I'm often asked by leaders planning conferences, meetings, symposia (there's that word again), how to solve a dilemma: on the one hand, they want to make sure people leave with concrete takeaways, nuts and bolts solutions that attendees can execute when they get back to the office. On the other, they want to engage attendees in significant conversation (see Sue Pelletier's comment) that leads to new thinking, innovation (as Jeff De Cagna talks about) even transformation. They're afraid if they focus on the latter, people will feel it's going to be too "touchy-feely" and "precious" as opposed to, well, useful.
Truth is, you need both. But without engagement, in which attendees interactively participate in shaping the experience, it'll be just another conference, hardly memorable. And the leader certainly won't feel like an agent of change.
My advice is to get attendees focused before they arrive at the gathering. Ask them several questions that assure them there will be practical outcomes but include several queries that get them thinking about the significant issues you want them to wrestle with when they get there. If you've done it right, they'll be curious as to how others replied, and will expect you to provide the forum in which those issues will be addressed openly.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
I think the key here is your phrase, "attendees interactively participate in shaping the experience." One thing I've seen work extremely well for smaller gatherings is to set up a listserv, blog, or wiki ahead of time to talk about issues, challenges, sticking points, and successes. This allows the leader to shape the content to the actual needs of attendees much better than the usual survey, and lets attendees know that what they'll learn is what they need to learn.
Another thing that I've seen work well is to use a "learning contract," where people jot down ideas on how to use what they learn as they go. It helps to have a concrete reminder walking away of the practicality and applicability of the learning, and gives a jumping-off point on how to take it to the next level of change.
Posted by: Sue Pelletier | August 16, 2006 at 05:36 PM
Yeeesss! Sue is absolutely right. All her suggestions are both valuable and useful. The key is to engage people rather than simply inform them...
Posted by: wf360blogs | August 16, 2006 at 05:53 PM