Facilitating Humans: The Art of Communication

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Caitlin Potts

Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, 1407 Rensen Street, Lansing, MI 48910
Tuesday, June 11, 6pm

Meetings are not a waste of time.

There, I said it.

Okay, but they CAN be, right? Believe me, I’ve been in them, myself. However, in the well-over 1000 hours I’ve spent attending and facilitating meetings, I’ve learned something. Meetings are not a waste of time. Poorly planned meetings with unclear goals and a lack of shared expectations are. So, how do we stop warming chairs in our conference rooms and start having productive meetings and, I dare say, conversations?

In this talk, I’ll share the nuggets of information that I’ve gleaned over the last 3.5 years of meeting facilitation. These nuggets include how to recognize and prepare for various categories of meetings, why Edward Tufte is my facilitation hero, and how information architecture concepts will help you run a better meeting (and have better conversations).

Whether you’re a new usability professional, a jaded meeting attender, or just, well…human, you will be able to take away concepts from this talk that will help you have better conversations, and overall understanding of human communication (which is pretty important for effective meetings).

About Our Speaker

Caitlin Potts is a user experience practitioner (designer and researcher) at Covenant Eyes, Inc., in Owosso. Working as part of an agile team, she spends her time collaborating with product owners, stakeholders, and developers to design web, mobile, and client application interfaces. She offers her services as a sounding board or sympathetic ear, on a daily basis, and is facilitating the creation of business rules for Covenant Eyes.

She is passionate about understanding human behavior and using that knowledge to craft opportunities for effective communication. She also loves ampersands, great coffee, idea sharing, and her Sharpie collection (63 and counting!).

When

Tuesday, June 11, 6pm
6:00 PM — Networking
6:30 PM — Announcements
6:45 PM — Speaker
8:00 PM — Wrap up and more networking

Location

Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, 1407 Rensen Street, Lansing, MI 48910

Google Map

Cost

Current students $5
Usability Professionals’ Association members $10
All others $20

Michigan UPA thanks Covenant Eyes for sponsoring refreshments for this event.

Register

Register online at Guestlist so we know who’s coming and how to plan for refreshments. We’ll also take payment (cash or check) at the door. Questions? Email events {at} michiganupa dot org.