Did you set resolutions for 2012? Or at least up the ante on your goals?

Bad news: The odds against you making change in your life are 9 to 1. EVEN IF you’re facing a life-threatening illness that demands change.  <Still my beating heart!>

Good news: People remember things 65% better when they’re attached to pictures.

Even better news: your brain will believe anything you tell it—and, most importantly—SHOW it.

So, what’s the easiest, most powerful way to train your brain on your goals? It’s a simple combination of belief, expectation and a willingness to clearly picture how that future state looks and feels. And then taking bold actions toward this vision.

In short, your ability to reach your goals and master change is as close as a piece of paper.

Patti Dobrowolski is a nationally acclaimed comic performer, high-performance business consultant, speaker, and the author of Drawing Solutions: How Visual Goal Setting Will Change Your Life.  All about unleashing your creative genius, she works with large and small teams around the world to help them create new and different strategies. She is also teaming up with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to engage the entire staff in extensive cultural shifts.

SEE this TEDx video in which Patti literally illustrates her simple process of visual goal setting to help you create—not react to—change. And be among the ~10% of people who make their dreams real.

Is there something you or your team would like to do differently?   A strategy, goal, or vision you’d like to build?  An unmet yearning you’d like to explore?  Then it’s time to learn the true meaning behind “a picture speaks a thousand words,” and find out how drawing solutions can help you and your team achieve your dreams.

Start here with four easy ways to create menus that boost brainpower, ensure content you worked so hard to design is remembered, and meeting attendees can fully participate.

1.     Feed the brain protein.

When you want people to doze off, serve carbohydratezzzzz (muffins, cookies, soda). If you want them to be engaged and alert, pile on the protein: fish and chicken maintain energy (and red meat lowers it). Boost the brain with nuts, peanut butter, and other low-glycemic snacks and energy bars.

2.     Strike the white.

Whether you’re eating a meal or a snack, avoid white sugar, white [non-wheat] flour, regular rice, and too many starches like spuds. And while it IS white, yogurt is a superb snack and perfect protein source. To satisfy the sweet tooth? Fresh fruit, naturally—and so-not-white DARK chocolate.

3.     Move it or lose it.

When we move, we learn; the brain literally downloads information more effectively. (Wow—way to go, brain!). When in your event can you get people out of their chairs and actively engaged in an activity? Research by Dr. John Medina, author of Brain Rules and a developmental molecular biologist, explains that exercise improves cognition for two reasons. It:

• Increases oxygen flow to the brain, which reduces brain-bound free radicals. One of the most interesting findings? An increase in oxygen is always accompanied by an uptick in mental sharpness.
• Acts directly on the molecular machinery of the brain itself, increasing neuron creation, survival, and resistance to damage and stress.

On top of that, play in place of passivity breaks down mental and personal barriers while it builds new neural connections to ideas and human connections to colleagues.

4.     Go local.

Eating local is more than a cool trend. Local foods tend to hold more nutrients…and these days, we need all the nutrients we can get to meet and eat at our best.

Hungry for more?

• A resourceful list of healthy food substitutions for meetings by the King County (Seattle) Dept. of Public Health.
• A comprehensive Food For Thought report from the Conference Center.
• Andrea Sullivan, M.A., President of BrainStrength Systems has proven that functional foods and timing both factor into productive meetings.

Newsflash: You don’t need to give meeting participants iPads, Kindles or cash to reward and recognize them in style.

In light of this annual season of gifting, we offer you 5 affordable, effective ways to recognize and motivate your people during events—and beyond.

First, consider that the #1 motivator for almost every employee or meeting attendee isn’t, in fact, money (whew!). According to Mel Kleiman, internationally recognized expert on recruiting, selecting and retaining the best hourly employees, it’s actually recognition. Yet over 60% of American workers say they have received no recognition for their work in the last year. (huh?!)

