Write up an agenda, distribute it in advance, keep in on target, etc. Bla Bla Bla. Their defenses are sometimes set very high. So sometimes the best approach is the indirect approach. Those of you who have lots of meetings at work know that sometimes the most progress is made at lunch or happy hour, outside of the context of the meeting room.
Defenses are lower, people are in a social mood, and creativity is often more free to roam.
I'm thinking along the lines of direct communication but by setting up less direct patterns between other people. At my Skills-Builders event last weekend, I showed an example of this possibility. I elicited a response from one person and anchored it, Kinesthetically, with a sliding anchor. And I did it purely with a direct suggestion. A is going to experience the increase in state.