Annual Meetings/Conventions
When you have decided to fill an auditorium or hotel ballroom with a large group of people for the better part of a day (or maybe two), you need to have your act together.
The secrets of success for these kinds of meetings are a clear purpose, an efficient plan, helpful tools/techniques, and a skilled person running things from the podium. You want participants walking away with a sense that the meeting was a good use of their time. They’ll be more likely to think this if they learned something useful, had a chance to participate, and felt like the meeting moved along at a quick pace.
We’ll help you refine your goals for the meeting so that they are clear, achievable, and meaningful. Once we’ve got those established, we can work together to develop an agenda that will best help the group accomplish the stated goals. We’ll provide recommendations for room setup, audience response tools, and other activities that will keep things moving. We put a lot of time and energy into the plan so that the meeting flows effortlessly.
The best plans in the world only work if you have an experienced person implementing them. When we lead these meetings we go by a variety of names: Chair, facilitator, emcee, master of ceremonies. Regardless of what we are called, our focus is the same. Meet the goals.
We do this by keeping the group focused on one specific task/question at a time. We use the tools we have to move quickly through each piece of work. We invite participation whenever possible, making sure attendees know that they are playing an important role in the meeting. We listen respectfully, helping people say what needs to be said. We keep things lively and fun by demonstrating high levels of energy and a good sense of humor.
The next time you are charged with bringing together a large group for an annual meeting or convention, let us partner with you to make the meeting a memorable success.