Take advantage of recognition as a most powerful motivator in and beyond your meetings–with any or all of the following recognition tools:

1.   ROCK your event: Random Acts of Conference Kindness: low-cost gifts given in memorable ways:

A juicy example of integrating anticipation into an event, referenced in PCMA’s Convene Magazine: SHRM staged a powerful surprise at a 20,000-attendee convention. Their Random Acts of Conference Kindness (ROCK!) segments fostered interaction and happy surprise—without without a hefty price tag. Lisa Block, SHRM’s director of meetings explained:

Out of nowhere, staff appeared bearing gifts. They came, they delivered, they disappeared. Mugs, T-shirts, Starbucks cards, free cab rides to the airport, front row seats for keynote sessions. And all the winners got a “ROCK’d” ribbon to commemorate the occasion. The campaign cost under $5,000, including ribbons for recipients [that’s less than 25 cents a person!].

2. No More “Unsung Heroes.”

We all know how it feels to be an Unsung Hero. Imagine, then, the power of being a SUNG hero. Along with the synergy and memory you create when award winners are lauded with a song written—and sung live at the meeting—just for them. Ask us  about how to effectively and affordably integrate recognition-based songs for individuals or groups at your next event.

3.   Can you hear me now?

For most of us–especially Gen X, Y and Millennials–recognition may simply be the chance to be HEARD. Via social media, it’s easy and free to encourage conversations and input–before, during and after meetings. Engage everyone with:

• Pre-event surveys to take the pulse of what folks want to see at the meeting
• The chance to give feedback on content in real time. Ask us  about cool, affordable tools that tap attendees cell phones as audience response devices)
• Open Space as a breakout session. This is a free, attendee-run, scalable format via which you’ll generate an enormous amount of useful input, ideas and content from any sized group.

4. Whose Award is it Anyway?!

Invite an improvisation comedy troupe to your meeting (or tap internal folks). Using a skit called “a day in the life,” have them re-enact top performer(s’) days for your audience–with embellishments. Videotape the skit and post it on your intranet to showcase effective high performance of your best people.

5. Thanks for the memories.

“My team created a scrapbook chronicling the impact I’d had on their company and gave it to me on my last day in the office,” said Professor Linda M. Lopeke, principal of SmartStartCoach.com. “People who’d worked on my teams wrote testimonials and creative graphics highlighting some our team successes. It’s the best gift I ever received in my 40-year career.”

The biggest benefit of recognition? You may feel as uplifted as your recipients—giving just feels GOOD.

Send us your favorite, low-cost recognition tool—and we’ll recognize you in style!

Hybrid business meetings, once an occasional event, have indeed gone mainstream. Whether you’ve staged them, attended them, or simply wondered and worried (!) about them, the following tips—taken from the EventCampVancouver experience—will likely boost your success as a planner and attendee. After all, as a fellow camper in Vancouver rightly said, “Hybrid is a toy if it’s not a part of well-honed strategy.”

[A working definition: hybrid meetings are simply events at which audiences meet live (in-person) WHILE other attendees tune in virtually.]

STRUCTURE and FORMAT:

1.      Among EventCamp attendees who’ve executed hybrids, no one indicated that their hybrid meeting sabotaged attendance from their “regular” meeting registration numbers.  Contrary to what some believe, hybrid meetings are inherently ADDITIVE to your current audience base and ability to stage more viable events in the future. And, take note:  confident organizations take the risk of staging hybrids so more voices are heard.

2.      You can boost the potency of a previously real-time-only event by adding hybrid components.

3.      If, for whatever reason, you’re not ready to hold a hybrid meeting, start smaller: with a webinar that runs in real time.

4.      After your hybrid event, hold virtual meet-ups online (via Google Hangouts, TweetUps etc.) so any attendee (real or virtual) can continue to connect, learn and network. Doing so will also boost in-person attendance over time as relationships crystallize.

MARKETING STRATEGIES:

5.      Planners with experience planning hybrids have found that the virtual components of a hybrid—if promoted equally alongside your in-person meeting—are most effective. That is, give both audiences equal billing to ensure success.

6.      Since only the tiniest of hybrids can be held at no cost, consider tapping budgets in your marketing and/or education departments rather than just the meetings department. After all, many hybrid events build brand awareness, add to a customer base and boost learning.

