Dominant participants are usually those who interrupt people, overemphasize their own ideas, repeat themselves over and over again, and talk over other participants in general. A dominant participant might be that way because they possess a certain level of authority within your team (a CEO, for example). Alternatively, they may be a subject matter expert or just eager to participate.

You can deal with dominant participants by:

• Laying out the rules for interaction before the workshop and reiterating them when someone begins to dominate the conversation
• Communicating and reiterating your workshop goals and desired outcomes so that everyone remains on the same page throughout the workshop
• Inviting dominant participants to only certain parts of the workshop
• Breaking up the group into smaller teams with balanced personalities^[1]