Don't bring surprises into the meeting. Build consensus for votes before bringing up the vote. Call a few people and find out if you are on target, it takes far less time and energy to do this kind of work in preparation for the meeting then it will to work through an issue in the meeting. Do not avoid conflict.
Conflict can be healthy.
Try and find ways to see common ground and build on that. Again this can be done wonderfully outside of the meeting. As long as you avoid gossip and are honest about agenda items. If conflict occurs and it degrades in to a potentially disruptive condition bring in a third party facilitator to help you refocus on the common ground. Don't just stuff it.