Engagement Series: How to Delegate Segments of Your Meeting

How do you engage your audience?

I run a meeting for Toastmasters District 57 each month called the District Executive Council Meeting. We have 60ish folks for a two hour meeting. It could be super boring, but instead I hear constant feedback that my meetings are awesome. This post gives tips on how to use delegation to increase engagement.

Before we get into the tactical steps for delegating, lets talk about the emotions that you might run into. If you are especially attached to your meeting, it might feel wrong to delegate. After all, it’s your meeting! Let go and give others a chance to lead. This helps your organization in two ways: it allows others to learn facilitation techniques, and it makes your meetings more engaging!!!

Here are the steps to take to delgate your meeting:

1) Use the 4d outline to organize your meeting into segments:

2) Identify the best person on your team to own/lead each segment.

3) Communicate clearly with the lead on what you expect from them: the purpose of the segment, the output, how you want them to run it, and details on any activities you want them to run. If the person has lots of experience you can just let them know the output and figure out the how. If they are newer, then you might need to walk them through possible activities to accomplish the purpose.

4) During the meeting, remind the lead of the timing and introduce them to actually lead the segment.

5) Follow up after the meeting to give both what the lead did well and how they can improve next time.

Turn up the engagement in your meetings by delegating. I hope these tips help you. Let me know about your experiences on LinkedIn or Facebook.