Meeting Facilitation 101: Keeping Meetings On Track

There is a saying that a camel is a horse made by committee. Get five or more people in a room and its a miracle anything ever gets accomplished. The most common question that people ask us in our meeting facilitation trainings is, "How do you keep a group focused?" Here are some suggestions:

• If someone is long winded, facilitators often make the mistake of waiting them out. A gentle way to interrupt is by paraphrasing what the speaker just said. By doing this they feel heard and acknowledged and you get the floor back.
• Use the agenda. But try to avoid saying, "Let's get back to the agenda", which takes importance away from what they were saying. Instead you might try something like, "Help me understand how what you just were saying relates to the agenda item we were talking about."
• Record on flip charts the concerns of the person that is taking the conversation away from the agenda. Make a commitment to come back to it (if it needs to be addressed) and don't forget to follow through on your commitment.
• Ask the group what they want to talk about, the new topic or the agenda topic. If some new information has emerged that is more important than the agenda, don't try to keep the group from going there. 

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