{"id":1434,"date":"2013-05-16T08:04:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T12:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/facilitativeleadership.wordpress.com\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:00:39","slug":"meeting-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/meeting-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Estimate and Mitigate Meeting Risk &#8212; A Proven Formula"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The MGR<span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">USH<\/span> meeting risk assessment method comes from answering a series of questions about a project, its stakeholders, and meeting participants. Our meeting risk assessment method is based on project risk assessment work completed by F. Warren McFarlan and James McKenney of Harvard Business School.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Meeting risk should be assessed for every major session. Use the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/mgrush.com\"><em>MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<em>Meeting Risk Assessment<\/em> tool during your preparation activities.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What is Risk?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Risk derives from exposure to the following:<a class=\"dt-pswp-item\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/RisksOverTime.jpg\" data-dt-img-description=\"\" data-large_image_width=\"500\" data-large_image_height=\"333\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-6872 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/RisksOverTime-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Risks Over Time\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/RisksOverTime-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/RisksOverTime.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Failure to achieve benefits<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Higher implementation costs<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Longer implementation time<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Performance that is less than expected<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">While risk is not \u201cbad\u201d \u2014 failure to manage risk becomes dangerous.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Meeting Risk Defined<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Meeting risk appears at three layers:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Business \u2014 Project \u2014 Technique<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><i>Business<\/i> risk represents the exposure to an incomplete or late project.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><i>Project<\/i> risk represents the likelihood of missing timelines, falling short of delivery standards, or grossly exceeding cost estimates.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><i>Technique<\/i> risk represents the potential for major problems caused by a specific procedure or tool (ie, meeting design).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><strong>Meeting\u00a0<\/strong><b>Risk Components<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The\u00a0<em>Meeting<\/em>\u00a0<em>Risk Assessment<\/em> tool provides a method of measuring <em>meeting risk\u00a0<\/em>using four vectors:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Size \u2014 Politics \u2014 Complexity \u2014 Diversity<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><i>Size<\/i>\u2014<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">. . . indicates the overall project size measured by effort, scope, and quantity of meetings and workshops. Project size affects planning and coordinating the required information needed to support the project. Questions cover work hours, duration, the number of sessions, the number of different types of sessions (i.e., how many different agendas are required), and whether you are located at high-level planning or detailed design in your life cycle. Therefore, the larger the project, the greater the potential risk when holding group meetings or sessions. Consequently, you need to know that size can be a significant driver of risk and thus structure your sessions appropriately (such as assigning a more experienced session leader or a team of session leaders).<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><i>Complexity<\/i>\u2014<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">. . . is an indication of the structure of the business and the volatility of the information required to support the deliverable. Therefore, it measures how difficult it will be to specify and organize the information exchange. Questions cover the newness of the topic, whether the solution is a replacement or new (i.e., evergreen), engineering or process complexity, the extent of changes required for both internal and external customers, environmental changes required, and acceptance of the methods. Because the more complex an existing system is or the newer a business is, the more difficult it is to specify its requirements. Complexity and newness often lead to incomplete or vague requirements. Consequently, adjustments may include building more thorough agendas or using prototyping for some of the needs and requirements gathering.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><em>Politics\u2014<\/em><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">. . . is an indication of the political and personality climate of a project. Therefore, highly political groups tend to cloud the issues at hand and make sessions more difficult. Questions cover rating the attitudes of customers (internal or external), management, and participants; commitment of upper management; the level of controversy; past cooperation between customers and staff; the amount of flexibility allowed the participants; and stability of the organizations involved. Because highly political organizations or unstable organizations (i.e., numerous reorganizations) can make gathering requirements difficult (cutting through the &#8216;unknowns&#8217;) or short-lived (the participants won&#8217;t assume ownership when finished). Consequently, political risk is reduced by using the <em>MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span> Professional Facilitation technique. <\/em>The solution requires a politically savvy session leader and extensive planning to gain management commitment and proper resources.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><i>Customer Organization (ie, heterogeneity)<\/i>\u2014<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">. . . is an indicator of the nature and familiarity of the organization. Furthermore, diversity looks at the participants&#8217; ability to cooperate with each other and the logistics involved in getting everyone together. Questions cover the number of departments, the number of participants, the location of participants (geographical, domestic, and international), their prior experience working together (if any), and the knowledge of both the participants and the project team. Because, if an organization is cooperative and has few political axes to grind, yet is located around the country and the world, it will be more difficult to prepare for the sessions as well as to schedule everyone for the workshops. Consequently, it becomes expensive to bring people from many sites to one location\u2014especially if the estimated workshop duration is incorrect. Therefore, this type of risk calls for a session leader who has experience with logistics and estimating meeting duration.