Executive Overview | Meeting Design | Meeting Roles | Facilitation Techniques
Beyond Ice-Breakers: What Do We Mean By “Participatory Processes?”
For years I have described myself as a specialist in participatory processes, naively assuming that people will understand what the work entails and why it is important. Now that “participatory” [...]
Meetings as Ritual… revisited
Reflecting recently on the banality of most meetings, I turned to “Meetings as Ritual,” an article I wrote in May 2005 and later included in the Bonfire Collection (2014). Here [...]
A Cure for “Failure to Follow up” Syndrome
One of the most frequent complaints I hear about meetings is that there is no follow up to the discussion. The meeting is held, issues are debated, decisions might be [...]
The Balance between Results and Relationship in Meetings
Some people experience a tension between achieving results and building relationships in a meeting. They see these as two competing – and possibly mutually exclusive goals. For me this is [...]
How long should a meeting last?
When someone asks me “How long should a meeting last?” the underlying question often is “How can we avoid meetings that drag on with no apparent end in sight?” The [...]
What Is Your Policy For Setting The Meeting Agenda?
When I ask people how the agenda is set for meetings in their organization, too often I receive responses like these: Agenda? What agenda? Most of our meetings do not [...]
Establishing a meeting “time budget”
Making optimal use of the group’s time is one of the critical success factors in any meeting. So how do you decide how much time to allot for each issue [...]
Are “meeting” and “conversation” synonymous?
Quick answer: No. Here are some typical distinctions between these two formats for human interaction. Meeting Conversation Formal Informal Set time and place Spontaneous Conference table Kitchen table Protocol-driven Arise [...]
How to be inclusive without being boring?
With the good intention of 'being inclusive,' meeting organizers sometimes propose dynamics that are more boring than productive. Some typical examples of these mistaken practices include: A round of introductions [...]
Unmotivated people or badly planned meetings?
Our students and colleagues often ask us how to motivate people to attend meetings. If you face a “motivational problem” in meetings that you convene or facilitate, please take a [...]
What can everyday meetings learn from special events – and vice versa?
As consultants in participatory processes, we have observed that many organizations plan their special events such as conferences, workshops, forums, assemblies, etc. differently than their everyday business meetings. We wonder, [...]
Coffee break snacks: More important than you think!
We have written in the past about the importance of scheduling breaks during meetings. Now we want to go a step further to investigate what is on the table beside [...]
Are your large meetings and conferences trapped in the middle ages?
Consider the language we use to name the elements of most large meetings: Dignitaries on a podium (raised platform) in the front of an auditorium Plenary sessions that everyone is [...]
Boredom: The tragic result of poor meeting planning
We believe that meetings should be meaningful, dynamic, interesting, engaging, productive – or cancelled. Too often, however, everyday business meetings are neither interesting nor cancelled, they are BORING. Too many [...]
Why your meetings need breaks
Breaks are strategies to increase participation and satisfaction in meetings. Let´s reflect for a moment about the meaning of this statement from the point of view of the three principal [...]
Take a moment so that the soul can arrive
We always suggest the importance of taking into account the group's context and overall state of mind when planning a meeting. Now we want to share some ideas about how [...]
Taking the human factor into account
You can balance the contents of an agenda with the time available for the meeting in several ways. While these “structural” elements can go a long way toward improving the [...]
The “laundry list” syndrome and how to counteract it
Too often meetings start out by making a collective list of issues to be addressed. The resulting "laundry list" includes everything from broad concepts (strategic planning) to pet peeves (messy [...]
Don’t Confuse A Meeting With A Coffee Break
Imagine this scenario: Six people gather around a table in the conference room for their weekly staff meeting. They sip coffee, chat about football, politics or the family vacation, enjoying [...]
When NOT to call a meeting
This is a message for those who never chose to be a group facilitator, but nevertheless have had responsibility for meetings thrust upon them. Before your next meeting, drugs take [...]
Ideal number of meeting participants?
In a recent training on Effective Meetings I was asked, “What is the ideal number of meeting participants?” My short answer is that there is no ideal number. What really matters [...]