Managing Assembly

 But reality is often not like that. Sometimes the people you need are unavailable or late, and when they arrive physically (or virtually) their minds can often be somewhere else entirely.

And the venue (physical or virtual) can also be a challenge. Poor venues (rooms or technology) can set up reactions and challenges which distract people from the task at hand, and make it difficult to facilitate the interactions that you need.

And while we may think we are rational beings, and these things are of little importance to arriving at a decisions, the reality is that they can have a big influence on our initial disposition and how we react to different stimuli.

Assembly is about maximising the speed of getting to the most favourable start point through preparation of people and facilities.

 

We recommend that you arrive 15 minutes early, and take the time to set up the room with easily visible guidance on the objectives, agenda, any ‘arrival’ instructions, and an ambience suited to helping people to move past the tensions and stresses they have brought with them into a productive mindset for what is to come. Quiet music can help with this. It will also give you time to prepare your own mind for facilitation.

If your facilities do not lend themselves to this, perhaps because of awkwardly located meeting rooms, troublesome internet connections, complex tools or inadequate resources, consider putting in 10 minutes preparation time for people, with clear guidance on how to ensure they can ‘arrive well’.

As the meeting organiser, we recommend that you equip yourself with your own ‘battle-box’ of what you might need in the meeting. For physical meetings, this might be sticky-notes, pens, masking tape etc. For virtual meetings it can be easy to set-up polls, or standard text to cut and paste, or links to other tools. This will enable you to prepare the ‘room’, even if things are missing when you get there.

For strategies concerned with facilities – click here

 

By planning a minute or two of silence, you give time and space for them to become fully aware of what is going on with their attention, and to make an intention to put that to one side and to focus on the needs of the meeting and their colleagues within the meeting.

Initially, this may feel very alien to them, so it will need a few words of explanation, but by being clear on what you are expecting them to do, and making it a regular part of each of your meetings, you will find that your meetings start better and more coherently.  For more information, see ‘bringing the best version of yourself’.

Attendance issues can waste a lot of time in meetings for a variety of reasons: Not having the right input at the right time; waiting for people to turn up; over-extended breaks; repeating things for people who are late, or who weren’t paying full attention, or who didn’t prepare properly. All of these things sap the energy of the meeting and delay its progress.

Meeting efficiency depends on getting these things sorted out as (or even before) they occur. There are a number of things you can do to help ensure that your attendees arrive with the right attitudes and a supportive mindset, including: selecting people who really want/need to be there; speaking to people before the meeting to draw out their hopes and agree shared expectations; using the meetings as development opportunities for them; making your meetings active and interesting – right from the start.

For strategies concerned with attendance – click here