s and your members'. With this in mind it's important to use the time you do have wisely. Here are some tips to help you run your local meetings more effectively:

For you:

Prepare and distribute an agenda before both your executive board (EB) meetings and your general membership (GM) meetings.
Your local has an EB for a reason. Use them. Discuss roles and responsibilities with your EB members and communicate your expectations. If you want the members of your EB to give updates at your meetings, let them know that is what you expect and tell them to come prepared to give their report.
Solicit ideas for EB and GM meetings topics from the members of your EB as well as building reps, member rights advocates (MRAs), TALL (Teachers as Learners and Leaders) representatives, etc.
Prepare and distribute an agenda before meetings. Include any reports that have been submitted to you.
Consider using email to distribute meeting materials in advance. That way the EB or GM will have had a chance to review the materials and come to the meeting prepared to discuss the agenda items.
Establish standards and norms for EB and GM meetings. For example, when someone wants to speak, will there be a speaking order or will it be "he who has the loudest voice has the floor"? Will you use Robert's Rules of Order? What are the expectations for starting and ending on time? As items arise during the course of the meeting, will there be a place for them on the agenda or will the discussion of that item take place when the item is brought up?

For your EB:

Meet regularly. Establish a calendar of EB meeting dates, times and locations for the upcoming year. EB and GM members should receive the list of meeting dates immediately in the fall so they can place the dates on their calendars. A good rule of thumb is to have your EB meeting one week prior to your GM meeting.
Ask EB members to submit reports before your meetings.
Use your EB meetings to finalize the agenda for the GM meeting.
Again, think about standards and norms for your EB meetings.

For the GM:

Meet regularly. Establish a calendar of GM meeting dates, times and locations for the upcoming year. Members should receive the list of meeting dates immediately in the fall so they can place the dates on their calendars.
Distribute the agenda in advance. If members know what is going to be discussed, it is more likely they will not only attend the meeting but stay for the duration as well.
Start on time; end on time. Members need to know that if the meeting will be one hour, it should last only one hour.
Build time into the agenda for topics as they arise. A good place for this is towards the end of the agenda. That way you can get through all the agenda items that were already established and the members can decide for themselves if they want to stay to hear discussion of the new topic.

August 24, 2011