Five Ways to Use Index Cards for On-the-Spot Meeting Facilitation

Index cards are so simple yet so handy and effective. Undoubtedly, the common index card can be the best friend of a meeting planner or facilitator. There are numerous situations for which index cards can serve an effective purpose and, for every meeting that you plan or facilitate, you should have a large supply available in a variety of sizes and colors. Then, you can use the cards to effectively manage your on-the-spot facilitation needs. Below are just a few examples.

1. Taking Confidential Votes

In many meetings, a vote may become necessary to make a decision or determine a course of action. When voting in a non-confidential way, such as by hand-raising or a roll call vote, meeting participants can be unconsciously influenced a number of group-dynamic factors.

For instance, someone might vote differently publicly because they don't want to be seen as dissenting from the majority or from the leader, even though they would actually vote differently if they thought no one would know. By having people mark their votes on an index card, no one need know how each individual cast their vote, leading to a more democratic process.

2. Expressing Opinions Safely

Safety from ridicule or retribution is a natural human desire but, in meetings, this safety can be compromised (or at least "perceived" as compromised). The fear of ridicule, retribution, or appearing different from everyone else can cause a participant to hesitate before expressing their true feelings or opinions.

If you suspect a discussion in a meeting may suffer because people are hesitant to speak up, use index cards. Give everyone a card and have each person respond to a specific question or instruction (for example, "Do you think___ is a good idea? Why or why not?") The participants do not put their names on the cards and they turn them in to the facilitator. The facilitator then reads the opinions expressed on the cards (in a way that is non-judgmental and that does not inadvertently disclose identities). Viola! Opinions are expressed anonymously and safely.

3. Picking Groups or Teams

When a larger group must be divided into smaller groups or teams, index cards can help with this process. Here is an anecdote to illustrate how this can be effectively accomplished:

A class of MBA students needed to divide themselves in to ten teams of five people. First, each student was asked to write the name of one person they thought would make a good team leader. From the suggested names, the top ten vote-getters were chosen as leaders. Next, each student was given another index card and asked to write "a mini-resume," listing those attributes that they felt would be relevant or helpful to an MBA team. All index cards were posted on a board at the front of the room and all the students, except the leaders, left the room. The leaders then reviewed all the resumes and took turns selecting one student at a time until each team consisted of five members. The leaders were able to make informed decisions about the composition of their teams in this manner. This is especially helpful in a situation such as the one described above, where individuals do not know each other well.

4. Note Taking/Sharing

At many meetings, participants are divided into separate round table discussion groups, and one person in each group is assigned to be the group "scribe." It is the scribe's role to capture the essence of the discussion for future sharing with the larger group. By using index cards for this note-taking, scribes have less writing space then if they were handed a pad of paper, so they must boil-down the discussion into the essential ingredients. This is an efficient way to capture a discussion. The cards are also easy to keep for future reference.

5. Speech Notes

Finally, and perhaps most traditionally, many speakers use index cards to write notes and key words that trigger them to remember the important points of a speech. While handy and efficient, index cards serve as an effective preparation tool. However, during the actual speech, the presenter should not try to read from them verbatim. An important tip is to make sure you number each card. As someone who has dropped a stack of unnumbered index cards, I can tell you that this simple step can save you a lot of time and headaches!