My idea of a perfect meeting.

One of our two assignments today is to post about the topic we have been discussing this week. This post is about how I imagine a perfect meeting. The other assignment we had in class today was a group meeting exercise, this is what I will use as a reference on the topic.
Organization is a key element of a successful meeting, as well as a good facilitator. The facilitator needs to make the group aware that they are in that position. To refer to our exercise this was not the case, one person had agreed to be the facilitator and gave up that position almost as soon as they accepted it. Someone else did step up and act as the facilitator. I think that it showed disorganization and started the meeting off wrong. Confusion is not a good thing in communication. Staying on task and on topic is another part of what makes a perfect meeting. Brainstorming can create many new ideas but can also lead people to get very off topic. The other end of that is that some people can get "tunnel vision" and stay on one point they got out of the brainstorm and not advance their thinking. These things the facilitator needs to control by guiding the others in the right direction and keeping them focused where they need to be. It can in my opinion be one of the most difficult aspects of a meeting. When brainstorming it is important to let everyone voice their opinions and to acknowledge them and discuss the positive and negatives of each opinion. When doing that you are collaborating so that the best outcome can be achieved. Another important part of a meeting is to stay on time and to keep it within a reasonable amount of time. If the meeting drags on then people tend to lose their focus. If you stay on one point to long people will also lose their focus. You need to have a good flow of the conversation. When coming to the conclusion it is important to understand which decision making process seems to be in play and to work with it. At the end the facilitator should clarify all points and conclusions that were made.
Simplified the keys to a good meeting are; organization, timing, proper collaboration, active listening, structure and clarity.
To refer to the meeting from this morning, I believe it was not a "perfect meeting". A lot of that had to with the attitude I presented and brought to the meeting. There were many other aspects that contributed to the way the meeting went. It was an exercise so I hope that the things that were observed are used as a tool to implement better practices in future meetings. I also hope that everyone can see the roles that they play and how attitudes can greatly impact a meeting.

Communication Goal

As part of communication class we were asked to choose one aspect of our communication that we would like to focus and improve on throughout this class. My goal is to improve my clarity and organization in my verbal communication. I have noticed that my thoughts are very unorganized which comes out in my speech. I have the tendency to not think my thoughts through before I speak them. I like to refer to it as my filter needing to be replaced! This can and does affect how clearly I communicate my opinions, thoughts or answers. This leads to misunderstandings and even offending others.
In 4-5 more days my husband is coming home on leave from Iraq. It has been eight months since I have seen him, our communication has been limited to phone calls, text messages, instant messaging and e-mail. None of those have given us the opportunity to have long conversations. We have had to keep our communication to talking about the day to day things such as bills, home and a thousand I love you and I miss you phrases. Having him come home presents the perfect opportunity to work on my goal. I think having good communication will help us to have the best two weeks possible. Having as much time apart as we have, I am sure it has affected our ability to communicate efficiently. I do not want us to spend any of the time fighting because either of us misunderstood something the other was trying to communicate.
I will be making an effort to slow down and think before giving my opinions and suggestions. To evaluate how my words may be mistaken for something different than what I was trying to communicate. I am thankful that I will start working on this goal with my husband, he can give me feedback on how clearly I am communicating. I will be asking him to describe what he heard or understood.
I am very excited to utilize all the new ideas and skills I have learned in communication class in communicating with the hubby and supporting my personal communication goal!