Meeting Planning & Facilitation
Meetings are often necessary when conducting team work. If properly planned and facilitated, meetings allow for information sharing and provide opportunity for collective decision making, ultimately facilitating project progress. Without thoughtful planning and facilitation, however, meetings can be disorganized, unproductive, and can run over the allotted time. Having an effective meeting plan guides a team towards a common goal and assists in defining next steps. Before scheduling a meeting, consider the following:
- What are the main objectives of the meeting? These often translate directly into agenda items.
- How much time will be allotted for each agenda item? A timed agenda can assist teams in moving through important topics at an intentional pace.
- Who ideally will attend the meeting to accomplish the main objectives?
- Who will facilitate discussion at the meeting? Effective facilitation promotes balanced conversation among participants, and ensures high priority agenda items are discussed in the allotted time.
- What follow-up with participants is needed after the meeting ends?
Resources
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