18 Discussion Strategies to Get Quiet People Talking (and Loud Ones Listening)
Try as we might as facilitators, a group discussion is never going to go perfectly. You could ask your opening question and be faced with blank stares. One person could dominate the room while everyone else feels the need to cede space to them. The quiet ones could say nothing at all until the very end when they share a brilliant insight and you wish you had gotten them to participate sooner.
As a leader, it can feel nerve-wracking to try to get everyone to participate, learn, listen, and glean from your time together.
We’ve been there, and we’re here to help! We lead countless board meetings, team trainings, discussions, workshops, and webinars every year. We use a wide variety of tools and learning techniques that call in our audience and highlight the knowledge of the group, not just our own expertise.
Use these techniques to make sure your next group discussion gets everyone talking.
How to Set the Stage With Group Norms
Before you dive into the meat of the discussion, you need to set the table.
As someone who has been prepping for this discussion and poring over the materials, you might have an unspoken expectation that everyone will eagerly talk about the topic and share their insights, while also listening to others well.
Unspoken expectations almost always lead to disappointment, though. Clearly spelling out your expectations will get everyone on the same page.
Instead of keeping it all in your head, ask the group to co-create the rules or approve a list you provide. For example:
“We expect and appreciate everyone's full participation. Be present, stay engaged, and make room for others.”
Write the norms on a poster and place it in view of everyone. You can refer back to the poster if someone needs a reminder.
18 Strategies to Encourage Equal and Active Participation
Here are the research-backed methods we rely on to encourage equitable participation from everyone in the room. With each strategy, we’ll indicate if it’s meant to help discussion dominators take a back seat, or non-participants feel the courage to speak up … or both!
1. Wait
Who this will help: Discussion dominators and non-participants
Before responding to raised hands:
Wait! Allow 10-20 seconds for everyone to have some thinking time before asking someone to share.
Make eye contact with those whose hands are up.
Select those that are following the previously set norms.
For example, if several people raise hands, but a dominator jumps in, look at them, but don't respond, make a brief and pleasant eye contact, then call on someone else.
2. Bringing You Back, In Stages
Who this will help: Discussion dominators and non-participants
When leading a large group, it’s often difficult to gain everyone's attention at the same time, especially after team work at tables.
To get attention, start by saying, “I’ll be bringing you back in 30 seconds." Wait 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Then, "I'll be bringing you back now," wait another 10 seconds, then say, "I'll be bringing you ALL back now.”
With this strategy, you are warning them that the time is near to come back together and giving them ample time to finish up conversations.
3. Cold Call
Who this will help: Non-participants
Try calling on people randomly to respond. This strategy works well when people are not participating or engaging. It may seem risky as a facilitator, but as the leader, it is your responsibility to support engagement.
It’s very important to make sure the question asked is simple enough for anyone to answer.
And as Norman Eng, Ed.D., points out, “You can’t use this technique to kind of catch students when they’re not focusing … the minute you do that, they’ll resent you for it. It has to be done in good faith. It has to give everyone a chance to shine.”
4. Front Load and Pause
Who this will help: Discussion dominators and non-participants
Hand out the agenda with questions, talking points, and discussion topics before beginning.
This gives the quiet ones time to prepare and the loud ones time to think through their response before speaking.
When you invite participation, give one to two minutes of quiet time for people to develop their response.
5. Time Limits
Who this will help: Discussion dominators
When starting a discussion, be clear about the time you have allocated — like 20 minutes. Identify a time keeper. Suggest and agree to the amount of time people have to respond, like 60 seconds each.
Agree on a non-verbal signal the time keeper uses to let peers know when the time is done, such as a hand raise. Have them give a 20-second warning.
If the speaker goes over, the facilitator should interrupt them.
6. Word Limits
Who this will help: Discussion dominators
In the same vein as limiting time, limit speaking.
For example, the response cannot be longer than a tweet, or you have three sentences to get your point across.
7. Distract the Distractor
Who this will help: Discussion dominators
Rather than calling attention to the off-task behavior, which can cause tension or shame, re-engage the person with a specific content question.
For example, “Abby, what did you put for #3?” or “Dan, can you read the prompt again to remind us what question we’re discussing?”
It shouldn’t be a difficult question or a “gotcha” moment. Just a simple question about the content you’re discussing that reels them back in.
This brings attention back to the process rather than distracting the other participants. It saves time and can stop larger issues from occurring.
8. Parking Lot
Who this will help: Discussion dominators
When participants want to bring up topics that aren’t fit for the discussion at hand, use the parking lot idea. The participant records the questions, idea, or concern on a poster placed in the back of the room. This is important, as we don't want them adding more attention to themselves by walking in front of everyone.
