Virtuous Meetings : Technology + Design for High Engagement in Large Groups

**Technology + Design leads to breakthrough in large meeting productivity**__Virtuous Meetings: Technology + Design for High Engagement in Large Groups__ breaks out of the confines of the meeting room to show the reader what is possible when you need to get large groups of people talking and making decisions together. The book shows that it is possible to achieve effective outcomes in large, important meetings – the kind of meetings that most organizations rely upon for aligning their leaders with strategy or managing change, innovation, and crises. When it matters most what the participants are thinking—even thousands of them at once, who may be in the room, at satellite locations or on laptops at home—this book liberates meeting designers from traditional assumptions and business-as-usual Q&A and discussion tactics with an approach for hearing and working with the contributions of all participants, __live__. From the Introduction, "Virtuous Meetings is a simple notion—give participants back their voice, and enable them to generate ideas, solutions and understandings that move the whole group, no matter how large, forward together." The book shows how meetings can be virtuous in __intent__ as well as __design,__ and how technology can help in this work. The book shows the reader how to use Virtuous Meeting Cycles, in which all participants' voices are heard, and shared understanding is generated, which in turn is used by participants, as a group, to generate plans and solutions, over which all feel a sense of ownership. As participants and leaders see the value of the outcomes of their interactions, their trust in each other, in the process, and intent to do good increases. With an increase in trust, the engagement becomes fuller and more robust. And so each revolution of the cycle continues... The book shows how to choose, anchor, design, facilitate, and scale virtuous meetings. In each part, the authors speak from the front lines—from experiences with clients and their critically important large meetings. The "View from Inside the Meeting" and Case Story features of the book share important lessons from some of the authors' most memorable engagements. Author Karl Danskin is an authority on psychology and group energetics. Lenny Lind is a pioneer in the field of technology-assisted group process and is a co-author of Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, by Sam Kaner, et al. Together, they draw on the collected experiences of over two decades of consulting to multinational corporations, having supported thousands of top-level client meetings, to share a methodology proven to engage participants like never before. Topics include: * A new model for thinking about large meetings: Two levels of participant experience – table group, and whole group * Exploring the "meta-conversations" that virtuous meetings enable * Introducing the Virtuous Engagement Cycle * The heart of virtuous meeting design: The Design Team * The critical roles in a virtuous meeting * An expanded view of (and platform for) leadership * Participant-centered meetings of the future __Virtuous Meetings__ is a comprehensive guide to getting the best out of large, strategically important meetings. "Technology + Design leads to breakthrough in large meeting productivityVirtuous Meetings: Technology + Design for High Engagement in Large Groups breaks out of the confines of the meeting room to show the reader what is possible when you need to get large groups of people talking and making decisions together. The book shows that it is possible to achieve effective outcomes in large, important meetings - the kind of meetings that most organizations rely upon for aligning their leaders with strategy or managing change, innovation, and crises. When it matters most what the participants are thinking--even thousands of them at once, who may be in the room, at satellite locations or on laptops at home--this book liberates meeting designers from traditional assumptions and business-as-usual Q & A and discussion tactics with an approach for hearing and working with the contributions of all participants, live. From the Introduction, "Virtuous Meetings is a simple notion--give participants back their voice, and enable them to generate ideas, solutions and understandings that move the whole group, no matter how large, forward together."The book shows how meetings can be virtuous in intent as well as design, and how technology can help in this work. The book shows the reader how to use Virtuous Meeting Cycles, in which all participants' voices are heard, and shared understanding is generated, which in turn is used by participants, as a group, to generate plans and solutions, over which all feel a sense of ownership. As participants and leaders see the value of the outcomes of their interactions, their trust in each other, in the process, and intent to do good increases. With an increase in trust, the engagement becomes fuller and more robust. And so each revolution of the cycle continues ... The book shows how to choose, anchor, design, facilitate, and scale virtuous meetings. In each part, the authors speak from the front lines--from experiences with clients and their critically important large meetings. The "View from Inside the Meeting" and Case Story features of the book share important lessons from some of the authors' most memorable engagements. Author Karl Danskin is an authority on psychology and group energetics. Lenny Lind is a pioneer in the field of technology-assisted group process and is a co-author of Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, by Sam Kaner, et al. Together, they draw on the collected experiences of over two decades of consulting to multinational corporations, having supported thousands of top-level client meetings, to share a methodology proven to engage participants like never before. Topics include: A new model for thinking about large meetings: Two levels of participant experience - table group, and whole group Exploring the "meta-conversations" that virtuous meetings enable Introducing the Virtuous Engagement Cycle The heart of virtuous meeting design: The Design Team The critical roles in a virtuous meeting An expanded view of (and platform for) leadership Participant-centered meetings of the future Virtuous Meetings is a comprehensive guide to getting the best out of large, strategically important meetings"-- Provided by publisher Technology + Design leads to breakthrough in large meeting productivity Virtuous Meetings: Technology + Design for High Engagement in Large Groups breaks out of the confines of the meeting room to show the reader what is possible when you need to get large groups of people talking and making decisions together. The book shows that it is possible to achieve effective outcomes in large, important meetings – the kind of meetings that most organizations rely upon for aligning their leaders with strategy or managing change, innovation, and crises. When it matters most what the participants are thinking—even thousands of them at once, who may be in the room, at satellite locations or on laptops at home—this book liberates meeting designers from traditional assumptions and business-as-usual Q&A and discussion tactics with an approach for hearing and working with the contributions of all participants, live . From the Introduction, "Virtuous Meetings is a simple notion—give participants back their voice, and enable them to generate ideas, solutions and understandings that move the whole group, no matter how large, forward together." The book shows how meetings can be virtuous in intent as well as design, and how technology can help in this work. The book shows the reader how to use Virtuous Meeting Cycles, in which all participants' voices are heard, and shared understanding is generated, which in turn is used by participants, as a group, to generate plans and solutions, over which all feel a sense of ownership. As participants and leaders see the value of the outcomes of their interactions, their trust in each other, in the process, and intent to do good increases. With an increase in trust, the engagement becomes fuller and more robust. And so each revolution of the cycle continues... The book shows how to choose, anchor, design, facilitate, and scale virtuous meetings. In each part, the authors speak from the front lines—from experiences with clients and their critically important large meetings. The "View from Inside the Meeting" and Case Story features of the book share important lessons from some of the authors' most memorable engagements. Author Karl Danskin is an authority on psychology and group energetics. Lenny Lind is a pioneer in the field of technology-assisted group process and is a co-author of Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, by Sam Kaner, et al. Together, they draw on the collected experiences of over two decades of consulting to multinational corporations, having supported thousands of top-level client meetings, to share a methodology proven to engage participants like never before. Topics include: A new model for thinking about large meetings: Two levels of participant experience – table group, and whole group Exploring the "meta-conversations" that virtuous meetings enable Introducing the Virtuous Engagement Cycle The heart of virtuous meeting design: The Design Team The critical roles in a virtuous meeting An expanded view of (and platform for) leadership Participant-centered meetings of the future Virtuous Meetings is a comprehensive guide to getting the best out of large, strategically important meetings. Virtuous Meetings describes a new methodology that integrates communications technology into meeting design, to completely transform how meetings feel, and what they accomplish. Virtuous Meetings are collaborative, generative meetings that create convergent outcomes. Virtuous Meetings make the best possible use of each participant's energy and ideas, and the most respectful use of each participant's time. They transform even the largest meetings into hands-on "working" sessions. Participating in a Virtuous Meeting is exciting, creative, and revelatory-giving participants a glimpse of what it feels like to work as a single integrated team. Virtuous Meetings liberates meeting designers from traditional assumptions and from business-as-usual Q&A and breakout formats. It introduces two-level meeting design, utilizing high-speed connectivity to capture and work with the contributions of all the participants in real time. Meeting design is the key that unlocks the transformative power of communication technology in large group meetings. The design methodology offered in Virtuous Meetings is the result of the authors' twenty years of experience pioneering the integration of technology into large meetings. The book includes illustrative examples from the authors' work around the world with large organizations in their most critical meetings. Topics include: An examination of the difference between front-of-the-room-centered large meeting design and participant-centered design The use of two-level meeting design, where meeting participants are part of both the plenary group and small discussion groups The simple steps of the Virtuous Engagement Cycle that can be used to generate real alignment and ownership in large groups by means of small group discussions The utilization of technological connectivity to enable a "parallel processing" activity "Technology + Design leads to breakthrough in large meeting productivityVirtuous Meetings: Technology + Design for High Engagement in Large Groups breaks out of the confines of the meeting room to show the reader what is possible when you need to get large groups of people talking and making decisions together. The book shows that it is possible to achieve effective outcomes in large, important meetings - the kind of meetings that most organizations rely upon for aligning their leaders with strategy or managing change, innovation, and crises. When it matters most what the participants are thinking ... even thousands of them at once, who may be in the room, at satellite locations or on laptops at home ... this book liberates meeting designers from traditional assumptions and business-as-usual QetA and discussion tactics with an approach for hearing and working with the contributions of all participants, live Strategically important, large meetings are run repeatedly with rote design, flat energy, mixed messages, ineffective results and yet always with the dream of much better outcomes over and over again (the definition of 'crazy'). It is design which unconsciously adheres to the "myth of immaculate reception." The solution: Engaging the participants, like never before. How? Through participant-centered design and execution. This first part of this book outlines the methodology of creating interactive meetings, what they look like, how they work, what the risks are and how to avoid them. The book then moves into "how to"-- the principles and elements of participant-centered design. Lastly, the book provides a vision for the future of meetings.