Tip

Don’t arbitrarily stop discussions that you feel don’t help the meeting progress. Instead, set and communicate time boxes for the discussion and move on with the meeting afterwards.

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Details

A conversation can easily consume the whole meeting. That is not always bad but it can lead to missing the stated outcome of the meeting. Setting a time limit for how long a conversation can continue and enforcing that limit is an essential part of meeting facilitation.

Stopping discussions too soon has a negative impact on participation, however, discussions that drift off-topic have the same impact on the group. Finding a balance is important and requires experience. Even if you as the organizer are deeply invested in the topic, try to be as neutral as you can in your role as meeting facilitator. Otherwise, new ideas might not get a chance to emerge.