Question

How you would encourage your friend to attend the meetings

Answer 1

You can either use the following discussion or develop your own taking help from it:

Candidate A: Hey do you know Rahul has been missing the House meetings regularly for quite some time; he may get caught!

Candidate B: Really? This is something very serious. Does he not want to take part in inter-house activities? Co-curricular activities are so essential for the overall development of the personality of a student!

Candidate A: I know. May be he has some issues with his House Master. He did not select him for the English play for the annual function last year; he has not been attending House meetings since then. Nor he carries out his Prefect’s duties!

Candidate B: I think we should talk to him regarding this. He is harming his own interests. We need to tell him that taking part in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities is so important. Not only they hone and enhance our personality, they also improve our academic grades.

Candidate A: Absolutely true! He is missing so much fun of the entertaining side of education. By the way do you know where he is when the House meetings are going on?

Candidate B: No, I don’t have any idea!

Candidate A: He sits in the library and pretends to study.

Candidate B: I think we must talk to him. We need to tell him rejections, refusals are part of life. For being rejected once, we must not stop learning and taking part in activities. We must tell him he must strive to participate in as many activities as he can.

Candidate A: Yes, I agree with you. We must tell him if he misses House meetings, his chances of being selected in any activity are zero. Besides, by denial of the reality no one succeeds.

Candidate B: We can discuss the matter with our class teachers as well. She can further talk to his House master and resolve any differences between them.

Candidate A: That’s a good option. But I think we first must talk to Rahul first.

Candidate B: I agree with you. Let’s go to the library and have a word with him.

Answer 2

Many people are shy or scared of attending meetings, because they feel in attending them their weaknesses would be exposed as they could be found to be bereft of ideas or become tongue-tied in the presence of other people. This increases if the meetings are held with a lot of people being present or with eloquent speakers around.
I would encourage my friend to attend meetings by telling him they are wonderful occasions for exchange of ideas, an opportunity he would not otherwise have. Initially, the magic of participating in meetings is to attentively listen to others. I would, therefore, tell my friend to patiently listen to what others have to say and, then, if necessary, begin to come forth with his ideas. When his turn comes, he must speak slowly and be brief, just sticking to his points. Before speaking, he could jot down the points he wishes to highlight, based on ideas he has carried to the meeting or after listening to what others before him have said. Once the ice breaks, I'd convince him, he would want to regularly attend all meetings to which he is expected to come.