Chapter 7: Meeting Magic

According to the author, organizational meeting best practices include all of the following EXCEPT:

• Start off with an icebreaker.

• Ensure each meeting has an agenda.

• Take minutes during the meeting to share afterward.

• Emphasize virtual meetings over in-person meetings.

Be a Changemaker is written early enough that Thompson misses another larger emphasis on digital meeting and collaboration spaces. What event precipitated a necessary shift to digital meeting spaces?

• The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center

• The COVID-19 Global Pandemic

• The Dot Com Bubble Burst in the Early 2000s

• The U.S. Housing Market Collapse and Economic Recession in 2008

Thompson is concerned that the _____ of a team is at risk when too many meetings are held virtually.

Please select the statements that indicate Thompson's bias in FAVOR of in-person meetings.

NOTE: Not telling how many to select this time!

• "sometimes it just isn’t practical to get everyone together in the same room"

• "getting people together and sharing common experiences is an important element of team building"

• "Tools like these can greatly increase your team’s productivity while saving you countless hours"

• "Despite the many voice and video capabilities available today and the numerous ways to collaborate online cheaply and efficiently, that prediction still hasn’t come to pass"

"The advisory committee for SCBWI Western Washington always starts meetings by having each person share something new about him- or herself. Since we’re all writers, it’s usually either the best books we’ve read recently or what writing projects we’re currently working on. We have almost twenty members, so going around the room to do this takes quite a bit of time."

• At first, our author believed icebreakers to be a waste of time.

• Our author found value in icebreakers for every meeting immediately.

• Our author indicates that icebreakers are insincere ways to build your team.

• In the end, our author shares that icebreakers should be done sparingly to avoid mixing fun and business.

Please organize these options into the correct categories that our author places them in.
NOTE: There are three in each column.

Groups:

(a) Icebreakers

,

(b) Agendas

,

(c) Standard Operating Procedure

• Allows team members to point out items a leader may have forgotten.

• Wrap-ups are when you take any necessary votes, state the outcome, and assign action items.

• Stick to one purpose at a time so the meeting doesn't get overwhelming or out of control.

• Have group members interview each other, with two minutes to ask and answer questions.

• Bonding at the beginning of each meeting can keep you team interested in working together.

• Openings are for icebreakers, good news, and sharing personal topics.

• Everyone on the team who agrees with that statement for themselves takes one step forward.

• Consider assigning a task to team members to complete before the meeting.

• Old business is for reports from team members about activities since the last meeting.

Thompson asks team members to consider all of the following when planning a meeting space, EXCEPT:

• A regular location.

• A consistent meeting time.

• The size of the venue.

• Relative noise level.

• Compensation for time.

Please identify the benefits of an icebreaker at the start of a meeting, according to the experience of our author.

NOTE: There are three (3) correct options to select.

• Provides Time to Reconnect After a Long Break

• Understanding Teammates' Personalities

• Can Lead to Personal Connections

• Ensures No Hard Feelings About Failure

• Allows Credit to be Given to Top Team Members

Write in a one or two word answer to the prompt below for our world cloud.

A leader's primary goal should be to: . . .

According to the youth venture featured in this chapter, the Girls Talk team, their biggest challenges regarding effective meetings were​ setting the agenda and assigning responsibilities in the wrap-up.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

The Girls Talk team said that voting on issues and finding ideas that everyone was happy with were some of their biggest challenges. They agreed, though, that learning how to communicate with each other and working as a team were some of the most valuable rewards gained from their collaborative venture experience.