By Bob Masucci
How many association meetings have you attended where the person in the front of the room did all the talking, and about 15 minutes into it, people begin looking at their watches or playing with their phones? More than a few, I’d guess.
The secret to dynamic meetings is participation. With it, your members will leave talking enthusiastically about the topics that were covered; without it, they might leave wondering how they might have better spent that hour and a half.
One of the keys to encouraging participation is preparation — on your part as well as that of your members. You need to structure an agenda that lends itself to productive discourse, and your members need to receive that agenda beforehand so that they can consider the topics and be ready to contribute. Don’t surprise anyone. Make sure all know where in the agenda their participation will be crucial to realizing your meeting objectives.
Once the meeting begins however, it’s your responsibility to get the participation party started. How? Here are some ideas:
Don’t attempt to dominate the meeting.
Doing so not only gives your members less time to offer their thoughts but also gives the impression that only your ideas count. When you talk, insert some pregnant pauses into your presentation to open the door for comments, questions, etc. And invite membership to fill those pauses.
Be positive in accepting comments and questions from membership.
Show them that their ideas are valuable and clarify when necessary. Restate important points. Especially with members who are typically reluctant to speak, thank them for their contribution. Make them feel important. But don’t forget your role as moderator. Don’t allow belittling of a member’s question or input. Everyone can add value — even the devil’s advocate.
Ask direct questions.
When participation wanes, or if it fails to spontaneously begin, questions can help. Ask members for their thoughts. But don’t do it in a way that can be construed as confrontational. Rather, be genuine: “Jim, do you think that might work?” “Beth, have you tried this mechanic before?”
Be patient.
When you begin the meeting, don’t jump to an item where participation is needed. First thing to do is cover some “block and tackle” items like time and location of your next meeting, information sharing, treasurer’s report, etc. Give your members a chance to get comfortable in their seats and to focus their thoughts. Only then will they be receptive to your request to get actively involved in the meeting. The participation will come if you give it time to develop.
Solicit ideas for new policies.
The purpose of your meeting will determine the specific strategies you might use to encourage participation. If your meeting’s purpose is to describe a new association policy, a state association mandate, or a new officiating technique, invite discussion about how to implement, what possible obstacles might be faced, etc. Even though a decision about what to do has already been made, member collaboration about how to implement the new policy/technique will provide a lot more consensus and acceptance.
Use structured activities when the purpose of the meeting is problem solving to focus everyone on participating. Make it a practice to take visible notes of what is said because seeing thoughts on a flip chart or screen lets members know their ideas are valued. It also encourages others to build upon things they see and hear in the meeting.
Some cautions on participation: We covered your need as a facilitator to avoid dominating the meeting and thereby raising your thoughts to a level where everything else becomes subordinate. Likewise, be on the lookout for a member who, maybe unwittingly, does the same thing. It is not uncommon to have a member in the audience become the alpha dog and the sole contributor. When that happens, what occurs is an inadvertent and sometimes unconscious transition of the meeting facilitator role from you to that dominant member in the audience. It isn’t even uncommon to have that member start asking for input. In such a case, make a concerted effort to take control back and get others involved by asking directed questions: “Bob, you’ve made some very good points, especially related to _____. Hank, has that been your experience too?”
In large meetings, one problem might just be too much participation, where everyone has an opinion and wants to share it. Often, the meeting time is relegated to recognizing people to speak, determining who’s on deck and quelling interruptions from impatient contributors. Such a meeting has the potential to become as unproductive as a meeting where no participation exists. If you experience this, consider immediately the idea of breakout sessions, assigning a facilitator to each so that contributions can be managed in smaller groups. Then at a predetermined time, bring everyone back and let the group facilitators share what was discussed in their groups.
When your members are encouraged to participate in a meeting, it means different things to different people. However, for a meeting to be most effective, every person attending should be encouraged to actively participate. Only then will your meetings be truly successful, and only in that way will your meetings likely “continue” after you’ve left the building.
Bob Masucci is longtime football official from Clinton Township, N.J.
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