Team meeting: what tools to facilitate participatory meetings to use?

A participatory meeting focuses on collective decision-making. Well-organized and well-animated, these meetings promote engagement and collaboration, which leads to improved team cohesion and productivity. With a participatory approach, ideas are understood collectively, thus stimulating creativity, innovation and the effectiveness of meetings.

From interactive surveys to mind maps to icebreakers, find the best tools to maximize the effectiveness of your participatory meetings, both for your online meetings and for those in person organized in boardrooms.

Some key principles for a successful meeting

Regardless of the type of meeting, the success and effectiveness of team building depends primarily on two factors: careful meeting preparation and the use of facilitation techniques.

Here are some essential steps to properly prepare for the meeting:

• Set clear and achievable goals. The objectives set vary according to the different types of meeting (e.g.: training meeting, steering meeting, project meeting, commercial meeting, work meeting, design meeting...). These should be clearly defined prior to the start of the meeting and shared transparently with all relevant collaborators.
• Establish a consistent list of participants. In general, it is advisable to limit the number of participants to ensure a certain fluidity in exchanges. That said, make sure you don't forget any key collaborators in accordance with the goals to be achieved. Likewise, do not invite unconcerned collaborators, as this would also be counterproductive.
• Create an agenda. The agenda is crucial to reframe discussions if necessary. It is he who sets the pace of the meetings. You can use agenda templates to prepare the agenda more quickly while making sure to mention all the key points.
• Define the meeting format. Ask yourself if it will be more consistent and productive to organize an online meeting or a face-to-face meeting (or in hybrid mode). Several elements go into this decision: the number of participants and their location, the type of meeting, the frequency...
• Choose the right presentation materials and effective animation tools.

When it comes to the flow of the meeting, effective facilitation will allow you to improve communication, strengthen the engagement of each participant and ensure a productive meeting. But Facilitate a meeting cannot be improvised. As a facilitator, it is your responsibility to create a good group dynamic by stimulating interactions and structuring discussions. To do this, you can use several methods and tools for facilitating participatory meetings.

• Read our full article to find out how organize a meeting effectively.

Tools to structure exchanges

To conduct a meeting effectively, it is necessary to structure the discussions. To do this, make sure everyone participates, avoid monologues that tend to lower the attention of the audience, and do not exceed the time allotted for each topic and the meeting in general.

• The round table : it allows everyone to speak at the beginning of the meeting and to introduce themselves if all the participants do not know each other. The round table should be quick and user-friendly.
• Timeboxing : used for good time management, timeboxing aims to define a specific time for each topic on the agenda. It helps you stay on track, make sure you have time to discuss all the important topics, and avoid the trap of endless meetings.
• The speech timer : this technique can be used to ensure a balanced distribution of speaking time. That said, we recommend staying flexible by using a speech timer. When it is over, still give your employees time to finish their thinking.

The tools to stimulate creativity and engagement

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Some meetings need to involve the creativity of the participants. This is particularly the case for brainstorming, creative meetings, certain strategic meetings, or even problem-solving meetings.

• Digital or physical brainstorming tools : for online meetings, tools like Miro or Mural make it possible to create virtual spaces where participants can freely add all their ideas using post-its. These visual collaboration tools facilitate teamwork and are directly inspired by in-person brainstorming sessions with a whiteboard and colorful post-its.
• Mind mapping : this method makes it possible to organize ideas visually during the meeting. In particular, it helps to highlight the links that may exist between different concepts and ideas. Mind mapping stimulates creativity, but also clarifies ideas and facilitates decision-making.
• The icebreakers : at the start of the meeting, a Icebreaker can be a good idea to break the ice in a friendly way (if the meeting is suitable). Generally in the form of quizzes, games or open questions, it is a fun method allowing everyone to introduce themselves, but above all to motivate participants and boost their commitment by putting them in good conditions from the start of the exchanges.

Collaborative tools

Who says participatory meeting, says collaboration. Whether the meeting takes place in person or remotely, there is a whole range of tools whose objective is to promote collaboration between participants.

1. Live polls and votes : tools like Mentimeter, Slido or Kahoot make it easy to collect the opinions of all employees. They help to boost interactions and facilitate decision making.
2. Interactive whiteboards : Jamboard or Microsoft Whiteboard are applications that take the form of virtual whiteboards. They make it possible to co-construct ideas and improve productivity during remote meetings or in hybrid format.
3. Chats, discussion forums, and video conferencing applications : when the meeting is online, you can use tools such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack or Zoom to promote exchanges in real time. Most of these applications combine video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and collaboration tools.

The tools to ensure effective follow-up

When planning a meeting, remember to organize its follow-up: at the end of the meeting, exchanges should give way to action.

• Collaborative reports : writing a meeting report is essential to ensure the traceability of exchanges, recall the decisions made, clarify the role of each person, the objectives and next steps, etc. Tools such as Google Docs, Notion or Trello are very practical for creating collaborative reports that allow each participant to add notes.
• Collaborative project management software: software like  Asana, Monday, or ClickUp allow you to track tasks and action plans effectively. These tools help coordinate team work easily by bringing all projects, tasks, and more together in one place.

Meeting facilitation tools: summary table

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Conclusion

Mastering the techniques and using the right tools to facilitate participatory meetings will help you to transform your professional exchanges into real moments of collaboration and concrete actions. According to the type of meeting and the objectives to be achieved, it is entirely possible, even advisable, to combine several tools in order to maximize their effectiveness.

Are you looking for a meeting room in Paris to organize your participatory meeting? Explore our spaces in the heart of the capital: all our rooms are designed to improve the productivity of your meetings. Contact us for a free quote. ‍

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