Recently, for a client I work with, I was asked to put together and lead my first focus group that turned out to be a great success. Our goal was to find out what Eugene community members, between the ages of 18 and 25, knew about the OSU Extension Service in Lane County, how programs offered could be better promoted, and what programs were most interesting. The focus group went really well and helped our group gain a lot of good information. Here are a few tips I have for holding a focus group:

Have an incentive
People will be more willing and motivated to participate in your group if there is something in it for them. Free food and drinks are always good incentives, but if you can add something more you will have a much easier time getting people to sign up and participate.

Don’t be afraid of silence in the group
The only critique my client had after we finished our group was that I didn’t give enough of a pause for people to think. If you ask a question and nobody answers right away, that’s OK. Don’t be afraid to let the participants sit in silence. Silence is awkward and can be a good motivator to get people to speak.

Get warmed up with an icebreaker
While a lot of us associate icebreakers with the first day of school, they can be a good way to get people comfortable with talking. My suggestion is to pick one or two of your favorite ice breakers, mine is Two Truths and a Lie, and spend about 10-15 minutes in the beginning of the session getting everyone speaking and comfortable with each other.

These are just a few tips that I picked up after reflecting and evaluating the success of the focus group I conducted. Hopefully these will be of use to you with your next focus group.

Here is another resource about conducting focus groups.

– Casey Colesworthy, Account Supervisor