Illumination Galleries

Peer to Peer Sales Meetings

2009-10-14T10:06:00.004-04:00

The ultimate purpose of sales meetings is, naturally, to boost sales. The wide range of incentives used at sales meetings today - great resorts, passionate speakers, perhaps an evening with Hootie - have all been very effective. There is another lever we can push, however, to take these meetings to an even higher level: collaboration!

At each annual sales meeting, new goals are set, new products are introduced, and new messages are conveyed from management. But the people who know best how to use this information are the sales people in the audience. These are the greatest resources for other sales people, and we can leverage those resources a lot better than we have!

To what techniques or habits do your top sales people attribute their success? How would those people incorporate the new products or messages into their approach to clients? How should these approaches differ among market segments? These are great conversations for your sales teams to have, and it can all be part of your meeting. In fact, this kind of collaboration can be the focus of your sales meetings!

An Illumination Gallery captures all of the biggest and best ideas from your keynotes, breakouts, workshops and panel discussions, and puts them all in one place. The Collaboration Lounge then gives your sales team the opportunity and the tools to apply all of those great ideas to themselves. Big ideas. Collaborating with peers. Changing behaviors to drive future sales.

An Illumination Gallery at your next event will leverage the skills and experience of your own team to boost productivity in the year ahead.

PCMA Disney Presentation

2009-09-30T11:36:00.005-04:00

The Greater Midwest Chapter of PCMA held a fantastic "Hybrid Meeting" on September 29 in which they engaged both a face-to-face audience and a large virtual audience in a very interactive session with Sharon Pleggenkuhl of the Disney Institute. Below are the IdeaBoards created live during the webinar and posted during Mike McCurry's photo montage!

Click on the image to view a larger version!

I will fill in these notes with some more narrative in the next day or so, but I wanted to get the raw notes published for you quickly!

Tools for Virtual Meetings

2009-08-26T09:38:00.004-04:00

Mike McCurry (@MichaelMcCurry on Twitter) launched a great discussion about hybrid meetings (meetings that include both in-person and virtual audiences). I got so excited I opened my big mouth and shared some thoughts. Well, wouldn't you know it, Mike asked me to develop my ideas a little further in a guest post on his blog:

A Rich Virtual Experience

Summary: If all virtual conference attendees are watching through their computer screens, they will expect the same kind of rich informational experience that they get with every other application they use. Simulations and more visual displays of information can create a virtual conference experience that is much more engaging and valuable.

Thanks, Mike, for a great opportunity to explore some new terrain!

Jay's Interview with Meetingspodcast

2009-08-26T09:20:00.002-04:00

Mike McAllen (@mmcallen on Twitter) from Grass Shack Events & Media recently discovered this blog and wanted to learn more. He asked me to join him for an interview on MeetingsPodCast.com

I have to say that Mike conducts a great interview, and makes it a very easy process. I highly recommend browsing through the great content they've got posted on their site!

Technology and Meetings of the Future - Experient Webinar

2009-08-05T10:29:00.006-04:00

Experient just broadcast a great webinar on the future of technology and meetings. Stephen Nold of Advon Technologies moderated a panel that included Nicole Buraglio (Hanley Woods Exhibitions), Mike Immerwahr (Microsoft), and RD Whitney (Taurus Online Media).

A few of the big insights that I heard:

Twitter isn't "media" in the traditional sense -- it is a PR and communications tool
There are a lot of SM fairy tales out there (beware social media "experts"), but there IS a new reality
Most marketing departments are set up for pushing content, but the present and future of marketing is participating in "pull" marketing -- the customers are in control now and forever.
Whether or not Twitter will succeed as a business, this form of communication is the new normal. You HAVE to use this technology.
PR departments can no longer control corporate communications. Establish guidelines and allow the rank and file to interact with constituents through social media -- it puts a human face on the company.
SM is a new tool in the "Business 101" sales model - "Know me, like me, trust me, buy my stuff!" Real time customer feedback provides a stream of opportunities to build trust.
Use SM to build excitement before an event, and connect participants within 30 days after the event with great content. (If you don't hook them quickly, you will lose the sense of community until the next year's annual meeting.)
Attendees want you to post all of the content online and in advance. This fundamentally shifts the value of the face-to-face experience - their focus is now interactions with the people they want to talk to. The face-to-face experience must be extraordinary to get "butts in seats"!
Every event should have a Facebook account, a Facebook ad and a Twitter hashtag. Your customers will be talking about you in these media anyway, so why not facilitate the discussion?
Get to know your customers - it all starts with them. What do they want? How do they want to interact with you?

What have I missed? What are the big insights that you heard?

"Candid Conversation with MPI" - WEC2009

2009-07-16T11:39:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday, the last day of WEC2009, the leadership team of MPI invited attendees to a "Candid Conversation with MPI". A modest group turned out to ask questions. Here are my highlights. Please note that these are NOT quotes, just my interpretations of what was said.

In response to a question about the "Ambassador Program", MPI would like to expand this mentoring program to include all new members.
Between donations and matching programs by corporate partners, the MPI Foundation had raised about $25,000 at WEC2009.
An attendee from a local chapter said that he frequently heard the complaint from suppliers that the planner/supplier ratio at events is dropping. He feels MPI should do a better job explaining to suppliers that a large amount of their business actually comes from other suppliers -- the value to suppliers of MPI participation is not just access to planners.
Tradeshows at other events have been very successful using a one-on-one appointment model. MPI is exploring this option for MeetDifferent.
I asked Bruce MacMillan about the internal conversation regarding the pricing of the Virtual Access Pass. I heard him say the following:

MPI is in the business of creating great content, and great content costs. Someone needs to pay for it somewhere along the line.
MPI does not want to create a "subsidization model" where paying attendees cover the costs for non-attendees
Much of the WEC content will be made available to members at a later date, but the live streaming of the conference was worth a premium
(If I misrepresented what was said, please let me know!)

