This is an example of our one day course in Positive and Productive Meetings.

Late in September 2006, Positive and Productive Meetings developers Amanda George and Marc Archambault were invited to Atlanta, Georgia to provide training to human services organizations involved in a systems change initiative called Good2Great. Seventy professionals from both the private and public sector took part in the full day course. Group work and graphics carried the day.

The purpose of the course is colorfully communicated by this <a href="/purpose-posters/"Purpose Poster. Created using one of the new Positive and Productive Meetings graphic templates, the Purpose Poster shares the day’s intended outcomes, the expected ground rules and the people responsible for making it happen. Posted all day long, it reminds people of why they are here and what they intend to accomplish.

Training participants created their own Purpose Posters early in the class. They would later use these to guide their own meetings during the afternoon.

Looking at yesterday’s meeting

Positive and Productive Meetings course begins with a thorough look at the meeting practices of the training participants. What happened the last time you met? What’s Working/What’s Not Working is a simple and effective tool for analyzing this information. Each group in the training session contributed to this conversation which was recorded graphically.

Today, learn and practice

The training outline closely follows the four main principles of Positive and Productive Meetings: Purpose, People, Process, Progress. After the groups had created their Purpose Posters, the details of creating excellent agendas were discussed.

Visuals are an essential element of Positive and Productive Meetings and are used extensively in the training. This poster was used to teach the PPM agenda techniques and to explore the key traits and attributes of the people filling meeting roles such as facilitator, agenda developer, timekeeper and recorder.

This group used one of the new Positive and Productive Meetings graphic templates to organize their agenda.

This group used big paper so they could post their agenda where everyone could see it and use it as a guide. A surprising number of people like to have items checked off the agenda as their meeting progresses, so they can see their forward movement.

Before the training participants began their meeting we reviewed the Positive and Productive Meetings process. Groups were encouraged to follow the process during the training session and to then take the concepts and customize them to their meetings.

Tomorrow, a great meeting

At the end of the session, each group takes some time to plan how they will implement what they have learned during the course. Using Timed Talk each every team member had the chance to explore their ideas with a partner, before rejoining their meeting team and developing a plan for their next Positive and Productive Meeting.