Facilitation (business) - The Form of Meeting

The Form of Meeting

A meeting usually means everyone is together in the same room at the same time and this is the major situation in which facilitation is practiced. With the introduction of modern telecommunications the field has grown to embrace other forms of meetings:-

• Same time same place - the traditional meeting in a room with all parties present at the same time.
• Same time different place - the teleconference with either all parties at separate locations or with some in geographically dispersed sub meetings, all with audio / video connection.
• Different time same place - a meeting focussing on a particular physical location where people contribute as they pass by. A wall mounted notice board and/or poster display which allows individuals to add comments as they pass is one example . A survey using un-networked computers in a kiosk would also be a "different time same place" meeting.
• Different time different place - meeting via a web link such as discussion groups, forums, blogs, and usenet. Specialist web-enabled group decision support software exists. Wikipedia discussion pages fall into this category.