Monday, February 4, 2008

January Lunch: Redux

So we held our January lunch. And in the words of one of our presenters: "Today's lunch was a smashing success."

We're happy to hear our presenters were happy, and just hope our guests were as well.

I'm sure our January speakers will be sending us an overview on their presentations to post here, but in the meantime, a few notes from me about what our speakers said about coalition building:

  • You need to get everyone involved and engaged. This may mean having to hold focus groups with your "crossed arms" attendees.
  • You, as moderator/creator of the group, must be neutral.
  • Stay calm. Most things blow over.
  • Don't let the difficult people in your coalition control the agenda.
  • Buy in is often easier when there isn't a member fee involved. (Don't we know it!)

For those who attended January's lunch, we'd love to hear what advice you walked away with that you found particularly helpful. So reply in the "comments" section with your take-aways and let's get the discussion started. (And keep checking back, because later this week I'll be posting our "discussion questions" from the session so we can keep the discussion going...)

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