In our coalition work, we are constantly planning and hosting meetings, projects and events. Depending upon our time, staff/leader capacity and partner availability, these can have varying levels of complexity and require us to consider many factors. Last week, during one of these planning meetings, I came up with lots of ideas that would result […]
Take your own advice. Read More »
As we plan and prepare our coalition meetings, we have lots of decisions to make about the type(s) of meetings we host. We once again have opportunities to meet in person, sometimes we host hybrid meetings and we continue to have most of our meetings in a virtual platform. Prior to 2020, virtual meetings were
Top 10 Tips for Facilitating an Online Meeting Read More »
Clarifying your purpose is essential for all aspects of coalition and partnership building. One of the topics I highlight more than any other in my blog posts is getting clear on purpose. Once we are clear on our purpose, we need to take actions that reflect that purpose. This is particularly true when planning a
Match your meeting agenda with your meeting purpose Read More »
As we head into Spring (and the same thing happens in the Fall), we are facing meetings in every area of our lives! If you are leading groups of volunteers, there is likely a window of a few months in the Spring and Fall that are meeting heavy. When we are trying to get people
Eight Elements of Effective Meetings Read More »
You may have facilitated a fantastic meeting where you engaged participants, made important decisions and made progress on your most important projects; however, the real test of an effective meeting happens after the meeting is over. When you follow up from the meeting, you support momentum, progress, relationships and interest in your next meeting. Join
Element #8: Follow up from the meeting Read More »
You can have a clear purpose, the right people, an ideal platform, a succinct agenda and all the logistics lined up perfectly and yet still struggle with hosting an effective meeting if you do not have an effective facilitator for the meeting. You have to facilitate the meeting well in order to engage your participants
Element #7: Facilitate the meeting well Read More »
When your meeting participants know what to expect during a meeting, you are more likely to accomplish your meeting purpose, engage with the participants and host an effective meeting. A common challenge for coalition meetings is the tendency to assume that everyone knows what to expect. As the person planning the meeting, you have spent
Element #6: Set expectations for meeting participants Read More »
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, one yes can equate to 1000 yes’s. This is particularly true when it comes to preparing logistics for a coalition meeting. Whether you are meeting virtually, in-person or hybrid, there are many details and logistics that need to be considered in order to conduct an effective meeting. One
Element #5: Prepare the logistics for the meeting Read More »
As we discussed a few weeks ago, the first step in conducting an effective meeting is to be really clear about your purpose. In order to honor that purpose, you must be intentional about what is included in your meeting agenda. One of the common challenges to effective meetings is attempting to include too many
Element #4: Develop an agenda that reflects the meeting purpose Read More »
How many times do you participate in a meeting and think, that could have been a phone call or I really wish we could have met in person? One of the key elements to conducting effective meetings is to figure out the type of meeting needed to accomplish your purpose and engage the attendees most
Element #3: Decide which meeting format will work best Read More »