Roles in Meetings

Purpose of defining roles
 
Running efficient meetings requires delegation of facilitation tasks. Roles are also a primary way to increase team engagement. Roles should be rotated between meetings so all team members can participate in different roles through the life of a project.
PROJECT LEADERS
Project leaders or team chairs are responsible for leading the team and setting agendas and objectives for meetings.
 
Guiding Principles:
  • Ensure team is operating under a defined shared vision 
  • Identify a clear method for providing agenda and team updates
  • Project leaders define meeting schedule and play a strong role in team and project management
FACILITATOR
The facilitator or meeting chair is the primary decision-maker and is the person responsible for ensuring a meeting runs successfully. 
 
Guiding Principles:
  • Stay grounded in meeting objectives and remind participants to focus and remain on topic.
  • Ensure everyone present on the meeting is heard and has an opportunity to voice an opinion.
  • If points in the meeting need repeating for clarity, do so
  • Ensure all in-meeting roles are filled. Perhaps the facilitator keeps time, or perhaps requests a team member act as timekeeper.
NOTETAKER
The note taker is responsible for taking clear, legible notes of what occurs and what is discussed in a meeting, then distributes those notes with the entire team involved via an agreed-upon medium.
 

Guiding Principles:

  • Capture key moments of discussion and decision-making
  • Distribute notes to team members in a timely manner

Best Practices

  • Be aware of key points to be covered in meeting beforehand
  • Be mindful of capturing the flow of discussion 
  • Ensure to capture who/what/when items and parking lot topics
  • Make sure to have a plan for consistent formatting and distributing notes agreed upon with facilitator.
  • Present action items and deadlines clearly by using bullets, underlining or bolding keywords so attendees can see at a glance what is expected
DISCUSSION LEADERS
Sometimes it may make sense for a member of a team to take leadership on a particular agenda item. In that case the person leading the topic is a discussion leader.
 
Guiding Principles:
  • Have a clear plan on how to reach discussion objectives ahead of time.
  • Follow Encouraging Participation best practices [ LINK ] for ensuring everyone is heard.
TIMEKEEPER
Naturally the timekeeper’s responsibility is ensuring the agenda proceeds according to plan. The timekeeper can also remind meeting participants of the agenda goals if they see the discussion go off topic 
 
Guiding Principles:
  • Be aware of agenda timing ahead of meeting
  • Be aware of agenda item objectives
  • Be ready to jump into the conversation to alert meeting participants of timing