Close off all other routes and leave a single exit to your house open, like a wide open window. If getting to a window in the same room the squirrel is in puts you too close to the squirrel for your own comfort, you might: Open the window in the room next to the one the squirrel is in, leave the door open to that room, and close off all other routes. Drawers, cupboards, and other nooks and crannies comfort the squirrel, as these may remind it of its natural habitat or its nest in the knothole of a tree. By closing these off you can prevent the intruding squirrel from hiding out in a safe place as opposed to hightailing it out of your home. Especially in inhospitable weather, like in winter or during a drought, a squirrel may be especially hard to remove if it has a food source available. Squirrels, like other rodents, have sharp teeth that can gnaw through even thick bags. Remove even closed food sources. Squirrels, much like many animals, are sensitive to certain scents and other kinds of stimulus. In particular, squirrels have a dislike for the smell of cider vinegar, so you might want to soak some rags in the stuff and put them in the room in which your squirrel resides. You might also leave a radio playing constantly in the room the squirrel is in to drive it out. A bright light left on throughout the day and night can also make your house less appealing to squirrels. Predator urine can be bought from farm supply stores, sporting good centers, and online retailers. Soaking rags in predator urine, like that of a fox, could lead to your squirrel invader beating a hasty retreat. Squirrels in your attic or other narrow spaces, like a wall or crawlspace, can be difficult to get at without coming into too close of contact. In this case, you should bang on the rafters and walls. Even entering your attic and speaking in a loud voice may be enough to chase your squirrels out of your home. These loud noises will often provoke a squirrel's flight response, making it flee through the escape path you've provided. There are many different kinds of humane traps available. These are specially designed to help remove squirrels from your home. You can buy a humane trap at most hardware stores or from a general online retailer. A one-way door is a kind of trap that lures squirrels in but does not let them out. When using this kind of trap, you should take the squirrel at least 3 miles (4.8 km) away before releasing it. Depending on the kind of trap you buy, setup and squirrel removal may have different procedures. Always be sure to follow the directions that come with your trap for best results. If the room does not have a door, close all other doors that lead to that room and put up a makeshift barrier if possible. You'll want something the squirrel won't able get around or hop over, like a door sized piece of particle board or plywood. If you do not have particle board, plywood, or another door barrier available, you could always remove a door from another room and use it to block off the room the squirrel is in. When using a door from another room, you should anchor the door into place by putting something heavy, like a stack of books, boxes, a bag of salt, or a bag concrete at its base.

Summary: Provide an avenue of escape. Close off hiding spots while keeping your distance. Remove all food sources. Create some incentive to leave. Create loud noises for squirrels in difficult spaces. Use a humane trap. Leave the room and seal it off if necessary.

One of your roles as the meeting chair is to keep the discussion moving and on-task. Your role is not to offer opinion on every single issue or keep the discussion on an exact schedule. Have some flexibility. Let the other attendees talk freely and allow new topics of discussion to arise even if they're not on the agenda. You may find that you need to subtly end or change certain topics of conversation to keep the discussion on track, but you shouldn't feel as if you have to control every aspect of the meeting. After all, it's a collaborative process. As the meeting progresses, keep an eye on your agenda. If you're running behind, you may need to skip certain topics of discussion or table them for later in the interests of time. Don't be afraid to do this if the topics that are being discussed are very important ones. As the meeting chair, your job is to ensure an open, productive discussion. If you notice that certain attendees who may have knowledge relevant to the issues at hand aren't opening up to the group, encourage them to talk. You don't have to challenge or call them out directly simply saying something along the lines of, "I think Mrs. Smith's expertise would be useful here" is a great way to get less-active members of the meeting engaged. It can be difficult to remember that not everyone attending the meeting has the same amount of experience or knowledge in the topics of discussion. To make sure everyone attending the meeting has spent their time wisely, you may want to take the opportunity to briefly simplify complex issues or topics when they come up. The less-knowledgeable attendees will undoubtedly appreciate this. If they're not kept under control by a competent chair, meetings can be remarkably unproductive. Try to make sure that every important issue you came to discuss gets addressed. Don't allow attendees to blame-shift or offer vague excuses for problems that haven't been addressed. Try to pin down and obtain answers for issues that no one wants to address. Though this isn't necessarily what every attendee will want, these sorts of awkward questions are precisely the ones that need to be answered the most for the meeting to be as effective as possible. Make sure important decisions are recorded (if you have official record-keepers or minute-takers, assign them this task). If you're going to go the trouble of asking the hard questions, you'll want to make sure that the answers you get are well-documented. There's a reason meetings have a bad reputation for many, they're thought of as serious wastes of time. To prevent your meeting from running long, use your power as chair to keep the discussion moving. Don't be afraid to table certain unimportant issues or conversations until a later date if your meeting seems to be taking longer than you expected. Be ready and willing to adjust your schedule on the fly to make sure that none of your attendees' precious time is being wasted.
Summary: Guide the discussion, but don't dominate it. Encourage all attendees to participate. Make sure everyone understands what is being discussed. Don't ignore difficult or awkward questions. Keep track of your time.