The Future Of Corporate Events Is Communal Experiences

Lead the revolution of corporate gatherings.

Innovate how your company gathers based on positive psychology.

Operationalize well-being into your events.

You can see me on the platform in this photo, in the middle of a circle of 200 people meditating. There's one thing I've learnt by leading communal experiences like this at festivals...

Mainstream event producers are playing it safe.

They are not actualizing the potential of their gatherings—the potential health benefits and positive relationships remain latent. They are waiting to be unlocked by a courageous innovator. A risk taker who rejects the default way of bringing their people together.

I'm writing this article to invite you to become this type of organizational leader and to embrace the future of human gatherings with me. So that your events reach their potential, in terms of the health benefits and ongoing relationships generated by your event.

We know that well-being and social connectedness are predictors of engagement and productivity. We know that happier and healthier team members stick around, get involved in company culture, and do more. Considering all this, most corporate leaders don't think of their event strategy as an important factor. And they are na?ve.

Good events are a powerful opportunity to advance social connectedness and mental health in your workplace. They leverage group cohesion to accomplish a lot in very little time.

I am defining good events in a specific fashion.

1. Good events unlock the full mental and physical health benefits of human connection.
2. Good events generate long-term positive relationships among guests.

The future of corporate gatherings involves optimizing the guest experience for these two metrics. When we do this, all the other metrics we may care about improve — information retention, productivity, morale, team communication...

So how do you optimize your event for these PEMs (paramount event metrics)? That's the question I want to answer in this article. Here's the summary.

The future of corporate events is communal experiences that invite joyful & vulnerable social interactions and dissolve the masks of formality.

Let's break this down.

A communal experience involves everyone in the room coming together to do something as a group. There's a synchrony element here. Joyful and vulnerable social interactions include deep conversations, playfulness, dance, storytelling, and more. They're defined by a high level of attention and emotional empathy. Finally, the masks of formality represent the tendency to practice impression management—when you are self-conscious and trying to look good. When you no longer feel the need to look good, this is when the most nourishing forms of social contact become possible.

What are some examples of these communal experiences? Meditations, open mics, dance & song exercises, games, huddles, participatory pep talks,?personal check-ins. Here's a list I created.

So often, events bring people into the same room. Everyone is talking, doing their own thing. It seems like everyone is together, but that's not true. People are together but separate. When a courageous facilitator (me or you) steps in and leads a communal experience, the group truly feels together via emotional synchrony. This feeling is the fertile soil for meaningful relationships.

Let's get specific Jacques. What are the different categories of communal experiences?

1. Meditation.
2. Dance.
3. Song.
4. Touch.
5. Play.
6. Vulnerability.
7. Storytelling.

But what if you have a remote organization? Well, you can benefit even more from communal experiences. When you cannot be together physically, it's even more important to design virtual gatherings intentionally. To optimize them for meaningful human connections.

And I've done it before.

The links above include communal experiences that seamlessly integrate into virtual gatherings too.

If you're an event producer, you might be playing devil's advocate. "Hippie rituals at my event? I'd rather just give out food and alcohol." Let me tell you that communal experiences are not logistically complicated, time-intensive, or resource-intensive. All you need is an excited facilitator and a battle-tested exercise.

Communal experiences simplify your event by achieving better outcomes with less time and money.

I have summarized what I believe to be the future of corporate events. Let's now critique the status quo.

The Status Quo

The status quo is characterized by two behaviors that sabotage you on your quest to maximize the PEMs: chill hosting and PPP-prioritizing, which is illustrated in the graphic below.

Potions. Performers. Placethetics.

PPP-prioritizing is caused by the following belief — If I spend enough money on putting on a show for my guests, they will feel good, get connected, and have fun.

Let me explain what happens when you do this.

Potions: Guests lose the ability to connect intentionally and vulnerably. The quality of attention and human connection goes down.

Performers: Guests go into spectator-mode. They sit and watch, instead of actively connecting with their colleagues.

Placethetics: Guests do impression management. Guests try to look good because the environment sets the standard.

It's possible to spend a lot of money on the three Ps when all that was needed was one skilled facilitator. Communal experiences have a higher ROI in terms of the PEMs. When you prioritize communal experiences instead, you save money, time, and planning bandwidth.

All you need is someone who knows how to apply the science of social-bonding to design and lead communal experiences. Unfortunately, very few people do.

Let’s turn our attention to chill-hosting.

Chill hosts believe that they shouldn’t ask their guests to do anything. They would be intruding if they did. They believe that it is best to allow their guests to connect. No facilitation necessary. Hands-off.

The problem is that guests are not skilled at initiating joyful and vulnerable social interactions. You have to create the fertile soil for these interactions. When you invite guests to participate in a communal experience, you are inviting a new form of social contact. Guests may initially be bothered, but in the end, they’ll feel closer and warmer. They'll behave more authentically.

Chill hosts: Invite people into a space and allow them to socialize according to default social norms.

Future of work hosts: Lead communal experiences that change the social norms at the event. Then, they let their guests socialize in more meaningful ways.

Aside from letting go of chill hosting and PPP-prioritizing, what can you do to optimize your event for the two PEMs? I have two recommendations.

1. Prepare and motivate your guests to participate in communal experiences.

What this means is communicating what's happening at your event. Give your guests advance notice that this won’t be a ‘sit & watch’ sort of production. Communicate clear reasons and logic as to why this event is different than the others. Tell them how they will feel after it. Tell them how it will impact their workplace connectedness.

When you are providing context to your guests, make it clear that participation is invited, not expected. Whenever I am leading an experience, I tell people explicitly: "This is an invitation and you can change your mind anytime."

2. Select a communal experience appropriate for your group.

Work with me , or research different exercises to do as a group. I have published toolkits about social-bonding that may be helpful. In the selection process, you'll want to consider your group's comfort level with touch and vulnerability. Certain activities, like dance and song, require more open-minded audiences. When participants know each other, you can ramp up to edgier activities involving more touch, eye contact, and play.

I'd recommend beginning with stretches, question prompts, and meditations.

3. Invite your participants to share their talents or lead an exercise for the group.

This is the community builder's approach. But it is riskier, because your participants may not be expert facilitators. And when you reject their ideas, it may prevent them from trying again. So when you do request proposals, give specific criteria and tell them there's an application process.

4. Measure how the group responded. Course correct, iterate, and onward!

Final Recommendation

Make the pinnacle of your event a communal experience. Spend your money on it instead of booze, fancy-schmancy, and shows.

Could you do me a 10 second favor before you leave??If you're feeling thankful, could you like or comment this article? What wisdom do you have to share with other readers? We'd love to hear your additions.

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ps— I help human-centric workplaces produce better internal events. You can help me by introducing me to?corporate leaders who want tips & tools for designing corporate event experiences to advance mental health and belonging.

Thanks for spreading healthier human connections ??

— Jacques The Party Scientist, BSc. Pharmacology