The signs your meeting is from the past (Part 2)

Director of Conference Focus, Max Turpin is sharing his insights on a range of topics with a regular column in BEN. Topics include new generation events and making events effective and valuable.

IN THIS series of articles, I’m highlighting the signs that the meeting you’re organising or attending is old-schooI and will never reach its maximum potential. If you missed part 1 of this series, you can read it here. Crammed agenda: Thinking it was the right thing to do to maximise time, by design the meeting agenda is jam-packed. The vernacular “chock-ablock’ gives it meaning. Not only are there back-to-back presentations, but only 10 minutes is allocated for tea breaks and 45 minutes for lunch. Everything is condensed and rushed, giving attendees no time to reflect upon, or discuss, anything communicated. In effect, the brain is not allowed time to process and absorb information. The result is that few details are retained and learning is suppressed – a fact backed up by cognitive psychology. Back-to-back presentations: The meeting comprises one presentation after another. No time is built into the agenda for reflection, discussion, thought sharing, problem solving or collaboration. Aside from there being scientific proof that lectures are a poor learning tool, unless the presentations are truly engaging and informational (and many are not), attendees will quickly tune out and stop listening altogether. Furthermore, the experts in the room are often not the presenter but the attendees. It is a huge wasted opportunity not to involve them and draw upon their ‘collective intelligence’ - their real life experiences - to add value to the event for everyone. It also makes the meeting more engaging and inclusive. Poor speakers & presenters: So you have a packed agenda with back-to-back lectures and, to make matters worse, the presenters, at best, were average. They lacked impact and inspiration. Their slides were full of text and the few pictures they did use were cheap stock images. They also seemed underprepared and inadequately briefed – their content was off-mark and too generic. As a result, they completely ‘lost’ the audience, whose minds drifted off elsewhere. Whether presenters are external and paid for, or alternatively, if they are an employee of the host organisation, it is essential they fully briefed on the audience, that desired outcomes are made known, that they are coached and mentored if required and they are given adequate time to prepare and rehearse. You should also ask to see a copy of their slide presentation in advance. The number one reason people attend meetings and conferences is for content – the quest for learning and new ideas. Yet still, this aspect of many events remains overlooked and not given the attention it deserves. More next time in part 3.

If you’d like to learn more about how to make your events fresh, innovative and effective, please contact Max Turpin at Conference Focus on 02 9700 7740 or visit the website at conferencefocus.com.au