Effective Meeting Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Team Leaders, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PE-020

Before you join: Participants should have experience attending workplace meetings and some responsibility for coordinating work, contributing to decisions or following up actions.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Poorly run meetings consume skilled staff time, delay decisions, obscure accountability and create follow-up work that could have been prevented. Common problems include unclear purpose, oversized attendee lists, weak agendas, unprepared participants, unresolved disagreement and action notes that do not identify owners or deadlines. For managers and professionals who coordinate work across functions, meeting quality directly affects delivery speed, governance and staff confidence.

This course provides a practical system for planning, chairing and improving meetings of different types, including decision meetings, project reviews, operational briefings, stakeholder consultations and hybrid sessions. Participants learn to decide whether a meeting is necessary, define outcomes, select participants, prepare agendas and pre-reads, facilitate balanced discussion, manage difficult behaviour and record decisions clearly. They apply RACI, RAPID, weighted decision matrices, timeboxing, action registers and structured follow-up methods.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with realistic cases, facilitated group work, meeting simulations and individual application planning. Participants examine recurring meetings from their own work, diagnose causes of delay or drift, and redesign them using the course methods. They leave with a reusable meeting management toolkit, including a meeting charter, agenda and pre-read templates, decision and action logs, a meeting effectiveness scorecard and a 30-day improvement plan. The course is delivered over five instructor-led days in a classroom in 50+ cities or live online, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants who complete the course receive a certificate of completion.

The course suits professionals who regularly chair meetings, coordinate contributors, support senior decision-makers or want to improve the quality of meetings they attend. It is particularly relevant where decisions require input from several departments, external partners, project teams or governance groups.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose a meeting portfolio using cost, purpose, attendance and value criteria
  • Design outcome-led agendas, invitations and pre-reads for different meeting types
  • Assign meeting roles and decision rights using RACI and RAPID
  • Facilitate focused discussions using timeboxing, questioning and structured participation
  • Apply decision rules and weighted decision matrices to reach documented decisions
  • Manage conflict, dominant behaviour and low participation during meetings
  • Produce clear action registers, decision logs and follow-up communications
  • Implement a 30-day plan for improving recurring meetings

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Spend less time in meetings with unclear purpose or unnecessary attendance
  • Chair discussions with greater control of time, participation and outcomes
  • Handle disagreement without avoiding important decisions
  • Create meeting records that protect accountability and reduce follow-up confusion
  • Build a credible personal reputation for focused, well-run meetings

For your organisation

  • Reduce staff time lost to unnecessary, repetitive or unfocused meetings
  • Improve decision speed through defined decision rights and preparation standards
  • Increase action completion through named owners, deadlines and closed-loop follow-up
  • Create clearer governance records for operational, project and committee decisions
  • Improve inclusion of remote participants and quieter technical contributors

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can determine whether a meeting is needed and define its intended value.

  • Meeting cost calculations using attendee time, preparation, and decision delay
  • Purpose statements distinguishing information sharing, consultation, decision, and coordination
  • Meeting alternatives: written updates, asynchronous comments, stand-ups, and office hours
  • Decision rights mapped before invitations are issued
  • Calendar audits identifying recurring meetings with unclear business value
  • Meeting charter elements: purpose, sponsor, outcomes, participants, and cadence

Participants can prepare agendas and invitations that direct participants toward defined outputs.

  • SMART meeting outcomes linked to decisions, deliverables, and accountable owners
  • Backward agenda design from required outputs and time constraints
  • Timed agendas using timeboxes, transition points, and contingency minutes
  • Consent agenda items separated from discussion requiring live attention
  • Pre-read specifications: decision question, evidence, recommendations, and reading time
  • Invitation wording that states roles, preparation, location, and attendance expectations

Participants can select necessary attendees and clarify each person's contribution to the meeting.

  • RACI matrices clarifying responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed meeting roles
  • Attendance criteria based on expertise, authority, dependency, and contribution
  • Required, optional, and informed classifications used to reduce unnecessary attendance
  • Chair, facilitator, timekeeper, scribe, and decision-owner responsibilities assigned
  • Stakeholder mapping for affected groups absent from the meeting
  • Escalation routes defined when key decision-makers cannot attend scheduled sessions

Participants can prepare information, records and logistics that support productive discussion.

  • Pre-read packs structured with context, data, options, recommendation, and decision
  • One-page briefing notes applying the Pyramid Principle for senior audiences
  • Action logs separating decisions, actions, issues, risks, and dependencies
  • Parking-lot protocols for relevant topics outside the agreed agenda
  • Virtual preparation checks covering platform access, documents, and backup channels
  • Meeting readiness checklist completed twenty-four hours before start time

Participants can lead discussions that remain focused, inclusive and within agreed timings.

  • Opening contracts confirming purpose, agenda, roles, decision method, and timings
  • Round-robin participation used to hear expertise without domination
  • Funnel questioning moves from broad input toward specific commitments
  • Neutral summarising tests understanding before moving to the next agenda item
  • Timeboxing techniques protect decision items when discussion overruns
  • Visual facilitation captures options, criteria, decisions, and actions live

Participants can choose suitable decision methods and document decisions with clear accountability.