7.      Consider doing a virtual pre-event promotion, and also use this campaign to test your computer infrastructure and lessen technical issues at the live meeting.

8.      An inherent benefit of hybrid meetings is that you can easily track virtual attendance, click through rates, retention, what content is most resonating, and more. Take advantage of this built-in ROI richness so you can prove value to your stakeholders—and make measurable improvements over time.

WHY CONTENT IS STILL KING at HYBRID MEETINGS:

9.  Planning to charge for the hybrid component(s)?  Make sure your content is worth paying for. Otherwise, you’ll pay the price in a lack of audience engagement, lower attendance and less buy-in among future stakeholders.  Indeed, if your content is bad, you prove to the audience and perhaps whole world that your organization is boring and not leading edge.

10. As you design sessions, remember: the event isn’t about you; it’s about your AUDIENCE. Focus your content accordingly.

11. Glenn Thayer, an EventCamper and our skilled conference moderator, smartly suggests that you begin a hybrid event with your very best, most provocative and fresh content. (HINT: Your most engaging content is not the sponsors’ remarks or a welcome to the new board president.) Dive right in to your best take-aways. This positions your event as not-to-be-missed, and ensures what you’re recording can be effectively used as a promotional teaser (“See what you missed?!”) for the next event.

12. If any portion of your event is broadcast, remember you must design event elements for a broadcast and a live experience. This includes getting releases from audience members who grant permission to be recorded (do so during online registration), professional lighting and sound, as well as quality staging.

COSTS?

13.  So what will a hybrid meeting cost? Anywhere from free via a service called Ustream.com, and into six figures.

14.  Is this your first hybrid meeting for which you’re charging attendees? Do all you can to ensure a seamless audience experience, or you’ll be hard pressed to get the audience to pay for a future event.

15.  If you must cut corners in your technology, skimp on video, NOT on audio.

ADDED REVENUE STREAMS:

16.  Many trade organizations have turned their recorded sessions into easy-to-access CEU earning opportunities for their delegates. Be sure to check with your presenters so programs are designed, in advance, with CEUs in mind. And even if a session doesn’t earn the virtual viewer CEUs, she still may be willing to pay for it. Lo, yet another reason to only offer content worth paying for!

17.  Consider selling a “Best-of-our-Conference” mash-up for re-purposing, marketing, and possible revenue generation.

BE SURE TO:

18.  Have someone—i.e. a tech-savvy human—devoted to managing the event’s Twitter Stream. Unless you’re OK with being viewed by virtual attendees as a hybrid rookie.

19.  See and experience other hybrid meetings in advance of yours, so you know more about what works and what doesn’t.

20. If you’re just starting out in hybrid, only stream your general session. Most of your AV equipment will already be in the room (further reducing your cost).

21.  Lastly, let’s take another tip from the broadcast world: hybrids—like our favorite TV shows—must start and end right on time.  Your juiciest content should lead the way to grab everyone’s attention—and keep it til the end.

What’s your best tip for successful hybrid meetings? Let’s continue the conversation here, virtually.

A no-show speaker is most meeting planners’ worst nightmare. You can lessen or even eliminate this stressor—and boost your peace of mind—with the following strategies.

1. Remove the possibility of flight delays. When hiring an out-of-town external speaker, include a clause in your agreement that requires your speaker to book a flight with at least one back up or buffer flight after it, in case the initially booked flight is canceled or delayed. This simple step can save you untold worry.

2. In some cases, you can offer to pick up the speaker from the airport yourself, or ask a colleague. You maintain control, save money on ground transportation, and enjoy rare, one-on-one time with your speaker.

3. Ask, or even contract, to ensure external speakers call you upon arrival in the event city—an easy way to boost your confidence and composure.

4. Ensure speakers have everything at their disposal to arrive at the right venue, at the right time, in the right room. This may sound obvious, yet details can fall through the cracks. This includes accurate driving directions (don’t just rely on web-based mapping programs—we all know it can be very wrong), parking information, your full meeting agenda, meeting room name, a building map, and the name and cell phone of the speaker’s main onsite contact.

