One subtle point is to be aware of  is that YOUR idea of what constitutes obvious courtesy and respect may NOT be as clear and obvious to your attendee(s). These values are as fluid and contextual and culturally flexible as any other value. So do more research from the other person(s) viewpoint in advance so that ‘obvious’ is not taken as a given.

One common theme to almost all meetings is the necessity to take some form of recording of the session and of any outcomes.

In some cases this may need to be a laborious and extremely accurate and comprehensive style of recording of every utterance and action during the meeting. This is most common in highly political discussions or those in the…[Read more]

Need to distinguish between constructive disagreements that can eventually foster innovative solutions if managed creatively and destructive disagreements where no eventual convergence seems likely. The former may sometimes be encouraged in brainstorming  but the latter should be assertively halted as early as possible.

On a slightly more specific note – also be wary of using satnav settings or postcode/zip code details supplied by the venue. This because sometimes those details are part of a generic address for a location and may not be best for identifying nearest actual access. For example a large venue, say a major exhibition hall, might have a  single…[Read more]

physical notes was a proven system for centuries so why not?

Also, be careful of ‘forced’ ice breaking. For example where the group leader points to someone and makes them stand up and talk about something or themselves etc. This could be embarrassing and unless it is an addiction group  ‘sharing session’ may be inappropriate.

If you do decide to adopt some local empathy into your introductions, make sure you do your homework to get it exactly right as making cultural gaffes may be worse than not adopting them at all.

I agree that venue can be one of the highest potential challenges and let us not forget that one of those ‘venues’ can be video meetings.

Yes, much empathy to this type of ethos. Having worked in Central Government I can say it is almost de rigueur to expect this and bud it in almost as a set contingency in any timeline for decisions.

Perhaps find an ally or two to support and strengthen your request; especially one(s) whose opinions they respect.