This is a great video from "Working for the Man" on what often happens in the infamous "brainstorming session." Much of this may seem oddly familiar. Check out the entire post for some other meeting no-nos. A few I'd add to the list: Not reading any of the meeting materials ahead of time, even when they've been supplied well in advance, so that much of the meeting is taken up... Read more →

The other day I had to meet with 20+ high school seniors, so I decided it was time to go back to one of my tried and true meeting strategies--Toys. It was so successful (as it always is), I thought I'd share the idea. Bring on the Play-Doh! About 9 years ago I was doing a retreat with 30 people. This was for a nonprofit that provided manufacturing training and... Read more →

Yesterday's plea for rethinking face-to-face meetings apparently struck a nerve, as a lively discussion broke out in comments and Jane of Wandering Eyre weighed in on her blog. As you'll recall, I was complaining that a group I'm working with wouldn't use online tools to gather information, preferring to meet face-to-face and I suggested a few reasons why I thought that might be true. I was initially going to keep... Read more →