An attedee asked if MPI could publish a peer-reviewed journal for academic research. Every profession includes a body of knowledge, an education curriculum, and ongoing research. A journal that published peer-reviewed case studies would support researchers and academics AND help develop new content for MPI
MPI is sending out an RFP for research on the economic impact of meetings in the US. The Canadian research already completed is a benchmark for this kind of study around the world. MPI would like to get some economic data before the end of 2009, but the timeline will depend entirely on the vendor who wins the RFP.
Finally, MPI is getting an international CSR certification, including the MPI staff. This will help chapters and members drive CSR into every aspect of the meetings industry.

Leadership in the Social Media Age - WEC2009

2009-07-16T10:32:00.005-04:00

On the last day of WEC2009, Dr. Amy Vanderbilt gave a great talk on Management and Leadership in the Social Media Age. She presented a good percentage of the content from a three-day workshop in about 90 minutes, so I'll just touch on the highlights for me.

Dr. V is a trend watcher. The two trends that she sees converging on the leadership space are the shift from the Communication Age to the Social Media Age, and the shift from Baby Boomers running the workplace to a workplace filled with Boomer, Gen-Xers, Gen-Yers and (soon) Millenials. Each of these generations brings a different set of valuable skills and attitudes. Boomers bring experience. Gen Y believe that anything is possible (so they'll try it, and sometimes it works!), and Gen X is now old enough to know better, but still young enough to try.

The major shift that needs to take place in the mentality of management is away from the myth of control. The command and control attitude is a holdover from 1950's management philosophy, when there was very slow change and very little information flow. Control is a personal craving for power and authority. Managers with a control mindset tend to believe that they are the sole source of information for their subordinates, and they sometimes demonstrate "Self-Tending Mushroom" behaviors -- they hide themselves in the dark of their own office and they feed themselves their own.... well... you know.

The Social Media Age makes the control mindset very dangerous for businesses. SM creates a pervasive awareness both inside and outside the company -- there are no secrets, and the manager is no longer the gatekeeper of information. If you as a manager aren't honest and forthcoming, Gens X and Y will get as far away from you as possible. They will leave the company and take their skills with them. SM has also accelerated the expected response time for your organization -- there is no longer time for a formal approval process. This means that those crazy Gen X and Yers on the front lines are making critical decisions every day that impact your customers and your brand. You do not have control.

Managers need to become leaders. Ask yourself the following questions:

What tasks am I responsible for?
Do I enjoy those tasks?
Can a subordinate do it?
Is this task uniquely my responsibility?

As a leader, you must do only the things that only you can do. Delegate the rest. There are still times were autocracy is a valid leadership style -- only in emergencies, and then be sure to THANK the team for responding so well. In this age, leadership must be participatory.

Dr. V presented a great model for the "Cycle of Command". Leadership positions are not forever, and you should go into each position preparing to leave it. She presented four stages of leadership in a team, from establishing leadership to mentoring your successor. At each stage, different styles and tactics are appropriate.

A couple of other notes that I thought were interesting.

Set Thresholds for both Rewards and Punishments
Write those standards down, make them fair and consistent, act quickly when someone meets those thresholds, and be open about the entire process.
The Right Way to Do Layoffs, if they become necessary
Be up-front - explain that layoffs are coming and why
Explain the criteria for who gets cut and be fair about it
Act swiftly after the announcement to minimize dread

Dr. V presented a ton of other great content. Her trend-watching reports look pretty fascinating. Check out her website for more.

Tuesday ONE+ Daily Illustration

2009-07-14T08:56:00.003-04:00

The "Case for Meetings" Session with Mary Boone was fantastic yesterday! Participants heard from each of four experts on meeting design, measuring value, managing meetings as a portfolio and advanced logistics, but spent most of their time developing a sales pitch on each of those topics to take to executives within their organization. You can see the synthesis illustrations of their work here, but check back, because we'll be adding more content - including the particpants' own marker boards - in the next few days!

Today's ONE+ Daily illustration is inspired by the Case for Meetings. Enjoy!

ONE+ Daily - Monday "cartoon"

2009-07-13T05:43:00.004-04:00

Good morning, WECers! Today is full of opportunities to change the world. Will you explore an extreme meeting makeover with Jim McDonough? Or dive in deep on the Four Elements of Strategic Value with Mary Boone, Susan Radojevic, Karen Haas, and Jack Phillips (oh, and yours truly)?

The quote below is from Peter Block's Community: The Structure of Belonging. I highly recommend it for all meeting planners interested in both the meeting process and the environment in which meetings can be held. The title of this chapter is "The Small Group Is the Unit of Transformation."

Speaker Sue Supplier Session - WEC09

2009-07-12T22:45:00.003-04:00

Sue Hershkowitz-Coore (SpeakerSue for friends, websurfers and twitterheads alike) provides more, usable information in five minutes than most people hear all year. Her tips are for people who need to communicate with other people. That means pretty much anyone. She focused this session on suppliers to the meetings industry. The 75 minutes were gone in an instant.

I cannot begin to capture all of the great ideas included in this presentation. I'll hit on the general framework of the talk, and then highlight some key insights for me.

The context of "sales" has changed for suppliers to the meetings industry. It was never a good idea to be an "order-taker" as a supplier, but it would be death to do so now. We must develop a business case for our clients to use to sell our services internally. Here are four key questions to ask yourself to help build a business case:

What are the 3-5 most important strategies for your clients?
How does your client (the individual) contribute to those strategies?
How does this particular meeting contribute to the success of the strategies?
How does your service or product contribute to success?

