Here's an activity based on the appreciative-inquiry techniques that build upon positive encounters and successful results.

Synopsis

The participants individually create a story about an engaging and effective meeting. They then pair up and share their stories. Later, they work in teams to identify the factors that contribute to these positive meetings.

Purpose

To identify factors that contribute to engaging and effective meetings

Participants

Minimum: 4

Maximum: Any number

Best: 8–20

Time

30–50 minutes

Flow

Form teams. Divide participants into two or more teams of equal size, each with around two to five members.

Create stories about positive meetings. Ask each participant to work independently to come up with a story related to a positive meeting. This story should feature an engaging meeting that produced effective results. It could be a real or fictional narrative. Encourage the participants to keep their stories short.

Share stories. After a suitable pause, invite the participants to walk around the room and pair up with someone from a different team. The two participants should share their stories with each other. Ask the participants to listen carefully so they can recall details of the other person's story at a later time. Announce a four-minute time limit for this activity.

Return to the team. After each pair has shared their stories with one another, ask all the participants to return to their original teams. At this time, each participant will have his or her own story along with a story from someone else.

Discover common themes. Ask members of each team to think back on all the stories they heard and identify the common themes among them. Ask them to make a list of the factors that contribute to an engaging and effective meeting. Also encourage the team members to brainstorm techniques for increasing the probability of such positive meetings occuring.

Pair and share the conclusions. Ask each participant to pair up with another participant from a different team. Ask the participants to take turns sharing their list of ideas that contribute to positive meetings.

Link to the Meeting

What's your story? Ask the participants to recall and apply the success factors from the stories they created. Encourage them to make the meeting the basis for a future success story.