Quick Meeting Openers for Busy Managers

by Miller, Brian Cole

• ISBN13: 9780814409336
• ISBN10: 0814409334
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-02
• Publisher: Amacom Books

Summary

How effective a meeting will be depends on the tone set in the first few minutes...and it¿s up to the person running it to set that tone. Quick Meeting Openers for Busy Managers gives readers the tools, activities, and advice they need to create the kind of open, energetic, and relaxed atmosphere that lead to effective meetings and serious results. Designed to take the anxiety out of meetings and encourage creative and practical discussion, the book contains meeting starters that will help managers, team leaders, and facilitators: ease introductions for people who don¿t know each other ¿ warm up the group before moving them into more difficult territory ¿ generate lively dialogue and sharing of ideas ¿ effectively split attendees up into work groups ¿ expedite brainstorming and promote problem-solving ¿ and more For anyone charged with the task of running meetings, this book is the answer.

Author Biography

Brian Cole Miller (Dublin, OH) is the principal of Working Solutions, Inc., a management training and consulting firm whose clients include FranklinCovey, Nationwide Insurance, and the UPS Store. He is the author of the best-selling Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers (978-0-8144-7201-9) as well as More Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers (978-0-8144-7378-8), and Keeping Employees Accountable for Results (978-0-8144-7320-7).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Activities That Are Super Quick and Easy	p. 5
If I Were A ___	p. 6
Questions	p. 8
Activities for Grouping People	p. 11
Icebreakers for Introductions	p. 23
Blanket Names	p. 24
Bouncing Balls	p. 26
Bumper Cars	p. 28
Bumpity-Bump	p. 30
Champions	p. 32
Do You Know Me?	p. 34
Handshakes	p. 36
Logos	p. 38
Mind Reader	p. 40
My Letter	p. 42
Physical Descriptions	p. 44
Polite Catch	p. 46
Rip It Up	p. 48
Shark!	p. 50
Speaking in Tongues	p. 52
Speechless	p. 54
Survivor	p. 56
Two Circles	p. 58
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Introduction Meeting openers are structured activities designed to help group members introduce themselves, energize (or relax!), and otherwise get ready to participate in a meeting. The openers are not usually connected to the topic of the meeting but rather serve as a vehicle for getting people to open up and feel comfortable with each other before getting to the actual meeting agenda. This is especially helpful when group members don't know each other very well, there are one or more cliques in the group, or the subject will be particularly demanding. Some call these exercises icebreakers. The term refers to ships in the arctic regions. These ships are designed to break the ice, allowing vessels behind them to pass more easily. In much the same way, meeting openers, or icebreakers, pave the way for people to interact and work together-easier and smoother. The icebreakers I've included are not just for the purpose of introducing team memebers to each other but also to break teams up into groups, get them energized, and brainstorm. Meeting openers, or icebreakers, are different from team-building activities. Effective team-building activities have a customized, work-related learning objective. Meeting openers, on the other hand, always have the same, simple objective: to help people warm up for an upcoming meeting, whatever the meeting is. Basic introductions are sometimes a part of that warming up. (If you do need team-building activities, see my other two collections, Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers and More Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers.) I've organized the meeting openers into six chapters. The first chapter has two very quick and easy meeting openers with dozens of variations. Use these when you are reviewing this book on your way to the meeting and don't have time to prep for anything else! Many openers require that you break the group into smaller groups. Chapter 2 has almost 100 ideas for breaking groups in half, into pairs, and into other smaller teams. Chapter 3 has icebreakers for introductions. Of course, the activities in the rest of the book may also be used for introductions, so don't dismiss them if you need an introduction activity. It's just that the ones in Chapter 3 are specifically designed for this purpose. The rest of the openers are in Chapters 4, 5, and 6. They are organized by group sizes. Chapter 4 has activities geared for smaller groups when you have enough time for all participants to speak, share, or introduce themselves to the whole group. Small groups don't have more than about 20 participants. Groups that have 12 to 35 participants are the focus of Chapter 5. Here, the meeting openers may keep the participants together for limited full-group interaction or divide them up to allow for more interaction within the smaller groups. Chapter 6 has activities that are good for groups of over 35 participants. The group is either broken into smaller, more manageable groups, or the participants mingle. If they mingle, there is structure, and there are specific objectives that will encourage (or even force) them to interact. The outline for each meeting opener is easy to follow. Each one is presented in the same easy-to-read, bulleted format: This is . . . explains briefly what the activity is. Use it to . . . tells what the purpose of the exercise is. Best group size . . . indicates the ideal group size. Materials you'll need . . . tells you everything you will need for the activity. Most of the time it's nothing! Here's how . . . outlines, step by step, how to conduct the activity. For example . . . illustrates how the activity may play out, so you get a good sense of what to expect.