How To: Run Effective Volunteer Meetings

Most Mountaineers are not members because they love meetings (apologies to those of you who do!). But since meetings are necessary to run the programs we offer, let's focus on making them more effective, efficient, and enjoyable! Volunteering should be FUN. 

To help, here some widely-cited best-practices for running an effective meeting: 

• Set, and stick to, a meaningful agenda. 
• Solicit input from EVERYONE (not just the people who tend to contribute all the time). One method for ensuring that people of a dominant culture don't also dominate a conversation is called "progressive stack" - learn more about that here. 
• Assign a moderator (often the Chair) to keep the discussion on task
• Clarify decisions made and assign someone to followup on the next steps.
• Utilize Robert's Rules when disagreements occur. What are Robert's Rules, you say? This simplified guide explains how they help facilitate meetings to ensure input and promote a democratic decision. These rules are available in our  committee resource manual for leaders and committee administrators.