How to lead a meeting?

@ButterRobot summed up perfectly.

@ButterRobot nicely said - do you have a technique to gently shut things down when someone tries to diverge to topic to something unconstructive?

@sumojumo happens in our meetings often and we usually thank them for the input and ask to address it offline in order to stick to the meetings agenda.

@sumojumo yes..i usually say 'that's sounds like a good point but its a subject for another meeting'..or words to that affect. Its one of those things to be direct about.

@Lee124 I think after a while people know what you will/will not accept.

@ButterRobot that is very appropriate, yes. Many times people are not even aware that they wandered into non relevant topics and such sentences quickly regain the focus.

I think that your meetings must be nice to attend :).

@sumojumo you'd have to ask the staff about that lol

@ButterRobot :D well, at least you have a very sound basis for your work. Great leading is also a bit of an art form, improvisation, and good knowledge of human psychology.

Unfortunately I do not have many meetings with my staff, I am struggling more with meetings which involves people from many organizations. The power play there is a bit different since there is no hierarchy and you have to be more careful when giving very direct "instructions". That is what I find hard.

@sumojumo ahh...so you have to be a politician. Thats one of the more challenging scenarios to deal with.

@ButterRobot politician is a great word to describe it :)