There are people who feel totally unsuited to small-group experiences. Here is how Anita Diamant, in a section "Meeting Adjourned" from her book Pitching My Tent, explains her feelings about group meetings:

When asked to serve on the board of directors I declined, explaining, "I lack the meeting gene." I am grateful to those who are congenitally able to plan, discuss, hash out, mull, and deliberate, because I can't.

I am not a slacker. I bake cookies, I write brochures, but meetings transform me into a seething misanthrope with violent tendencies. I want to punch anyone who talks too much, even if I agree with what he's saying. I want to shout obscenities at the chair, even if she's my best friend. I do not like the person I become in meetings, which is why I'm so good at saying no when asked to do anything that requires attendance at them.

Source: from Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship, and Other Leaps of Faith (pp. 204-205), by Anita Diamant, 2003, New York: Scribner's.

1			Do you empathize with Diamant's feelings? Do you know others who feel as she does? From where do you think such intense feelings come?
2			If you found yourself in a meeting with someone who has these same feelings—as those of Anita Diamant—what could you do as either a member or leader to try to make her feel more comfortable and to make certain she knew she was an important and valued member of the group?
3			Knowing that she has such intense feelings regarding meetings, Diamant's first objective is likely to be avoidance; however, given the fact that meetings can hardly be avoided in our meeting-hungry society, what could she do—besides avoid them—to try to make herself more comfortable with them? What suggestions can you provide?