Tips to Make Meetings Engaging and Alive

Posted by Nabin Shaw on December 29th, 2018

It is frustrating to see the people you invited to join a meeting start to lose interest within a few minutes after you start. Although you feel like the topics are crucial, not everyone feels the same way. You are responsible for making sure that the people involved will feel that they are essential to the meeting. The discussion needs to be engaging and enticing. These are some tips to make the session alive.

Encourage discussions

Make sure you don't keep talking throughout the meeting. People will find it annoying if the meeting turns out to be a presentation coming from one source. You need to ask questions or seek ideas from everyone. You can set rules to handle disagreements and let everyone know that you respect all views. It helps encourage everyone to speak up instead of being passive throughout.

Inform everybody of the agenda before the meeting

Another reason why some people can't follow the discussion is that they don't know what you are talking about. They only found out about the topics a few minutes before the meeting started. It helps if you disseminate information before the session begins so that people can research the subject and share their thoughts.

Remove the chairs

It might somehow be a crazy idea, but it works in some instances. When you remove the chairs, people will remain active because they have to force themselves to stay awake. You should not have the meeting for too long because you are making everyone stand. Within a short period, you can get tons of ideas from people, and increase their level of engagement.

Create an interesting visual

You can’t keep talking throughout the meeting without a visual presentation. People learn in different ways, and some prefer to learn using visual aids. You can use presentation folders and handouts. You can also prepare slides that you can flash on the monitor. You can even invest in a projector mount that is available from www.unicol.com if you want everyone to see what you are discussing. Instead of listening to everything you say, they will have something interesting to see on the screen. Others who might have failed to follow what you said can check the information on the screen and still be on the same page.

Distribute the responsibility

If you want to involve everyone in the meeting, you can divide the tasks among the attendees. You can ask each one to present a topic for everyone to listen to. They will feel relevant to the meeting because they have the chance to speak, but they will also respect others who present ideas since they received the same courtesy when they put forward theirs.

Try some games

If you have time, you can play some games. It can be during the start of the meeting to break the ice, or somewhere in the middle if you feel like the discussion is taking too long. You can keep everyone energised by playing games.

With these tips, you will have an exciting discussion, and everyone in the meeting will feel involved.