Bates Winter 2015 The resources in this powerpoint are provided by Lexie Mucci, Office of Intercultural Education at Bates College, adapted from Urbana University.

Today’s Agenda Ice Breaker10min Running Effective Meeting20min Resources for Communication and Conflict Styles Running a Meeting Roleplay40min Next Time5min

ICE BREAKER 7mins Think of an animal and choose an animal noise Get into pairs Share your animal noise with your partner

ICE BREAKER Debrief 3min How was this? What system did you and your partner use to communicate? How did you have to change the way you communicated in order to hear each other in this activity?

Running an Effective Meeting: 20min Notifying Members Members need to know exact time, place, and date of meetings a week in advance – a reminder a day before can also be useful Think about the most effective way to contact your members ( ? Text? Facebook group post?)

Running an Effective Meeting: Your Location/ Space Make sure you have meetings in a space that accommodates all members comfortably How does your space or set-up affect the club environment? What message does it send to current and potential members? ◦ Do you sit in a circle? On the ground?

Running an Effective Meeting: Keeping Members Informed Make sure members have an update or meeting minutes and an agenda prior to or at the beginning of the event Make sure that someone is responsible for recording ideas generated and decisions made during the meetings At the end of the meeting, review and confirm who will be doing what beofre the next meeting

Running an Effective Meeting: Creating an Agenda General Information: ◦ Title of Meeting ◦ Date and Time Who’s Attending: ◦ Executive Members ◦ Members ◦ Guests Agenda Schedule: ◦ Sequence of items to be discussed ◦ Person(s) responsible for items

Running an Effective Meeting: At the Meeting 1. Start on time. 2. Conduct one item of business at a time. Do not move on until a decision has been made or else table it. 3. Try to encourage members to contribute and stray away from discouraging comments like “we’ve never done it that way before” or “that’s a silly idea” 4. Focus on the conversation on the task at hand: a solution 5. Delegate responsibilities – be clear about deadlines, the nature of the task and encourage questions for clarity 6. End on time

Running an Effective Meeting: After the Meeting Reflect On: 1. Was the preparation for the meeting sufficient? 2. Did attendance meet your expectations? 3. Was there a purpose to the meeting? 4. Did the meeting adhere to the agenda? 5. What decisions were made? What are the next steps? 6. List three things that went well and three things that could be improved

Running a Meeting Roleplay: Tactics for keeping people on task Reminding them of community guidelines (respecting each other’s time) Tabling ideas or topics that are becoming time consuming, causing conflict, or keeping people talking in circles Cutting out specific time for fun and chatting at the beginning or end of the meeting Use an activity or specific discussion topic to re-focus the group

Running a Meeting Roleplay: Tactics for speaking space Creating community guidelines for speaking and sharing the space Ask explicitly for contributions ◦ Are there any other thoughts on this from people who haven’t already spoken? ◦ What do the sophomores think? Is anyone on an athletic team? What do you think? Open up the conversations ◦ _, you bring up a good point. What do others think? Explicitly ask people to take a step back ◦ It seems like we’ve been hearing a lot of the same voices. What do other people think? ◦ _ I think you bring up a really good point. I’m sorry to cut you off but I just want to make sure that we have some space for other voices – what do others think?

Running a Meeting Roleplay: Tactics for conflict resolution Intervene and Name the Conflict ◦ Things are getting a bit heated/ it sounds like we’re talking in circles – let’s take a step back for a second Clarify Perspectives ◦ Restate the perspectives: “From what I understand/ I’m hearing _” – Is this accurate? ◦ Listen, Affirm, Respond, Add something (LARA) Table the Issue or Tackle it with Structure ◦ Table the issue and tell members that you’re going to give it some time or to better prepare to talk about this ◦ Structure how you will talk about the issue (one at a time)

Running a Meeting Roleplay Fun Club Agenda: 20-30min 1. Updates from last time (1-2) 2. Debriefing Dumbledore Dance Party (1-2) 3. Concert in Short Term (2) 4. Late at Bates Proposal (2) 5. New Ideas? (1) 6. Anything else? (1) 7. Reviewing what needs to be done for next time (1)

Debriefing Meeting Roleplay 15min What worked? What was hard? What tactics did people use? Were they effective? Tips for next time? Other issues?

Next Time 5min SMART Goals Engaging Members and Getting New Members Motivation Inclusivity

Assignment for Next Time 3 SMART Goals for your group Reflect on: 1.Why are you a part of your group and what do you get out of it? Why should people join your group? 2.What might be some barriers to people feeling like they can be involved in your group? 3.How will you reach out to get new members? 4.How do you hear about events and meetings at Bates?