When you're building a proposal, focus on the themes and words that the client used in their own RFP. Demonstrate your ROI, and give them all the tools they need to feel safe and smart.

The balance of the presentation focused on four themes: Prospecting, Following Up, Social Media, and Emails that Sell. You can find the details in the notes above.

Some key lessons for me:

"Make them feel safe and smart"
Ask for their opinions/experience/insight, and then shut up
Be authentic, be yourself, be quirky
Earn the right to advance in the sales process -- "Would it be ok if I...?"
Disarming candor: "How would you like me to follow up with you?"
Twitterize your email: direct, clear, concise, positive
"F.U." means "follow up"
Treat each call/contact as new
Verb + Promise + a Number + Quirky = much higher response rate

And some "nevers" that we should all appreciate:

Never ask "How are you?" - you don't have that right
Never say "Touching base" - that's for baseball players
Never mention previous failed contacts in a new message

Finally, "If you're not using social media, you are losing sales."

More at SpeakerSue's blog or @SpeakerSue on Twitter.

*****
Sue added these comments in response:
"I love you, Jay! What a great recap and amazing illustration. As always, you bring clarity. And about those "nevers" you quoted...yes! On a cold call, never say, how are you. On a follow-up, never touch base; have a reason for the fu... to provide a link, an article, an insight about a new situation at your hotel, venue, with your service or to ask: We're ramping up for 2010 and would love to know what you need next year ....

"What you do enables learning and retention, not to mention fun. Thank you!"

Notes from the Field - MPI WEC 2009

2009-07-10T15:51:00.005-04:00

Here we go! I am off to Salt Lake City for the MPI World Education Congress. I'll be sharing my journal pages as well as other reflections throughout the event. You can check here to see my progress.

I've also been asked by ONE+ editor David Basler to provide their daily newspaper with a graphic for each day's edition. Here's a draft of Sunday's image.

The theme for the event is "When we meet, we change the world." It's an interesting proposition. Peter Block says that every major change starts with a conversation in a small group. So important conversations will be taking place in Salt Lake City. There will be a whole lot more conversations taking place outside of Salt Lake City through a number of social media channels. I'm excited to explore this from the inside, and I'm happy to be able to share some insights with those of you who cannot attend.

Stay tuned...

Ultimate Networking Event

2009-07-06T13:55:00.005-04:00

In a recent #eventprofs chat on Twitter, the discussion briefly turned to the "ultimate networking event". What would it look like? How would it work? Why would it be better than other networking events?

In the interest of full disclosure, it was exactly this line of thinking that led us to create the services that we offer. So I've tried NOT to frame this as a sales pitch, but rather as a thought process that leads to great interactions between people.

First of all, why do we network? We want to connect with new people. These might be people we want to learn from, to work for, to work with, to sell to, to partner with, or a whole host of other variations on those themes. We want to meet people who have similar interests to ours. We want to meet people that might be fun and/or productive to work/talk/play with in the future.

So how do we connect with new people?

Personal Introductions
Perhaps the most valuable way to meet new people is a personal introduction from a trusted third person. I know Andre. Andre knows Barb. Andre knows that Barb and I share common interests, so he introduces us. This is a great, new, "qualified" connection to our network. But what if we're in a room full of strangers...?

Shared Interest
We often want to meet people who share our interests. How, in a room full of strangers, can you find out who's interested in what? This challenge led us to create the "Galleries" concept in the first place. What if you could distribute content and ideas strategically around a physical space? That would allow people to congregate near the topics that were interesting to them, and that would allow them to bump into other people interested in the same topics!

Imagine the Louvre or the Met in New York. You will find a fair number of visitors to the museums who try to wander around the whole place to see every thing. You will also find people who specialize in particular artists or styles or themes. Spend some time in the Impressionist area, and you are bound to find other enthusiasts of Impressionism. And having the topic of your interest (the paintings) all around you, it becomes much easier to find people who share your interests AND to start a conversation with them -- "Don't you love the way Monet uses light and water together?"

IdeaBoards are designed to create the same networking opportunity at meetings and conferences. IdeaBoards are illustrations of the content from keynotes, panel discussions, group discussions and breakout sessions. Our illustrators create these IdeaBoards in real-time, and post them in the Gallery at the end of each session. We can organize the IdeaBoards by speaker, by theme, or by any other topic.

IdeaBoards draw people into conversations. They are a fun, colorful, insightful way to present content. The invite people who attended that session to see what they heard in a new way, and they give people who didn't attend a quick overview of the story and major themes of the session. And as these two kinds of people stand next to each other in the Gallery, they can easily start up a conversation about this topic that they both are so clearly interested in!

IdeaBoards are just one of the tools that you can use to facilitate networking. Twitter feeds, SMS surveys, and content-driven trivia questions (among many others) can help strangers in a crowd to identify others with whom to make a connection.

Working Together - The IdeaLounge
Of course the ultimate test of any networking relationship is how well you end up working with that person. So why wait? Why offer canapes during a networking event, when you can offer tools to get real work done?

We've all spent many hours at these kinds of event, a drink in one hand, an empty toothpick in the other, wishing we could take a great conversation to the next level. We search for somewhere to put our drink down. We fumble for a napkin or the back of a business card to scribble out an idea...

What if you were surrounded by an environment full of collaboration tools AND comfortable seating? Imagine being able to sketch out your ideas on a marker board. Imagine a spontaneous brainstorming session of "the best ideas from this conference". Imagine taking a problem identified by a speaker earlier in the day and convening a quick focus group to come up with solutions, or next steps, or a proposal for funding to solve the problem. In this setting, surrounded by all of these tools, you get to meet people and work together with them! You get to experience how creative they are, how open they are to ideas, how flexible and funny they are when they're engaged in real design and not just cocktail chatter.

