Running Effective Meetings and Facilitating Groups - SABES

HOW TO CHOOSE THE CHAIRPERSON
Sometimes someone becomes the chairperson because of his/her position in the group. For example, s/he is the director
or the supervisor of others in the group. Sometimes the group elects the chairperson to serve in that role for a particular period
of time (six months, a year, etc.).
In groups where there is a lot of shared responsibility and shared leadership, rotating the duties of chairperson works
well. In this case, each person takes a turn at being the chairperson. This can be done alphabetically so that the person whose
last name begins with “A”, or the closest to “A”, goes first and then down the list of group members alphabetically, starting
over when you have reached the last person. In this way, all the group members gain experience in chairing meetings and the
work of being a chairperson (which is considerable) gets shared.
ROLE OF THE CHAIRPERSON
The chairperson is important because s/he takes the responsibility for many tasks that keep a meeting running smoothly.
It is the responsibility of the chairperson to:
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arrange for the room and refreshments;
set the agenda and type and distribute it (preferably prior to the meeting);
start the meeting on time;
lead the meeting, making sure the group stays on the agenda item under discussion, and keeps within the time set for
that item; and
end the meeting on time.
Running Effective Meetings and Facilitating Groups, Northeast SABES, July 2002
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