Meetings that Inspire

Meetings are fast evolving from passive top-down settings to audience centered gatherings of people with a desire not only to learn but also to interact.  Putting together an engaging meeting is now more challenging than ever.  To be successful, meetings need to be audience centered with active and engaged participants.  As meeting organizers, how do we go about accomplishing this deceptively-simple task?

Starting with the layout, traditional theater or classroom style are giving way to circular seating denoting that everyone is equal and that everyone is invited to take an active part in the proceedings.  Many of our clients are opting for rounds of 6 to 8 to encourage not only interaction with the speaker but also among the table participants. 

Needless to say, meeting objectives differ from meeting to meeting.  However, here are a few principles we apply in assisting our clients reach their goal with each meeting.  To reach the ideal outcome, as a professional meeting planning company, we apply a three-tier strategy to eradicate boredom: (1) Involve the presenter(s) in the meeting objectives from the beginning.  There should be no presentation that doesn’t fit the context of the meeting.  We also emphasize the need to connect with the audience and keeping them engaged throughout.  (2) To the extent possible, we make every effort to make sure that the meeting has a natural “flow”—i.e., there are ample opportunities for interaction among participants (during breaks or through alternative interactive activities alongside the meeting).  The goal here is to ensure that the attendees feel and remain engaged throughout. (3) As pointed out earlier, we make every effort to avoid the cliché setups such as theater or classroom styles.  Depending on the meeting size, we recommend lounge seating if appropriate to reinforce the “connected” feel for the event.

Other tools that we routinely recommend are enhanced use of social media—well before the meeting date.  Social media are no longer people’s personal repositories of their likes and dislikes.  They are valuable tools in fine tuning a meetings objectives and keeping the interest level in the meeting high throughout the planning period all the way to when it is rolled out—and long after.  Social media are great “listening” tools.  In planning our client’s important meetings, we always suggest creating an event hashtag then use the tools that are widely available to monitor the posts to ensure that the participants’ “voices” are heard throughout.  Every successful meeting is always followed up by a survey to capture the attendees’ sentiments, their likes and dislikes and their suggestions for improvement. 

Organizing a widely-successful meeting is not all about finding a hotel ballroom and making sure coffee breaks are appropriately stocked.  It is not about creating inspiring moments for the attendees so that the company reaps lasting rewards in branding and improved ROI for many months to come—a job that can be best done by a professional meeting management company.