5. If other organizations are holding meetings simultaneously in or near your event venue, ask their planner if a speaker on their agenda may fit for you.
6. Book your speaker through a event talent agency. Or if you didn’t, and are faced with a no-show, call one immediately upon hearing you have an MIA speaker, because:

• Agencies and bureaus have a singular capacity to quickly and effectively tap the most targeted speakers, including those based near your event venue and who therefore can arrive on short notice. We recently had a 30-minute turn around on a replacement speaker for a client a couple weeks ago, when a speaker fall through in the eleventh hour.
• You can trust that the agency roster features only the most reputable experts, which serves to prevent no shows in the first place.
• In the very unlikely event that an agency-booked speaker is unable to make it due to an unexpected emergency, the agency will work fast to secure a replacement, or you will likely owe nothing.

7. Tap a local college or university for specialized experts. Someone may be just one phone call away. Be sure to include such the schools’ contact information in your “bring-to-meeting” materials to save time and headaches on site.

8. If ultimately your speaker is STILL a no-show, have the following in your back pocket as stress-saving “insurance policies:”

• Carefully select an additional replacement speaker when booking your “planned-for” expert. Contract with this replacement to be “on call” in the event of a no-show—either accessible on that day by phone or, better yet, in person at the meeting. While this option may require a fee, it is likely much less expensive—in dollars and reputation—than no speaker at all.
• Tap your executive team for, say, a candid “view-from-the-trenches” Q&A, a panel discussion or a “talk show.” You’ll save the day by increasing the executives’ accessibility in the eyes of attendees, and boosting the depth of the overall education.
• If no exec team is available, plan a relevant activity in which your audience can participate in lieu of the external speaker’s session. This could include a facilitator-led discussion on the original keynote topic, for example.
• Pre-plan a “60 Ideas in 60 minutes” brainstorming or facilitator-led program related to the no-show topic, so attendees walk away with practical strategies and tips directly associated with the originally scheduled topic. Be sure you’ve identified and trained a facilitator for this program in advance.

Prevent your next “No Show” by turning it into a BIG SHOW, and let us know the results.

For most organizations, speaker and entertainer talent for meetings represents one of the costliest line items in the budget.

To help you make the most of your talent investments, whether you rely on internal [industry] experts, and/or you hire external speakers, we bring you five easy-to-implement ways to maximize your returns:

1. MESSAGE CONTINUITY CONFERENCE CALL.

To create more message continuity and reinforce the most important concepts your audience needs after the meeting, hold a conference call early on in your planning process. Invite all keynote speakers and breakout session presenters, and anyone else who will have a significant role in sharing expertise at your meeting.

Give each participant an opportunity to share their content plans, and ensure everyone’s on board with ways to unite and align messages for more impact. This call also ensures that any content redundancies or contradictions are known and cleared up ahead of time, so that you can make the most of every minute.

With information overload a common experience, the more you focus on just two or three key “meta-message” take aways, the more your participants will retain overall, and the more effective your meeting’s return on investment and return on objective.

Trying to do too much means very little sticks. Often, we communicate more (and more of it is remembered) when we communicate in a more strategic, streamlined, and unified way.

2. TELL A CENTRAL STORY.

What your audience members need is NOT more information [we’ve got plenty of that, thanks]. Rather, they need to be more engaged with information that is thoughtfully and consistently shared. And a key step toward that engagement is to tell a consistent, central story at your meetings.

Whether your agenda consists of internal speakers or external speakers, be sure everyone understands the central story you’re aiming to tell [which can be effectively shared at your Message Continuity Conference Call, above], so that each attendee is on board with the “what” and the “why” behind the shared messaging.

What is the key story line you want your meeting participants to remember? If you’re telling too many stories, or if the story lines conflict, attendees too will be conflicted, confused and perhaps even feel disconnected from your organization and its mission.

An example of a “central story” could go something like this:

“Our organization will raise sales in 2012 by 13% and lower expenses 15%.”

So, for maximum effectiveness, all messaging should reinforce, and not contradict, these goals. Take efforts a step further by spotlighting organizational stars who are succeeding at these goals—and give air time to how others can succeed at reaching these goals too.

