You need to assume responsibility for ensuring the agenda, the attendees, the venue and the expected outcomes have all been managed before the meeting even if you did not personally create the agenda, the attendee list or book the venue. YOU are now accountable for the success of this session so do not depend on delegations having been completed…CHECK YOURSELF well in advance.
Once in the chair you must manage the agenda so ensure to:
Identify the meeting’s goals i.e. outputs (some action or event that changes the nature of a situation, person or item …. or its not an output) clearly and concisely.
Ask ALL participants for input …draw them out…don’t let one view dominate.
List clearly the questions you want to address and what OUTPUTs you expect.
Identify the specific purpose (it should produce or assist the production of an output) of each task.
Estimate the amount of time to spend on each topic and manage that during the meeting…if something seems important enough agree separate session to expand on it later.
Identify who leads on each topic.
End each meeting with a review of actions agreed. names against those and dates to be completed and issue those action minutes to all..