From Madness to Magic: Transforming Your Teleconference Meetings
by Linda Tarrant

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It’s hard enough to have a successful meeting when everyone is sitting around the table looking at each other. Complicate matters even more by putting people in multiple locations with no visual contact and it’s surprising that the modern-day teleconference works at all. The following are some tips that might help you facilitate multi-site meetings:

1. Manage Participation:

a) Ask each contributor to state her/his name and location before each comment. Make a list of members and track their participation. It’s an easy visual cue to identify high and low participators. Ensure that everyone has the opportunity to give input.

b) Maintenance behaviours build group cohesiveness and Task behaviours help the group get the job done. When participants don’t know each other or are not meeting face-to-face, they tend to focus on Task behaviours. As the facilitator, you may need to supply additional Maintenance behaviours (encouraging, gate-keeping, acknowledging, harmonizing, tension relieving, etc.) to help build group unity.

2. Arrange the environment:

a) Set start and stop times and stick to them. If members join-in late, leave early or go overtime, clarify expectations and consequences. Consider time zones and rotate meeting times so that each location gets the good time slots.

b) Each location should have a designated teleconference room that is properly equipped (working phones, flip charts, etc.). Set up the room so that participants can see and talk to each other, not just the phone.

c) Identify "Site Scribes" who will flip-chart important ideas and actions to be taken by people at their site. The Site Scribe would also facilitate the involvement of people in their location.

3. Ground Rules:

a) These are especially critical in multi-site meetings. The "core group" should develop the list of expected or acceptable behaviours. Begin each meeting by reviewing the rules and asking if anything needs to be amended or added.

b) Forward ground rules to new members and one-time participants prior to the meeting. Ground rules apply to all participants.

4. Identify outcomes:

a) Always have an agenda that is sent out prior to the meeting. Indicate who submitted the item and its urgency.

b) Write agenda items as objectives. State what you want as an end result of the discussion (e.g. ideas, feedback, decision, or decisions). This will really help the group understand their task and stay focussed.

5. Cheat sheets:

Develop a "Who’s Who" list. Include a current picture and short bio for each member. For fun, add action shots, baby pictures or site-group photos. Participants could include personal or non-work related things about themselves. It’s nice to know the voices on the other end of the phone are attached to real people.

Teleconferencing is an essential part of today’s work environment but it offers different challenges from face-to-face meetings. These simple techniques can help turn your teleconference from madness into MAGIC.