Company events can be spectacularly successful. Regardless of size or budget it all comes down effective company conference design. Read on to learn how to avoid the common pitfalls of conference design and how to avoid sleepwalking into yet another boring conference.
At least once a year every company, division or team leader faces the unenviable task of arranging and running a BIG EVENT. Be it a classic conference, an annual team meeting, a business planning summit or gathering of the global chiefs – the only people dreading the event more than the participants tend to be the organisers – it’s like putting on a wedding none of the guests want to attend. And nor do the bride and groom.
But company events don’t have to be like this. So if you get entrusted with managing a BIG EVENT this year, consider challenging the usual ‘received wisdom’ on an event’s overall aims and approach – it just might help you change things for the better.
Break some rules, while staying safe… Download our Awesome Conference Planning Workbook to get a clear view of where you can play with the format, and where to stick to the same-same approach. Your delegates will thank you for it!
Rule number 1: Mix up work and fun to keep people interested
“It’s a game of two halves – people want to have fun, but we also need to show the business that we did some ‘proper work’ – so let’s have a ‘work’ bit and a ‘fun’ bit – after all everyone loves a scavenger hunt…don’t they?”
We say…
Stop thinking of fun and work as being mutually exclusive. All the best work you’ve ever done was enjoyable wasn’t it? So why aim for anything less when running an event?! Business might be serious but that doesn’t mean you have to be serious doing business – in fact all the research around the science of productivity suggests that people are at the best when relaxed and having fun.
Company conference design actions:
Stop trying to schedule your company event in to segments, and make the fun element fundamental to EVERYTHING you do. Include interactive sessions, discussions, games and the opportunity to get creative within your agenda and on work-related topics: you might just be amazed by the kind of outcomes your people create.
And please, no more singing waiters! When it’s time to relax, don’t try to over-organise things – some food and drinks in a relaxed casual environment will allow everyone to mix and share experiences and thoughts.
Rule number 2: Important company information has to be delivered by PowerPoint, in the dark
“Like it or not, we have to communicate some key messages, like updating people on the plan for the year – it will be boring but it’s definitely necessary. I’m sure we will hold their attention.”
We say…
Blah, blah, blah…what am I having for dinner tonight? That’s all even the most active listeners will actually hear after 8 minutes of anyone speaking at them. Interactivity – turning broadcast into conversation – is not a ‘nice to have’ but a hygiene factor for every event, no matter the number of people taking part.
Company conference design actions:
Think about how you can create interaction from the very first ‘Hello’ – whether it’s asking questions for the group to consider, getting people to chat to their neighbours or having them throw things at you – everyone at the event needs to be interested and involved, not just the person at the front with the slide clicker.
Of course there are going to be some key messages to get across – that’s a main reason for having these events! But broad-ranging messages don’t have to broadcast by the ‘important’ person at the front with the clicker and associated death-by-powerpoint.
How about splitting them up as bite size talks or videos throughout the day, asking team members to adopt a message each and share it with their colleagues in coffee breaks or putting the finer details onto posters and spread them around the conference space then directing people to have a read of them in their own time.
Rule number 3: Everyone needs a chance to be on-stage
Let’s stretch and thin-slice the agenda to give everyone a slot…I mean sitting and listening for 9+ hours isn’t ‘hard work’ is it?
We say…
Human brains can only take so much before they pop, no matter how clever people are. Once the brain is full, it needs to sleep to process the new inputs it has acquired. You have about 6 hours’ of focus time from a human brain in any given day, so be mindful of that when planning the agenda – which parts would you like people to be asleep during? None of it, you say? Then plan less focus time!
Company conference design actions:
The audience will only remember three big things. Get clear on what you’re trying to achieve, and be decisive around what can be taken off the agenda. Whatever you may want to communicate tailor your agenda to reinforce those 3 things really well.
To get clear about your 3 key messages, download our Annual Conference Planner, which is a key part of the process we take clients through when planning their company conference.
If this means you have to make some tough decisions and tell a few people they aren’t going to be presenting this year, then do it. Often they will be more relieved than upset about the lack of an extra job to do and the pressures that go with being in the spotlight. There’s the added bonus that an audience of people who are relaxed, rather than stressing out about their upcoming presentation ‘slot’, will be much more mentally present, able to listen and absorb messages.
Rule number 4: Effective communication is all about the fancy slide deck
“Presentations aren’t boring if you use jazzy slides. There’s this amazing online thingy called Preso that animates your words so they whizz around the screen, how exciting! This will make the heaps of powerpoint slides more bearable.”
We say…
There’s nothing worse than having to compile 3 days’ worth of different presentations into a single deck that will flow well at the event. The more fancy the system used, the harder it makes things, and the amount of time spent on searching for clever imagery and whizzy effects is inversely proportional to the impact it will have on the audience.
Company conference design actions:
Slides are slides. However clever they look, it’s the person talking that should have most impact. If your slides are more clever than you, why bother being on stage at all? Try limiting the number of slides a presenter can use (think one slide for 3-5 mins of talking), and restrict the number of words per slide.
Make use of further reading if people want to know more – advertise or give links to the full deck if people want to read more deeply afterwards, and talk about the interesting stuff while you have chance.
Rule number 5: We don’t have enough time in the schedule for lots of breaks
“There’s a lunch break at 12.30 so we won’t need more than one coffee break besides that – after all we aren’t starting til 10 so we don’t need a morning break at all – and surely they can manage with just 10 minutes in the afternoon. I mean, they don’t have breaks all the time on a normal day do they?”
We say…
In any given 2.5 hour slot, it’s statistically probable that over half the audience will need to have a wee! As soon as they start thinking about the loo, they’re no longer listening and concentrating on what’s happening up front, they’re just waiting for a break, and calculating how difficult it would be to sneak out early without being noticed as it gets more and more urgent – especially if they’re sat front and centre. And those heavy conference centre doors are so loud that every person who does escape (noisily) makes more people start to consider when they can make a run for it. Our heads are all attached to bodies, so let’s not ignore physical needs. People require access to fluids, loos, daylight and air on a regular basis to keep their energy up and their concentration going – so give them that chance!
Company conference design actions:
Schedule in regular breaks – don’t go more than 90 minutes without a chance to stretch legs, visit the loo and get some air. The productivity in the room will be much higher as a result.
Don’t think of breaks as wasted time. Embrace the importance of ‘downtime’ – for chatting and making informal connections. Make them part of the conference content – signpost breaks as opportunities to connect with old and new colleagues and discuss conference topics in more depth. Use coffee areas cleverly, and provide mechanisms to collect feedback and questions arising from these discussions (post-its and flip-chart pages work perfectly well for this purpose).
Breaks can also be targeted at specific needs – for example how about designing a ‘reflection’ break where people walk and talk in pairs, or walk alone as they prefer; or creating space specifically to handle the email backlog of business-as-usual.
We can help you and your organising team design your best conference ever, and all it takes is a day! Our fun, interactive Amazing Conference Design Workshop is a must for any team planning a company event. Check it out here.