To rehearse as the board chair before the meeting, put the pre-read, the ask in one sentence, and a short profile of how the chair runs the room into one request, then instruct Pingpong to stay in that seat: judge whether the pack is vote-ready, flag agenda and process gaps, name the fiduciary pressures the chair would raise, and say what must change before a vote. Do it while you can still fix materials, resolution language, or the agenda order.
This page is for that chair role-play. For the director most likely to vote no, see role-play the skeptical director. For a question list across seats, see anticipate board questions. For seats plus outside scenarios, see war-game a decision before the board meeting. For unsupported claims in the pack, see review a board pack before the meeting. Executive starting points live under Pingpong for executives.
What a chair role-play is for
The chair controls time, order, and process: consent versus discussion, named recusal for conflicted directors, materials timing for a fiduciary review, and whether the resolution is one motion or two. Staff who wrote the memo already defend the ask. The chair role-play presses the process questions that can delay or reshape the vote even when the room likes the substance.
Give the model a real profile for the chair: how that person runs the agenda, what they deferred last meeting, and which process rules they enforce. A blank "board chair" label produces generic governance talk.
A worked example
This example is illustrative and does not describe a customer. The chief executive of a 220-person industrial software company plans to ask the board next Thursday for a $9 million equity extension from existing investors and a 12 percent list-price increase on enterprise renewals next quarter. The pre-read is a board memo, a use-of-proceeds table, a runway model, a renewal cohort export, draft resolution language, and the prior minutes.
The chief executive puts the pack into one request with the sitting chair: an independent director who insists on materials five business days before the meeting, separates capital and commercial votes, and last quarter deferred a related-party item until counsel named the recusal sequence in writing.
A useful pass opens on process. Materials hit the portal only three business days before the meeting, so the chair would pull the item from the decision agenda unless the board votes to waive the five-day rule. The draft resolution combines the raise and the price increase into one motion; the chair would split them so a director can support the raise and reject the price change. Two investor directors are also in the extension, and the memo never names who leaves the room, who minutes the recusal, or who re-opens the session. The agenda gives 25 minutes for the packet; the chair's last similar capital item ran 50. The runway model assumes 94 percent enterprise retention after the increase; the cohort export shows accounts over $200,000 already churn at 11 percent on flat pricing.
The chief executive changes the pack before it goes out: materials reissued with the five-day clock restarted, two separate resolutions, a written recusal sequence cleared with counsel, a 55-minute agenda block, and a retention sensitivity table beside the raise ask.
A request you can copy
Below are a board pre-read, the decision I am asking the board to make, and a short profile of how the board chair runs the meeting. Role-play as that chair for the whole reply. Open with whether you would put this item on for a vote, defer it, or split it. Then list every process, agenda, materials-timing, recusal, or resolution problem your seat would raise, quoting the page or line. Name the fiduciary pressures you would put on management before calling for a motion. End with the conditions under which you would allow a vote at this meeting, or state that you would defer and why. Stay in the chair seat. Don't rewrite the slides for me.
Paste the prior minutes and any note about how the chair handled timing or recusals last time.
How Pingpong runs the role-play
The web review app sends your request through several models in order. Each later model receives the original request and every earlier answer, with instructions to assess the work so far. An early pass might open on agenda fitness; a later pass might check whether the resolution language matches the ask. Check every flagged claim against the source file before you change the pack. For the steps inside the app, see running your first review.
What a model can't role-play
A model does not know which directors already aligned on a private call, what counsel cleared for related-party process, or what the chair promised after the last closed session. Legal, tax, accounting, and personnel questions belong with the people responsible for those answers.
If you need the seat that will argue no on the substance, see role-play the skeptical director. For a strategy fork still open, see war-game a company strategy choice. When the call sits inside your own authority with no vote, see review a CEO decision before you announce it. More guides live under work decisions before you commit.