In today’s fast-paced work environment, meetings are crucial for collaboration and decision-making. This course introduces a structured, design-driven approach to transform ordinary meetings into purposeful, results-driven experiences. It emphasizes the strategic importance of planning with a clear purpose and desired outcomes, making meetings more effective for all participants.
Throughout the course, you will learn practical techniques to improve your meeting facilitation skills. These strategies help create clear agendas, manage conversations, and guide teams toward alignment and action. By incorporating a design-thinking mindset, you will develop the ability to ensure meetings are not only efficient but also drive real progress and innovation.
What sets this course apart is its combination of theoretical frameworks and hands-on, real-world applications. You will explore a variety of facilitation methods, learn how to structure meetings to fit specific team goals, and gain tools to navigate challenges such as conflicts and disengagement. This approach ensures that you can design meetings that produce measurable results.
This course is ideal for professionals at all levels, including team leads, managers, and those looking to improve their meeting effectiveness. Whether you’re leading meetings or participating in them, the course offers valuable strategies for enhancing collaboration and achieving successful outcomes.
Copyright @ 2018 Kevin M. Hoffman. All rights reserved. Originally published by Rosenfeld Media, LLC.
This course edition is published by Packt Publishing under license from Rosenfeld Media LLC. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise - without prior written permission from the author or the publisher.
In this section, we apply design-thinking to meetings, analyze stakeholder needs, build agendas, and adjust formats to turn chaotic updates into discussions that improve clarity, speed decisions, and maintain momentum.
What's included
2 videos3 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
2 videos•Total 3 minutes
Course Overview•1 minute
How to Design a Meeting - Overview Video•1 minute
3 readings•Total 30 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
Apply Design Thinking to Existing Meetings•10 minutes
Consider Multiple Formats•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Mastering Effective Meeting Practices•10 minutes
The Design Constraint of All Meetings
Module 2•1 hour to complete
Module details
In this section, we compare working memory (WM) and intermediate term memory (ITM) capacities, then craft multisensory agendas and notes that boost recall and reduce post meeting rework.
What's included
1 video4 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 1 minute
The Design Constraint of All Meetings - Overview Video•1 minute
4 readings•Total 40 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
More Effective Listening•10 minutes
Visual Listening•10 minutes
Getting in Touch with Your Ideas•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Meeting Design and Cognitive Constraints•10 minutes
Build Agendas Out of Ideas, People, and Time
Module 3•1 hour to complete
Module details
In this section, we balance stakeholder expectations by using agenda math: counting ideas and participants, applying the groups-of-five rule, and time-boxing discussions to craft efficient, outcome-focused meetings.
What's included
1 video5 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 1 minute
Build Agendas Out of Ideas, People, and Time - Overview Video•1 minute
5 readings•Total 50 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
Count Your Ideas, Then Count Your People•10 minutes
Scale Ideas to Time•10 minutes
Doing Agenda Math•10 minutes
The Cost of Meetings•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Strategies for Effective Meeting Planning and Collaboration•10 minutes
Manage Conflict with Facilitation
Module 4•1 hour to complete
Module details
In this section, we apply facilitation to resolve design conflicts, embed conversational patterns into agendas and adopt remote-meeting recording practices to ensure transparent, outcome-focused collaboration.
What's included
1 video3 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 1 minute
Manage Conflict with Facilitation - Overview Video•1 minute
3 readings•Total 30 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
Common Mistakes That Prevent Facilitation•10 minutes
Recording Remote Meetings•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Navigating Group Dynamics and Conflict Resolution•10 minutes
Facilitation Strategy and Style
Module 5•1 hour to complete
Module details
In this section, we craft four-lens questions exposing feelings, motivations, actions and systems, evaluate placement on facilitation style spectrums, and create a personalized competency roadmap to drive decisive, aligned workshops.
What's included
1 video4 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 1 minute
Facilitation Strategy and Style - Overview Video•1 minute
4 readings•Total 40 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
Questions That Surface Actions•10 minutes
How Can You Get Started with Visual Facilitation•10 minutes
Space Making to Space Filling•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Facilitation Styles and Effective Group Management•10 minutes
Better Meetings Lead to Better Organizations
Module 6•1 hour to complete
Module details
In this section, we leverage purposeful meetings to expose cultural mismatches, question inconsistent employee taxonomies, and outline sustainable data normalization strategies that underpin scalable, citizen-facing digital services.
What's included
1 video5 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 1 minute
Better Meetings Lead to Better Organizations - Overview Video•1 minute
5 readings•Total 50 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
Meetings Help You Understand a New Culture•10 minutes
In this section, we design structured kickoff, sales, stakeholder-interview and OKR meetings, apply metrics to assess effectiveness, and leverage questioning to build trust, surface requirements and minimize revisions.
What's included
1 video5 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 1 minute
Get Started with Beginning Meetings - Overview Video•1 minute
5 readings•Total 50 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
Goal of Stakeholder Interviews•10 minutes
Strategy Discussions Using Objectives and Key Results Statements (OKRs)•10 minutes
How Can I Convince My Boss or My Client That a Workshop Is Worth the Time and Expense•10 minutes
Project Kickoff Workshop•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Mastering Effective Meeting Practices•10 minutes
Chart the Course Using Middle Meetings
Module 8•1 hour to complete
Module details
In this section, we align sight distance by selecting Agile scrums, check-ins or workshops, setting measurable goals, and converting surfaced conflict into insights that maintain momentum across complex projects.
What's included
1 video4 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 1 minute
Chart the Course Using Middle Meetings - Overview Video•1 minute
4 readings•Total 40 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
Measuring the Outcomes of a Daily Scrum•10 minutes
Critiques•10 minutes
What Meetings Do You Need?•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Navigating Middle Meetings and Workshop Dynamics•10 minutes
Find Closure with End Meetings
Module 9•1 hour to complete
Module details
In this section, we run UAT defect log reviews, blameless postmortems and agile retrospectives, extracting root-cause insights, celebrating successes and converting reflection into continuous quality and process improvement.
What's included
1 video2 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
1 video•Total 1 minute
Find Closure with End Meetings - Overview Video•1 minute
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
Introduction•10 minutes
Agile Style Retrospectives•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Closing Meetings and Team Communication•10 minutes
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