Planning a mission-critical meeting? Here are the top advice for meeting facilitators who are running high-impact meetings and training sessions.

Shawn Merritt, Principal at Huron Associates
1. Begin with the end in mind. Explicitly define meeting outcomes with decisions, experience, and emotional outcomes before defining the agenda. This will inform priorities, activities and timing.

Ruben Ocampo, Founder at Conic
2. Be willing to change your plan. A one-off facilitated session is different from an ongoing update meeting for a number of reasons. Having a perfectly planned agenda is not as important as making sure you achieve your goals, even if these change in the middle of the session. Keep Calm and Carry On.

3. Leave the room knowing what happens next. Nothing is worse than walking out of a session thinking, “Wow, that was great. But I am not sure what I am supposed to do now as a result of it.”

Phil Corse, Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Kellogg School of Management
4. Make sure that you have 100% agreement on the goals of the meeting. This means that you understand the goals, agree with them, and can deliver them. If you have any concerns, you must manage expectations before the meeting. I have facilitated many different kinds of meetings and each of them represent unique challenges. It is not possible to over prepare.

Learn more about Workspring Meeting Facilitation services.