The Shy Person’s Guide to Running Board Meetings

How to lead a room when you feel unqualified

Original art by the author

Whoops! Through a stroke of regrettable bravado or lack of more palatable alternatives, you’ve found yourself agreeing to lead a fancy meeting. Votes will be cast and decisions made, all while dozens of eyeballs look to you for guidance. But fear not! Greater battles have been won, and I’ve assembled a handbook to make sure your big debut goes smoothly. If my dorky, blushing, anxious self can do it, you can, too. Here’s how.

Rallying your team

There’s no way around it — you’ll need at least one extra set of hands to help out with notes and vote counts. If your organization has an elected secretary, they’ll know to expect these tasks. If not, assign someone in advance. Have someone on backup to count hands, too.

Setting the agenda

If your meeting has motions, ask participants to submit them in advance. Take a look at the issues being considered, and assign each motion a time slot. An agenda with motions might look like this:

1. Motion to cryonically freeze Addison’s hamster (Addison) 10:00–10:15
2. Motion to disallow dubstep during brunch (Tiffany) 10:15–10:25