Page 217 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

200 Chapter 8

ending time encourages the group to use its time well. If the work cannot be
finished, plan additional meetings. Maureen’s committee had to add three extra
meetings to its schedule.
3. If special resource people are needed for the meeting, advise and prepare them.
Small groups frequently need to question specialists with unique knowledge and
skills or experience. Such invited resource persons need to know in advance
what information to prepare and what to expect. For example, Maureen invited
the head of the regional Division of Children and Families to present current
information about child abuse and neglect rates in her city.
4. Think through the tools you may need for the meeting.
There are countless procedures and techniques you can use to help you
accomplish what you want to do in a particular group meeting. We describe
several of these throughout this book, including brainstorming (Chapter 10),
the Procedural Model of Problem Solving (Chapter 10), and principled
negotiation (Chapter 11) as well as any electronic group platform such as
Google Docs or Wiggio.
5. Make all necessary physical arrangements.
Has the meeting room been reserved? Are handouts, notepads, chalk, charts,
and possibly beverages ready? Leaders should carefully select and use their
meeting space. The room should be comfortable, allow members to see and
hear one another and any audiovisual materials presented, and be big enough to
hold everyone. It also shouldn’t be too big, since that can create psychological
distance between members. 6
6. Have all the appropriate technology you need and make sure it works prior to the
meeting.
How many times have you waited for someone to fix a computer so that a
PowerPoint presentation can proceed?
7. Prepare a procedure for evaluating the meeting.
Groups should regularly evaluate their meetings, even if the evaluation is brief. We
describe several such instruments for oral or written evaluations in Chapter 12.
8. Notify members of the purpose or agenda, necessary preparation, and time and
place of the meeting.
The chair is responsible for seeing that members are notified and given ample
opportunity to prepare for a meeting. Maureen delegated this duty to the
professional secretary at the Community Foundation, who took care of sending
meeting reminders and distributing minutes, although Maureen called her to
ensure that these would be done.

Following Up on Meetings Two kinds of meeting follow-ups are needed: touching
base with group members and making sure the group’s reports are getting to the right
groups or individuals. Leaders often call or e-mail group members between meetings
for a variety of reasons. One important reason is to make sure members are working
on their assignments and have all the information and resources they need to com-
plete their individual tasks. For instance, Maureen discovered that the Housing

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