Guide to Meetings

Table of Contents

1. Copyright
2. Introduction
   1. How This Book Can Help You
   2. Who Can Use This Book
   3. Why This Book Was Written
   4. How the Book Is Organized
      1. Part I: Planning the meeting (Chapters 1–5)
      2. Part II: Conducting the meeting (Chapters 6–10)
   5. Acknowledgments
3. I. Planning the Meeting
   1. 1. Why Meet? Define Your Purpose and Choose Your Channel
      1. 1. Specify your purpose for meeting
         1. General meeting goals
         2. Specific meeting purpose
      2. 2. Decide if a meeting is the best channel to use
         1. Should you hold a meeting?
         2. Should you speak to one individual?
         3. Should you write?
         4. Should you make a presentation?
      3. 3. Analyze your attitudes toward meetings
         1. Meetings are real work
         2. Meetings are not easy
         3. Meetings must balance competing needs
   2. 2. Who to Include? Select and Analyze the Participants
      1. 1. Who to invite?
         1. How many participants?
         2. What type of group do you want?
         3. Who needs to be there?
      2. 2. What are their backgrounds and expectations?
         1. What are their individual backgrounds?
         2. What are their cultural characteristics?
         3. How much background or new information do they need?
      3. 3. What are they feeling?
         1. What emotions do they feel?
         2. How interested are they in the meeting?
         3. How is the timing for them?
         4. Who needs a pre-meeting conversation?
   3. 3. What to Discuss? Orchestrate the Roles and Set the Agenda
      1. 1. Orchestrate the roles
         1. Who will serve as facilitator?
         2. Who will serve as scribe?
         3. Who will serve as timer?
         4. Who will serve as minutes writer?
      2. 2. Set the agenda
         1. Specify the purpose and the participants
         2. Schedule agenda items
         3. Explain each agenda item
         4. Decide on the discussion format
         5. Decide on a decision-making technique
         6. Distribute the agenda in advance
   4. 4. How to Record Ideas? Plan for Graphic Facilitation
      1. 1. Deciding whether to record ideas
         1. What are the benefits?
         2. Why prepare in advance?
      2. 2. Choosing equipment for graphic facilitation
         1. Flipcharts
         2. Traditional black or white boards
         3. Electronic boards
         4. Electronic “live boards”
         5. Projectors
         6. Handouts
         7. Computer projectors
      3. 3. Planning design and headings in advance
         1. Using a visual framework to facilitate discussion
         2. Using color
         3. Composing chart headings in advance
   5. 5. Where to Meet? Plan for Technology and Logistics
      1. 1. Face-to-face versus electronic meetings
         1. When to meet face-to-face
         2. When to meet by videoconference
         3. When to meet by EMS
         4. When to meet by email
         5. When to meet by broadcasting or webcasting
         6. When to meet by conference call
      2. 2. Logistics for face-to-face meetings
         1. Choose a meeting site
         2. Think about spatial relationships
         3. Prepare with the scribe
         4. Check the details
         5. Check the equipment
4. II. Conducting the Meeting
   1. 6. Opening the Meeting
      1. 1. Task functions for opening the meeting
         1. Stress purpose and outcomes
         2. Review the agenda
         3. Deal with latecomers
      2. 2. Process functions for opening the meeting
         1. Set the tone
         2. Remind participants of their roles
         3. Reach agreement on the ground rules
         4. Involve people early
         5. Use icebreakers with new groups
   2. 7. Verbal Facilitation: Getting Them to Talk
      1. 1. Facilitate: don’t dominate
         1. Decide whether to participate
         2. Be silent or talk infrequently
      2. 2. Stimulate discussion
         1. Ask open-ended questions
         2. Use “door openers.”
         3. Show support for every person’s right to speak
         4. Paraphrase what people say
         5. Paraphrase feelings
         6. Use brainstorming ground rules
      3. 3. Encourage healthy debate
         1. Why healthy debate is good
         2. How to encourage healthy debate
      4. 4. Avoid problems and confrontations
         1. Discourage unhealthy debate
         2. Avoid dominance by any one person or subgroup
         3. Deal with disrupters
         4. Avoid social loafing
         5. Avoid groupthink
   3. 8. Listening Facilitation: Hearing What They Say
      1. 1. Mental listening skills
         1. Remove internal and external barriers
         2. Show an active interest in understanding others
         3. Hear the difference between issue and motives
         4. Distinguish between logical and emotional content
      2. 2. Nonverbal listening skills
         1. Body language
         2. Space around you
   4. 9. Graphic Facilitation: Recording What They Say
      1. 1. Recording discussions
         1. Plan your graphics
         2. Record for accuracy
         3. Record to move the discussion forward
         4. Record to ensure inclusiveness
         5. Record to be readable
         6. Use your equipment credibly
      2. 2. Recording brainstorming sessions
         1. 1. Post individual ideas
         2. 2. Group ideas
         3. 3. Look for common themes
   5. 10. Closing the Meeting
      1. 1. Making decisions
         1. Decision-making models
         2. Decision-making techniques
      2. 2. Ending the meeting
         1. Knowing when to end
         2. Summarizing the meeting
         3. Confirming the summary
         4. Ending on a positive note
      3. 3. Following up
         1. What minutes are
         2. Why minutes are important
         3. When to distribute
   6. Bibliography