  • Decision rules: consensus, consent, consultative, and leader-decides approaches
  • RAPID framework assigns recommend, agree, perform, input, and decide roles
  • Weighted decision matrices compare options against agreed evaluation criteria
  • Fist-to-Five checks gauge support, concerns, and unresolved reservations quickly
  • Decision statements record choice, rationale, owner, deadline, and constraints
  • Disagreement protocols separate facts, assumptions, interests, and preferred solutions

Participants can respond constructively to conflict, dominance and disengagement during meetings.

  • Thomas-Kilmann modes selected according to stakes, relationships, and time
  • Interest-based negotiation distinguishes stated positions from underlying operational needs
  • Ground rules address interruptions, side conversations, and disrespectful conduct
  • De-escalation language acknowledges concerns while returning discussion to evidence
  • Managing dominant speakers through structured turns, redirects, and written input
  • Psychological safety practices invite dissent before decisions become fixed

Participants can run inclusive virtual and hybrid meetings with reliable participation processes.

  • Hybrid meeting design assigns equal participation channels for room and remote attendees
  • Video, chat, polls, and shared boards matched to meeting purpose
  • Remote facilitation uses explicit turn-taking, pauses, and verbal signposting
  • Accessibility checks cover captions, readable materials, time zones, and breaks
  • Technology failure protocols specify host, backup host, and reconnection steps
  • Asynchronous decision records maintain input when synchronous attendance is impractical

Participants can produce records and follow-up communications that drive action completion.

  • Action registers record task, owner, due date, status, and dependencies
  • Minutes distinguish decisions made, rationale, dissent, and follow-up actions
  • Decision logs create an auditable record for governance and handover
  • Closed-loop communication confirms owners accept actions and deadlines
  • Follow-up messages use clear subject lines, links, and due dates
  • Meeting effectiveness surveys collect targeted feedback after recurring sessions

Participants can measure meeting quality and apply a structured improvement plan to recurring sessions.

  • Meeting metrics track attendance, punctuality, decisions, actions, and satisfaction
  • Pulse surveys measure perceived value, inclusion, preparation, and focus
  • Recurring meeting reviews apply stop, start, continue, and shorten decisions
  • Personal meeting audit identifies habits causing delay, drift, or exclusion
  • Improvement plans set behavioural commitments, measures, review dates, and sponsors
  • Thirty-day application plan prioritises two meetings for redesign and review

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Meeting charter template
  2. Outcome-led agenda template
  3. Pre-read briefing template
  4. Decision and action register
  5. Meeting effectiveness scorecard
  6. 30-day meeting improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Team Leaders — need meetings that produce clear commitments from their teams
  • Project Managers — coordinate decisions, dependencies and actions across project contributors
  • Department Managers — improve recurring operational and performance review meetings
  • Executive Assistants — prepare senior-level meetings and maintain accurate decision records
  • Business Analysts — facilitate stakeholder sessions and document agreed requirements
  • Programme Officers — coordinate partners, committees and implementation workstreams

Skills and tools covered

Meeting designAgenda planningDecision facilitationConflict managementHybrid meeting deliveryAction tracking

Tools and standards

RACI matrix, RAPID decision framework, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, Pyramid Principle

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short briefings to introduce meeting methods, followed by case analysis, small-group planning, facilitated discussion and meeting simulations. Participants work with realistic situations such as project steering groups, operational review meetings, supplier discussions and hybrid stakeholder sessions. They practise agenda design, chairing, decision-making, conflict responses and action tracking. Individual reflection and application planning connect the methods to participants' recurring meetings. Instructor feedback focuses on observable behaviours, clarity of documentation and practical improvements.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience attending workplace meetings and some responsibility for coordinating work, contributing to decisions or following up actions. Familiarity with standard business communication, calendars and common video meeting platforms is helpful. Participants should bring examples of recurring meetings they chair, support or attend, where possible. No formal qualification, prior facilitation training, specialist software expertise or management title is required. The course does not assume authority to make every decision; it teaches participants how to clarify decision rights and secure appropriate input.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have experience attending workplace meetings and some involvement in coordinating work, decisions or follow-up actions. No previous facilitation course, management qualification or specialist software knowledge is required.

Bring examples of recurring meetings you chair, support or attend, such as agendas, invitations, action notes or calendar entries. Sensitive information can be anonymised before use.

It is suited to team leaders, project managers, executive assistants, analysts, programme staff and managers who regularly bring people together to exchange information or make decisions. It also suits professionals who want to improve meetings they attend without formally chairing every session.

Presentation skills courses focus mainly on communicating to an audience, while facilitation courses may focus on broader group processes. This course concentrates on the full meeting cycle: purpose, attendance, agendas, decision rights, chairing, records and follow-through.

Participants leave with templates and an application plan based on meetings from their own work. The methods can be applied to recurring team meetings, project reviews, committee sessions, stakeholder consultations and virtual calls.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided among instructor input, cases, group work, simulations, feedback and planning improvements for participants' own meetings.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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