In the right hands, highly interactive small-group sessions are invigorating. Participants, well, participate.And they actually take away the takeaways— meaning that their perspective shifts and they approach their work in a dif- ferent way when they return home. But too often, brainstorming sessions can become brain-draining sessions. Spread out over a day or more, free- flowing discussions—even when organized via flipcharts, whiteboards, and color-coded markers — get messy. And tired. Take a group of enthusiastic participants in the morning and give them the same format to follow
throughout the day—a presentation followed by small-group discussion; repeat—and they’ll needmore than coffee breaks to keep their eyes fromglazing over and their Black- Berrys at bay. It’s tricky to impose structure onwhat’s supposed to be an
organic exercise. It takes a skillful facilitator to blend the right mix of presentation and interactivity, and to stir the potwith the kinds of questions that get people thinking—and then, at the end, to garnish itwith appropriate context and relevance so participants get some actionable ideas fromtheir experience. At themain session of the PCMA Leaders of Thought Sum-
mit, held June 1–3 at theHilton Toronto,Mary Boone, presi- dent of Boone Associates, guidedmeeting planners through a wide-ranging discussion ofwhat itmeans to be ameeting pro- fessional today. (See “The Four Elements of Strategic Value,” p. 82.) Iwas among themore than 20 participants.We stayed focused and energized, not only because the topic held our interest, but also because Boone—who specializes in organiza- tional communication, leadership development, and interactive meetings—deftlymixed the interactive part of the session. Here’s what participants learned fromthe design of this particular session as a result:
Assign each table a different, yet related, topic.
After her initial presentation providing basic information on the Four Elements, Boone labeled a tent card at each table with one of those elements: PortfolioManagement,Measure- ment,Meeting Design, and Advanced Logistics. Let attendees choose the topicmost to their liking.
Participants then split into conversation groups by selecting an element and sitting at the corresponding table. Impose time limits, but give people the opportunity
to staywith the topic. Each small group answered a series of provocative questions about its element for 35minutes. At the end of each 35-minute period, participants could either stay at the table to build on their discussion of that element, ormove to another table and another element. Capture the “aha”moments. As the groups answered