Again, marker boards and couches are just a few of the tools that can be brought to bear on the challenge of getting people to work together and not just chit chat. Flip camera can be used to record "great ideas" that people come up with. Digital cameras can be used to capture and share the marker board models and lists. Music can be used to strategically energize or relax the group. Polls (via SMS or informal walk-arounds) can test the mood of a group or introduce discussion topics. And of course wifi access can bring real data, computation tools and a world of other resources to bear on these (initially) casual conversations.

Not that there's anything wrong with canapes, of course. But we can get SO much more out of our investments in networking events!

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences too! Are there other ideas and tools that I'm missing?

Tips for Unconferences

2009-07-01T09:41:00.005-04:00

Jeff Hurt is a meeting planner and social media maven that I've recently had the good fortune to encounter in the #eventprofs chat on Twitter. His background in educational design shapes his entire approach to planning events.

Based on a WordCamp Dallas event he attended, he presents his tips for planning an "unconference" -- a non-traditional gathering where interactions among participants are more important than lectures from speakers. Both may still be included, but the emphasis is shifted towards interaction and co-creation.

Among my favorite tips:

"5. As you plan your schedule, include some adult white space for attendees to digest information, network and learn from others.
Just as in Twitter, it’s not about how many followers you have, conference planning is not about how many speakers you can cram into a day. It’s about the quality of your speaker’s presentations and the quality of the connections one can make."

"8. Unconference organizers should remember that people today are learning in new ways that are collective, egalitarian and participatory.
The best conference learning occurs when there are varieties of ways people can learn from passive listening to collaborative round-table discussions to small group exercise. Retention and learning decreases the more attendees sit and passively listen, especially for eight-to-ten hours a day...

"While trying to have a single-experience for the entire audience is admirable, it is not possible. Nor does it really happen. Everyone brings their own set of learnings, skills and perspectives to an event. Each person leaves with their own takeaways and views. The Internet has turned learning on its head and no one person enters, follows or leaves the social space in a same way."

Events must be valuable for all of your participants and stakeholders, but each of these people will have their own criteria for defining value. This is Jamie McDonough's "Value of One" principle. Our events must create personalized value for every attendee. It is critical first to understand what your different stakeholders want and need, and then you must design an approach to your meeting that allows for this wide range of unique experiences to unfold.

How have you seen this be successful at events? Share your "massively unique" event stories in the comments section!

Co-Creation and Meetings

2009-06-24T14:55:00.004-04:00

In a recent webinar, Doug Amann from Pfizer made this point: If we're going to invest all of the money and resources to bring a large group of people together, let's maximize the interaction! "Broadcast" presentations -- one expert talking to an audience -- can be done very effectively online or on DVD's. Why bring people together to listen? What the face-to-face experience is exceptionally GOOD at is individual and small-group interactions. How can we make THOSE interactions the focus of our meetings?

Planners (and event sponsors) tend to rather LIKE the traditional, broadcast-style conferences. They are predictable. They are controllable. We all know how they work. If we can get the butts in the seats, we know (we think) how to deliver a great program (or at least a program kinda like last year's). And frankly, the audience tends to go along with it -- no one's expectations are normally that high. They'll sit in the seats. They'll listen to talks. They'll want to be entertained. And if this experience is comparable to other conference experiences, they'll generally give you positive scores on the feedback forms.

But how does this experience compare to actual meaningful events in our lives? Are we connecting with people? Are we learning anything useful? How will we be different after these events? With rare exceptions, a lecture hall experience will not create these kinds of changes.

So what will? I've been talking about collaboration, networking, and interaction. On a great twitter chat today, the focus shifted to "co-creation" -- working together to build something new. This might be a new invention. It might be a new process. It might be a new way to understand the world. Let's take your understanding and my understanding and see what we can build with a new, shared understanding.

Co-Creation -- the multi-day conference is the perfect venue for this. The conference creates a community -- a group of people bound together in shared experiences, new knowledge, a physical location, and even sporting handy community ID badges. This community builds trust among its members. This trust might be stronger or weaker among different parts of the community, but in sharing a good speaker, a challenging breakout, a karaoke fiasco, we build trust together. With trust and with our shared interest (the topic of the conference), we have the foundation for co-creation.

All we need now is the time, the space and the tools. Conferences tend to pack their schedules so that everyone feels like they didn't "waste their time". It's important to build in time for co-creation. At most events, the "water cooler conversations" happen in the hallways -- how can we create a more formal, useful environment for co-creation to take place? Finally, what tools are needed for co-creation? Marker boards are a great start for brainstorming, mind-mapping, and creating back-of-the-napkin drawings of your big ideas. Writing tools. Drawing tools. Display tools. Diagramming tools. Modeling tools. What are all of the different materials people might need to create something new together?

Make your "attendees" into "participants". Get them creating things together, and they will remember your event forever. "THAT was the moment our organization changed forever."

Show Me the Value - MPI Webinar

2009-06-17T15:43:00.010-04:00

On June 10, Jamie McDonough of Fusion Productions presented his model for creating and demonstrating value in meetings. Jamie gave some tools and models that support the approach to "meeting consulting" that Pfizer presented in last week's post. Once again, here are the notes I took on the marker board in the office while listening to the webinar.

Key points for me:

To be taken seriously, meeting planners need to embrace their role as business people, not logistics managers
Find out what every stakeholder in your meeting wants to achieve at this meeting.
Design an innovative meeting that will accomplish those goals.
Measure the results and share the data.

The biggest value in this webinar was not only this framework, but also the concrete tools presented for each step of the process.

Jamie started with the question about the role of meeting planners. This debate raged in 1995 when the question of meeting ROI first reared its head. "Are we planners, or are we business people?" Then answer then and now is "business people". We manage huge events with huge budgets. Our profession is responsible for over 1 million jobs in this country. We need to be telling our CEOs about the value of meetings before they even ask. Our industry has been hammered by the AIG's and others who could not explain the value of a meeting in a 30-second sound byte. We have to tell the story of our value better.

Jamie presented his "Value Cubed" model. This three-sided model was the framework for the rest of the presentation - Moments of Truth, Value of One, and the Meeting Lifecycle.

A "Moment of Truth" is any opportunity to reinforce the brand promise of a meeting with any of the stakeholders. Look at every touch point to see how it can add greater value. Now, a lot of stakeholders hold a lot of sacred cows around these touch points. "We had two projects screens last year." Or, "I always get picked up by a limo." We have developed an impartial process to evaluate the benefits and costs of each touch point for each stakeholder. It is a huge matrix that includes often thousands of these "moments of truth". It is important to evaluate each one and decide -- rationally -- which ones should be included and excluded.

Which ones add the most value? The ones that predispose attendees to content. The ones that create memorable experiences. The ones that will give the conference life long after the closing session.

The best way to create value is to use a structured, proven process that identifies the priorities of each stakeholder and ensures that their definition of value has been met. Each stakeholder wants the meeting to deliver value to "me", and that value might look very different for different stakeholders. The five-stage process is to 1) identify the stakeholders and their needs, 2) establish measurable objectives for each need, 3) deliver an event that meets those objectives, 4) measure the results, and 5) share the results with all of your stakeholders. Jamie presented some tools and tips for each of those steps.
It is important to remember that C-level executives think differently about meetings than most planners do. They don't care very much about logistical results like attendance or incremental cost savings. They DO care about strategic results in terms of learning, customer impacts or sales results. Ask these executives up front which strategic objectives they want this meeting to impact and how. And when the meeting is over, present the results -- good, bad and indifferent -- back to them. Show them what went well. Show them what needs improvement. And show them how the results from this last meeting will help make the next meeting even better. Executives will be very unlikely to cancel or cut a meeting that is being managed in a strategic and thoughtful manner. Use tools and conversations like these to become a significant player at the executive table.

The Role of Meetings in Corporate Strategy - MPI Webinar

2009-06-10T14:25:00.010-04:00

On May 15, Ken Kirsh and the boys at Pfizer gave a great little webinar on how to connect meetings to corporate strategy. Top take-aways for me:

Become a Meeting Consultant - ask about business issues & propose solutions
Define Objectives - a happy coincidence that is was also my last post
Measure Results - work with executives to define metrics that matter
Multi-Modal Meetings - do your presentations online, meetings are for interaction! (Also a passion of mine)

Below you'll find my notes on the discussion.

The talk started with Doug Amann telling planners to focus on driving efficiency. Especially in this economy, find the places in your planning process that take the most time, and focus your streamlining efforts there.

Technology can play a role in driving down costs. Use technology when it will support the kind of meeting you want to have. You need to understand all of the technology options out there so that you can provide the right solution for each challenge that your clients or executives present to you.

Now, how can you align your events with the corporate strategy? Ask the executive behind the event what the motivations are behind the meeting. Listen to the words the executives use. Are they focused on innovation? On efficiency? On compliance? Tailor your messages and your solutions to the business challenges surrounding the particular meeting you're involved with.
Measuring Return on Investment is the nirvana of the planning world. It's more often simpler to measure "return on objectives". This does require a lot of time and effort up front to define (with the executives) what measurable, concrete objectives they might have for the meeting. And when you think you're done with the meeting, you're not -- you need to be diligent about measuring results long after the euphoria of the event has faded.

Tom White, also of Pfizer, talked about the "Return on Innovation" - he is normally asked to provide that "something different" or "something extra" to take meetings over the top. He recommends that planners ask three questions. First, what kinds of conversations drive the most value for a company? Internal department discussions? Cross-functional discussions? Conversations with customers? The company should invest in meetings that support the most impactful conversations. Second, how does this meeting make our business faster or more efficient? Maybe you SHOULDN'T wait until the annual meeting for a big discussion or announcement. Don't let meetings slow you down, either. Third, what should be done outside the meeting (before and especially after) to leverage the value of the meeting itself?
Tom discussed three different meeting formats. The traditional "broadcast" meeting involves one person giving a presentation to many people. Technology today is very effective at this kind of interaction -- put it on a DVD or a webinar! Many clients want this kind of meeting, but it's our job as planners to help them think differently.

The second format is a more linear meeting. This kind of meeting normally involves different departments working together to solve particular issues and challenges. These meetings tend to be highly engineered.

Finally, there are the "networking meetings". These meetings are the most difficult to manage, but they can create the most value. Doug said something like "If we're going to invest the time and resources to bring people together, let's maximize the interaction!" (As an aside, this is exactly the focus of Illumination Galleries) The best take-aways from meetings normally happen in the "water cooler conversations", not in the lecture halls. Let's build meetings that focus on those conversations!

The speakers then gave some recommendations on Going the Extra Mile, Managing Cash, and Partner Alignment.
Finally, the speakers wrapped up by emphasizing the new role and skills that are being required of meeting planners. Become a meeting consultant. Learn about the challenges your clients are experiencing, outside of the meeting. Develop new solutions that reflect your new understanding of the client's business. And communicate with executives using language (and data) that matters to them!

Here is the complete marker board. Click on this to see the larger image:

Defining Objectives

2009-06-09T08:04:00.000-04:00

In a meeting world where businesses are demanding real results, the meeting planner needs a new skill -- identifying the real objectives of their clients.

We've been facilitating collaborative meetings for corporate and association clients for over a decade. The first question we ask these clients is "What are you objectives?" This is just the beginning of the conversation.

What we discover more often than not is that our clients don't have a very clear vision for what they want to accomplish in their meetings. They want to "communicate" or they want to "be aligned", but they don't have a clear sense of what that is or how you could possibly tell if you had succeeded.

Helping our clients define their objectives is THE most important part of our consulting work. It is often invisible to the client. It is usually undervalued. It is frequently a frustrating process on both sides. Until you have a very clear understanding of what the participants will have in their hands and in their minds at the end of your meeting (that's my definition of an objective), it is impossible to design a process to make that happen!

So here is how that conversation might go. Let's ask our fictional client what their objectives are.

"We want to get these people together on these days in this city." Ok. That begins to give us some logistics to work with, but these are not objectives. WHY do you want to get these people together?

"We need to talk about this list of topics." This gives us some broad content areas. Great! We're making progress. Within those topics, however, what would you like the participants to create during the meeting?

"Well, we need to make some decisions/get some buy-in/get everyone on the same page!" This is good information. What kinds of decisions do you want this group to make?

"Oh, well, we need to get our priorities straight for the upcoming budgeting cycle." AHA! Now we're really getting somewhere! A list of priorities is a nice, tangible objective. It is concrete. The participants can have a copy of it in their hands. We can look for the list at the end of the session and tell whether or not we have accomplished this objective.

With this kind of objective in hand, we can now begin to explore a whole range of other topics with the client. What items might be on this list of priorities? What were the priorities for last year's budget? What internal and external factors will influence these priorities? How familiar are all of the participants with all of these influencing factors? Should we invite outside experts to share their perspectives on these factors? Should we explore the implications of having different sets of priorities -- how would the organization be different in different scenarios? How will this group make decisions -- is this a democracy or monarchy or something else altogether? What do the participants need to learn about each other and the outside world?

As meetings get evaluated more and more on the results they achieve, meeting planners need to become more familiar with the content and context of these meetings. The people sponsoring the meetings are professionals in their own discipline, but they need help to design and facilitate meetings that will accomplish their real objectives. The meeting planner needs to become a consultant, and it wouldn't hurt to find some professional consultants and facilitators to be part of your meeting design team.

The Best Seat in the House

2009-06-02T15:04:00.002-04:00

You've probably been too busy running conferences and events to watch the behavior of your attendees very closely. Have you noticed how different they are in different environments? Have you noticed when they are engaged and passionate versus when they are quiet and passive?

At Illumination Galleries, we have observed human behavior in all kinds of collaborative environments. We can help you pack the biggest punch into an area of your conferences that our industry has largely ignored. Want to kick it up a notch? Answer the following question:

Where is all of the real action at a conference?
Is it in the plenary during the keynotes? Is it in the breakout sessions? Is it in the lobby outside the meeting rooms? Or is the bar the place to be?

If you answered "The bar!!!" with multiple exclamation points, then you might not want to show this piece to your supervisor. But to be fair, the bar, the lounge, the cocktail reception and the official networking events are all very important venues at a conference. Building relationships is a critical objective for most meeting attendees. Relationships require time for conversations to happen. And sometimes a little liquid courage helps to grease the wheels as well. The "bar" (to include any of the social locations listed above) is the place for social interactions to occur. Some negotiations take place here, but the bar is the stage for building relationships.

The plenary is another universe altogether. The plenary is set up to "broadcast messages" -- from one talking head to many listeners. These plenaries can have more or less energy, more or less interactivity, and more or less entertainment, but the primary function is for a few people (usually in the front) to share their ideas with the dozens or hundreds or thousands of others sitting in the audience. Executives and academics really like this space. This is the world of traditional education, where the expert talks and the little people absorb. Great speakers can make this environment transformational for people in the audience, but there just aren't that many great speakers out there. And for attendees, the more passive ones will like this space too -- this is where they can be most "entertained" with the minimal amount of effort on their part.

The breakout sessions tend to be where more detailed content gets shared, and where attendees get to have some interactions with the experts. These smaller-format sessions tend to be more hands-on, and much more interactive. For people who have come to a conference to learn a skill or best practice, the breakout session is where the most vital interactions will take place. Usually people get to attend sessions that they are interested in, so the audience is normally more focused and engaged. Great collaboration is possible here.

So that leaves us the lobby -- that nebulous "between" space that connects all of the different conference venues. This is where the registration table is normally found. You'll find snack stations and an endless supply of coffee. There might even be some informational or promotional displays here. It may seem a little strange that this area is often described as the most important part of a conference. Why is this area special? What makes this space useful? What can we do to make it even better?

The lobby belongs to the community of attendees. It is the Commons. The speakers own the plenary. The facilitators own the breakouts. The bar is pandemonium. The Commons is a different story. No one is in charge of it, so everyone can use it however they like. It is quiet enough to have important conversations, but generally active enough that you don't feel like you're bothering others (or that others are listening in). It is the central hub of the community, so anyone that you would want to see will walk through there on the way to or from somewhere -- this is where chance encounters and reunions happen, full of laughter and delight.

And this is where new ideas come flooding in like the tide. When people leave the plenary, fresh from a motivational speaker or a dynamic executive presentation, they pour into the Commons to share their ideas. When they return from a variety of exciting breakout sessions, they meet here to share ideas, compare notes and tell each other what they missed in the other sessions. These regular floods of new ideas and new energy keep the Commons at the center of the community of attendees.

This is where connections are made. This is where ideas pop. This is where insight happens. If you want to make a conference sizzle, transform the Commons into THE place to be!

This area gets the least amount of design attention of any venue at a conference, yet this is where the most important conversations are taking place. This is where people are most themselves, are most passionate, are most engaged. This is where the real value of a conference is forged for many attendees. The speakers, the breakouts, and the entertainment all provide fantastic ingredients, but it is here in the Commons that it all comes together to build new connections, new relationships, and new plans for the future.

We created Illumination Galleries to turbocharge the Commons. We decided bring the design brilliance of an opening session to the conference venue where attendees find the greatest value. We create a powerful experience of the meeting's content, of making connections, of building relationships and of producing results. Come visit the website and we'll show you how.

"Meetings Matter" Webinar 1

2009-05-26T12:39:00.004-04:00

On April 29, Colleen Rickenbacher led the first in the "Meetings Matter" series of webinars for MPI. I was out of the country on a project at the time, but I just got the opportunity to see the webinar, and thought I'd share my notes.

This presentation was titled Lay-offs, Cutbacks and Closing Down: What are you Doing to Make a Difference? This is a good refresher course for professionals who are finding themselves back on the job market in this economy, and generally good reminders for professionals everywhere.

Colleen started by pointing out that in every crisis lies an opportunity. The challenge to all of us is "what are we doing to be prepared?" And none of us is safe. The experts predict that the meetings industry will start turning around in September. Do you have a plan in place to survive for the next five months on a reduced or nonexistent income?

We have to get prepared! Build your database of contacts and start working them, even if you haven't lost your job (yet). Reconnect with people who have helped you in the past. Go to meetings where potential clients and employers might be found. Take classes to learn new skills and abilities. Rebrand yourself! There are three rules: Be Visible, Be Social, Be Out There!

This crisis is an opportunity for REbirth. Relearn, retrain, rethink, regroup. Reexamine everything about your life, your career, and your future. And then get your plan moving!

You might have to go for an interview... again. Maybe for the first time in a very long time. Remember all the basis -- dress nicely, wear a suit and tie (gentlemen!), have 10 questions ready, and always write thank you notes! Get your resume ready -- maybe you'll need to change it slightly for each potential job. This is how you are selling yourself, so put the best material up front. Be truthful. Be concise!

Once you get a new job, even in the same company, you'll have to make a big transition. Learn what the new environment is all about. Do your research. Learn who the decision makers are. Avoid the gossips and back-stabbers and other negative people in your new office. Become a team player, but don't be obnoxious about it! Join teams or committees, but be dependable in the tasks you take on.

And in this new world, there are some things to remember. Maybe you were the boss before, but not anymore. Your decision may no longer be final. You might find yourself reporting to people who used to report to you. Change is constant -- how you handle it will make the difference in your career.Finally, now that you're heading back into the flood of job-seekers out there, remember that your first impression is the most important impression that you will make. Colleen described in detail her tips on dress, nonverbal communication, handshakes, introductions, business cards, thank you notes, connecting (networking) and meetings. The key is to get noticed -- make a big impression, be social and active, and surround yourself with leaders.

You might meet your next big client or employer at any time. Always be present and focused on the conversation you are having now. Avoid distractions like email and texting when you're on the phone or in a conversation with someone. Be professional, act professional, and make sure that every communication you have with others is professional.

That's my recap of Colleen Rickenbacher's presentation. I've got a few more to go in the Meetings Matter webinar series. If you'd like to see the notes from any of them in particular, please drop me a note!

Four Elements of Strategic Value

2009-04-21T13:39:00.009-04:00

MPI hosted a great webinar today by Mary Boone, Jack Phillips and Susan Radojevic on the strategic value of meetings. I filled up the marker board in the office with notes. Thought I'd share them here since this information is critical to what we're doing with Illumination Galleries.

Their argument in a nutshell, if I dare summarize. First, the financial crisis and negative press about meetings has put a lot of pressure on the meetings industry, but this pressure should be seen as an opportunity to transform ourselves from a cost center to a source of strategic value for businesses and associations.

Susan Radojevic introduced the concept of Portfolio Management. Companies organize a ton of meetings of all sizes. We generally measure them in terms of efficiency -- how much do they cost this year vs. last year? We should ALSO be measuring them in terms of effectiveness -- how are they impacting our strategic and business goals? Susan proposed a process called Alignment to identify the strategic goals of the company, to identify all of the meetings that are currently held by the company, and to develop and manage a strategic plan to prioritize the meetings that deliver the most business value. This changes the role of meeting planners from procurement experts to strategic players in the marketing function of an organization.

Mary Boone then explored the concept of Meeting Design - "the purposeful shaping of both form and content." First, the meeting designer works with the owners of the meeting to understand both the meeting objectives AND the business objectives behind the meeting. Then the designer culls through a wide range of tools, technologies and collaborative methodologies to craft a program that achieves both the meeting and the business objectives. "Connect. Inform. Engage!" (You will see the same themes all over the Illumination Galleries website as well, by the way.) Not every meeting planners needs to become a Meeting Designer, but planners DO need to learn to work with a much wider range of experts to pull off well-designed meetings, including meeting designers, "creatives", instructional designers, planning experts, social scientists, and interaction designers. We need to shift our 21st century meetings out of the 18th century "broadcast" mode, where "experts" merely talk at an audience. We need to create interactive experiences that get real work done!
Next, Jack Phillips talked about measuring the ROI on meetings. (Thanks SJSmith for the link!) He presented six different levels of measurement, from ___ to actual ROI (comparing the quantitative value of a meeting to the cost of delivery), and argued that only a few meetings require the highest levels of measurement. It is important to really quantify the value of these meetings, however, to improve future events, to engage senior executives better, and to get a seat at the table when strategic decisions are being made about your meetings.

Finally, the panelists gave a brief talk on Advanced Meeting Logistics. Logistics are critical to the success of a meeting. They define the constraints of the event, and they also enable everything that takes place in a meeting. Being flexible with logistics is critical when taking a meeting-design approach, because the form of the meeting may need to change as the needs of the participants change or become more clear. One of the webinar attendees then presented a great case study about the importance of logistics -- holding their first sea-faring event with 300 top executives aboard a cruise ship. "When life hands you limes, we at Baccardi make mojitos!" Love it.