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>When To Assess<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Assess meeting risk for every important session. Complete the assessment as part of your initial preparation. Then reassess meeting risk for each stage or phase gate meeting, decision review, or look-back. If meeting risk is not going down as you move through the project life cycle, your meetings may become trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Mitigating Meeting Risk<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Discovering that a meeting is high risk alone is insufficient. You must do something to manage the risk. Here are some tips:<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><i>High Complexity<\/i><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Have a speaker (not you) stimulate the participants with ideas to drive creativity and inspire innovation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><i>High Politics<\/i><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Develop <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/consensus-does-not-mean-that-participants-are-going-to-be-happy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">consensus<\/a> by building vision with leadership. Conduct a leadership workshop to write down the purpose, scope, objectives, and vision for the new business, product, or process.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><i>Large Project<\/i><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Conduct four to five requirements gathering workshops. Then conduct a review with senior management to see what needs adjustment.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><i>Diverse Organization<\/i><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Schedule numerous face-to-face visits or conference calls during your preparation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Meeting Risk Factors Estimation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">With Excel, we use 38 questions to assess risk which creates a score from 1 to 100 (high risk). <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/75840238528765\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact us<\/a> for details and the scales for each question. We can also send you the risk analysis file to conduct your own calculations.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Project <b>Size<\/b><b><a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/size-factors.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1457 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/size-factors-245x300.png\" alt=\"Size Factors\" width=\"245\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/size-factors-245x300.png 245w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/size-factors.png 449w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><\/a><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Size factors measure the overall project size of effort, scope, and number of workshops. Therefore, helps determine risk due to the complexity of planning and coordinating large projects and the resources they consume.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">1. <em>Work Hours:<\/em>\u00a0Total work hours (1,000s) for the project?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">2. <em>Duration<\/em>: What is the project\u2019s duration?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">3. <em>Number Projects:<\/em> Number of other projects supporting the program?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">4. <em>Dependency<\/em>:\u00a0Is there another project on which this project is likely or totally dependent?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">5. <em>Stakeholders<\/em>:\u00a0How many stakeholder types will use the new solution?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">6. <em>Workshop Quantity:<\/em> Estimated number of workshops for the entire project?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">7. <em>Workshop Types:<\/em> How many different types of workshops will be held?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">8. <em>Beginning Phase:<\/em> In which phase are you starting?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Complexity\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<h3><b><\/b><b><a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/complexity-factors.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1449\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/complexity-factors.png?w=140\" alt=\"Complexity Factors\" width=\"140\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/complexity-factors.png 265w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/complexity-factors-140x300.png 140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 140px) 100vw, 140px\" \/><\/a><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Complexity factors measure the structure of the business, its volatility, and requirements. Therefore, this measures how tough it will be to understand the requirements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">1. <em>Project Type:\u00a0<\/em>The project may best be described as (i.e., a planning session), a replacement for a process or product, a change to an existing process or product, or a new process or product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">2. <em>Replacement Percentage:<\/em> What percentage of activities can be replaced on a one-to-one basis?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">3. <em>Project Complexity:<\/em> From an engineering point of view, what is the degree of complexity of the project?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">4. <em>Changes<\/em>: How severe are the changes with the project?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">5. <em>First Time:<\/em> Are the proposed methods the first of the kind for the project team?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">6. <em>First for Business:<\/em> Are the proposed methods the first of the kind for the business?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">7. <em>Business Acceptance:<\/em> Will the business accept the new methods for developing the requirements?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">8. <em>Team Acceptance:<\/em> Will the project team readily accept the new methods for developing the requirements?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">9. <em>New Technology:<\/em>\u00a0Is new or unfamiliar technology needed?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">10. <em>Success Dependent:\u00a0<\/em>Does the project\u2019s success depend on new technology?