• Prepare (and if necessary agree on) an agenda.
• Think about the sensible grouping and ordering of agenda items and how they should be handled.
• Ask relevant people to introduce agenda items.
• Get additional briefing or information for items where necessary.
• Read papers.
• Allocate rough times to agenda items.
• Anticipate likely areas of conflict or difficulty.
• Think about who is coming and their likely reactions to various items.
• Make sure you are familiar with any rules, procedures and standing orders.

(Source: B628, Managing and managing people).