tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866242447606383181.post6910677358478984331..comments2023-10-06T14:30:48.719+02:00Comments on On the road to discovery: Roxanna Samii blog: Ever considered how removing physical barriers can help hold effective meetings? #HappyValentinesDay #kmersAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933270079603837958noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866242447606383181.post-62842972005342853972016-02-16T15:35:07.211+01:002016-02-16T15:35:07.211+01:00Roxy, as the post describes, I agree that the ‘bas...Roxy, as the post describes, I agree that the ‘basics’ (wisdom) of organizing good meeting are pretty available at this point in time to anyone who wants to look for them. There are obviously lots of variables that speak to whether those ‘basics’ of good (effective) meeting practices are used (including leadership style, organizational culture, etc..) For those who are interested though, it does seem like it is time to take the available resources for creating an effective meeting environment to the next level. I like how you have begun to do that by focusing on the physical space of the proposed meeting. <br /><br />Perhaps we can encourage meeting organizers who are interested in going beyond the ‘basic good practices’ to look at the broader questions in planning a meeting. As Luis mentions in his comments, a first question might be “What are we trying to accomplish and do we need this in-person meeting to accomplish that?” If the answer is yes, ask the question: With a focus on the particular group, what will make the meeting an effective use of in-person time?” I note the focus on the particular group as although we often think we may be keeping a focus on the specific group when planning a meeting, an explicit focus can help us to determine things that may not at first be obvious – maybe there are differently- abled people involved where walking is not a good option; or an outside space that does not provide enough quiet to focus or shade that may be necessary for the groups needs, etc… With the focus on the specific group we can then be creative with the agenda, room set-up, sitting vs. walking, outside vs. inside, etc… to help generate the outcomes we are looking for from the meeting.<br /><br />It might be interesting to do a group google.doc on “Meeting basics 2.0” similar to the document Nancy White coordinated on online meetings. <br /><br />Thanks for stimulating our thinking!<br /><br />Bonnie Koenighttp://www.goinginternational.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1866242447606383181.post-53844742494766397652016-02-15T00:42:46.323+01:002016-02-15T00:42:46.323+01:00Hi Roxy, thanks a lot for the stupendous write-up ...Hi Roxy, thanks a lot for the stupendous write-up you have put together over here and for the shout-out on Twitter. I am surprised you haven't mentioned one of my favourite capabilities from hosting a meeting and that I think we need to start challenging it more and more by the minute: don't host the meeting! After all, the best meetings <a href="http://www.cmswire.com/social-business/i-cant-take-another-status-meeting-infographic/" rel="nofollow"> are canceled meetings.</a><br /><br />I don't think we are <a href="https://vinjones.com/challenge-your-meetings-a-vinjones-discussion/" rel="nofollow">challenging enough</a> how we eventually host, participate and engage in meetings, never mind figuring out their purpose in the first place, and I suspect it's something we should start up doing, and quite a bit and soon, too!, because otherwise meetings would become one of the most pernicious productivity pain points, if not already (I suspect email is pretty high on the list, too!). And I am <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7agjXFFQJU" rel="nofollow">not over-exaggerating</a> much, I would think. <br /><br />What's interesting about meetings is that they are a necessary evil, indeed, but it's something we can always refined and figure out what works best. For instance, both <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/nilofer_merchant_got_a_meeting_take_a_walk?language=en" rel="nofollow">Nilofer Merchant</a> and <a href="http://www.bethkanter.org/npwalk-5tips/" rel="nofollow">Beth Kanter</a>, to name a couple of examples, have been huge advocates around hosting walking meetings for pretty much the very same reasons you have stated above as well, Roxy, and they work great! I, too, can recommend them highly! <br /><br />But what I would do myself in terms of getting the most out of meetings, is essentially start challenging the nature of the meeting itself, i.e. whether we *really* need to host it, or not, because if it is something that can be done through offline collaboration and open knowledge sharing tools I don't see a reason why it couldn't be done through plenty of the digital tools we have got to our disposal at the moment. There is here an opportunity to work smarter, not necessarily smarter and I think it's time to start shifting gears in terms of how we view meetings, because right now they are becoming time sinks, but then again we go through huge ordeals to request a 200€ hard driver for work and yet no-one gets to challenge a single meeting with senior leadership for an hour. <br /><br />Time is the new currency and unless we start managing it much more effectively in terms of the time we spend in meetings, I think we are about to have many more problems than we would want to, in order to be effective in our jobs. Now, with all of that said, those links I have just shared in this comment will give us all plenty of fodder to figure out how we can get the most of hosting meetings without failing in the attempt. At the same time as having some fun watching Tripp & Tyler's video clips on our corporate life to understand where our challenges begin and what we can do about them :-D <br /><br />Looking forward to the follow-up conversations,Roxy! And thanks much for this wonderful blog post! Well done! Luis Suarezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11643539614785638494noreply@blogger.com