Shift the meeting from tell and sell to ask and engage.

principle — attributed to Mary Boone

The old purpose of meetings was to broadcast a message. The new purpose is to move people into a space of commitment and engagement where they want to act and they feel ownership. The reframe is not soft. It changes what gets on the agenda, who speaks, how the room is laid out, and what success looks like. Tell and sell meetings end with an applause line. Ask and engage meetings end with the participants holding something they helped build. Designers, facilitators, and collaboration artists wield power with participants, not power over them.

For corporate communications, internal town halls, and leadership offsites still defaulting to one-way information transfer. The shift requires senior buy-in because it changes how leaders show up in the room.

engagement, interactive-meetings, facilitation, design-philosophy