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Comments 11

wellinghall January 22 2015, 19:59:40 UTC
Um *beer*?

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bunn January 23 2015, 09:05:25 UTC
Foolishly, I opened a bottle of strawberry cider that someone gave me for Christmas. It was absolutely the single most revolting brew ever. I gave up after three sips and poured it down the sink.

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alitheapipkin January 22 2015, 20:18:35 UTC
I am very much in agreement with your views on the appropriate length of meetings!

Hope both you and Brythen have a more restful night tonight

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bunn January 23 2015, 09:06:12 UTC
The brindly-monster seems to be feeling better, thank you - or at least, he slept through the night!

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sally_maria January 22 2015, 20:56:57 UTC
Was somebody actually chairing this meeting?

Because that sounds more like a group in a room chatting than anything else, and I say that as someone who's attended plenty of fairly casual committee meetings.

Anyway, I second wellinghall's offer of beer, and I hope you don't have to do it again for a while.

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bunn January 23 2015, 09:18:39 UTC
The meeting had both a chair AND a vice-chair!

Sometimes they remembered they were chairing and tried to get people into a queue, but sometimes they just said the first thing that popped into their heads like everyone else.

It was very much like a group in a room chatting, but as the paid supplier it's my job to make everyone feel their contribution is being accepted and valued: I have to be careful about telling them how to make it.

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alitheapipkin January 23 2015, 11:15:01 UTC
Chairing meetings well is an underrated skill I feel. I hadn't thought about how much I've picked up about it at work until I attended my first proper local Green Party meeting last week and spent the entire evening wanting to strangle our co-convenor for being utterly useless at it!

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sally_maria January 23 2015, 19:53:12 UTC
I need a "dearie, dearie me" icon...

I must confess I suspect what talent I had for minuting and chairing meetings came mainly from not having much in the way of opinions, and therefore not needing to stop running the meeting to express them. :-)

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ozisim January 23 2015, 05:27:41 UTC
Yes I agree... chairperson should have shut that down straight away.
Next time, suggest that you fake a hand cramp after 2 hours and ask for a break of 10 mins to massage the feeling back into your hand.
I also find that asking people for spelling or clarification works well to stop the crazy meeting spiral.
"Sorry, wait. Hold onto your thoughts... This thing with the horses in August - I've gotten the notes about chasing the daffodils, but I missed who was going to be responsible for that?"

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bunn January 23 2015, 09:24:05 UTC
Yes, I used that tactic, but it was still a bit like trying to wrestle with bees!

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chainmailmaiden January 23 2015, 19:00:00 UTC
Definitely with you on the meeting lengths, some people seem to think the longer the meeting the more important it must be and therefore, that they must be. Short and to the point is what I favour. Poor Bacchus had an 11 hour meeting recently. True it came with lunch and dinner breaks but no one can concentrate for that long and still be productive over that length of time! I think the idea was to 'get it all over with in one day', not his idea I hasten to add!

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