How to run effective meetings

At ATT we have several types of meetings: Tactical, Governance, Community Space and Special Topic meetings. This page will specially focusing on how to run a 'Special Topic' meeting, however you can find details regarding the other meetings by clicking the links above.

Special Topic Meeting

A Special Topic meeting is a meeting that involves 2+ people that talks about a specific topic. For example it can be used to plan a project, discuss problems, make decisions and or all of the above. To form a Special Topic meeting, the instigator has to request attendance from all involved and provide estimated duration of meeting.

Basic Principles to consider to run a Special Topic meeting well

Prepare: Make sure that you have planned the meeting. You may have a good idea in your head of what you want to discuss, however it can be harder to elaborate to other people. Also, remember to provide details to the relevant meeting attendees if you want them to come to the meeting with pre-conceived ideas.

Introduction: Its always good to start with 10 breaths and a check in. Meeting Coordinator should be explicit about the content and desired outcomes of the meeting. They should share priorities and or time allocation per topic. This could be '10 mins per topic', or it could be '10 mins per topic, and we can exceed this time limit for topic X if we need to and reduce time on others'.

Equivalence: Ensure all voices are heard. Facilitators can use techniques such as: rounds, hand signals, brainstorming.

• Rounds: Go around the circle giving everyone the opportunity to speak. People can pass if they like.

• Hand Signals: Raise 1 index finger to speak next, raise both index fingers to skip the queue and speak directly to something that has just been said, Form a T with your hands for a 'technical point' to interrupt the discussion with urgent factual information or request not related to the meeting (e.g. time for the meeting is almost over / can we deal with external noise / lunch is ready / can someone help me set up for the next meeting etc.). Form a C to show that you want clarification on something being said. Wave your hands with fingers upwards around face/shoulder height to indicate agreement. Check out this guide to hand signals from Seeds for Change for a more in depth explanation.

• Brainstorming: Give people an appropriate amount of time to think before sharing ideas. This could be between 1-10 minutes (or more if needed). Do not critique ideas in a brainstorm. Get them all down first and then sort through them.

Effectiveness: We do not fixate on perfectionism. Be rational on how much time needs to be spent on an issue. If it is 'good enough for now and safe enough to try' then go with it and move on.

Agreement: Some group decisions are difficult to make. While group consensus is ideal (where everyone agrees), it's not always attainable. For those who disagree with the proposal, request if they are willing to consent to giving the proposal a try despite it not being their preference. The current proposal can be reviewed again at a future point to see if it has been successful.

Transparency: Ensure that all members of the meeting know where the meeting notes and decisions are stored. Make sure that meeting notes are comprehensible and not merely personal notes.

Closing Round: This gives everyone the opportunity to sum up any loose ends of the meeting, mention anything that hasn't been said that should be considered going forward and ultimately bringing everything together

Check Out: Discussion and conversations about the topic are over. This gives everyone an opportunity to share how they feel about what was said in the meeting. Whether they're happy, excited, interested, worried, curious, anxious etc...

Stick to time: We have busy schedules and we respect people's time. If you've said that the meeting will be an hour, keep it to an hour unless you've got agreement from participants to extend the meeting.

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