Or “The wisdom of Linda Hausdorff”

When I became the president of my temple, I asked a friend how I should run the monthly board meetings. She gave me a few, simple rules:

• Before the meeting, send an email request for agenda items
• Always start the meetings on time. Always end on time.
  • Any remaining agenda items are moved to the next month’s “Old Business”.
  • You can always move the meetings along by saying… we’ve got 6 agenda items to cover in the next 25 minutes”.
• If someone suggests that something be done about X.
  • Add it to the end of the agenda under “New Business”.
  • When you get to the new agenda item, ask if anyone wants to pick up this task?”. If no one does, move on to the next agenda item.

• No interruptions. Everyone must be recognized by the chair before speaking.
  • If someone has something to say, they raise a hand and the chair makes a note of who speaks next.
  • This cuts out jokes, ad libs, smart-ass comments.