Facilitate Proceedings » Research Briefs

So, you want to solve problems and generate quality ideas in your meeting?

Donna McAlister Kizzier — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:29:37 +0000

If solving problems or generating high quality ideas are among your primary meeting goals, which of the many meeting venues available to facilitators should you select? Face to face? Teleconferencing? Audio and video conferencing? Text messaging? Asynchronous or synchronous? With or without collaborative systems? Does it make a difference which meeting tools you select or the time frame you select? This month’s Research Brief addresses these questions, with a clear winner emerging.

As a reminder, each Research Brief refers readers to the full published article. Click on the link to read today’s full Research Brief. These Briefs are intended to communicate the results of my already published research to practitioners in the field. I appreciate and encourage your feedback; you are the best qualified to judge the relevant application of my research in the workplace.

Which Venue Works Best For Dispersed Meetings?

Donna McAlister Kizzier — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:38:20 +0000

In my last Research Brief for FacilitateProceedings, I shared the quantitative results to date of my study on the effectiveness of six different meeting venues on the bottom line of organizations. This month I thought I’d share some of the qualitative results.

I noticed the questions I received from my first blog posting asked my opinion about why we were seeing some of the results. In the larger, long-term study, I analyze the data using not only statistical techniques, but also by using “qualititative methods of inquiry,” a newer research method that helps researchers and practitioners understand not just “what” they are seeing in the research results, but “why.”

As a reminder, each Research Brief refers readers to the full published article. The research I summarize for you in this blog has already been reviewed and deemed credible by top scholars in my field. The ultimate result of this research is to design meeting models and processes that will help practioners choose the most effective methods to conduct meetings globally, across time and space, using the latest technology.

Synergy or Oxymoron? Reflections on Asynchronous Facilitation

Gurpreet Gil — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:54:10 +0000

In this research brief I will share some of the experience of Synergy, a project exploring the use of collaborative meeting software to facilitate asynchronous group activities.

Most staff developers see themselves as facilitators of the learning process – knowledge is distributed throughout the organisation and the learning process happens when people successfully collaborate with others. The role of the facilitator is to encourage this process by providing a clear framework for discussion, creating opportunities for dialogue to occur across different groups and communities of practice. Sounds great doesn’t it? If only it were that easy!

In reality, availability of the right people at the right time is often a major issue and what appears to be a successful outcome for the group who attended can subsequently be undermined by the absence of key individuals. This is where collaborative meeting software comes in, by offering a solution that enables people to be involved in a facilitated meeting, irrespective of their geographical location and existing diary commitments.

How Do Collaborative Meeting Systems Affect The Bottom Line?

Donna McAlister Kizzier — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:36:33 +0000

As technology advances and the global economy strains to stabilize, what is a leader who is increasingly pressed to produce bottom line results to do? Based on research being conducted at Morehead State University, part of the answer may be to run more effective global meetings using collaborative systems. This research indicates that collaborative systems can save time and travel-related expense while enhancing the quality of meeting outcomes.
For the past seven years, I have been conducting a long-term comprehensive study on the effectiveness of several meeting venues on scientifically validated group effectiveness factors. The ultimate goal of this project is to design meeting models that work effectively across time, space, and diverse cultures.