Resources: Meetings & Facilitation

Tools

1. ‣Meeting Wizard – An easy way to gather input from others about their availability for various proposed meeting dates. Also will send confirmations and reminders for you.
   

2. ‣Using the Parking Lot – A nice collection of tips on how to use a “parking lot” to keep your meeting focused and on-topic.
   

3. ‣How to Make a Sticky Wall – Some of you have seen me use this tool in meetings. You attach your sticky fabric to the wall (blue painter’s tape usually works fine), then you can stick any piece of paper to it and move the papers around as you please -- clustering related ideas, etc. It’s great for brainstorming, planning processes, and so forth. You can pay a lot to buy one online, but why would you when you can make your own so easily?
   

Reading

1. ‣The Art of Powerful Questions (pdf) – From the World Cafe website, this is one of my all-time favorite articles. It highlights the power of great questions (beautifully summarized in the article’s subtitle: “Catalyzing Insight, Innovation, and Action”), explains how to craft questions that pack a great punch, and then provides a list of sample questions you can use or adapt to your own situation. Excellent resource when you’re looking for ways to stimulate a meaningful conversation at your meeting.
   

2. ‣Death by Meeting* – One of those fun leadership fables, this one tells a story that illustrates two key problems that turn meetings into boring time wasters: lack of drama, and inappropriate structure. The author uses a television and movies metaphor to demonstrate the things you can do to make your meetings work well.
   

3. ‣Basic Facilitation Skills (pdf) – A simple primer from the International Association of Facilitators.
   

Websites

1. ‣Ice Breakers – Links to lots of other pages that feature various icebreakers and energizers for all kinds of meetings.
   

*Full disclosure: The links marked with an asterisk (*) take you to view more information about those resources. If you decide to purchase them, I’ll earn a small commission – but only if you use these links to do so. Note that I never recommend products I haven’t reviewed myself and don’t believe offer real value.