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Facilitate effective meetings
Useful meetings are defined by the decisions and actions they produce. Prepare a clear framework, facilitate discussion and keep attention on the objective. Strengthen your ability to involve everyone, bring discussions to a conclusion and organise follow-up on commitments.
- Duration
- 1 day 7 hours
- Code
- MGMT25FR Code
Presentation
Meetings are central to professional life, but are too often seen as a waste of time. Chronic meeting overload, characterised by long, repetitive sessions without clear action plans, directly affects team productivity and motivation.
This intensive one-day course provides a practical toolkit. You will learn to structure a meaningful meeting with a clear objective and focused agenda, and select the right participants. The emphasis is on facilitation techniques to encourage participation and manage challenging behaviours, including opposition, passivity and monopolising the discussion.
The aim is to turn your meetings into effective decision-making and action tools. You will leave with a method for framing discussions, managing time and concluding effectively, including in hybrid or remote meetings, to ensure constructive follow-up.
Objectives
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- identify different meeting types, including information-sharing, decision-making, creativity and coordination, to choose the right format and duration;
- prepare a meeting effectively by defining objectives, participants, facilitator and note-taker roles, and a relevant agenda;
- lead a structured, engaging meeting using the facilitator's key skills: active listening, neutrality and energy;
- encourage participation through round-robin contributions and brainstorming, and manage interactions and challenging behaviours, including passivity, monopolising and opposition;
- conclude effectively with a summary, agreed decisions and an action plan specifying who does what and when, ensuring follow-up after the meeting.
Program
Module 1: Preparing and structuring a meeting
- Identifying different meeting types: information-sharing, decision-making, creativity and coordination.
- Clarifying objectives and expected outcomes.
- Selecting participants and defining facilitator, note-taker and observer roles.
- Developing a clear, relevant and timed agenda.
- Preparing appropriate materials and tools, including documents and digital tools.
- Learning techniques for opening a meeting and framing discussions.
Module 2: Facilitating and concluding a meeting effectively
- Mastering the facilitator's key approaches: assertiveness, neutrality, listening and energy.
- Applying participatory facilitation techniques, including round-robin contributions, brainstorming and collective decision-making.
- Maintaining group motivation and attention.
- Managing the conclusion effectively: summary, decisions and action plan.
- Identifying best practices for hybrid or remote meetings.
Module 3: Putting learning into practice
Simulation exercises
- Manage interactions and challenging participants who monopolise discussions, remain passive or oppose others.
- Facilitate part of a meeting, such as brainstorming or decision-making, with group feedback.
Case study
- Analyse and propose a facilitation plan for a complex hybrid meeting involving remote participants.
Audience
This course is intended for professionals seeking to make better use of collective time and strengthen group facilitation skills, including:
- managers and project managers who need to frame discussions, make decisions and ensure follow-up to support team productivity;
- employees in all sectors who facilitate coordination or information-sharing meetings and want a more structured, engaging approach;
- anyone seeking to strengthen assertiveness and leadership in group facilitation to manage their own and others' time better.
Prerequisites
The following prerequisite applies:
- Basic experience: previous participation, even passively, in professional meetings is desirable to put the exercises into context.
Teaching and assessment methods
- Initial skills assessment
- Training materials provided to participants
- Continuous assessment throughout the course
- End-of-course feedback questionnaire
- Combination of theory and practical application
- Attendance records
- Post-course follow-up evaluation
- Practical exercises
Course highlights
- Intensive 1-day format: a focused day to acquire practical tools, including agendas and action plans, and methods to overcome meeting overload.
- Intensive scenarios: practise facilitating and managing challenging personalities, including oppositional or passive participants, with direct feedback from the instructor and group.
- Facilitator's toolkit: leave with participatory techniques, including brainstorming and round-robin contributions, to engage and energise groups in person or remotely.
- Post-meeting action plan: learn to conclude effectively by formalising who does what and when, ensuring constructive follow-up after every meeting.
Dates and sessions
Choose the date and delivery format that suit you.
No upcoming sessions are currently available.