[IxDA Discuss] Balancing brainstorm participants

[Jim Drew]

On Sep 10, 2007, at 10:11 AM, Mike Wood wrote:

> How do you balance the conversation
> when participating in a larger brainstorm or design meeting? How do  
> you make
> sure you benefit from quieter folks' opinions, stop the louder  
> folks from
> dominating the discussion, reduce interupting, etc. The only formal  
> method
> I have seen is passing the conch shell or the talking stick but I  
> that seems
> a bit limiting.

Some methods I've worked with:

* Identify who the quiet ones are ahead of time (if you can, works  
best if you already know them) and get their input first.  Then they  
don't feel like all the good answers are taken and if there's going  
to be a culture of responding to others answers, it isn't established  
yet.  (Some people feel that any response to their answer -- other  
than a "Good answer!" one -- is an "attack", even if it's just a  
question and nothing critical.)

* Similarly, identify the "loud" ones and call on them last.  Note  
that many such people *know* that they are abundant communicators and  
don't mind being called on later so long as it serves the group and  
so long as they *do* get called on.

* Enforce time limits -- 1 minute for an item, 20 seconds for a  
response or query.  That will keep things coming and limit wandering  
"essay answers" which cover broad ranges of territory.  People will  
be forced to be focused.

* Make sure that no one is allowed to respond more than once in a  
row.  Control always has to pass to someone else before coming back.


-- Jim Drew
     cfmdesigns at earthlink.net
     http://www.soundskinky.com/blog/