What are the best ways to redirect a meeting that has gone off topic?

My go-to phrase to interrupt people who go off-topic is, "May I pause you for a moment?" It's not as charged as "Can I interrupt you?" and then opens the door to have a conversation about how the current conversation is not contributing to the overall goal of the meeting.

Absolutely! But what's key is how you have talked about this upfront. When you agree 'We are here to...' (your purpose) then it makes sense also to agree 'How we work together' (your ground rules). I find it is really helpful to have a chat upfront about what the group would like to happen if meeting goes off on a tangent. Then everyone knows what will happen if you acknowledge things have drifted. By the way, there is no need to do this alone as a facilitator. I like to hand out yellow cards which people in the room can use to acknowledge the divergence. It makes it fun and shares the responsibility.

Redirecting a meeting that has gone off topic is essential for maintaining focus, ensuring productivity, and respecting participants' time. Here are effective strategies to steer a meeting back on course: ? Acknowledge and Pivot ? Use the Agenda as a Tool ? Assign Action Items for Off-topic Discussions. ? Employ a "Parking Lot" Method ? Set Time Limits ? Directly Address Repeat Offenders ? Summarize and Redirect ? Use Visual Aids ? Encourage Participation with a Purpose ? Leverage Co-Facilitators ? Establish and Enforce Ground Rules By applying these strategies, you can effectively redirect a meeting that has gone off topic, ensuring that the discussion remains productive and aligned with the meeting's objectives.

Gosto sempre de relembrar a todas as pessoas participantes o motivo pelo qual estamos ali e o tempo que temos para atingi-lo. Assim, ficamos todos com o mesmo foco e se o tema da discuss?o for interessante para outra ocasi?o, costumo direcionar para um estacionamento de ideias "parking Lot" para que possamos tomar a??o em outro momento ou retomar caso sobre um tempo ao final da sess?o.

1 - To wander off topic might also mean the topic might need to be changed 2 - this presents a good opportunity to note the reasons for the divergence, and that it could relevant to the current topic, or not at all and new area of divergence to be tabled for another meeting

I'd love to acknowledge that, depending on how the objective was set up, that it may or may not be the most relevant objective for the participants. If someone takes the risk of contributing a seemingly off-topic subject with sincerity (vs trying to disrupt), it's worthwhile to listen their rationale. I'd ask for instance, "Please help me understand, how your topic fits in the bigger picture of what we're trying to achieve". This may reopen a different conversation completely. It's necessary to check the sentiment in the room, if other participants relate to this. It is not ideal for an objective to change during a meeting, but it's important to address this as it could highlight an underlying communication problem in the team/organisation.

Before any facilitation is started, the agenda, when well clarified, and distributed ahead of time, can facilitate the constructive input from participants to ensure energy of the topic is more fully and robustly engaged

In my view, the most important part of a meeting is the prep, specifically the agenda. If you have a strong agenda, you can blame it and say, "We have an agenda to stick to so let's get back to x". Works every time!"

I believe prevention is better than cure. Setting it up at the beginning to explain that the meeting is time bound and the agenda is fixed will make it easier to bring it back on track and stop drifting. It could be the other way, where as you state we are happy if things take a different direction. Either way, there are no surprises when things happen. I talk about this and more, providing tips and tools in my latest book No More Bored Rooms.

One way to monitor the progress and performance of the meeting is by observing the non-verbal language of the participants. Take a moment to scan the room, and observe e.g. their body language. Are they showing openness? Or the opposite, defensiveness? As the facilitator, it's important to check in with yourself, and what you sense or feel at that moment. It takes some vulnerability of the facilitator to be transparent and call out if something doesn't feel right. For instance, by saying "I have the impression that XYZ is happening. I may be wrong, that's why I'd like to check with you if that's the case". This way we are not avoiding any underlying, blocking issues. We can continue progressing by making new agreements with the group.

Live feedback at the time of event is first prize, its spontaneous and well received in immediate context. As is the feedback received within the next 2 or 3 days post event. Allowing the balance gives differences in thinking styles opportunity to participate equally, and share further learning, coaching style, once learning has had time to filter through to more practical environments

Agreeing on the ground rules up front helps create clarity and safety. It helps establish boundaries, what's acceptable or not in the meeting. This could be the preventive action to ensure that we stay on course and focused. In practice, we also need to take into account the human aspects. If going off-topic seems to be a pattern, perhaps it warrants a personal check-in with the "offender" to understand what is going on in the people's dynamics.