When keep participants active?
The number of people who participate in a creative meeting or who do the exercises during a meeting may influence performance. Nijstad (2000) concluded that participants should work in pairs to maximize production, persistence, satisfaction and enjoyment. This can be done by dividing participants into groups of two, or possibly three. Sometimes, designers will want to work on their own. The number of meeting participants may quickly become too many. “The number of possible interactions explodes in groups with more than six people”. For this reason “collaboration happens best among 4 to 8 people”. (Futures, 2010).
References:
Nijstad, B. A. (2000). How the group affects the mind : effects of communication in idea generating groups. ICS dissertations series. Social psychology. Utrecht University. Utrecht.
Futures, S. W. (2010). How the workplace can improve collaboration : converging spatial, social and informational trends are creating demand for workplaces that support new patterns of collaboration : white paper. (7 p)