Better Meetings THIRD SPACE STUDIO
MEREDITH EMMETT HEATHER YANDOW
Table of Contents Part 1: Introduction Third Space Studio - 1
Part 3: Meeting Design Explore - 32
Overview - 6Â
Generate - 37
Added Support Options - 7
Choose - 43
Our Secret Sauce - 8
Considerations for Choosing Tactics - 49
Part 2: Facilitation The Role of the Facilitator - 12
Part 4: Additional Considerations Openings and Introductions - 52
The Five Stages of Facilitation - 13
Closings - 54 Report Outs - 56 Virtual Meeting Considerations - 58
Part 1: Introduction
Third Space Studio But bad meetings can cause confusion, frustration, and loss of morale. Meetings can be better. We use meeting time to be creative, to problem solve, to make decisions, to build relationships. You can too!
At Third Space Studio, we partner with nonprofits to bring focus and clarity to their work. We ask provocative questions and actively listen to the answers—and we create a thoughtful space to ensure that everyone can contribute equitably to the conversation. Using
We love designing and facilitating gatherings and have more than 40 years of combined experience in creating better meetings.We want to share the tools, techniques, and tips that we have learned over our many, many meetings with you.
innovative and resourceful strategies, we guide teams into deep thinking and encourage and support bold decision-making. Whether you need a guide as you navigate a new strategic plan or make a culture shift, a coach to hone your leadership skills, or a capacity building boost, Third Space Studio is here to help you move forward.
At Third Space Studio, we believe meetings are critical tools for organizations to learn, grow, and make collective decisions.
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Our Facilitators When she was ten years old, Meredith Emmett wanted to be a marine biologist, a bicycle mechanic, or the president. Instead, she became a nonprofit leader with over 30 years of experience. Her curiosity, willingness to tinker, and driven vision never went away. As the founder of Third Space Studio, Meredith Emmett uses her thirty-plus years of experience as a nonprofit leader to help our clients grapple with challenges and amplify successes. Meredith deeply believes that we cannot tackle the complex challenges of today using yesterday’s practices.
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Prior to founding Third Space Studio in 2001, Meredith served as executive director of three North Carolina-based nonprofits: The Institute for Southern Studies, NC Community Shares, and Public Allies of NC. Meredith has served on numerous local, state, and national nonprofit boards. She currently sits on the board of Democracy NC and the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. When she is not facilitating unusual connections and insightful conversations, Meredith can be found puttering in her garden or painting in her studio at her home in Durham, NC.
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Heather Yandow is a collaborative coconspirator and creative thinker with over 18 years of experience in the nonprofit world. Inspired by issues that touch her heart and organizations invested in relationships, Heather gets joy out of helping groups move forward from chaos to clarity. Phrases like “adaptive leadership” and “change management” are sure to get her mind churning. Before Heather joined Third Space in 2010, she was the Director of Development and Communications protecting North Carolina's environment and public health.
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With a personal motto of “just do it,” Heather identifies problems and dreams up actionable solutions. This talent has led to many projects: Heather is the founder of Nonprofit.ist, an online resource that helps pair nonprofits with the right consultants; a co-founder of Beehive Collective, a Raleigh-based giving circle; and the creator of Third Space Studio’s Individual Fundraising Benchmark Report. In her rare downtime, Heather gets outside to walk her dog, take a swim, or just enjoy lunch with friends around her hometown of Raleigh, NC.
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E-Book Overview
This eBook focuses on meeting design,
If the role of facilitation is new to you,
we share strategies that set the stage for
we encourage you to start from the
better meetings. We start off with an
beginning and work your way
introduction of our meeting design
through, otherwise, feel free to jump
methods (aka our secret sauce), and
around the sections as needed.
then take you through choosing effective tactics that help groups explore
This e-book will give you enough
meaningful topics, generate ideas, and
insight and tactics to start
choose the best path forward in order to
designing and leading better
accomplish organizational goals and
meetings. However, if you or your
group objectives.
team need tailored support, we have other options available for
The e-book ends with notes on openings,
you beyond this e-book.
introductions, closings, report outs, and some special recommendations regarding virtual meetings (we also weave in virtual meeting tips throughout the e-book).
