Whether your meeting is by phone, video or in person your role is critical to the experience of everyone. One of your key goals as Chair is to make sure the committee members feel engaged with the work of the committee, understand the goals and are committed to achieving them.
You don't need to run your committee by formal rules, but sometimes
Roberts Rules may be needed if you want the committee to vote on a formal motion. Governance committees like finance and management relations will follow these rules to approve budgets, new contracts etc;
However here are some notes that will help you run effective meetings:
1. Decide ahead of time why you are meeting, and why it is going to be worthwhile for your committee members to attend. Maybe note down a couple of objectives for the meeting that you can include in the meeting invitation along with the agenda, or just make sure the agenda makes it clear what the meeting is for.
2. At the beginning of the meeting, check who is on the call, and make sure they say hello so that other members know who is on the call. If there are new members, introduce them, and have committee members introduce themselves.
3. The President's Council is asking committee chairs to maintain a record of goals, and to report against those goals. (See separate note). So share these goals with your committee at each meeting.
4. Keep notes of the decisions taken at each meeting. It doesn't need to be full minutes, but a short email summarizing the conclusion is important. Review that note at the start of the next meeting.
5. NYSVMS staff are available to help with support for notes, setting up the meeting, sending out agendas etc. So if you can't find time yourself, please ask the staff member supporting your committee to help.