Every meeting is unique. The combination of objectives, participants, location and context is always different. So each meeting needs its own unique design.

Our starting point is always understanding and clarifying the objectives of the meeting – both content objectives and process objectives. Everyone needs to be clear about what we're all trying to achieve, and what's going to be different afterwards. And that these objectives are achievable within the time and resources available.

And then there's becoming literate in the issues, concepts and language of your business; designing the briefing package and/or presentations that will guide participants to the “point of engagement”; designing the actual engagement process; designing workbooks or other aids; designing how the space in the venue will be used; anticipating the type of outcomes and how best to record them; making sure everyone is clear on their roles and responsibilities; and planning the next steps so that momentum is not lost after the meeting.

We'd like to think that we have very good on-the-ground skills as facilitators and graphic recorders. But when someone tells us "wow, that was a brilliant meeting", chances are it's because of the groundwork and creativity that we've invested in the design phase. We believe it's critical to success.