Running Effective Meetings For Dummies

Chapter 11

Managing the Conversation Flow

IN THIS CHAPTER

Driving discussion forward to keep the meeting on track

Defining and using procedural communication

Giving you the tools to run an effective brainstorming session

There he goes again! You put your head in your hands and know you have five to ten minutes before you’ll need to wake up and say anything more. You really like this guy. He does good work. In fact, he’s been with the company for longer than just about everyone on the team put together. He has institutional knowledge that goes back forever and is often extremely helpful in that manner. You would consider him an important colleague and a friend. However, he is … a monologuer.

If you’re thinking, “What’s that?” allow us to explain. A monologuer is a person who likes to go off on a topic during meetings. Perhaps they have a favorite topic that they like to talk about. Perhaps, like the person just described, they know the history of every activity or project the organization has performed and likes to tell stories about them. Perhaps they just take a while to articulate their point, which many could make in a few statements. The point is, they like to talk. Maybe they ...