Ep 16 - Virtually Productive, with Paul McGregor

Re-Introducing Paul McGregor If you want to get Paul fired up, send him to a 3 hour online meeting where nobody says anything except for one or two presenters. Watch him squirm as the presenter reads from Powerpoint slides with size 10 font and clip-art illustrations. See him grit his teeth as everybody else pulls out their phones to find a distraction. As the presenter acts surprised at the lack of audience participation. As finally, a participant pipes up in frustration part-way through the presentation. Yes, Paul is passionate about groups achieving more together by drawing on everybody’s wisdom and energy. Paul is here to guide you to collaborate with your community - whether that’s online or offline. You can reach out and connect with Paul via LinkedIn. In today’s episode you’ll learn The simple mistake that dooms many virtual meetings right from the moment people login What evolutionary psychology can teach us about how to open virtual meetings Why we crave (and need) connection if we are to do good work together virtually The value of contrast in virtual meetings - to ensure people are awake and engaged What tools you can add into the mix to prevent your virtual meetings from lapsing into a lecture. Resources mentioned in this episode Virtually Productive, Paul’s e-book on how to facilitate virtual meetings that create change outside the meeting room The Firsttime Facilitator Podcast, Paul’s go-to-podcast for everything facilitation Truth and Lies: What People Are Really Thinking, by Mark Bowden - the book that applies evolutionary psychology to our everyday interactions with people. Sign up for the Movement Makers newsletter Sign up to our fortnightly newsletter and get the insights, tools and powerful whakaaro from people transforming the collaboration space.