Additional ways to use the Parking Lot are online presentation and collaboration sites like Padlet and Pear Deck.
9. No Opt Out
Who this will help: Non-participators
Often when we call on people, they will answer, "I don't know." It’s brave to answer this way, and it can lead to a lot of possible next steps!
For the “No opt out” method, pose the same question to another person to answer, then go back to the original person asking them to summarize what was said or add on.
If several people struggle with participation, ask people to talk in pairs and then share.
10. The Silent Treatment
Who this will help: Discussion dominators
When a person continues to interrupt, whether the facilitator or a peer, respond with these three steps:
Don't call it out. Keep talking, making calm but steady eye contact.
Pause, while continuing the eye contact, for 5-10 seconds to let the weight of the interruption sink in.
Enforce by casually walking over to the posted chart paper/poster of norms that were agreed upon, modeled, and explained at the beginning of the session. Either stand in front of it or point to it while continuing to present.
11. Five-Second Solution
Who this will help: Non-participators
As facilitators we tend to continue talking when table talk is going on. This causes many to miss key information. This change is simple and very small, but can make a really big difference in the attention you get from your participants.
When talking to a large group, after saying something or bringing them back from a discussion, wait 5 seconds before continuing to speak. Wait until you have everyone's attention. The silence from you will be unexpected.
12. No Pep Talk
Who this will help: Non-participators
People have to want to participate. No amount of pep talk or encouragement will change that. In fact, the more attention drawn to quiet ones, the less safe they may feel to participate. Time and safety allows these people to be more comfortable.
Provide the tools: Be explicit in the beginning sharing what participation looks like. Model how to successfully take part in a discussion.
Focus the discussion on the topic: And NOT the individual speakers. Avoid statements like, “Always love your answers, Patrick, you’re so insightful.” Behave as if it doesn't matter who is speaking. This levels the playing field.
Remove the spotlight: When a non-participator does add to the discussion, move on quickly. Don't praise them. Quietly encourage their input by removing the spotlight and allowing them their private moment.
13. Small Groups First
Who this will help: Non-participators
This strategy engages less talkative participants by having conversations in smaller groups before having to share with the whole group. It also allows for movement.
Set up chat stations:
Discussion prompts are posted on walls/tables around the room.
Groups of 2-4 rotate from station to station with a sheet corresponding to the questions. They discuss the questions and record their answers.
After all groups have visited all stations, whole group discussion begins.
14. Discussion Tickets
Who this will help: Discussion dominators and non-participants
Each participant gets a small collection of tickets (2-3 might be a good number) to use during discussion.
When they contribute, the strip is spent. Discussion goes on until all have used their strips. This keeps all members contributing equally and helps them be aware of how they are responding.
Here are some prompts you can print on the tickets:
Give an idea
Paraphrase
Summarize progress
Answer a question
Respond to an idea
Ask a question
Clarify an idea
Give a compliment
15. Dealing Cards
Who this will help: Discussion dominators and non-participants
Each participant is given a card/chip that they place in front of them. During the large group discussion, when a person speaks, the card is turned over or moved away. That person cannot speak again until all participants have spoken.
Once all have spoken, the process starts again.
16. Fishbowl
Who this will help: Discussion dominators and non-participants
Two participants sit facing each other in the center of the room. The remaining participants sit in a circle around them.
The two central participants have a conversation related to the topic. Participants on the outside observe and take notes in preparation for a large group discussion after the Fishbowl.
17. Talking Partners
Who this will help: Discussion dominators and non-participants
This strategy allows all participants to have a partner to share their thinking with and lets participants understand there will be a set time during the training for discussion and conversation.
Here’s how it works:
Provide a document organized into sections relating to the topic being presented.
Before beginning the training, participants start filling in the sections/quadrants of the doc.
When the facilitator wants to give some talk time, they tell participants to find a partner.
Consider encouraging participants to pair randomly, allowing for a rich diet of different thinking in conversations. You can also use a pair generator that randomly pairs people.
18. Think-Pair-Share
Who this will help: Non-participants
This strategy provides time to think, reflect, and share with one other person rather than sharing in a large group.
Here’s how it works:
Pose a question and ask participants to think about their response.
Form a pair with another person and discuss responses.
Share it with the larger group.
Say More! Or Say Less
With these techniques in hand, we hope you now feel empowered to facilitate your next discussion with confidence. Your group will likely come together to learn from each other, encourage each other, and enthusiastically explore the topic you have set before them. And with these equitable participation methods, every voice matters and no one gets to dominate.
If you’d like help with your next important discussion, we specialize in teaching workshops for nonprofits and organizations on topics like building and sustaining trust, board engagement, effective facilitation, and innovation. Contact SWIM and we’ll develop a custom workshop for your gathering.