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The Role of the Facilitator We believe that the facilitator is responsible for creating an environment
Promote mutual understanding.
where a group of people can be
Help the group stay focused on their goals.
productive and effective in achieving their goals for meeting. This means taking on a
Structure the group's thinking.
variety of different roles over the course of a meeting.
Summarize discussions and conversations, help the group see their own conclusions.
Support everyone to do their best thinking.
Support the group to identify end results or actions to create sustainable agreements.
Encourage full participation and prevent dominance.
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The 5 Stages of Facilitation
Facilitating is more than being with a group of people and guiding their work while you are present with them. Much of the work of a successful meeting happens before a group ever comes together. We think about the work in five stages.
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Explore, Generate, and Choose We’ve divided up our meeting tactics into three categories: Explore, Generate, and Choose. Use Explore tactics when you want to develop deeper understanding, bring in new perspectives, or create a shared sense of the context of your work. Choose Generate tactics when you want to create new ideas, synthesize individual thinking, or generate structure brainstorming. Use Choose tactics when you need to make a decision, understand priorities, or get the group’s agreement on a way forward
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Like, Change, Questions Reflection and Debrief
Explore
Appreciative Interviews Mind Mapping Author-to-Author
Like, Change, Questions Description
Requirements
Virtual Modifications
Many meetings are called to give
At least 15 minutes.
Chart questions before the meeting on a
someone feedback or input on a proposal. Give some structure to the session so that it is time and idea efficient. Facilitate a conversation using 3 questions: 1. What do you like about the proposal?
Â
Google Doc and share the Google Doc
Notes and Variations If there are multiple proposals, you can post the 3 questions for each proposal and have people circulate between stations writing down their answers. You can also use plus, minus, and
2. What would you change about the
implications or risks, benefits, and
proposal?
questions as the frame.
3. What questions do you have about the
link with the group in the Zoom chat box when it is time to collaborate. Collaborating on a Google Doc works best for small groups (under 8). For larger groups, separate into breakout rooms and use the Zoom whiteboard feature to capture responses. Another option for larger groups is to use the Zoom chat function. Type the questions one at a time in the chat box and allot
proposal?
time for participants to respond directly in the chat box.
Capture the group’s thinking on a flipchart. Once participants have run out
Tech Recommendations
of responses to the three questions, if
Google Docs
you have time, you can return to the list
Zoom Video Communications
of questions and ask the proposer to respond.
Additional Resources Zoom Live Training Webinars at Zoom.us Visit google.com for more on collaborating with Google Docs.
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Reflection and Debrief Description
Requirements
Virtual Modifications
Debriefing an activity allows a group to
The only thing you need for a powerful
For smaller groups (under 8) pose the
create meaning and to connect an
debrief is a couple of good questions. Â
debrief questions directly to the group.
experience to relevant issues or future
You may ask groups to raise their hand
action. A debrief allows for reflection on
Notes and Variations
what happened and why, the implications of those results, and any
You can debrief an activity that happened share out one-by-one. For larger groups in the context of the meeting or use the we recommend using the Zoom breakout
next steps.
meeting to debrief something that
room feature with an assigned recorder
happened outside of the meeting
in each room, prepped to share out the
environment.
groups reflections once the larger group
What? What were we trying to accomplish?
or go around and ask participants to
reconvenes.
Where did we hit (or miss) our objectives
Debriefs can be done with the full group
or intentions?
or can start in pairs or small groups.
Tech Recommendations
Ask people to choose a picture or an
Zoom Video Communications
Why were we successful (or not)? Given what we learned, what should we do next? So what?
object from a selection and then talk about how the visual is a metaphor for their experience.
What have we learned? What did you discover about yourself? What now? What is your number one take-away?
Additional Resources Outward Bound and NOLS are experts at debriefing experiential learning. See How to Design a Debriefing Session by Heidi Hammel for some of their good thinking. Zoom Live Training Webinars at Zoom.us and support.zoom.us to learn how to manage breakout rooms.
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Meredith Emmett meredith@thirdspacestudio.com 919.416.1802 Â Heather Yandow heather@thirdspacestudio.com 919.780.4117 www.thirdspacestudio.com