Running Great Meetings and Workshops For Dummies

Jessica Pryce-Jones and Julia Lindsay are joint CEOs of the iOpener Institute for People and Performance, an international consultancy headquartered in Oxford, UK. iOpener helps organisations achieve their commercial goals and makes this happen with great meetings and workshops. Over the past 10 years, iOpener has delivered approximately 15,000 workshops world-wide.

"All in all, this book is a great toolkit packed full of useful tips and creative ideas for facilitating efficient and effective meetings. Read it, re-read it and recommend it." (B2B Marketing, October 2014)"It is worth a read and it could help provide the tools you need." (First Voice of Business, December 2014)"Take heed of its contents and your meetings and workshops will be rewarded with enthusiastic and attentive participants." (CILIP Update, May 2015)

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 5Part I: Getting Started with Meetings and Workshops 7Chapter 1: The Business Case for Better Meetings and Workshops 9Reviewing Why People Hate Meetings 10Being clear about what everyone dislikes 10Recognising how many meetings are unproductive 13Working out the incredible costs of poor meetings 14Understanding the ripple effect 15Knowing what everyone wants from their meetings 15Recognising When People Get a Lot from Their Workshops 16Developing a great design 17Delivering brilliantly 17Understanding Meetings and Workshops 18Recognising the similarities 18Understanding the differences 19One more thing 20Chapter 2: Planning Your Meeting 21Deciding Whether You Really Need a Meeting 22Reflecting on Your Objective 23Content-free versus content rich meetings 24Getting to a one-sentence objective 26Understanding the Function of an Agenda 29Writing a great agenda 29Getting your agenda items for a meeting 30Managing your sponsors and stakeholders 31Planning agenda items 32Recognising a poor agenda 37Structuring a Great Agenda 38Reviewing a good agenda 38Writing really simple agendas 42Planning For and Managing Personal Energy 43Double-Checking Your Preparation 45Chapter 3: Planning Your Workshop 47Understanding What Workshops Are All About 48Recognising when you might want to run a workshop 49Following your decision: Making a project plan 50Identifying Your Stakeholders 50Finding your key players 51Meeting your sponsor and any key players 53Defining Your Outcomes 53Checking your outcomes 55Reviewing some good and some bad outcomes 55Understanding why you spend so much time on outcomes 57Establishing the return on investment (ROI) 57Getting Ready to Do the Design 60Thinking it through 61Considering whether to stay on-site or go off-site 63Checking out the workshop room 63Doing Your Design 64Getting in the right frame of mind 64Working on and with your personal style 64Recognising all the different activities available 68Getting a rough design together 69Writing up your one-page design 70Breaking the ice 72Writing your detailed running order 73Getting sponsor sign-off 74Supporting materials 75Joining instructions 75Building your skills and getting good at group work: Next steps 76Chapter 4: Getting Ready for the Big Day 77Developing Your Essential Skills 78Asking good questions 78Listening to others and the overall conversation in play 84Recognising the levels of listening 86Observing others 89Understanding Groups 96Understanding group norms 97Communicating in a group 98Decision-making 98Surfacing issues and concerns 99Doing real work 100Assessing the gel factor 101Building self-awareness 101Practising What You’ll Say 102Rehearsing 103Visualising your session 104Part II: Running Great Group Sessions 105Chapter 5: Handling the Start of Your Session 107Managing Yourself 108Wearing the right clothes 108Checking your materials 110Eating the right food and drinking the right drink 110Getting there early 111Imagining yourself doing well 112Meeting and greeting everyone 112Kicking Off the Session 113Creating the atmosphere you want 114Outlining the agenda 115Housekeeping 116Clarifying expectations 116Allocating roles and responsibilities 118Setting up ground rules or a code of conduct 119Decision-Making 120Understanding the decision-making process 121Understanding your decision-making options 122Working with weighted decision-making 123Recognising Personalities in the Room 125Working with Bolton & Bolton’s Social Styles 126Working with Honey & Mumford’s Learning Styles 130Chapter 6: Continuing Your Meeting or Workshop 135Managing Process 136Checking in 136Signposting 138Summarising 139Linking 139Stating what’s been said: Paraphrasing 141Writing up key information on a flip chart 142Giving clear instructions 143Facilitating Group Discussions 145Introducing a discussion topic 146Getting input to a topic 146Allowing a conversation to move sideways 147Shutting up 148Dealing with an elephant in the room 148Dealing with comments skillfully 149Managing Process Problems 151Managing time 151Dealing with rabbit holes 152Using parking lots 153Opening old issues up, closing current ones down 154Managing energy 155Managing guests 155Dealing with unexpected situations 157Revisiting and reviewing expectations 158Reviewing Your Meetings and Workshops 158Reviewing a meeting 159Using online tools 159Reviewing a workshop 160Chapter 7: