• Workshop Structure

Positive Matrix™ workshop sessions and meetings contain a series of thinking processes in the appreciative worldview that incorporate in its user interface, guided discovery question sequences, meeting etiquette and facilitation technique.

• Facilitated session:

A facilitator progress the software through the question sets. The team’s ideas are instantly visible for everyone to see, as they are created.

 
(click on the above screen shot image to see it full size)

The etiquette of Talk, Type, Read and Review works in the following way:

• A series of questions related to the topic are projected one by one onto a large screen.
  
• The questions are supported by graphics and quotes relevant to the topic of inquiry to help the members tap into their emotional quotient as well as their intellectual.

Step 1- Talk Pairs or small groups engage in a conversation related to a specific question in the inquiry. Step 2 – Type On wireless keyboards individuals type up what they talked about and their ideas are displayed for everyone in the room to see.

Step 3 – Read All inputs are read out loud so that everyone’s contribution is heard. Step 4 – Review Themes, patterns, commonalities, questions, actions are identified by the group and keyed in.

In this sense-making step the participants review the knowledge gathered so far.  The facilitator asks for themes or poses questions to guide the thought process or aid in the decision-making.  Examples of questions the facilitator can pose at this point:

• What does this mean for the issue?
• What does this say about our culture, our leadership our values etc?.
• What are the emerging themes?
• What patterns do you see?
• What are our collective strengths?
• Where do we need to focus our attention?
• What are the next steps, timeframes, resource needs etc?
  

As the participants work through these themes in small groups, they continue to key in highlights of the conversations until the meeting time is over. 

All that has been keyed in has been recorded and saved and can be emailed to participants in an appropriate format for their agreed action, or taken up again at the next meeting. 

How a group proceeds from this fourth step is dependent on the purpose and objectives of the meeting and the technologies available.  At minimum, a report with all the questions and the conversations is emailed to the participants and other relevant parties. 

The report of the meeting can be in a static format such as MS Word, Power Point, Excel, .pdf or web-based.  In addition, it can be integrated with web-based team spaces, on-line project management tools, and wiki editable format.