Stephen Downes

For the record I also hate break-out groups, especially during policy or public consultation meetings. I find that they are especially effective at dispersing and therefore silencing what may be a minority opinion before it can coalesce into something more significant. I also find that it forces people to pay attention to one or another issue, while they may in fact want to address several issues. I agree with this - "Break-out groups are intended to break up the monotony of a long meeting and get people talking to each other on key topics. These are worthy goals; break-out groups are just lousy at realizing them."