Epic Huggles

9.17 Reflection

i really enjoyed focus groups last class. I must say that Katie did an awesome job effectively leading the group. Keeping everyone engaged and keeping the conversation moving if there were any dull or dry points approaching. I was able to learn more about how I respond in such a setting. Many times I found that people expressed  my thoughts prior to me expressing them which caused me to draw back versus engage any further. Our topic was somewhat heavy, however everyone dealt with it pretty well. A lot of what I learned was transferrable to other arenas of leadership. 

9/17 Class Reflection

Many of the posts have commented on how useful learning and knowing how to be a good facilitator is and I would agree with them.  The timing for this topic of discussion was perfect because we recently elected a new officer for a student organization that I am a part of who will serve as a facilitator, among many other duties and responsibilities.  In reviewing the different candidates that were nominated, I actually took some of the characteristics and tools that a facilitator has and should use that were mentioned in the readings and thought about whether I could see each of the nominees applying them.  It proved to be very helpful in my thought process and allowed me to choose one nominee who I thought would be the best fit based off sound, textual reasoning.

With Katie leading our first focus group discussion and in the role as facilitator, I was unsure as to how successful things would be especially with the topic we had.  But, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well things worked and the dynamic of the group come together.  There were some obvious differences in peoples opinion and with a sensitive topic such as 4/16, it was particularly challenging for Katie, as the facilitator, to keep emotions to a minimum and constructive discussion as the focus.  But Katie did a great job at just that and was able to successfully conduct a focus group that was void of overwhelming emotion and unnecessary side talk and instead straight to the point and well conducted.  I look forward to more!

9/17 reflection

I really enjoyed Wednesday's class. Group meetings/focus groups etc are something we are all going to be a part of in the future. I think the readings will be good to look back on when we have to interview people or host public meetings in the future. Like Prof Goldstein said, it was a little dry, but helpful reference. I really enjoyed leading the focus group and I want to thank everyone again for participating. I too was worried about the topic. I had sent Prof. G a few options via email and that was the one he encouraged me to do. Its a hard to thing to bring up, I know I you all probably knew at least one person like me. But it was great how everyone was able to calmly and respectfully share their opinions and open up in a group we really don't know that well. It was hard for me to stay unbiased and not share my opinion on more than one occasion, but I tried! It was also neat to hear from our discussion leaders about their meeting experiences. I like that Scott was so opinionated about it and I thought Alana thought of great questions to ask us. Overall, another interesting class.

17 September Class Reflection

The focus group was amazing.  I was skeptical about the topic, it could have been divisive and emotional.  Katie did a great job of keeping the dialogue friendly and open. 

Hearing about the other externals was good too.  I hadn't ever really thought about public meetings and how they're run.  It was interesting to hear the two very different experiences that Alana and Scott had.  If every person could be involved in a close discussion like Alana was, I think people would be more excited about getting involved!  But that's not really plausible.  How DO we make a meeting that people want to come to?  My guess is that this'll be something we come back to in the future.  It's pointless to talk about good/bad manipulation if you can't get people to show up to be manipulated. 

Reflection for 9/17

This upcoming Tuesday I will be conducting my first focus group. The EC is broken down into working groups, each focusing on certain areas of sustainability on campus. At the last meeting I presented a proposal for a new working group which will deal with community outreach and environmental stewardship. The majority of the club liked the idea of the new group, so now I'm faced with the role of facilitator. I'm a little nervous about how carry out this first meeting, but last Wednesday's class has me feeling a little more confident about what needs to be done. Taking pointers from Katie's focus group I believe that the hardest part will probably be generating a response from most of the group (which Katie did a good job doing). The EC is a little younger this year. A lot of our previous working group chairs have graduated or are just burnt out from last year. Anyway, there are some holes in organization. This leads me to believe that this group may be a little unsure of how to proceed and develop goals for this year. Even though I'm a little apprehensive; I do believe that by appearing neutral, making sure everyone feels included and accepted, and creating a interactive atmosphere I can dispel some of the uncertainty. How exactly? Well that's what I'll be working on the rest of evening.

9/17 Reflection

The skill to be a group meeting facilitator is very important, in my opinion. It is very practical in pretty much any profession. Whether you use it all the time or every now and then. In a person's lifetime, he's going to have to use those skills at least a few times. I was member of Campus Crusade for Christ for the past four years. I served as Bible Study leader, team leader on many occasions, well pretty much every week. I was glad to see these points being brought up in class since they are exactly what we were trained in our organization. I have also done a few focus groups within Campus Crusade for Christ. They are always very different from each other in regard to the energy of the group. There are some that are more energetic than others. I did enjoy ours on Wednesday. I thought that Katie did a good job with it. It is always so much harder to do a focus group on touchy subjects, especially one that is still very emotional.

I very much admire people who can naturally facilitate a group in ways that put people at ease and make the meeting so much more enjoyable for everyone. I hope that this skill comes with practice. It takes a lot of social skill and being observant to monitor the discussion in ways that are safe for all participators. I also agree that it is ok for people to get uncomfortable sometimes. Meetings are productive when the are deep and get to some problems. No two persons can ever have the same opinion on all subjects. There are going to be conflicts. I think this is the hard part when everyone in the group, especially the facilitator has to put everyone else first before ourselves for the conflict to be resolved. I am not speaking of letting the other persons have their way. But putting other first in ways that put their interest before our own. "Is what I am saying going to build them up or tear them down; am I saying these things just to feel good about myself." In my opinion, as long as that is understood, group meetings will go well. Unfortunately, those things are ridiculously hard to do sometimes.   

Class Response - 9/17

In class we discussed participation methods and techniques.  We watched a presentation on meeting facilitation and focus groups.  I thought the information regarding the facilitation of meetings was very interesting and extremely helpful.  For example your goal as a facilitator is to be as objective as possible.  You start out by setting up a framework or lay a foundation for discussion then let the conversion "run its course" so to speak.  The facilitator should remain unbiased while at the same time draw upon and engage a variety of thoughts and ideas from participants throughout the conversation. The facilitator should also get input from all the participants because this enriches the diversity of the topic of discussion.  The facilitator or discussion leader should also keep the discussion on track and on topic.