Francesca Davidson

In this last post, we’ll delve into a common stumbling block in the facilitation process: ensuring the equitable involvement of key communities affected by the problem your group is addressing.

If you, like me, strive to hold productive meetings, welcome, you’re in the right place! If you haven’t read Part 1 of this blog series on planning, I recommend you review it first for a primer on one of the most important steps to running effective meetings. For those continuing on this journey with me, in Part 2 we’ll dive into all the steps to take just before, during and after a meeting to make it as successful as possible.

I think I speak for most when I say pointless meetings are the worst. I believe every meeting can and should be held with some level of purpose. It may simply be an opportunity to connect or it may be aimed at addressing a complex social or environmental issue with a large group of stakeholders, also sometimes called “interest-holders.” Supporting this type of meeting requires a careful, thoughtful approach to planning, involving the participants, and facilitating the meetings themselves. Over a series of three blog posts, I’ll share best practices from my work facilitating this type of engagement process – beginning with one of the most important and often underestimated steps: planning.