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- Chairing a Meeting with Confidence & Keeping Good Minutes (2 days)
Chairing a Meeting with Confidence & Keeping Good Minutes (2 days)
Meetings that start prepared, stay on track, end in clear decisions and leave a reliable written record.
Most managers chair meetings without ever being shown how. The result is familiar: papers arrive late, the agenda is ignored, two people dominate, the meeting overruns and nobody is sure afterwards what was decided or who must act. This two-day chairing meetings training gives chairpersons and the people who support them a structured way to prepare, run and record a meeting – from the first notice to the final action list.
Day one covers preparation and chairing: deciding who must attend, building an agenda around the outcomes the meeting must produce, checking and circulating papers, opening the meeting properly and keeping it to time. Day two deals with the harder moments – stalled discussions, strong disagreements and dominant speakers – and then with keeping good minutes: what to record, how to word decisions and actions, and how to circulate and follow them up.
Delegates chair short meetings in turn and take minutes of each other's meetings, so both roles are practised with feedback. The same approach works for board, committee, project, team and online meetings.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Shorter meetings that end in clear, recorded decisions
- Actions with named owners and due dates, followed up between meetings
- Minutes that stand up as a reliable record when questions arise later
- Chairpersons who handle disagreement without losing control of the meeting
For your delegates
- A step-by-step routine for preparing any meeting
- Practical phrases for steering, summarising and closing discussion
- A minutes template and action register you can use straight away
- Practice in both the chairing and minute-taking roles, with feedback
What delegates will be able to do
- Prepare a meeting: attendees, venue or online platform, equipment and a pre-meeting checklist
- Build an agenda around the outcomes the meeting must achieve and circulate complete papers on time
- Open and run a meeting, keeping to the agenda and the time allowed
- Use summarising, paraphrasing, redirecting and gatekeeping to move a stalled discussion forward
- Handle dominant, silent and disruptive participants calmly
- Record decisions, actions, owners and due dates accurately in neutral language
- Check previous minutes for accuracy and track matters arising
- Distribute meeting records promptly and review the meeting to improve the next one
Who should attend
Managers, supervisors and team leaders who chair meetings, committee and board members, project leaders, and the executive assistants, secretaries and administrators who prepare agendas and keep minutes. It suits anyone responsible for the quality and outcome of a meeting, whether in person or online.
Course outline
Day 1 – Preparing and chairing the meeting
Meetings that are worth holding
- When a meeting is the right tool and when an email will do
- Formal, informal, board, committee, project and team meetings
- The roles of the chairperson, minute taker and members
- Terms of reference, standing procedures and your organisation's rules
Preparing for the meeting
- Deciding who must attend and who only needs the outcome
- Booking the venue and arranging seating, catering, name plates and signage
- Online and hybrid meetings: platform, links and access
- A back-up plan for load-shedding and connectivity problems
- A pre-meeting checklist based on your standard procedures
The agenda and meeting papers
- Writing an agenda around the outcomes the meeting must produce
- Ordering items logically and allocating time to each
- How items are placed on the agenda and deadlines for papers
- Checking papers for accuracy and completeness
- Circulating the notice and papers on time – electronic or printed
Opening and running the meeting
- Welcome, apologies, quorum and declarations of interest
- Confirming the previous minutes and dealing with matters arising
- Keeping to the agenda and to time
- Bringing in every participant, in the room and online
- Reaching a decision and confirming it before moving on
Practical: chairing a short meeting
- Delegates chair a ten-minute meeting in turn
- Structured peer and facilitator feedback
Day 2 – Difficult discussions and keeping good minutes
Managing differing views
- Why discussions stall: competing interests, personalities and unclear goals
- Summarising and paraphrasing to show progress
- Rephrasing, redirecting and repeating the question in front of the meeting
- Gatekeeping: drawing in quiet members and limiting dominant ones
- Tangents, side conversations and devices
- Moving from disagreement to a decision the meeting can accept
Keeping good minutes
- Verbatim, narrative, resolution and action minutes – which to use when
- Listening for decisions rather than writing down every word
- Recording decisions, actions, owners and due dates
- Neutral, factual wording and consistent tense
- A minutes template and action register
Minute-taking practice
- Taking minutes of a full mock meeting
- Comparing versions and improving the wording
- Agreeing the final wording with the chairperson
After the meeting
- Approving and circulating minutes within 24 to 48 hours
- Tracking actions between meetings
- Filing records and protecting personal information under POPIA
- Preparing the next agenda from the action register
Reviewing and improving your meetings
- A five-minute post-meeting review
- Simple measures of meeting effectiveness
- Personal action plan for your next meeting
How it is delivered
Two days, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20. Workbook, agenda and minutes templates, an action register and a pre-meeting checklist included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
★★★★★ 4.8 on Google from 790+ reviews · word-for-word quotes from signed letters of reference, from clients on this and/or related BOTI courses
“The training was well executed and of a high quality … We would like to recommend BOTI for future trainings.”
“The course was efficiently organized and aligned with our schedule. We were impressed by the quality of the training and the expertise of the facilitator.”
“They were very professional, and they never failed us at any point during the process. They have met our expectations with both trainings.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. Most groups are trained at the client's premises anywhere in South Africa; we can also host it at a BOTI venue or deliver it live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to groups of about 20. Training chairpersons and minute takers together works well, because each learns what the other needs.
Is it accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
Can the practice meetings use our own agendas and templates?
Yes. Send us a typical agenda, a set of minutes and your templates beforehand and the facilitator builds the practice meetings around them.
Is there a one-day version?
Yes. The one-day course covers the essentials of chairing and minute taking in a single day. This two-day course adds more practice in both roles and a deeper treatment of managing disagreement in meetings.
Can you run this course in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban?
Yes. We train on site at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and across South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online so a team spread over several offices can attend together.
Related courses
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