Assembly – full engagement from the outset

Meetings change people …

… they change what they know, how they feel, and what they’re going to do as a result. Early effective engagement is key to this.

The right people …

So, the first question is ‘Who do you need to change, and in what way?’ Because if you don’t need to change anyone’s understanding, attitude or intentions – even in a small way – you frankly don’t need a meeting.
Identifying the ‘who’ enables you to determine your list of attendees – basically those who are required to change (albeit in small ways, such as confidence in what will happen) and those who are required to enable that change.

… in the right ‘place’ …

Clarifying the change enables you to set a purpose for the meeting. This enables you to think through the journey people will need to take to make the change. And to be committed and confident in that.
If the change that is required is only minor, you may not actually need a meeting (in the formal sense of the word). There are a number of online tools that  provide a wide range of simple options for communicating efficiently outside of meetings. You can even make basic decisions in some of them, for example Slack and Trello. These tools enable people to participate at times that best suit their existing commitments.

… at the right time …

However, if you are looking for people to enact change it is better to find a suitable time to gather everyone together. This should take account of timezones. Achieving this remotely (same time, different locations) can be facilitated by a range of online video-conferencing solutions such as Zoom or Teams.

… ready and engaged

If you are setting up a remote meeting, other things you might like to think about are:

Getting Started

More Advanced