What Participants Say at the End of the Day:
This kind of interaction has not happened in the past. It was great to have all levels of the organization represented.
Co-workers have more willingness to talk to an impartial facilitator than their own boss.
We recognized some elephants in the room. A lot I saw was well known to me but it was good to get it shared.
Good discussion and feedback from the group and good translation of what that meant.
I appreciated that the moderators kept the discussions on task and that individuals were not able to run away with the conversation
Good job of going with the flow, adjusting expectations and process to what was possible and happening.
The facilitation through Brett and Vern and the process made it interesting and kept us all on task.
I appreciated the willingness of the facilitators to push on some issues no one wanted to talk about.
Everyone had an equal opportunity for participation.
The anonymous input helped capture opinions that might offend “conventional wisdom.”
The opportunity for individual input and the ability to synthesize this information into something meaningful was outstanding.
The technology was a vast improvement over traditional flip charts.
I really liked the amount of work we got done in a short time.
Extremely helpful. Five stars!
The technology was really helpful in engaging people who are not always comfortable yelling out their opinions but who have meaningful things to contribute.
There was a real sense of collaboration among those involved.
This exercise was was fantastic. The ability to do online, real-time collaboration saved time and enabled the document to be fleshed out in significantly less time than an open discussion.
This was a great opportunity for diverse group to share insights and expertise. Success measured by the multiple ideas offered, care consideration, leads to additional ideas, good consensus, and new networks.
I really liked the mix of being able to enter text as well as have open discussion.
I think this was a great group, and an excellent mixture of backgrounds from all over the country. The conversation was always flowing. The technology really helped to stimulate more discussion and thought.
Given the complexity of the issues and the size of the group, I don’t see how this meeting could have worked without the technology and good facilitation.
No one knows who said what, so you don’t have to worry about what others think.
Nonverbal participants participated fully.
An excellent way to get a lot of items on the table quickly, sift through them and reach a consensus.
Use of individual PCs allowed us to provide thoughts without fear of interrupting others, or losing our thoughts as we waited our turn to speak.
This is the best way I have ever seen for 60 type A people to talk at once and not lose much!
I think this was a great group, and an excellent mixture of backgrounds from all over the country. The conversation was always flowing. The technology really helped to stimulate more discussion and thought.
Very well paced. I was amazed by how quickly the day progressed.
This was my first experience with real-time group writing that doesn’t use flipcharts! I can see that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work both before and after, but I’m struck with how well this captured many thoughts that might otherwise be lost.
Outstanding interaction among participants!
The diversity of this group added value to this process and chances to network.
Facilitation was excellent. I saw less wandering off topic than at 95% of other meetings I attend.
Excellent pre-meeting outreach to find Subject matter experts. Good process, well-structured over three days.
The pace, environment and technology made this a unique experience. For the time that we had to work, we got more information than I thought possible.
This meeting was great because everyone had an opportunity to comment vs. using open dialogue with flip charts with one or two people taking over the meeting.
Final editing and adoption of the strategic plan…excellent job to get this done in a few hours.
Facilitation was excellent; Brett and Vern kept the group focused on task at all times, the process was clear and the outcomes were on point.
Facilitators really knowledgeable of issues and previous discussions
Brett and Vern are very skilled facilitators!
The session started much-needed dialog. The ability to provide feedback without being attributed to a particular person was a great benefit.
