IDOARRT Meeting Design
IDOARRT is a simple tool to support you to lead an effective meeting or group process by setting out clear purpose, structure and goals at the very beginning. It aims to enable all participants to understand every aspect of the meeting or process, which creates the security of a common ground to start from. The acronym stands for Intention, Desired Outcome, Agenda, Rules, Roles and Responsibilities and Time.
Goal
Enable all participants to understand every aspect of the meeting or process
Materials
Instructions
Step 1:
Before the meeting/process, prepare a Flipchart / Slide outlining all the points of IDOARRT. See below:
Intention – What is the intention, or purpose, of the meeting? In other words, why have it?
Desired Outcome(s) – What specific outcomes should be achieved by the end of the meeting?
Agenda – What activities will the group go through, in what order, to move toward the desired outcome?
Roles – What roles or responsibilities need to be in place for the meeting to run smoothly? Who is facilitating, and who is participating? Who is documenting, and who is keeping track of the time? What do you expect of the participants?
Rules – What guidelines will be in place during the meeting? These could relate to agreed group norms. They could also relate to use of laptops/mobiles, or practical rules related to a space. Let the participants add rules to ensure that they have ownership of them.
Time – What is the expected time for the meeting, including breaks,and at what time will the meeting end?
Step 2:
At the beginning of the meeting, introduce the IDOARRT, going through point by point. Invite participants to ask questions or make suggestions for changes. Once the group is happy with the plan, go ahead with the rest of the meeting.
Tips for running this activity online
- Pick an online whiteboard tool that allows to use a large, zoomable canvas.
- Set up each topic at a different area of the board, spread them out just like you would do it on a the walls of a room.
- Invite participants to zoom in and visit each section and add their ideas as sticky notes once you reach that section of the exercise.
- If you’re not using an online whiteboard, we’d recommend using a collaboration tool such as Google Docs to collect the information for each step under a separate heading. Invite everyone into the document but be very clear in regards to editing rights.
- Prepare each point of the process in either your online whiteboard or Google Doc.
- When facilitating group discussion, we’d recommend that participants use non-verbal means to indicate they’d like to speak. You can use tools like Zoom’s nonverbal feedback tools, a reaction emoji, or just have people put their hands up.The facilitator can then invite that person to talk.
Background
Source: Hyper Island toolbox
Hyper Island designs learning experiences that challenge companies and individuals to grow and stay competitive in an increasingly digitized world. With clients such as Google, adidas and IKEA, Hyper Island has been listed by CNN as one of the most innovative schools in the world
Next steps
- Explore some sample meeting agenda templates that make use of this this methodology.
Comments (1) (5.0 avg / 2 ratings)
Terrence Metz
Solid logic. Rhetoric fails to distinguish between outcome and outputs. Tuckman model suggests discharging the noise in the air, before getting to work. Displayed as Step Three (Administrivia) in this sequence: https://mgrush.com/blog/meeting-introduction/