The Deep Dive section of a Forum meeting is one of the least utilized sections of the meeting. This is because most Forums do the same type of Deep Dive every month. By that, I mean they choose to do an individual deep dive with experience sharing.
Most Forums don’t realize there are several ways to utilize this meeting section. In this post, I will share an overview of the various ways you can use the Deep Dive section of your meeting. I’ve hyperlinked the options below that I’ve already written about. In the future, I’ll write up descriptions for any of the options I haven’t covered yet.
There are four main Deep Dive types:
- Individual Deep Dive – this is where one person does a deep dive on their core challenge.
- Topic Expert – this is where the group has someone share expert knowledge on a topic the whole group wants to learn about.
- Needs – this is where each person gets to ask the group a question and get quick feedback.
- Roundtable Discussion – this is where the whole group discusses a topic or experience.
- Group Activity – this is where the group participates in a large group activity.
The four main types can be broken down even further:
- Individual Deep Dive
- Experience Share: This is where the group shares their experience around the core challenge presented.
- Debate: This is where the group gets split into 2 groups and debates which option the presenter should choose based on their core challenge.
- Brainstorm: This is where the group comes up with as many ideas to help the presenter around their core challenge.
- Role Play: This is where the group helps the presenter practice a real-life situation around their core challenge.
- Devil’s Advocate: This is where the group challenges the presenter to help them create a steelman argument for their core challenge.
- Needs – When the group didn’t pre-plan a Deep Dive and no one person has a deeper issue, then the Needs Deep Dive is the default as it gives everyone a chance to ask the group a question and get feedback.
- Topic Expert
- Outside Expert: This is where the group brings in an expert from outside the group, such as a consultant or author, to share knowledge on a specific topic.
- Internal Expert: This is where the group has someone from within the group share their expertise with the group.
- Roundtable Discussion
- Topical Discussion: This is where the group determines a topic ahead of time, such as morning routines, and everyone shares their information on that topic.
- Experiential Discussion: This is where the group watches, listens, or reads something and then discusses the topic.
- Group Activity
- Outside Facilitator: This is where the group hires an expert facilitator to run the group through a specific activity.
- Internal Facilitator: This is where the group picks an activity and facilitates it themselves.
There it is! That’s a full outline of how Forums can better use the Deep Dive section of a meeting. I hope that by reading through this, you now see why I say it’s the most underutilized part of the meeting. Lastly, the Deep Dive coordinator manages the calendar and determines how the group will utilize the Deep Dive part of the meeting.