Creative activities for online meetings

We often hear the tappity-tap of people working on emails while they’re online in a meeting.

It’s not their fault. 

They’re BORED!

They’ve had four of these boring meetings today. And you're dragging them through another one? YAWN!

We must make things more relevant, more creative - and it will most certainly be more effective.

If you’re inviting people to an online meeting to work, plan, contribute or decide, be sure you have a range of inspiring activities on hand. 

Giving people a question and putting them in breakout rooms is done - overdone! And it's just ONE activity. 

There are MANY OTHER WAYS to add connection, relevance and creativity to online meetings.

And it need not be ‘crazy creativity’ but relevant, smart and brilliant creativity!

I’ve spent years creating activities for meetings. And I’ve adapted, edited and morphed existing activities to make them more interesting ... and they work online too. 

Too much ‘listen only’ mode

Whether the online meeting software automatically tells you or not, too often we are put in ‘listen only mode’ in online meetings and workshops. 

And some of the reasons (excuses?) why there isn’t greater interaction : 
* too many people
* not enough time
* too much content
* the pressure of a deadline 

... and other explanations for why we’re keeping people quiet while meeting online. 

While many face-to-face meetings were poorly run, our online meetings are now just as bad. 

Better facilitation skills are needed by most leaders today, and more-so in this online environment. 

Better facilitation skills are about 
- The preparation 
- The design
- The delivery 
of the meeting or workshop. 

We have to do things a little differently and we must allow more time and space for people to contribute.

Listen only mode? 
That’s not how better work gets done these days. 

A discovery mindset : do you have it

One of the best meetings and workshops to design and lead is a discovery workshop. 

To simply and profoundly ‘find out’. 

Get people together - online is fine - and find out what they:
think
know
believe
hope
envisage
are prepared to do. 

There is much to discover and relearn about people, situations, problems and challenges. Things are changing. There may be new things to discover. 

What a shame it is to think we already know all there is to know, or to think we already have the best solutions. 

It’s one of my favourite and most impactful workshops to design and facilitate, because it so often delivers things we didn’t know!  

Because ... discovery! 

Who could you bring together to discover what the heck is going on, what they think, and what is possible? 

Call it a Discovery Workshop and get it going. 

You can facilitate yourself

A facilitator doesn’t just have to work with a group or team. 

They can work with themselves. 

We can all adopt some facilitation skills to facilitate ourselves. That is, to make things easier for ourselves. Facilitation means ‘ease’.

The ‘get out of your own way’ concept is often about how we make things harder for ourselves. We set higher standards, expect perfection, berate ourselves when we mess up and at other times, don’t do anything at all ... procrastinating for fear of not getting it right. 

Are you setting unreasonable standards? Unachievable deadlines? Or holding unspoken expectations?

None of this makes things easier. It makes it all harder. 

Making things easier for ourselves is a good thing - even though we may secretly believe you have to struggle for everything. 

But that’s an old point of view. It’s not true. 

Starting now ...
How can you make things easier for yourself ... and on yourself? 

The load we create and allow

If you or your team are still having back-to-back meetings throughout the day, stop! Please?

The blend of one meeting into the next does nothing for cognitive load coping. Our overload stays in overload because there’s no chance to ... unload. 

That means when you want to get great ideas and contributions from the team, they won’t have them. 

When you want them to work on planning, collaborating or decision-making, they won’t have the space and attention for it. 

We may think people are disconnected or disengaged when they could be cognitively overloaded.

For clearer and fresher thinking, invite, welcome and encourage breaks between (and within) meetings. 

Even a few minutes makes a difference. 

Create a break:
⏰ Start meetings off the hour at 10 past. 
⏰ Finish meetings prior to the hour. 

Working back-to-back isn’t smarter, particularly when you’re already overloaded. 

It might feel busy and important. 

Instead, it’s overloading the system... our system. Us.