You’re running a meeting with a team that’s easily distracted. How can you keep them focused?

Team getting antsy? Occupy their mouths and/or their hands (therefore their minds). Ask a question, have them chat their answers. Ask them to raise their hand if they xyz, etc. When all else fails, pass out the donuts!

Always define the purpose, scope, and outcomes of a meeting and include that with the invitation. That ensures that the attendees are the right ones. Meetings without agendas are a waste of time. Always have an agenda and include that in the invitation as well.

More than just purpose, define the 'so what' for the team members. Consider how achieving the purpose benefit or impact them.

Running a meeting with a distracted team? Keep it engaging and interactive, like a fun conversation. Set clear goals and an agenda – it's like having a map for where you're headed. Use visuals and props to grab their attention, like showing pictures to tell a story. Encourage participation and ask questions to keep everyone involved, like playing a game together. By making the meeting interesting and involving everyone, you'll help them stay focused and get things done.

To keep a easily distracted team focused during a meeting, employ the "Gamification" engagement theory. Introduce interactive activities related to meeting topics, like quizzes or challenges. Offer rewards for participation, fostering healthy competition and intrinsic motivation. Break the meeting into shorter segments with clear objectives, providing a sense of accomplishment. Encourage active participation and feedback to maintain interest and involvement.

You’ve heard me say many times, the agenda is your secret sauce! It keeps you on track and therefore able to guide everyone else. The agenda must always keep in mind: Engage:Explore:Experience:Explain. They can be in any order! You ideally won’t over index on one in particular. If your session = Explain only, send an email instead. Include a variety of activities for the group to Explore what matters most, to validate assumptions and check in with each other. Experience is the doing, the participation that’s key to you, as the facilitator, pulling out the great ideas the group members didn’t know they had until they worked together. Engage will keep the group coming back for more. What’s in it for them before during and after the session?

Setting time limits for each step in the agenda is difficult because you are guessing how long it'll take a group to decide. Set the overall time and be conscious of where you stand regarding time to share with the group so that their expectations don't conflict with what is happening.

I'm not a fan of sharing detailed agendas before a meeting. I prefer instead to share an overall flow / narrative of the session with indicative timings. Saving the detailed agenda for the start of session. And even then explaining that it will depend on how we get on with earlier agenda items

Setting agenda is very important, dedicate proper time against each line item and stick to it. Keep a time keeper for every meeting. Time keepers can be rotated in every meeting.

Incorporating engaging icebreakers at the beginning of meetings is a useful strategy for keeping easily distracted teams focused. These activities not only energize the team and foster a positive atmosphere but also redirect their attention to the meeting agenda. Starting with an icebreaker, such as a brief team-building exercise or a fun question, captures interest and encourages active participation throughout the session. Clear ground rules set from the outset remain crucial in maintaining focus, alongside effective facilitation and proactive management. For example, implementing a "parking lot" system to address off-topic discussions ensures the team stays on track while allowing important topics to be noted for later discussion.

Planning along with time management helps. Your clarity of having the meeting and then including everyone to meet that objective could help. A follow up mail or call could support. Once I had shared how I felt about a meeting not going well by mail and then we decided it was best to meet preferably in the second half & not more than 30 mins, as the first half is for them to finish what they have planned for the day. It worked much better then and a quick feeling check in and understanding from everyone as to why they are there is the game changer. Could be done through voting or other online tools too.

Having a visual timer - ideally, one that can be seen by everyone - is a game changer. Something like a Time Timer which visually shows how much time there is left works a treat to keep people on track!

It's important to understand your audience and ensure you are incorporating visual aspects into your presentations. Additionally, it's important to ensure (especially if virtual), that it's clearly communicated that laptops are closed & cameras are on to ensure distractions are limited during your meetings.

When I prep an agenda, I make sure that I intentionally add in at least one activity to each agenda item. Others have listed what those activities could be. By doing this it means that I can be confident that even if people drift off, I’ll be able to bring them back within a few minutes.

Keeping a team Engaged, according to me, is the best way to keep them focused, especially during a meeting. Distraction is often the result of disinterest in what you are doing currently. However, if the same meeting is made interesting, interactive, fun, collaborative, connecting, and filled with activities, puzzles, and games, getting the team's focus onto it is easy.

Create controversy! People can’t help but pay attention to an argument or dispute. Here are a couple of ways to foster controversy without creating divisive conflict: - Pose a question with two equally valid but different answers - Assign teams different points of view on a subject and hold a debate - Make a controversial or provocative statement - Run a competition with subjective judging (a la figure skating) Introduce controversy and watch engagement spike!

Mix up the participation format. As an option, invite team members to explore a key topic or question in pairs. Still low energy, give them a break or have someone from the team lead an energizer (as simple as stretching can work). First off, make sure you are valuable everyone's time with a clear meeting goal, decision making rule (if any) and facilitative listening.

Give them something to do! List all the things you are doing as the facilitator and decide which ones you can give away. If people are actively doing something, they are much less likely to be distracted.

It's extremely important to set expectations early on (even before the session) about what you expect from your participants. At the start of the session, remind everyone and, ideally, have them verbally or non-verbally agree to be present to get more accountability. If phones aren't allowed, give everyone a heads-up and then build in some time in the breaks to follow up on important emails and messages.

If a team is easily distracted by phones consider agreeing to put all phones in a draw/box/envelop for the duration of the meeting. Also, go as analogue as possible. post-its, flipchart etc.

Make sure that everyone present actually NEEDS to be there/has skin in the game. Start with the WHY you're there. Add what the desired outcome is, and get buy in to that. Spend some time agreeing HOW everyone wants to be/behave to enable the outcome. Be clear on the structure/planned approach and invite regular interaction/discussion. If it's just a presentation, people will be more likely to switch off.

Engaging participants in a meeting is crucial as it's essentially exchanging time for valuable information. The key is to involve the right people, clearly define their roles, and explain how they can contribute to the objectives. Structuring the meeting effectively is vital to keep everyone engaged. Emphasizing accountability is also critical. Individual accountability ensures that each person understands their unique contribution, encouraging focus and responsibility. By making each participant aware of their specific role and its importance to the group's goal, you foster a more productive and engaged environment, enhancing the overall effectiveness of the meeting.

It’s important to evaluate why they were distracted. Far too often I see facilitators who look at others as the problem when it is them. The best leaders analyze themselves and are open to others analyzing them and improving. It could be they were distracted because you failed to grab their attention as a facilitator. Try new methods, new approaches.

Recognise that different individuals may engage best through different methods. Incorporate a variety of engagement techniques such as group discussions, interactive activities, visual aids to accommodate diverse learning styles and attention spans. Encourage Movement and Breaks: Recognise the importance of movement and breaks for maintaining attention and engagement. Incorporate brief movement breaks or stretching exercises to help re-energise the team and combat restlessness. Foster Inclusive Participation: Actively encourage participation from all team members, including those who may be quieter or more introverted. Use inclusive language and facilitation techniques to ensure everyone feels valued and heard.

Consider shorter 'huddle' style meetings in the flow of work to minimize distractions. Another alternative is keeping each meeting to a singular topic so it can be brief. Consider if there's fluff in the meetings that can be removed or relayed in a text or email. Have the team build the agenda instead of solely the manager. Together, brainstorm core rules for meetings. This might include focus time commitments, a rule about not using devices, etc.

Use of humor to keep things moving. Avoid death by PowerPoint by not reading slides to people either have talking points that complement slides or give them slides ahead or Giving participants time to read them on there own in meeting and discuss

Use brainstorm and try to caught their attention with an example that'll be like a break. One surprisingly thing change attitudes