About this episode

Andy Kaufman interviews Evan Unger about effective meeting facilitation and decision-making strategies.

Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Evan Unger, a consultant and trainer who has spent more than 30 years helping leaders facilitate collaborative decision making across projects, programs, and organizations around the world. Evan's work focuses on helping groups move forward when opinions differ, tension is present, and time is limited. This conversation is packed with immediately actionable ideas. Andy and Evan dig into why even experienced leaders struggle in high-stakes meetings, and how Evan's POPRA model (Purpose, Objectives, Process, Roles, Agreements) can transform the way you prepare and run them. They talk about how to manage the "HIPPO" (Highest Paid Person's Opinion) without suppressing the voices you most need to hear, a simple virtual technique called the simultaneous chat that can change the dynamic of any online meeting, and how to make sure your meetings actually land, with clear action items and time to close things out properly. Evan also shares his perspective on where AI fits in the future of facilitation, and some surprisingly personal advice about what he'd tell his younger self. If you're looking for practical, immediately usable tools to run…

People in this episode

Host: Andy Kaufman

Guest: Evan Unger

Topics covered

• meeting facilitation
• decision making
• collaboration
• leadership
• AI in facilitation

Keywords

• facilitation
• meetings
• collaborative decisions
• POPRA model
• HIPPO
• action items
• AI

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: PMI

More episodes of People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

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• PPP 506 | Stop Optimizing Meetings. Start Reducing Them, with Rebecca Hinds · April 15, 2026 · 38 min
• PPP 505 | You've Got This: A Practical Way to Lead When You're Not Sure, with Ashley Herd · April 11, 2026 · 46 min
• PPP 504 | How Leaders Can Reduce Stress Without Lowering the Bar, with Amy Leneker · March 31, 2026 · 33 min
• PPP 502 | When Process Is Not Enough: The Human Side of Project Leadership, with Brett Harned · March 17, 2026 · 44 min
• PPP 501 | Hope Is Not a Strategy… Or Is It?, with author Jen Fisher · March 10, 2026 · 47 min

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