Meetings CPR
June 02, 2008
No more "Death by PowerPoint." You can have compelling meetings—if, instead of talking to your audience, you talk with participants.
By Gail Dutton
What if your meetings were more like a college bull session and less like a high school history class? Would attendees meaningfully address the issues at hand?
"Absolutely," many companies are responding. As such, they now are finding ways to engage both employees and customers in meetings, creating real value in the process.
Financial services company eLynx is a case in point. Roughly three years ago, Vice President of Sales Michael Pelsey upended eLynx’s annual customer conference. The traditional, PowerPoint-laden meeting was transformed into 18 dynamic conversations that were suggested, championed, and led by customers. "Attendance has increased 400 to 500 percent," Pelsey says, and the company still gets to discuss its solutions.
This is how it works. "A customer may want to discuss electronic mortgages, for example," Pelsey says. Typically, they'll discuss their approach and the challenges they're encountering. Another participant in that conversation may have a solution, and invariably someone will discuss his or her implementation of an eLynx application. Those conversations also may uncover the need for a new product or service, "so let's go build it," Pelsey says. "This approach gives customers a voice," and adds value to the conference for participants and for eLynx, by discussing real world-issues and solutions that result in practical insights.
Pelsey used a similar approach to blend two disparate sales forces after a corporate acquisition. After three days of discussions and role-playing—but only five slides—the two sales forces began to understand each other and see how they could work together successfully.
For many companies, though, the need for a meeting isn't evident. "Many smart people schedule a meeting and then think, 'Now we have to get content,'" notes Kevan Hall, CEO of Global Integration and author of "Speed Lead." What's better is to identify a business need for a meeting first. Face-to-face meetings arranged for the sole purpose of disseminating information are a waste of time, Hall insists, because information can be pushed more efficiently through e-mail or other means. Instead, companies should make the most of face-to-face time by using it for networking or building company spirit or, as eLynx did, for establishing a purposeful conversation.
The "Unconference"
Traditionally, "interaction usually only happens in the social settings," notes Mary Boone, president, Boone Associates. "Social interaction is essential to building relationships, but the real power of meetings is in adding purposeful interaction…that generates and captures ideas all the participants and the leadership can act on to produce powerful results."
To foster purposeful interactions, companies increasingly are sampling the "unconference" approach, notes Stacey Krizan, CEO at the WOW Factory in Atlanta. "There's no graphics support, no preconceived plan, and no designated speaker," she explains. That's a brave tack. Execs think, "What happens if you plan a meeting and no one talks?" Hall says.
In practice, Boone says, that is not a problem. In preparation for the Meeting Professionals Unconference, "we put up a Wiki 'Conversation Cafes' site" that corresponds to "Unconference Boulevard"—actual meeting rooms and tables—at the conference. Conference participants may post questions related to the four conference themes or to a miscellaneous category, and reserve tables for the actual discussion. Topics may be added at the meeting, too. So a participant ambling along "Unconference Boulevard" or checking the wiki site may see that the topic, "How to increase interaction at international meetings," will be discussed at Table 12 at 8:45 a.m.
Intra-Company Trade Shows
Another way to increase interaction among conference participants and simultaneously break the cycle of "death by PowerPoint," Hall says, is to host intra-company trade shows. Divisions or departments within the company can set up booths, tabletop displays, posters, or other ways to share information. Participants gravitate to the information they find most useful or interesting. Robin Janzen, president of Meetings Corporate, likes to include a company's business partners in the mini-trade, show, too. That allows effective, tried-and-tested solutions to be expanded for use in multiple departments.
That approach can showcase best practices, new products—ideally with hands-on demos—and answer questions about policies and procedures. Such opportunities can increase employees' understanding of what their company actually does and why it matters, and provide the cross-fertilization to help colleagues find untapped business synergisms.
Instead of a trade show, 30-employee Advisys (formerly Kettley), a publisher of point-of-sale consumer information materials for the financial industry, accomplishes similar results by hosting monthly luncheons for the entire company in its conference room or outdoors. "This is a social event where people from different departments get to speak with each other," explains Saretta Holler, marketing communications manager.
At the first luncheon, about one year ago, the CEO discussed the company's goals. Since then, each department makes a five-minute presentation discussing what's new or noteworthy in its own area. Importantly, the responsibility of presenting is passed among individuals within each department, resulting in everyone at some point having to learn more about their own department and its initiatives.
Time to Reflect
Not every session should be interactive, though. Participants need time to listen, to reflect, and to put the ideas they're hearing into context. Krizan likes to begin a general session with a high-energy opening, ideally with an entertainment factor such as music or a video woven into the message. "At 8 a.m.," she points out, "it's important to get the brain energized." After the general session, shift gears to breakout sessions that let attendees move around. "The later in the day you go, the lighter the content should be."
Meetings don't have to break into small groups for audience interaction, though. Audience response systems are a high-tech method to involve the audience and can be valuable if they're used to get actionable information. For example, Krizan says, "If a franchise organization is trying to get franchisees to rebrand their businesses to become more competitive, they may ask how many of the attendees have started rebranding. Then, of those respondents, how many have seen a 20 percent increase in business, a 40 percent increase, etc." Speakers then can address their comments to the actual needs of participants, as well as the company. Consequently, "the presentation becomes a conversation, and that's powerful."
The idea of tapping into collective insight is compelling. "What executives need in today's complex business environment is the ability to tap into the wisdom of large groups of people," Boone says, "and to allow them to learn from each other, as opposed to strictly selling them on ideas in broadcast mode."
 Sidebar: Break Out the Toys
Doubletree Hotel Bethesda recently got creative in its quest to solve the classic "meeting doldrums" that afflict thousands of meeting attendees each year.
"We thought, 'What if we reduced the level of activity in the analytical side of the brain and stimulated activity in the creative side [during refreshment breaks]?'" says General Manager Michael McMahon. "Would that make meeting attendees less anxious and more receptive when they went back into the meeting room?"
McMahon, with the input of behavioral psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Turner, decided to look at different activities that would engage an adult's creative side, such as comics, puzzles, and toys.
"We begin to doodle when the analytical side shuts down and the creative side wakes up in the brain," says Dr. Turner. "And adults love to pick up a child's toy and regress for 2 or 3 minutes to a happier time in their life."
McMahon incorporated these activities into afternoon meeting breaks. One day it's all about comics, another day it's children's toys, etc. The next challenge was to link these activities to the break foods being offered through more creative presentations. For example, when the toys are out, McMahon offers deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
"Not only is it entertaining to support the playtime theme, it also stimulates the senses of sight, taste, and smell," says McMahon. "When it's comic day, we'll sauté spinach. When it's puzzle day, we'll have folks working to reconstruct a 6-foot-tall puzzle of the Statue of Liberty while we are cooking New York City street food."
As the finishing touch for these "Intellectual Breaks," the hotel plans to have celebrity impersonators serving and preparing the food. Popeye will sauté spinach, Frank Sinatra will prepare New York street food, and Elvis will handle the peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
Sidebar: Quick Tips
Mary Boone, president of Boone Associates, earned the nickname "The Secret Weapon" because of her expertise in helping execs design meetings that connect, inform, and engage people in complex, networked organizations. Here are three of her key tips:
• Rethink who the stakeholders are, and find ways to include them before, during, or after the session, perhaps as Webcast speakers or in roundtable discussions.
• Make a list of the business and learning objectives for the meeting. For example, the learning objective may be to introduce a new program, but the business objective may be to increase cross-selling using the new program.
• Use technology to extend the boundaries of the meeting. Use Webcasting, podcasting, blogging, threaded discussions, wikis, or social networking to help people connect.
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