Enjoy the illustrations!

"Greed, Fear and the Brain"

2009-04-17T08:27:00.002-04:00

We make decisions differently when we're under stress. I don't think many people would disagree with that. I "visualized" a great talk by Richard Peterson about just how much fear influences our decisions. As we are flooded with dire predictions and heart-rendingly depressing stories, it's important to keep in mind that the decisions that we're making might not be entirely rational.

Peterson explains the science of how our brains work, and which parts of the brain are involved in making decisions. It's not quite as simple as "emotion" vs. "reason". Anxiety and fear live in our limbic system, which is below the level of consciousness. Greed or, really, the anticipation of pleasure, lives in our pleasure centers. What's remarkable is that most of our fear AND our pleasure is about the anticipation of outcomes, not the outcomes themselves. Our pleasure centers go wild while we are making a bet, for example, but they are almost silent when the results of the bet are revealed -- even if we win!

The same is true on the negative side -- our fear is all driven by the anticipation of negative outcomes. Another interesting insight is that normally our fear of loss is much greater than our positive anticipation of gain. Imagine putting a bet on a coin toss. The odds are 50-50, right? Most people have to be offered twice the amount in winnings as they would lose with a negative outcome before they will make a significant wager on a coin toss. So they might turn down a bet where they would win $150, but risk losing $100. Mathematically, it is a great bet to take. Emotionally, the risk of losing the $100 is too much.

So, as you make decisions in this economy, step back to really understand what is driving your decision. Do you have a decision-making process that you use in good times and bad? How do you measure your process? Disciplined decision-making will see you through times of panic and times of exuberance. Understanding how your brain works isn't such a bad idea either.

Webinar: The Case for Meetings and Events

2009-04-16T09:23:00.001-04:00

Mary Boone is leading a webinar on the Case for Meetings and Events. This is a further elaboration on the article I referred to a couple of weeks ago about the transformation of the meetings industry. Now is the greatest opportunity we have to make meetings matter, to make them significant, to make them a strategic part of business, not the boondoggle that so many people imagine them to be.

You need to register to participate in the webinar, so sign up soon! The webinar will take place on Tuesday, April 21, from 12:00pm - 1:15pm EDT.

Peter Block and Communities

2009-04-15T09:04:00.000-04:00

In a great book that I recommend to everyone I meet, Peter Block argues that all communities, all movements start as a conversation in a small group of people. This is how ideas form, this is how momentum happens. Yes, great speakers can move huge audiences, but that speaker is building on a platform created by a small group in a room somewhere.

Where are those small group conversations encouraged in conferences today? Where are real relationships fostered? Unfortunately they're relegated to breaks, to "networking" events, and to the golf course. (Nothing against golf, mind you, but is that really the best answer we have to the challenge of forging high-performance relationships?)

"The future is created one room at a time, one gathering at a time. Each gathering need to become an example of the future we want to create. This means that the small group is where transformation takes place... Small groups have the most leverage when they meet as part of a larger gathering....

"To build community, we seek conversations where people show up by invitation rather than mandate, and experience an intimate and authentic relatedness. We have conversations where the focus is on the communal possibility and there is a shift in ownership of this place, even though others are in charge. We structure these conversations so that diversity of thinking and dissent are given space, commitments are made without barter, and the gifts of each person and our community are acknowledged and valued." [Chapter 9 - The Small Group Is the Unit of Transformation]

Block nicely sums up the rules and guidelines for building communities. He identifies the important conversations that need to happen. This is the good stuff. This is how our conferences can be organized. This kind of event would create connections that matter.

New World of Work

2009-04-12T07:49:00.000-04:00

A number of these videos have been flashing around recently. They are each quite impactful, but it is important to look at them with fresh eyes after you've seen a few of them. The temptation is to think "Oh, yes. I've seen that." Look again. You might discover something new.

I watched this New World of Work video while thinking about the future (and the past) of conferences and meetings. World demographics are changing wildly. More people will be retired than are working in some countries. The demographic mix in the US will shift dramatically in the next 30 years, in terms of ethnicity, language, social classes and much more. The best jobs in 2020 have not been invented yet, and they will use technologies that we haven't even dreamed of. These are the jobs that our schools are preparing young people for.

Does this sound like a world in which people will be willing to invest their time and money in a big conference where a handful of people talk at them? No way! This is a world where people will have ultimate choices about how they use their time. They'll be able to do endless things online, on the phone, in virtual worlds. To get people to attend a meeting physically will require a tremendous attractor, and talking heads ain't it.

What can people do in person that cannot be replicated online? Look each other in the eyes. Shake hands. Overhear a conversation and jump right in. Collaborate intensely. These are the experiences that the meeting industry must strive to create, because these are the only experiences that your attendees won't be able to get online.

Collaboration at Adobe

2009-04-10T09:47:00.000-04:00

Adobe's Chief Innovation Officer gives a nice account of how Adobe is using its own tools for collaboration internally. I liked this quote in particular:

"What’s interesting is it really has changed the culture. It’s changed the way people share documents. They don’t do all that email, you know, email the PowerPoint deck, or email the PDF file, or email the 16 documents for the presentation. They all join a connect session and have the opportunity collaboratively to engage in that conversation. That kind of brings me to what I think the kernel is: you need to do collaboration around some event or activity. It’s more than just hold a meeting, it’s more than: "Let’s just throw up a site and let people throw content at it." It’s about, "What is the work product and the activity you’re trying to accomplish?"

I have yet to find a toolset to magnificently support the virtual collaboration process that I described in a previous post. The easiest and most adequate tool for the moment is a wiki, but that requires the participants to provide a fair number of tools themselves for creating graphics, images and models to post to the wiki. Any ideas for great modeling tools?