Ah, the possibility or impossibility of getting work done at meetings

Where does work happen, he asks in the video. I have lived through the half day meetings where we had to “fill the time” because “the time had been booked”, only to have the participants attend with very different goals: Some reported on the past, some shared ideas for the future, others digressed into minutia on updates that should have been left to one on one meetings. In my facilitator training, I learned this is all too common. I wish I knew then what I know now about setting clear objectives, meeting expectations, and moving forward.

I don’t agree with all in this video shared from a TedTalk, and believe that meetings and events can be a dynamic way to bring out the best ideas, engage and inspire. “Bringing people and ideas together” is my tagline. Yes, sometimes you have to quiet down and do the work, but when you get a dynamic conversation going with a variety of perspectives, great things often happen.