I think I would try to impose some structure and possibly have an actual moderator.
I basically moderate an in person meeting once a month (though my title is chair, not moderator). I'm supposed to keep things on topic, curtail problematic behavior and try to get us out of there on time. I also take written notes.
How you do that depends on a variety of factors, including the personalities involved.
So I would think about recurrent problematic patterns and try to resolve those.
Is the problem that Alice is prone to being long winded and talking about many things?
Is the problem that Bob routinely jumps in to say something about X, then just takes over the conversation, going wherever he so desires?
Etc.
So, some things that might help:
1. A written agenda for the meetings. You discuss topic A. Everyone gets their say. You check if everyone has said their piece before you move on to topic B.
2. You lay some ground rules that address specific problems you've noticed. Don't single anyone out, even if it's primarily one person guilty of doing it. Just write up a policy saying "We will not be doing x. We will do a, b and c."
3. Name a specific person who is supposed to keep the meeting on track. Part of that role includes helping make sure everyone gets to participate in a satisfactory manner.
4. Plan time at the end of the meeting for random comments, people returning to a point from earlier, etc.
This is great. We have written agendas but they're usually, "we will be discussing these three documents in this order" not an itemized list of concerns. The itemized list is dynamic depending on what comes up in the conversation. Do you try to solicit more granularity from participants beforehand to build into the agenda, or how does that work?
People who want topics added to the list can email me beforehand.
We typically go through the agenda and then talk a bit more generally afterwards. As long as it doesn't go too far afield or get too contentious, I'm tolerant of meandering topics for the last part of the meeting.
If it gets contentious and it's not really germaine, I try to say something like "This is getting really deep in the weeds about a thing we have no control over." and redirect conversation back to pertinent topics.
I basically moderate an in person meeting once a month (though my title is chair, not moderator). I'm supposed to keep things on topic, curtail problematic behavior and try to get us out of there on time. I also take written notes.
How you do that depends on a variety of factors, including the personalities involved.
So I would think about recurrent problematic patterns and try to resolve those.
Is the problem that Alice is prone to being long winded and talking about many things?
Is the problem that Bob routinely jumps in to say something about X, then just takes over the conversation, going wherever he so desires?
Etc.
So, some things that might help:
1. A written agenda for the meetings. You discuss topic A. Everyone gets their say. You check if everyone has said their piece before you move on to topic B.
2. You lay some ground rules that address specific problems you've noticed. Don't single anyone out, even if it's primarily one person guilty of doing it. Just write up a policy saying "We will not be doing x. We will do a, b and c."
3. Name a specific person who is supposed to keep the meeting on track. Part of that role includes helping make sure everyone gets to participate in a satisfactory manner.
4. Plan time at the end of the meeting for random comments, people returning to a point from earlier, etc.