How to Plan Engaging Corporate Meetings
As corporate planners and hospitality heroes, we’re passionate about the energy and synergy you can only experience in person. However, due to the high-volume of meetings the hybrid workforce demands, an unfortunate symptom of meeting burnout is on the rise: Zoombies.?
While they originally started popping up during virtual events, Zoombies are no longer a digital phenomenon. They can infect any gathering with boredom, eyerolls, and lack of participation. Don’t let your next event fall prey to stifled yawns and blank stares. I’m here to arm you with the tools you need to take your business meetings from basic to brilliant!
Clue-in to Why Attendees Zone Out
Let’s start with why your participants might become unengaged. According to the Harvard Business Review over 70% of senior managers surveyed found most meetings unproductive and inefficient. One of the other common complaints was that they missed the opportunity to form or strengthen team relationships. While these gripes might be hard to hear, they are easy enough to overcome if you focus on the three P’s.
The Three P’s: People, Purpose, and Productivity
When planning your next corporate meeting, use these three P’s as your foundation.?
Let’s start at the very best place: the People. While you might want to be inclusive, it’s important to bring the right folks together. The term “too many cooks in the kitchen” applies to all types of collaboration – the larger the group, the higher the risk that they will get derailed and won’t achieve their goals.?
That brings us to the next P: Purpose. Before booking the space or arranging the catering, start by identifying the why or the desired outcome. Attendees want to know the big picture: how will their participation in this meeting make an impact? This sense of responsibility and accountability to the larger organization will give your group something concrete to strive towards.?
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Last, but certainly not least, is Productivity. By getting buy-in on the purpose and outcomes of a meeting ahead of time, you can structure each session to maximize input and collaboration. Don’t be afraid to switch up the format! Give teams the chance to work together, and be sure to involve leadership. Incorporating executives and leadership into corporate meetings and breakout sessions allows for a more holistic dialogue. Again, you want to use this time to strengthen relationships in addition to achieving business goals!
Start things off on the right foot
One of the most common forms of attendee anxiety and disengagement comes from simply not knowing what to expect. That’s why it’s important to set and send a general agenda for your program at least a week in advance. Then follow up with a detailed agenda a few days before so that it’s top of mind.?
Less Talking, More Listening
This is another place where a lot of meetings fall short. No matter how engaging your speakers are, no one wants to spend their entire day watching slides go by. Give everyone a chance to have their voice heard by scheduling breakout sessions and workshops. On that note, make it easy for attendees to provide feedback by pushing polls to their email and phones, or asking them to complete a survey in the event app. You can also offer QR codes that allow them to send thoughts about what is going well and what you can improve on next time.
Gimme a Break
Be sure to work sufficient decompression time into your meetings and over communicate when those time slots will occur. If you want to limit device use in the meeting rooms, you will also want to set aside time for folks to check their phones and email. Providing easy access to healthy snacks and refreshments that attendees can enjoy throughout the day is key to preventing the low-blood sugar blues. When in doubt: be human!
I hope you find these tools useful in your quest to eliminate Zoombies from corporate meetings once and for all! If you have any tips to share on how to make corporate meetings more engaging, please shoot me a note. I can’t wait to hear from you!
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1 年Shelly, would like to interview for a feature story in Corporate & Incentive Travel magazine. If interested, please email: [email protected]. Thanks! Hope to chat soon.
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1 年Interesting topic! Many years ago I received a Training Certificate and one thing that has stuck with me is focus on adult learning and touch on everyone's ability. Lecture, self discovery, small group discussion, teach it back, and wrap up. Lecture is one of the least effective training tools, so keep lecture to a minimum. Self discovery is an effective tool, so break your group into teams and have them solve the problem and have a discussion around the issue. Next, have the teams teach back the discovery / problem to the group. Then as the facilitator wrap it up. There is also a flow to meetings, if you aren't keeping your audience engaged they will tune out, so every hour mix it up with some kind of thing that gets people physically moving. One thing to keep in mind is meeting time zone, and where people are coming from. I have had to fly to the East Coast for 8:00 AM meeting (5:00 my time) and been ineffective the first few hours of the meeting until my body clock woke up. So if it is a multi day conference perhaps starting a little later for West Coast Travelers, or wrapping up on the West Coast a little earlier for the East Coast people the first day to allow them to be mentally awake. Good article!