Impartial chair · Perth, Western Australia
When the decisions are significant, the issues are sensitive and the personalities are strong, an independent chair gives everyone in the room one thing that’s hard to create from the inside: confidence in the process. It’s part of David’s meeting effectiveness work.
“An effective chair doesn’t dominate the discussion. An effective chair creates the conditions where good decisions can be made.”
When the meeting matters, the chair matters
An independent chair takes care of the agenda, the process and the time, so everyone else can focus entirely on the substance. I chair board meetings, executive forums, AGMs and sensitive governance discussions across Western Australia and beyond.
In these moments an independent chair gives everyone confidence that:
Why independent?
Every organisation has capable leaders. They understand the issues, know the history and care about the outcome. That’s exactly why it’s hard for them to lead the meeting and take part in it at the same time. An independent chair removes that tension. I arrive with:
My role isn’t to influence the outcome. It’s to create the conditions where the best possible outcome can be reached. That frees everyone else, including your own chair and CEO, to focus fully on contributing what they know.
How I chair
Every meeting I chair runs on three principles. Together they give people the confidence to disagree without falling out.
Every voice gets a genuine hearing. The Speak Once Rule applies: nobody speaks twice until everyone who wants to has spoken once.
Procedure is respected and behaviour is managed. Respectful disagreement is welcome. Personal conflict is not.
Discussion keeps moving towards a clear decision, with agreed actions and everyone knowing the way forward.
Keeping time and moving through the agenda is only a small part of the job. An effective chair:
Seeing the landscape and the detail
From high above, a hawk sees the whole landscape. The patterns, the relationships, the movement, the risks. Then, when something important appears, it focuses instantly on a single point.
That’s how I chair. Throughout the discussion I’m moving between the big objective and the smallest detail, watching what’s said aloud and what’s happening beneath the surface. Often the most valuable thing I do is ask one carefully considered question at exactly the right moment.
Managing the energy
Every meeting finds its own rhythm. Sometimes discussion flows. Sometimes it gets tense. Sometimes the energy fades, or one person dominates while another stays silent. Managing those moments is one of the most important things an independent chair does. It means knowing when to:
Creating calm when it matters most
Strong personalities compete for influence. Sensitive issues create tension. People stop listening and start defending positions. These are the moments where experience matters most.
My role is to stay calm, impartial and focused, and to guide the discussion back towards constructive dialogue and sound decisions.
Respectful disagreement is healthy. Personal conflict is not.
Where an independent chair adds value
Formal or informal, large or small, for a single meeting or ongoing support, the principles stay the same:
What to expect
Why organisations engage David Price
For more than 40 years I’ve helped organisations improve the way they communicate, meet and make decisions. My background combines governance, meeting procedure, facilitation, leadership and communication. That combination lets me do far more than run an agenda.
Clients often tell me they value my ability to stay calm under pressure, read the room, manage difficult personalities and keep discussions moving without rushing important decisions. The goal is never just to finish the agenda. It’s to make sure the meeting achieves its purpose.
I chair for boards and directors, advisory boards, executive teams, local government, professional associations, member-based and community organisations, not-for-profits and business owners.
Questions
Whenever the meeting is particularly important, involves sensitive issues, needs impartiality, or would benefit from every participant being fully engaged in the discussion instead of managing the process.
Yes. Many organisations engage me specifically because relationships are strained, opinions differ or the decisions being made have significant consequences.
Yes. Advisory boards are one of the places an independent chair adds the most value, making sure every member contributes while keeping discussion focused and productive.
Yes. I regularly chair Annual General Meetings, Special General Meetings and member meetings where independence and procedural integrity are essential.
Absolutely. Meeting procedure and governance have been central to my work for decades. I chair formal meetings that need strict procedural compliance, as well as less formal executive and planning meetings.
A chair leads a formal meeting: the agenda, the procedure and the decisions. A facilitator guides a less formal session, like a workshop or planning day, helping a group explore ideas and reach agreement. If that sounds more like what you need, have a look at my impartial facilitator service.
No. The decisions always belong to your board, committee or organisation. My job is to create a fair, balanced and effective process that helps your people make well-informed decisions together.
David is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), a Global Speaking Fellow and Past World President of the Global Speakers Federation, and a member of the Australian Speakers Hall of Fame. He brings more than 40 years of real-world experience, plenty of humour and practical ideas people can use straight away.
Every important meeting deserves the right leadership
The quality of a meeting is rarely decided by the agenda alone. It’s decided by the leadership guiding the conversation. I’d welcome the chance to help you run a meeting that’s fair, productive and worthy of the decisions being made.
Running a workshop or planning day rather than a formal meeting? You may need an impartial facilitator instead.
Or fill in the form below and we’ll get back to you faster than a Tim Tam disappears.