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If you have ten minutes before you are facilitating a meeting or delivering a presentation, reminding yourself of who you want to be as a facilitator is a great way of preparing to present. These ten minutes are not the time to re-train yourself or fix big challenges in your public speaking style. Nor are …
Improving breakout sessions at meetings is not about doing more or less of them, it is about changing HOW you do them. When most people think about breakout groups in meetings, they think of boring and unproductive conversations that they aren’t very excited to have. Sending people off into smaller groups to talk about something …
As the end of the calendar year approaches, many businesses and organizations are getting ready to take a breath before diving into the new year. These organizational pauses are often a good time for celebrating success at work – what has gone well since the last time you paused? Too often we rush from one …
One of the most obvious results of the pandemic is that more and more busineses interactions are happening virtually. But what happens when you host hybrid meetings – with some folks in person and some folks online? How do you balance physical presence with virtual connection in a way that works for everyone? It is …
Designing and planning a retreat is much like cooking a good meal. The recipe matters, but so do the natural instincts of the chef, the folks who contribute to the food, the way in which you add the ingredients, and the setting where it is cooked up and served. When I’m designing a retreat, I …
When I ask friends and colleagues what bugs them about meetings they attend, the most common answer I get is pointless meetings – or “meeting just for the sake of meeting.” They don’t understand why they have to attend meetings at which there is no clear agenda or goal. Frankly, I don’t blame them. One …
I’m going to start this article on managing time at meetings with a strong statement: wasting other people’s time is disrespectful, and we do it all the time at meetings. In fact, I would argue that feeling your time was wasted is one of the biggest reasons that people hate meetings; they could have been …
If the pandemic forced your staff to work remotely, the adjustment back to working together (when it is safe to do so) may feel strange. Folks have fallen into new habits, schedules have changed, and our ways of communicating have adjusted. Some of those changes are for the better, and a hybrid workplace may be …
What does it look like for you when a meeting is unsuccessful? For me, unsuccessful meeting are the ones that seem to lack purpose, direction, and productivity. They’re the ones in which you get distracted because they don’t seem important enough to be happening, or the ones that seem incredibly important but aren’t run in …
Does the thought of another online meeting make your eyes roll to the back of your head? Can’t take one more “you’re on mute,” barking dog, or meeting that seems to lack any purpose or direction? Zoom Fatigue (or Teams, or whatever platform you use) from too many boring online meetings is hitting big time. …
