In the most general sense a meeting occurs when two or more people gather for a period of time. They have a beginning, middle and end.
Meetings are instances or occasions where discourse occurs under a variety of modes, often involving multiple styles within the same session.
The style may be didactic - one person giving instruction or oratory; dialogical - 'who talks up' pushing in to dialogue; distinctively punctuated silence as in Quaker meetings; cacophony - where everyone talks; turn-taking - democratic; factional - two or three dominate; and may other possibilities.
The performative styles can be represented by distinctive structure and social arrangements, distinguishing the relationships between speaker(s) and audience; who is speaking to whom, the orientation of attention, co-involvement, etc. For example: 1:m (one speaker to many); n:m (a group speaking to another group such as a board or a panel with an audience); m:m (introductions and social occasions), m:1 (a group speaking to an individual).
Case: The problem with meetings:
A meeting between Project Company and their clients. Invitees from the client organisation were told that it was a Project Consultation Workshop for User Input to Technical Development. The word consultation suggested that open discussions would occur.
An open invitation was sent to 100+ of client employees. Attendance at open corporate meetings in this organisation is generally low. The eventual meeting involved ~12 people. Of the attendees 6 were from Project Company. Considering the small group of people attending it is reasonable to expect that a genuine consultation would occur, for input to be gained from all involved.
The initial agenda allocated 2 hours 30' with a 15' break midway. Time use proposed was:
- 30' introduction and context presentation followed by...
- 10' table discussion and 10' response on topic of "what will the measure of success for the project be?"
- 10' table discussion and 10' response on topic of "what is the minimum specification? - i.e. in realising a building for the project what are the elements that should definitely be delivered?"
- 10' table discussion and 10' response on topic of "what should we definitely not do in realising the project?"
- 15' Break
- 22.5' general discussion "what are the practical considerations?"
- 22.5' general discussion "what is the schedule of accommodation?"
Notes:
One of the biggest challenges was the unfocused invitation to the consultation...
The 10'+10' "discussion+response" sessions took a typical 90:10 format. Employees became frustrated waiting for a chance to discuss and respond in a meaningful manner. However the chair of the meeting appeared not to notice or was not prepared to release control, presumably because of the previously established time limits and the expectation of completing all agenda items.
