Plan a brilliant meeting that engages attendees.

The #1 goal: Enable open and safe discussions.

It can be challenging to prepare for a meeting and even more difficult to plan a discussion that could become tense or uncomfortable. Navigating productive discourse is essential for leaders and project teams. Learn to facilitate respectful team discussions with five simple steps.

Set the Stage — Checklist

Create a Safe Space

As long as people feel safe and accepted, they will be empowered and more confident to speak up. The goal is for leaders and attendees to demonstrate respect for one another so everyone can focus on the meeting’s objective.

As a leader, 

• keep conversations focused

• call on wallflowers

• redirect discussion if it is monopolized

Empower your team, 

• ask questions

• express concerns

• invite coworkers into the dialogue

Help Set the Right Mindset

Meetings often have different types of attendees. 

• Some feel like it is a break from the day-to-day.

• Others may feel they are too busy to attend.

• A few may feel like they have all the answers.

Everyone should adopt an explorer mindset and be open to the ideas, themes, and activities you will work on together.

Rules of Engagement

Discussions can sometimes lead to tense moments of spirited debate. A great way to kick off on the right foot is by establishing rules that will govern your discussion.

Our favourite rules of engagement: 

• Build on the ideas of others

• Let others speak

• One conversation at a time

• Be visual

• Stay focused & reduce distractions

• Use kind words and defer judgement

Deconstruct Hierarchy

Don’t worry about titles or who the boss is. 

To help the team be more imaginative and feel safe to share ideas, coach the senior attendees to step off their soapboxes and listen more than they speak.

Learn About Attendees

Get to know your participants’ backgrounds before the meeting. Set up an informal chat, look through LinkedIn, or send personal messages ahead of time.

Strategic Planner, Meeting and Productivity Kit

Plan engaging meetings in five simple steps. Including templates and examples of Agendas, Invites, and Team-Building Tips.
This strategic planner is ideal for ambitious professionals looking to impress meeting attendees and improve productivity: HR-approved, appropriate for all meeting types.

Buy our meeting planner to easily:

✔️ SET AN OBJECTIVE
✔️ SET AN AGENDA
✔️ PICK A MEETING FORMAT
✔️ SEND A MEETING INVITE SET THE STAGE
✔️ FIND A CO-FACILITATOR

This guide is a simple tool that can help improve meeting productivity by helping you create a safe space