Avoid participants falling asleep during a meeting Tutorial

Are your participants dozing off during meetings? Discover four essential tips to keep them awake and engaged in 'avoid participants falling asleep during a meeting'. From alternating activities to incorporating visuals and fun, this video packed with strategies will transform your meetings. Learn how to maintain energy and creativity. Dive in now!

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How do you avoid losing the 50% of participants who admit

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to handling emails,

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SMS and other files during meetings?

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Here are the 4 tips,

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alternate,

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set the pace,

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add visuals,

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and make the meeting fun.

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Alternating is the main key to keeping participants awake.

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The brain quickly falls asleep

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as soon as things stand still,

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or it finds another way to keep busy by escaping through thought or on smartphones.

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So

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what can you alternate?

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Almost anything.

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Alternate sitting and standing positions,

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alternate visual aids,

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slideshow,

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flip chart,

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mind mapping,

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Post-it notes on the board.

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Alternate animation methods.

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Alternate speakers.

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Alternate individual,

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small group,

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and large group reflection times.

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Alternate delegated roles.

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Get as far as possible out of the known,

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out of routine,

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out of habits,

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and your participants will no longer be able to sleepwalk through the meetings.

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How can you prevent your participants from dozing off during the meeting?

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Set the pace in your meetings.

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This is the principle of time boxing.

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Here are 6 tips to set the pace in your meetings.

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The optimal attention span of an adult in a conference does not exceed 10 minutes,

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so do not make your motionless sections exceed 10 minutes.

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By motionless section,

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I mean a section where the participant has nothing else to do but sit and listen.

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You can make a sequence of 5 to 10 minutes

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in which the participant must

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individually answer specific questions in writing.

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On a Post-it note,

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for example,

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from 10 to 20 minutes,

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a sequence where the participants in pairs or

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trios have to share what they have collected individually

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and make a synthesis enriched by their sharing,

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group creativity times can last up to 30 minutes

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if the facilitator asks the right questions,

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stimulates,

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and gets everyone moving.

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John Medina,

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the author of the 12 Laws of the Brain,

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wrote,

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If you want to improve your intellectual capacities,

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one piece of advice,

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get moving.

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Breaks are also a way to break the rhythm and start again with more energy.

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The brake allows the body to stretch and ventilate the brain

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while it digests previous information and experiences.

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You can also make your participants do some movements,

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for example,

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brain gym movements such as the cross crawl that activates the

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right and left brain and allows a better flow of information

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between the two hemispheres.

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Or why not recreational breaks that awaken creativity?

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Through a video,

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a story,

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a card trick,

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a riddle,

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your participants will return to work with increased energy.

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Studies have shown that participants retain better what was said

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and experienced at the beginning and end of the intervention.

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This

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is called the primacy effect and the recency effect.

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With each new sequence you benefit from increased attention and memory

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at the beginning and end of the sequence.

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Two consequences to this observation.

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Do not make sequences too long

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and repeat the key messages at the beginning and end of the sequence.

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Don't forget

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to have timed each sequence and rely on your timekeeper to enforce them.

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How do you prevent your participants from dropping out during your meetings?

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Put some visuals in your meetings.

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Putting visuals in your meetings is making sure

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both hemispheres are connected.

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Especially the right hemisphere,

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which is activated for visual spatial activities

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and serves creativity.

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Putting visuals in your meetings facilitate focusing and memorization.

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The eye memorizes information more than the ear,

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83% for sight,

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11% for hearing.

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You'll find some advice in our video on visual aids.

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As a reminder,

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throw away the written slides,

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slide documents,

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and those with continuous information in endless bullet point lists.

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Replace them

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with design slides in the form of PechaKucha,

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for example.

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Use mind maps to facilitate customer co-creation,

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redecorate your walls with craft paper visual board and colorful Post-it notes.

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Use the graphic tablet and drawings to get your message across.

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Use creative cards to facilitate expression.

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Here is an example of how to use them.

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Each participant can choose two cards,

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one that represents their situation today

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or how they see their department today,

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and one that represents their hopes for situation tomorrow,

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or how they hope the department will be tomorrow.

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I recommend the cards from the Dixit game for which you can simply buy a recharge.

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Then

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go around the table.

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Everyone will show the cards they have chosen

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and share their present and ideal vision of the department.

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The use of the cards will free up expression on important issues

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and at the same time create friendliness.

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A last suggestion for more visual input.

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Give examples and metaphors to facilitate understanding and memorization.

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Here is a metaphor.

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Imagine that our brain is a giant colander.

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The letters and numbers that make up words

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and quantitative information pass through the colander.

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Images

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visuals do not pass through the holes of the colander.

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The images remain engraved in our limbic brain,

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especially if you have associated emotion with them.

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How do you prevent your participants from being bored in a meeting?

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Add some games,

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sprinkle some fun into your meetings.

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The world of adult pedagogy has recently questioned itself

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and is bringing back the playful spirit of primary schools.

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In primary schools,

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children learn by playing.

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Later they are asked to stop moving and keep quiet

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until they are given the floor.

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They are told that learning is serious,

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that intelligence is serious,

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and little by little movement and play desert classrooms,

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increasingly inhibiting participation.

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Today,

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the pedagogy of the training centers is giving playing its place back.

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Playing brings relaxation,

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humor,

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and detour.

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It thus unleashes creativity.

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Participants disconnect from their habits.

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They get out of the anxiety linked to

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professional difficulties and the fear of evaluation.

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The game awakens interest and reduces self

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censorship and self-control of the left brain.

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Playing leaves room for the child's soul and

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the spontaneous creativity of the right brain.

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Indeed,

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the team building days that consultants organize for companies

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always leave a large part to play

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in order to generate cohesion,

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collaboration,

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and open the floodgates of creativity.

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When you use markers,

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Post-it notes,

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magazines,

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music,

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or humorous images,

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you make room for fun.

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When you use recreational breaks or a quiz to validate the transfer of information.

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Then the playfulness becomes part of the team.

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More than 1 in 3 executives

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admit

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to relieving by drawing during meetings when they

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are not reading or writing their messages.

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Use this talent to make them draw on craft paper taped to the table.

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For example,

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draw with your colleague

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the optimal organization of the purchasing process

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or the success of the change.

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Here is another example of how to use the game in a time of reflection.

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The technique,

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the opposite of the contrary,

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is a way to make participants think

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during a meeting.

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This technique consists of brainstorming on the opposite

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objective to the one you want to reach.

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For example,

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how can you make everyone waste their time in a meeting?

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How can we make the project launch fail,

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or how do you get everyone to telework in their own corner

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after a period of individual reflection and then a sharing time endures,

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write down on a flip chart or projected screen,

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ideally on a mind map,

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the group's answers to the absurd question.

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Group them by theme.

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Then go and find in the opposite of all

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these absurd answers the good practices to be developed.

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For example,

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on the theme of

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how to lose customers as quickly as possible,

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you might have

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not answering their emails.

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The opposite good practice proposed may be

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to answer customers' emails within 3 days maximum.

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Write down these good practices that mirror

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the silly answers of the group.

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Then develop an action plan

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that can be individual and or collective.

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You don't want your participants to get bored and fall asleep,

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do you?

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Alternate,

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put some rhythm into your meetings,

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propose inspiring visuals,

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and sprinkle your meetings with fun.

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Participants will want more.

Mandarine AI: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW