So, you want to run a meeting that makes folks say, “wow, I can’t wait for the next one!”

You already have everything you need to do that (I promise!). It may just take a little time to find your style and approach. In this two-part series, you’ll start to explore what might work well for you and build your facilitation foundation.

“Why spend limited time and energy investing in my facilitation style and meeting design?” you ask. Great question. Impact is only possible with engagement. You can have the most brilliant ideas, but if people are unable to or unwilling to engage with you and your content, you will have little to no impact.

Let’s get into it.

The ‘Meeting Basics’ Checklist

For every meeting, no matter if it’s a 15-minute stand-up or an eight-hour workshop, ask yourself these six questions to ensure you are setting yourself (and your meeting attendees) up for success.

• Goals: Why are you holding everyone hostage for this chunk of time? What do you hope to achieve?
• Flavor: Is this a ‘get s**t done’ meeting? A team bonding meeting? A ‘let’s make sure we’re all on the same page’ meeting? Something else?
• Attendees: Who do you need in this meeting to achieve your goals?
• Length: How long is appropriate for you to hold this group of people for to achieve these goals?
• Format: Will folks attend in-person, remotely, or (most likely) a mix of the two? (Note: while out of scope of this post, the answer to this should 100% change your approach)
• Gut Check: Based on your answers to the above, does this need to be a meeting? If not, figure out a better format for what you’re trying to achieve, perhaps a Slack message, email, or document.

Once you know what you hope to achieve from the meeting, what type of meeting it is, who will attend, and some basic logistics, you’re ready to dive into the planning stage. This is where it gets fun (again, I promise!).

Developing Your Facilitation Style

Ask yourself, “Who am I?”

To be a strong facilitator, you need a sense of your own strengths and weaknesses. I am good at getting excited about literally anything, but I tend to barrel through things too quickly (similar to a golden retriever, but with the smarts of an octopus, if I do say so myself). I use that excitable energy to help my attendees get invested in what we’re doing. I not only use that energy, I exaggerate it. I try to use my excitement about what we’re doing to help others feel comfortable dropping into the given moment and being present. I try to make this meeting we’re all in a true event, the climax of the day. And then I build in moments of pause throughout to make sure I don’t lose people by going too quickly.

Now, I don’t do that for every meeting, of course. I adjust based on the attendees, the topic, and the flavor, but I always have that excitement in my back pocket. If energies seem off or I need to pivot suddenly, I know what I can fall back on to propel the meeting forward.

What’s your style?

Maybe you’re someone who is pretty quiet. You like to sit and listen. Sometimes you like to sit and think of other things. You typically say about one thing in a given meeting, but it’s memorable. It’s valuable. Use that. Plan your meeting to allow yourself to listen, to nudge people along, and to hit everyone with a beautiful takeaway right at the end.

Because you are planning the meeting, you can design it to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. But the most important thing (and I really cannot stress this enough) is to be yourself — yes, maybe an exaggerated version of yourself, but truly yourself. The best facilitators are performing the best version of themselves, not a good version of someone else.

Some questions to ask yourself to start developing your facilitation style:

• What energizes me in meetings I attend?
• When do I get bored or drift off during meetings others facilitate?
• When do I communicate best with others?
• What do I struggle with when trying to communicate with others?
• What do I like about the way I handle communicating with others?

Then design your next meeting based on your answers. Try designing one for yourself, then layer on what you know about your attendees and their needs.

Thanks for reading part one of this series. I hope it was what you needed it to be. But, if not, no worries — maybe part two will do the trick! See you for part two in a bit. 👋