Ten Tips to Improve Your Meeting Facilitation Skills

1. Do Your Homework - In advance of your group meeting, take the time to understand the problem to be solved, the key players who will be involved with the meeting and the "hot buttons" around the problem statement.  Resist the temptation of developing your own conclusions prior to facilitating the meeting.  If you, as the facilitator, come across as jaded, you'll lose the trust of those in attendance.
2. Articulate the Problem Statement - Key to any facilitation meeting is a clear, crisp articulation of the problem statement and ensuring that ALL meeting attendees agree with the problem statement.  Write down the problem statement on a whiteboard or easel in plain sight of everyone so that you can refer back to it throughout the meeting.
3. Encourage Inclusion of All Attendees - Take note of those who are not speaking up during the meeting.  Look for opportunities to ask them specific questions about what they think about particular comments or issues.
4. Keep Things Moving Toward Addressing the Problem Statement - Discussions will often drift off course and will not be contributing towards addressing the problem at hand.  Your job as a facilitator is to keep the discussion moving forward while at the same time not being so rigid as to frustrate the participants.  If a discussion has clearly drifted off the problem at hand, gently bring it back on course.
5. Establish a "Parking Lot" - Many times a facilitated meeting will uncover other important issues which should be captured but are not germane to solving the problem at hand.  Capture those items in a "parking lot" to be addressed at a later date/time.  Ensure the parking lot is visible to all attendees and refer back to it as necessary to keep your discussion focused.
6. Maintain a Visible List of Action Items - Be diligent about capturing action items relative to solving the problem at hand.  Ensure all action items are clearly visible to all meeting attendees.  Ensure that all actions items address WHAT needs to be done, WHO needs to do it, and WHEN it needs to be done.  Review the list at the end of the meeting and ensure agreement is reached upon all assignments.
7. Stay Objective - As a facilitator it is very important that you are perceived as completely objective and are not viewed as being in anyone's "camp" during the discussion.  Once a facilitator is viewed as biased, the trust of the meeting attendees (particularly those who are on the opposing side of the facilitators bias) will quickly be lost and difficult to regain. 
8. Discover Through Questioning, Not Preaching - Facilitating doesn't mean you get on your soapbox and start espousing your vast wisdom on the topic at hand.  Facilitation means you use your wisdom to help others get to a common, agreed-upon resolution to problems.  The best facilitators do so by asking questions, specific questions which are relevant to the problem statement and designed to bring new facts to light.
9. Keep "The Boss" from Hijacking the Discussion - It is very common in facilitated discussions for the highest ranking participant in the meeting to express his or her opinion and subsequently set the course of the meeting to his or her agenda.  Consider having a discussion with "the boss" prior to the meeting and ask that he/she stay aware of "taking control" over the meeting direction.
10. Be the One in Control of the Discussion - As the facilitator, it is your job to stay in control of the meeting and keep the discussion on track.  This may mean wresting control away from an outspoken attendee or shifting the discussion back to the topic at hand.  It isn't always pleasant, and you may tick someone off in the process, but you'll definitely gain and maintain the respect of the attendees by doing so.
    

Source: Lonnie Pacelli author and president of Leading on the Edge International.