Chairing Meetings One Day Course
This detailed one-day course gives the tools needed to chair impactful meetings.
- Creating a clear, useful agenda
- Controlling the meeting
- Questions to encourage discussion
- Building consensus for clear decisions
- Documentation & follow up
Group Bookings & Private Courses
We also offer private training. Contact us for more details about how we can create a customised course, designed just for you and your organisation.
Where you are booking 2 or more people onto the same course we offer group discounts. Please contact us for more details.
Combined Minute Taking + Chairing Meetings
This effective meetings course combines minute taking and chairing meetings training.
Learn how to run & follow up meetings that get things done.
- Structure meetings precisely
- Generate real discussion & decisions
- Create clear, actionable minutes
Choosing The Right Chairing Meetings Course
If you are unsure which course is appropriate for you please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Read on below for more on the specifics of each course.
This is a more comprehensive full-day training course that will cover every aspect of chairing meetings in detail.
It is designed for people who will be:
- Chairing important meetings that will effect a companies decisions
- Controlling the meetings directly
- Documenting and following up on the meeting
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- Create a clear, useful agenda
- Control the meeting with assertiveness and respect
- Propose questions to encourage discussion
- Build up a consensus for clear decisions and outcomes
Our combined course is designed beginners with no prior experience. It is for those looking to take chair meetings and take minutes
It is made up of an intensive one-day course – this will be a tough day but is all you need!
Doing this session offers the most effective way to develop both these skills side by side.
Our courses can run at your offices, at one of our training centres in London and Guildford or online in a virtual classroom.
Our online courses can be run using either Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
It felt very easy to ask questions and the trainer was happy to recap any areas for us.
Sue Lefevre-Smith, Finance Analyst, HMRCOur instructor was very friendly, approachable, and always there to answer questions.
Eva Andersen, Office Administrator, SCIRIS GroupI felt comfortable to ask questions, and the takeaway materials are really useful.
Linda Job, Entertainments Accountant, Casarotto Ramsay & AssociatesIt was great bridging the concepts discussed with real life experience from people
Southern Inshore Fisheries And Conservation Authority (SIFCA)Jo was absolutely lovely, very warm and welcome, and very insightful
Imperial College LondonThe content was really useful and engaging.
Majnoor Shams, Imperial College LondonSuper interactive and great to get the lecture material in advance.
Clara Ghalib, Imperial CollegeThe best bit was how engaging it was even though it was virtual!
Imperial CollegeTrainer was very informative,and let discussion flow, bringing the training course content together. The minute taking booklet with information and further books to help was very good. Would highly recommend.
Georgia Day, EA to COO and Head of GBDEverything covered in the course was great
Rashid Ibrahim, IT Training ManagerOnline Courses
We offer all of our chairing meetings training courses remotely, as well as in-person.
Our remote courses cover the same content as our in-person courses and run over Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
Course Locations
St Clements House, 27 Clements Lane
London, EC4N 7AE
Tel: 0203 603 0150
Directions
Guildford Training Venue & Course Details
Surrey Technology Centre, 40 Occam Road
Guildford, GU2 7YG
Tel: 01483 688 488
Directions
Private Courses
Looking for private group training or a 1-2-1 chairing meetings course?
Our custom courses are organised on dates to suit you, either at your office, our offices or online whichever you’d prefer.
Our free pre-course reviews ensure that our custom courses are focused only on the topics you need.
The Training Day
Course Times
What's Included?
Everything you need for a great day's training
General FAQs
We don’t want to be the biggest training company but we do want to be the best!
We have now won the Feefo Gold Award for customer service for 9 years in a row and offer a 100% money-back guarantee for our courses.
We limit classes to a maximum of 8 delegates to ensure everyone has time to ask questions.
Please come wearing whatever you are most comfortable in.
We do not have a dress code for our courses.
Our virtual courses are designed to recreate the live classroom experience as closely as possible.
You should be prepared to contribute and participate in role-plays just as you would on a physical course.
Chairing Meetings FAQ
Effective meetings allow for efficient information sharing, discussion, and decision-making.
If you chair meetings where you struggle to keep them on time and on topic then this training would be helpful for you.
Chairing meetings well is a learned skill and increasingly important as you progress through your career.
Learning to facilitate an open and honest discussion before guiding a group to a decision isn’t straightforward.
The skills required to do this are often acquired over a lifetime of work. Hence chairpeople often being some of the most senior employees in the room at a meeting.
Meetings represent a significant investment of time and company resources.
A chairperson is responsible for ensuring that a meeting is run efficiently and effectively so that it achieves its aims.
A good chairperson will manage the entire process from distributing a meeting agenda before the meeting to distributing minutes after the meeting with agreed action items to ensure that decisions are actioned.
Effective chairing skills remain the same whatever the meeting format.
However, they need to be implemented to suit the format of the meeting.
For example, remote attendees can struggle to contribute to hybrid meetings.
Effective meetings ensure that everyone’s views are heard.
This means that the chair should periodically engage quieter, remote attendees directly to ensure they are sharing their views.
People contribute to meetings when they feel that it is safe to do so.
When chairing a meeting, you must ensure attendees are comfortable contributing to a meeting.
Doing this requires the chairperson to ensure that people remain open minded and don’t:
- Talk over or interrupt each other.
- Pull faces, groan or undermine others when they are speaking.
- Talk amongst themselves.
- Keep their contributions relevant.
- Monopolise the conversation.
Course FAQs
Yes. Examples include:
- Being consistent with meeting rules so that everyone understands how they should behave.
- Reassuring someone who keeps repeating their point that their view has been clearly understood.
- Ensuring participants focus on positive ways to resolve issues rather than simply criticising.
- Keeping the discussion to the current agenda item.
Dealing with challenging situations before they derail a meeting is a key part of the chairperson’s role.
The core skills required to chair effective meetings remain the same whatever the meeting format.
Effective weekly team meetings require a different focus to a quarterly board meeting, but running an effective meeting still requires the same meeting structure and process.
For example, whatever the format, producing a formal record of decisions reached and action points agreed after the meeting is crucial. A large part of the value of meetings is that they formalise the decision making process.
Similarly, pacing meetings and breaks so energy levels stay high is more important during long meetings.
In short no! If you are an experienced chairperson, our one-day course will cover many areas you already understand.
Chairperson is a complicated, multi-faceted role. We can help you improve further but would recommend a private course.