Author: Geri Schneider Winters
Meeting facilitation involves a number of skills, because your job is to guide the participants in addressing the topic of the meeting. If they need to make decisions, you guide them to make the decisions. If they need to brainstorm, you guide them in brainstorming exercises.
1. You have to be a really good listener and pay close attention to everyone.
2. You have to keep the goal of the meeting firmly in mind so you can make decisions such as: This topic needs to be addressed in a separate meeting, so stop the discussion and move on. OR This topic has been decided, so record the decision and move on. OR Some people have not given their input and I need to draw them out on this topic.
3. You need to be firm in managing the people – make sure one person is not doing all the talking. Make sure all people get a chance to express themselves (as appropriate).
4. You need to be disciplined to not get involved in the discussion and to make sure you have someone else working as scribe and taking notes.
5. You need to take care of details such as making sure a room or conference line is scheduled, creating and sending an agenda, sending invitations, making sure the important people can attend, and making sure everyone understands why he or she is at this meeting.
6. It helps a lot to be a calm, even tempered person, and to have confidence in yourself.
I don’t know the company, but I found online a place that offers training in meeting facilitation: http://www.facilitator4hire.com/ Their training prepares you for IAF (International association of facilitators) certification: http://www.iaf-world.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3672. This looks like very useful training to me, since being a good facilitator is a useful in so many situations.
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Now it is your turn.
Have you trained to be a meeting facilitator? Where were you trained?
Have you worked with a trained meeting facilitator? Do you think the meeting worked better with a trained facilitator leading it?
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* Article used with permission from Wyyzzk, Inc.’s Resources for Business Analysts site at http://www.ResourcesForBusinessAnalysts.com This website of reports and tips contains information to help you succeed as a Business Analyst in IT.
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