Have you been asked to run an upcoming meeting and have no idea how to do so? You'll find everything you need to know in this Quickie Guide…Did you know you have to make sure all attendees are aware of the objective of your meeting? Did you know you may have to manage different personalities and keep things in check? Did you know your meeting should follow a tight schedule to ensure all discussions held are pertinent to your meeting objective? If not then this is the ebook for you. Within these pages are step by step details of how to run the meeting effectively, including quick pointers on how to set up the agenda and ensure your meeting stays on point. The days of having senior managers running all meetings are long gone, and instead it now falls under the domain of any number of positions; from analyst to manager to the most junior team member. I have been in meetings where the person chairing the meeting, and leading the conversation is also the person taking the minutes. Although I wouldn’t recommend that strategy to anyone as it is almost impossible to chair a meeting effectively whilst also taking notes.So, let’s get down to it. What do you need to do to run an effective meeting? In one quick sentence: make sure all attendees know the purpose of the meeting and make sure what needs to be achieved is discussed so when people walk away from the meeting they don’t view it as a waste of time.If you are setting up the meeting, then I would recommend having an agenda to ensure everyone understands the objective of the meeting and is clear about what should be achieved. How many meetings have you sat through where you have come out wondering whether anything has actually been decided? Or you have wondered whether the last hour to two hours has been a complete waste of time. Scheduling meetings for the sake of filling your diary is a favourite pastime of some, but if you spend your life attending meetings with no recognised outcome, you surely have to ask yourself “why bother?”This is where structure comes in with the introduction of a tightly managed agenda, and minutes that clearly define the actions and decisions agreed at that meeting. This Quickie Guide will concentrate on how to manage the meeting itself, but there are other Quickie Guides on How to Do an Agenda and How to Take Minutes.