Speaker 1: Do you know that only 35% of people feel comfortable speaking up in meetings? That's not good. My name is Anne with Lighthouse Communications. And in this video, I want to share with you two strategies that you can use to help people feel more comfortable speaking up and therefore creating more inclusive meetings. First of all, in our meetings, we tend to think of silence as bad, awkward, something you want to avoid at all costs. I disagree. I actually say lean into that silence. That's why our first technique is called purposeful silence. Purposeful silence is when you intentionally give your audience one, two, three minutes, however long you think they need, to think about a topic before you're asking them to discuss in a larger group. Let's take a look at an example. Hey, everyone. Today, I'd love to get your thoughts on the new proposal. So I thought we'd start by taking three minutes, writing down some notes, refreshing your memory on the proposal, and then after the three minutes we'll discuss. As you can see from my example, you can do purposeful silence at the very beginning of the meeting, giving people a chance to get present on what we're going to do in this meeting and stop thinking about the last meeting they were in. You can also do purposeful silence as the meeting goes, maybe before a brainstorming session, or before you want everyone to share their thoughts on a final decision. The second technique for creating more inclusive meetings is utilizing the breakout rooms. You're probably familiar with breakout rooms. They're a common feature on platforms like zoom and Google meet, but they're actually not commonly used in meetings, but they can really help your meetings be more inclusive. Just like purposeful silence gives people a chance to think about their ideas before they're expected to speak. Breakout rooms give people a chance to share their ideas, verbalize them in a smaller group before they have to muster up the courage to speak in the larger group. Breakout rooms are also great for more social meetings as a way to mimic the side conversations. They allow your coworkers a chance to connect and catch up as opposed to always being in the one big group. Now let's talk about some tips for how to set up great breakout rooms. First of all, think about using breakout rooms for larger meetings. Let's say 12 or more people. Now in terms of the ideal breakout room size, think about three to four people. The reason is if you only have two people in a breakout room, and let's say the one of the two people is not engaged or present, it's not going to be great for the other person. So three or four can help create a really great discussion. Remember to practice doing breakout rooms before. You don't want to wing it in front of a live audience. Also, you want to make sure that the audience is really clear what they're doing in breakouts. I like to write the prompt, the directions in the chat, so they can reference once they're there. And finally, once everyone comes back from the breakouts, repeat the discussion question again, and then you can have the whole group discussion. As a meeting leader, I've been using both purposeful silence and breakout rooms for the past two years. And I've seen firsthand how it not only allows people to feel more comfortable to speak, but also makes the meetings more enjoyable. Thanks for watching this video. Don't forget to like, and subscribe. If you have any questions or comments, you can leave them below. And if you're interested in a training for either yourself or your team, contact us at info at LHC training.com.