Reconstruct the PR Club meeting. Your agenda item is the discussion of whether to sponsor a seminar featuring Mr. Grimes, a prominent local leader. Get together with six other members of the class to roleplay group members. Before your discussion, hand out envelopes to each member. Four of the envelopes will contain a description of one poor listening habit (pseudolistening, silent arguing, assuming meaning, focusing on irrelevancies, or sidetracking). The other three envelopes will instruct the member to practice active, focused listening. Allow yourselves to role-play the meeting for about 25 minutes. Ask your classmates to watch the meeting and take notes on the listening behaviors. After the meeting, discuss how the poor habits were displayed and what their impact was on the discussion.
1. Were any behaviors particularly destructive? How so?
2. How well were the members practicing active, focused listening, and did they reduce the effects of the poor habits? How typical are some of these poor habits?
3. How was the role-play of the meeting different from a real meeting?