How To Run A Meeting

I've been honing my meeting running skills and I thought I'd outline my process:

1. Send out agenda beforehand articulating the topics to be discussed and the goal to be reached by the end of the meeting.
2. If necessary introduce yourself as meeting leader.
3. Then clearly restate agenda and make it clear what should be accomplished by the end of the meeting.
4. Run the meeting.
   • Guide the meeting by introducing items on the agenda one by one.
   • Be specific in what you're asking the team to discuss/answer.
   • Let people speak, but keep folks on track. If the topic has become too specific or not solvable in a reasonable time frame then ask that it be brought offline. You want the meeting to be a good use of people's time.
   • Interrupt or arbitrate when you need to.
   • When an item has been discussed enough then summarize the item and close it. Sometimes people can go on forever with questions that don't add anything to the discussion.
   • Give a 15m warning near the end of the meeting to focus folks.
5. Review conclusions at end of meeting.
6. Call out AIs.
7. Thank everyone for attending.

It's important to be confident and always believe you are the person running the meeting. Everyone agrees there has to be a person running the meeting so everyone has your back. When you are offering your input or opinion that is a different story. But you run the meeting, they follow your lead. Don't forget that.