TIL the trick to getting quiet readers talking in our group was index cards

We had the same two people dominate every meeting for months. Last week I brought a stack of cheap index cards and asked everyone to write one question before we started discussing. Then I shuffled them and read them out loud one by one. It took about 15 minutes longer but even the shyest person got to steer the chat. Has anyone else tried a different structure like this, or do you just let the loud folks run it?

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elliot_harris251d ago

Heard about a similar trick in a podcast about jury deliberations, where they pass around a notepad instead of talking. Everyone writes down their take, then the foreperson reads them all. It sort of levels the playing field because the loud people can't jump in first. I tried a version of that with my book club using sticky notes once, and it worked okay until someone wrote a joke answer and we all lost it. The index card thing sounds more reliable though, probably because the shuffle makes it feel less personal. Might steal that for our next team meeting, honestly.