Meetings: Vision to Actions
By Joan Eisenstodt
What was your vision? Or have you done that yet? There’s still time. On Monday, I asked
>>Envision the worst meetings in which you’ve been involved – we may as well get the “bad part” done now! Think about the elements that made the meetings bad: lack of or ignored goals and objectives? speakers who were uncomfortable in front of an audience? content and delivery of material that left you wondering if there was anything you could use? uncomfortable setting? While you do this remember to take deep breaths – you may experience an anxiety level that you don’t want and for which I am disclaiming that I warned you to be careful.
When you complete that part, open your eyes, shake your head and realize that it doesn’t have to be that way. Now you can think about the BEST meetings in which you’ve been involved – planning, attending, experiencing, and watching. Think about the elements that made these meetings great. Think about what you heard, felt, experienced – what you took away from the experience or watched others take away. What made these meetings so different?
In looking at ads in industry trade publications, I read words that say an hotel is innovative and does so much for their customers. These same ads show GIANT rooms, set theatre style, all chairs in straight rows, with a few not-large-enough screens at the front. It all looks so static. Each ad I see makes me gasp, shake my head in wonder and brings me back to a “DUH” moment some years ago when I realized that meetings are modeled after some of the worst school experiences I ever had! It shows me that environment tremendously impacts outcomes and one’s feeling about a good or bad meeting.
Sure, some meetings have roundtable discussions and more are exploring Open Space (http://www.pcma.org/resources/convene/archives/displayArticle.asp?ARTICLE_ID=5291) to involve more people in different ways. Few meetings are doing enough to create community before, during and after meetings. Fewer still acknowledge participants’ different learning styles. Sometimes it takes trying something new to see what can happen.
A few years ago, a colleague and I envisioned a meeting where we’d first create a virtual-to-face-to-face community that would explore ideas and concepts to make meetings more dynamic. We made it a reality by experimenting on line and then f2f: Our first time had an overcrowded agenda – not unlike some of what we knew to be the worst and yet wanting to explore and do so much in 2.5 days. In the second year, we created some agenda items and allowed the group to explore (using “Q-storming” and other facilitation techniques) what makes meetings more interesting and took our ideas out to our industry professional associations, our employers and clients. In the third year, completed not long ago, it became true open space where more personal and professional issues were explored and the agenda morphed to the needs of the participants. In 2007 – we’ll look again at what it all means.
Throughout it all, I’ve begun to analyze what makes a meeting successful – that is, what allows participants to enjoy and learn and take away what they need. As I look at my vision of the best, I know that some included speakers who made us think, organizations or individuals who allowed us to explore ideas in different spaces, facilities that supported going outside on a whim to learn with others or created spaces and art that brought us into another realm, or allowed us to sit on the floor in a circle in a foyer, otherwise unused.
Think about it some more – about what makes meetings different and what can revolutionize what we do. We’ll keep at this week here and then always at http://groups.google.com/group/MiForum
My head has been buzzing! Joan asked me to post some info. about a Visonary Meeting for our industry on MiForum. I've had a few responses, and my head is ticking. I've got a couple of meetings in the next couple of weeks with others who might be interested. Why can't we do a think tank to create the perfect meeting--yes, Mark, all is important--what the space looks like, the comfort level and of course the content. Why can't our group put together a white paper after a think tank and use it as a basis?
Ah, the cart before the horse. Perhaps the timing is right for a think tank on this
Sandy
Posted by: Sandy Biback | June 29, 2006 at 10:16 AM
My head has been buzzing! Joan asked me to post some info. about a Visonary Meeting for our industry on MiForum. I've had a few responses, and my head is ticking. I've got a couple of meetings in the next couple of weeks with others who might be interested. Why can't we do a think tank to create the perfect meeting--yes, Mark, all is important--what the space looks like, the comfort level and of course the content. Why can't our group put together a white paper after a think tank and use it as a basis?
Ah, the cart before the horse. Perhaps the timing is right for a think tank on this
Sandy
Posted by: Sandy Biback | June 29, 2006 at 10:17 AM