Making Meetings Better (Meeting Facilitation)

This is a PowerPoint presentation I have created to summarize the recent Lynda certification I received on Making Meeting Better. I hope you find this insightful, enjoy!

1. Making Meetings Better (Meeting Facilitation) By, Rosario Guarnieri

2. Facilitator’s Focus Interpersonal Dynamics Ensuring participation Keeping diverse views represented Maintaining team energy Designing norms Reminding others of the agenda Managing awkward moments Structure of the process Agenda Pre-work expectations Decisions Desired outcome

3. Internal or External Facilitation? When trying to determine whether to apply facilitation internally or externally, ask yourself these five questions: Which meetings are critical? Would a facilitator improve team performance? What’s the monetary value? Is it worth an external facilitator? What extra will an external facilitator bring?

4. Pros and Cons of Internal Facilitation Emotional Investment Pro: Highly invested in the success of the team Con: Difficult to let go of control Culture Pro: Higher chance for empathy Con: Open to favoritism Content Pro: Better understanding of the content Con: Harder to stay neutral

5. Focus on the Objective Establish a clear objective Know how the objective relates to the content and people Keep meetings on track Synthesize peoples thoughts

6. Preparation of the Meeting Start with a solid agenda Pre work: All reading, watching, or writing prior to meeting Summary of content and questions Things to consider: Which topics are important? How much time? What is the desired outcome? When will you communicate?

7. Successful Meeting Structure The 5 elements of structure include: Walkthrough of the agenda Manage time Assign a scribe End with action, ownership, and items to be discussed later Seek feedback

8. Optimizing Outcomes as a Facilitator Consistency of tools Get team to commit to using tool consistently Shared accountability Identifying norms, and determine which are critical for success Trust and connection Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) Self Orientation