From Running Meetings to Designing Them

Chen-en Tsaur

1. Before this course, how familiar were you with meeting design or facilitation?
I had run plenty of meetings and workshops over the years, but I'd never really thought about "designing" them. To me, a good meeting meant having an agenda, having someone take notes, and executing. The idea that there's a whole process to make meetings more effective is interesting to me.

2. What made you sign up?
I was coaching others on communication and wanted to level up my own skills. When I heard about Mike's workshop through a colleague, the timing felt right—I was ready to learn from someone who specialised in this.

3. Three words for the experience?
Practical, eye-opening, structured.

4. Biggest aha moment?

Realising that an agenda isn't good enough—it's just a list that nobody respects. What you need is a detailed game plan that focuses on the impact you want to create. The 5-step process (presentation → generate ideas → collect opinions → classify opinions → make decisions) gave me a framework I still use today.

5. Top 3 takeaways?

First facilitators design the process but don't create the content; that's for participants. Second, there are specific techniques for handling tricky situations (like asking "what about this is so important to you?" instead of dismissing someone who keeps repeating themselves). Third, function over form. Every design needs to serve a purpose.

6. What made the learning effective?

The hands-on activities. We didn't just talk about facilitation—we practised it. Whether it was physically lining up as a timeline or grouping post-it notes on a whiteboard, the exercises made the concepts stick. I also appreciated that Mike let us figure things out rather than just lecturing.

7. What do you do differently now?

I create game plans instead of agendas. I'm much more intentional about meeting design—thinking through what needs to happen for the meeting to be successful and how to get everyone engaged. I also use the techniques for handling difficult moments, like not asking "why" questions when someone's defensive.

8. Who should take this course and why?

Anyone who runs meetings and wants them to actually matter. If you're tired of meetings that feel like a waste of time or if you want to help teams make better decisions together, this could be for you.

9. Anything else to add?

The workshop gave me language and structure for things I'd been doing intuitively. Now I can use and share these techniques with confidence.