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">12. <em>Outside Purchase:\u00a0<\/em>Are purchased or outside sources being used?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">13. <em>Vendor Support:\u00a0<\/em>How solid is vendor support with the outside purchases?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Political Factors<\/b><\/h3>\n<h3><b><\/b><b><a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/political-factors.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1461\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/political-factors.png?w=247\" alt=\"Political Factors\" width=\"247\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/political-factors.png 508w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/political-factors-247x300.png 247w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 247px) 100vw, 247px\" \/><\/a><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The political factors show the personality and climate around the project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">1. <em>Business Attitude:\u00a0<\/em>What is the mindset of the business?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">2. <em>Management<\/em>:\u00a0How committed is upper management to the project?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">3. <em>Controversy<\/em>: What is the level of controversy around the requirements?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">4. <em>Participant Level:\u00a0<\/em>What is the job level of the participants?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">5. <em>Cooperative Users:<\/em> How cooperative are groups with each other?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">6. <em>Flexibility<\/em>: The participants have how much flexibility in making the final decision?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">7. <em>Processing Flexibility:<\/em> The participants have how much flexibility in making the process design?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">8. <em>Design Flexibility:\u00a0<\/em>The participants have how much flexibility during detailed design?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">9. <em>Stability<\/em>:\u00a0How stable is the organization?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Heterogeneity\u00a0<\/b><b><a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/heterogeneity-factors.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1468\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/heterogeneity-factors.png?w=214\" alt=\"Heterogeneity Factors\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/heterogeneity-factors.png 407w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/heterogeneity-factors-215x300.png 215w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><\/a><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The heterogeneity factors show the diversity and nature of the business. These factors look at the ability of the business to cooperate in coordinating all the stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">1.<em> Number of Units:\u00a0<\/em>Number of departments (other than the project team) involved with the project?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">2. <em>Participants<\/em>: Number of participants?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">3. <em>Locations<\/em>: Number of geographical sites?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">4. <em>Multinational<\/em>: What is the range of multinationals?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">5. <em>Prior Experience:\u00a0<\/em>Have the participants ever worked on a project together before?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">6. <em>Business Change:<\/em> Must the business change to meet the requirements of the project solution?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">7. <em>Project Knowledge<\/em>:\u00a0How knowledgeable is the business in the area of the project process?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">8. <em>Business Knowledge:<\/em> How knowledgeable are the subject matter experts in the process?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">9. <em>Team Knowledge:<\/em> How knowledgeable is the project team about the solution?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Meeting Risk Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3>Of the four areas, <em>Size<\/em> and <em>Politics<\/em> provide the most concern, and then <em>Complexity<\/em> and <em>Diversity<\/em>.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><i>Meeting<\/i>\u00a0<em>Risk Assessment<\/em> supports understanding the sources of risk. <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/75840238528765\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span><\/a> for a quantitative <i>Meeting<\/i>\u00a0<em>Risk Assessment<\/em> tool. We developed it in along with Dr. Howard Rubin (developer of <span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">ESTIMACS<\/span>). Or, see your <em>MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH <\/span><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/alumni-only-1932-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">alumni links<\/a> to access the <span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">EXCEL<\/span> file that speeds up calculations and risk estimates.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>______<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Don\u2019t ruin your career by hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/bad-meetings\/\">bad meetings<\/a>. Sign up for a <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/public-facilitation-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">workshop<\/a> or send this to someone who should. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260106090117\/https:\/\/mgrush.com\/\">MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span><\/a><\/em> workshops focus on meeting design and practice. Each person practices tools, methods, and activities every day during the week. Therefore, while some call this immersion, we call it the road to building high-value facilitation skills.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MGRUSH meeting risk assessment method comes from answering a series of questions about a project, its stakeholders, and meeting participants. Our meeting risk assessment method is based on project risk assessment work completed by F. Warren McFarlan and James McKenney of Harvard Business School. Meeting risk should be assessed for every major session. Use [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[453185968],"tags":[453192147,453191030,453190786,453190840,453190839],"class_list":["post-1434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis-methods","tag-catalyst-product-innovation-method","tag-decision-quality","tag-meeting-challenges","tag-meeting-risk","tag-meeting-risk-factors"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Estimate and Mitigate Meeting Risk --- A Proven Formula<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our meeting risk assessment method was shaped by contributions from F. 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