Plan ahead and set the date, time and location of the meeting. The Student Council Support website recommends choosing a set day of the week and time in order to establish a regular schedule and help improve attendance. Find a venue that is large enough to accommodate the entire delegation of the student government and any additional guests who are interested in watching the proceedings.
Appoint a person who is ultimately in charge of the proceedings during the meeting. This can be a teacher, administrator, adviser or a student in a role such as president. It is crucial to the efficacy of the meeting that there is a person of authority to defer to in case there is any confusion or if the meeting gets off track and becomes nonproductive. This person will also help to ensure that everyone who is interested in speaking gets a fair and equal opportunity.
Start the meeting with a brief ice-breaker or leadership exercise to help familiarize the students with their fellow student government officers and give them the opportunity to further their leadership skills.
Provide the students with some sort of snack or food item as a perk of being involved and an enticement to keep them focused and on track during the meeting.
Encourage the involvement of both teachers and administrators in the student government meetings and activities. According to Michele V. Sacerdote, who has written guidelines for student leadership councils, a positive and collaborative relationship between teachers and administrators can help students see that their decisions are taken seriously and they have the support and implementation assistance of the adults at their institution.
Assign a person to take minutes of the activities that occur in each meeting so you will have a permanent record of all of the decisions that were made at the student government meeting.