Dealing with the Tough Stuff: Troubleshooting 161Managing Typical Barriers to Success 161Knowing What to Do When It’s Not Working 162At the start of your session – when the group helps you 163At the start of your session – the group doesn’t help you 164During your session 166Dealing with Run-of-the-Mill Difficulties 167Handling Interruptions 169Phones 169Laptops and tablets 169To-ings and fro-ings 170Dealing with Difficult Behaviour 170Managing distorted thinking 170Dealing with difficult individuals 171Tactical seating 177Recognising Personal and Hidden Agendas 178Tuning in to personal agendas 178Tuning in to hidden agendas 179Dealing with personal and hidden agendas 179Dealing with recommendations 180Managing Conflict 180Recognising unhealthy and healthy conflict 181Getting the group to understand what’s happening 182Dealing with conflict: A process for a group 183Dealing with conflict: A process for individuals or factions 184The main take-away 187Chapter 8: Handling What Happens Next 189Reflecting On Your Meeting or Workshop 190How did it go at a big-picture level? 190What specifically should I keep doing? 190What specifically should I start doing? 191Writing Up Meeting Minutes 191Writing up simple minutes 192Writing up more formal minutes 193Using meeting software 195Calculating Your Return on Investment 196Evaluating your work 197Expressing ROI 198Reporting On and Closing Your Project 199Reports 200Review meetings 200Understanding project closure 201Reviewing your entire project 201Writing up your report 205Part III: Building Your Skills 207Chapter 9: Building Participants’ Knowledge and Practise 209Working with Case Studies 210Understanding what they are all about 210Knowing when to use the case study method 211Thinking through your purpose 212Using great cases 212Managing everyone’s preparation 214Working with the group 215Working with Role Play 217Believing that it’s the right thing to do 218Calling it what you will 219Developing realistic and appropriate role plays 219Setting the role play up for success 221Managing and explaining the process 221Understanding your role play options 227Reinforcing the standard 228Using Video 229Reflecting on personal performance 229Observing personal performance 230Reviewing footage 230Getting the right technology 231Having the right software 232Chapter 10: Running Focus Groups 233Knowing When to Use a Focus Group 233Thinking About What You Want to Achieve 234Side effects of a focus group 235Characteristics of a focus group 235Preparing for Your Focus Groups 236Defining a clear purpose statement 236Building your timeline 237Getting the right people in the room 238Generating the right questions 239Developing a script 241Recording information 244Preparing your kit 244Running a Focus Group 245Working with observers 245Pausing 246Checking your technology 246Writing It All Up 247Transcribing your material or writing up your notes 247Sorting and then analysing your data 248Interpreting your data 249Writing up your report 250Putting it all into action 251Recognising the disadvantages of focus groups 252Chapter 11: Taking It to the Next Level 253Brainstorming: Best Practise 253Recognising problems with brainstorming 254Brainstorming effectively 255Managing large group brainstorming 264Managing small group brainstorming 265Brainstorming alone 266Working with Some Common Group Tools 2673Ws 267SWOT Analysis 269RACI analysis 272Force field analysis 273Ishikawa or fishbone diagram 275Decision trees 278Using Appreciative Inquiry 280Understanding Parallel Process 283Chapter 12: Running Remote or Virtual Meetings and Workshops 285Managing Remote Meetings 286Recognising when to have a remote meeting 286Inviting the right people 287Limiting the agenda 287Finding a good time 287Sending invitations and call details 288Sharing materials 288Managing your kit 289Getting going on time 289Reaffirming the ground rules 289Stating your goal 290Using a wingman when working remotely 290Keeping it relevant 291Handling PowerPoint 291Taking control when you can 291Being respectful of time 292Signposting 292Using ‘let’s’ to drive direction 292Thinking about your voice 293Asking questions for active participation 294Recording your meeting 295Saving all the information 295Reviewing your meetings 295Managing Hybrid Meetings 296Working with ten top best practises 296Reviewing Available Technology 298Understanding Remote and Virtual Workshops 301Embracing yet more technology 302Recognising the challenges 303Thinking about virtual learning 303Building your next steps 306Part IV: The Part of Tens 307Chapter 13: Ten Common Mistakes on the Day 309Failing to Set Up Group Work Properly 309Talking Too Much 310Ignoring Emotion 311Failing to Join the Dots 311Failing to Deal with a Difficult Person 312Failing to Recognise an Expert in the Room 312Failing to Change What You’re Doing 313Thinking about the Detail Rather Than the Big Picture 313Failing to Push a Group 314Being Too Dogmatic 314Chapter 14: Ten Things You Have to Do When the Pressure is On 317Preparing Brilliantly 317Having a Plan to Move Away from It 318Creating Rapport 318Building Trust with the Group 319Taking Breaks 320Being Fair to Everyone 320Dealing with the Unacceptable 321Using Humour 321Noticing When the Group is Going Off Track 322Holding It Together 322Index 325