Basics

Every meeting starts on time and ends on time. Every meeting is a public meeting. Everyone can attend. Every meeting is time-boxed.

Preparation

1. Invite everyone who is required ahead of time so that they can prepare.
2. Send out an agenda with the goal and purpose of the meeting.
3. Prepare all resources for the meeting: room, projector, flip charts, facilitation equipment and all other materials that may be required.
4. Send out a reminder 24 hours before the meeting.
5. Prepare a flip chart with the basic rules for the meeting.

Facilitation of the Meeting

1. The facilitator is present during the entire meeting. He is not allowed to get involved but he needs to follow the discussion and bring it back to the main topic in case the participants lose focus.
2. The facilitator presents the goal and agenda of the meeting.
3. The facilitator helps nominate a person that will keep the minutes during the meeting – if necessary.
4. The facilitator assists the Team in documenting the meeting by visualising their conversation on the flip chart.
5. The facilitator remains focused on the goal and agenda of the meeting by using tools like the Parking Lot for capturing issues or questions that are not related to the meeting's initial purpose, so that they may be addressed later.
6. The facilitator ends the meeting with a wrap–up and a very short Retrospective (5 minutes maximum).

Output

• Documentation with sketches and/or flip chart notes. Take pictures of your boards and flip charts.
• Minutes of the meeting and its results must be clearly communicated.