The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Beginning and Ending Meetings

In this chapter, I describe the relatively predictable interventions I make to begin and end meetings. First, I describe how to set up a room in which facilitating is to be done. Then I describe how I help groups perform such preliminary tasks as agreeing on an agenda and the roles people will play. When I do this, I am making macro interventions that involve managing structure and process. By making these interventions, I help the group create a foundation for an effective meeting.

PREPARING THE ROOM

How the room is arranged is part of the physical environment, which is an element of the group effectiveness ...