Successful Meetings - December 2007 - (Page 24)

Planner’s Workshop Planning The Unconference By Mary E. Boone Imagine your next conference has no keynote speakers, no tables, and no preset agenda. Sounds like chaos, doesn’t it? Prepare to be surprised. A phenomenon that has been quietly growing for years in the organizational development community is starting to hit prime time with conference planners and participants. Variously called Large Group Methods, Mega-conversations, and Unconferences—these approaches to maximizing interaction and minimizing preset meeting structure are infiltrating meetings of all types. The unconference might seem to be of questionable value at first glance. Isn’t an “unconference” just a cute gimmick or a passing fad? Why should you care about them? The increase in interactive approaches to work is driving the need for more interactive meetings. People expect to interact with each other and with speakers at meetings—especially younger audiences accustomed to online interaction. Unconferences offer unprecedented levels of interactivity. Unconferences can produce creative and innovative ideas that deliver measurable results through an increase in engagement. When people build ideas together they get excited about them and put them into action. You’ve probably heard of Open Space—a frequently used method for unconferences. In Open Space, participants design the agenda, choose how they will spend their time, and generate a report that encapsulates the learnings of the group. What appears to be an unstructured approach is, in fact, very orderly and productive because it is based on principles of self-organization. What that means is that with a few simple rules, a group will do much of the organizing of a conference on its own, without heavy direction from planners, senior executives or speakers. Meeting professionals are instrumental in helping to determine when an unconference makes sense. An unconference can stand alone or be part of another conference. Good meeting design can help you determine where and how the concept of the unconference fits. (For more information, see the article “The Art of Meeting Design,” Successful Meetings, December 2006). Second, you can play a key role in helping senior executives to understand why and how the principles of the unconference work. An DECEMBER 2007 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS Inside > ON SITE Learn 10 ways to combine meetings with volunteerism and help your group really make a difference PAGE 26 > PRE-EVENT Check out the top 10 tips for end-ofthe-year event success and get what every planner wants—a holiday party that plans itself PAGE 29 > TOOLS OF THE TRADE Smart Alerts; YEGO USB Drive PAGE 32 24 mimegasite.com http://mimegasite.com

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Successful Meetings - December 2007 Contents Editor's Note Special Report Research Industry Trends 2008 Meeting Events Planner Spotlight Websites of the Month Mouth for Sale Technology Talk Food & Beverage Pre-Event On Site Pre-Event Tools of the Trade Goodbye, Booth Babes Five Tips to Improve Your Golf Events When Crime Pays Office for Hire More Miles for Your Money Places & Spaces South Florida Biloxi / Mississippi Gulf Coast Fort Worth Monterey Beijing Gurus Special Supplement: Hawaii Island-by-Island Guide

Successful Meetings - December 2007

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