3. BOOKENDING.

Start and end your meeting by reinforcing the theme, key goals, and/or key message take aways with some form of distinctive, unifying program, skit, or music that ties an emotional and metaphorical ribbon around the all the elements of your agenda, whether your meeting is four hours or four days in length. This will create a more memorable, understandable and even poignant structure around all program elements.

Perhaps the conference started with a kick off keynote, in which you announced a new company initiative. How about ending the event with an “all-hands-on-deck” company anthem, customized for your organization, and featuring your new initiatives…to send everyone off on the highest possible note?! Contact us to find out how.

4. SPEAKER “TRACKS.”

If you’re holding a larger conference with a number of breakout session topics and groups, divide the programming into subject-matter “tracks” to reinforce categorical take aways and give memorable, on-point structure.

We humans crave order and structure—we know intuitively that thoughtful structure will also lessen information overload. Using message tracks also provides a framework around which you can build “sub-plots” of your central story [see strategy #2, above], and gives meeting participants a better understanding of their specific roles in telling the larger overall story and reaching established goals.

5. THE LAST SUPPER.

Maximize group time during the meeting’s last meal—and ensure measurable, practical results for participants long after the meeting. This can include finding a creative way to pair participants (by seat numbers, napkin colors, raffle tickets etc.) and explain that they have just met their “Accountability Buddy” for the next 30 days.

Then, ask each buddy to write down three specific, manageable tasks or goals related to the meeting content and your central story that they will commit to completing in the next 30 days, with at least one check-in with their buddy half way through to follow up and improve results.

You’ll gain immeasurable buy-in from attendees who’ve made a critical, in-person connection they would not have outside the meeting, and build stronger results tied to meeting content.

You could also announce that one month after the conference, as a special service to conference attendees, you’ll all “reconvene” virtually as one large group to report back on your “goals-met” results.

Recession or not, I’ve always been committed to helping you save money and effort when you plan important meetings and events.

Outside speakers are often the element most instrumental in your event’s success. They help seal participants’ memories of your meeting, educate the audience and heighten perceptions of your organization. That’s why thinking and “spending small” can ultimately cost you more in lost results and reputation than the cost of your initial speaker investment.

With a smarter, big-picture approach, we can stretch your budget while still reaching your most important goals. But if you view speakers’ fees as more a cost than an investment, you may limit your thinking and lessen your outcomes.

So, when SHOULD you hire speakers based just on fees?

1. When you don’t need event buzz or higher registration

Like many products and services, speakers’ fees are based on and vary with supply and demand. Most meeting planners seek to create event buzz and increase registration for their events. With few exceptions, more well-known, buzz-worthy speakers will command higher fees, AND be more likely to generate higher registration and stronger buzz. So while an initial investment is called for, if you work strategically, you make up for your outlay in the long run.

Email us (info@NoMoreBoringMeetings.com) for a free list of strategy questions that put you on the right track.

2. When you must have salmon for dinner

Often, the difference between the speaker you really want and the speaker you think you can afford is the difference between offering steak vs. chicken. A quick calculation may surprise you.

Since the quality of speakers is the most-often cited reason for overall event satisfaction, choose all your meeting elements with the big picture in mind.

3. When you feel beholden to a rigid agenda

Get more mileage from speakers by asking (yes, often it’s just a matter of asking!) if they’ll also attend a pre- or post-keynote reception. Then secure a sponsor for the reception that helps offset your overall cost. And invite the sponsor to the reception for the chance to talk with your now-affordable headliner. Everyone wins! Ask us (info@NoMoreBoringMeetings.com) for our sponsorship resource sheet.

4. When you’re unaware of all your options

Many top-tier speakers’ fees are “inclusive.” That is, they include not just their speaking fee…they also cover travel, ground transport, maybe even a second breakout session. Some even include signed books. A quick inquiry, or some shrewd negotiating, will save you money and ensure a much more successful, relevant, well-attended event.

• Build a solid foundation on which to shape all aspects of your meeting, including venue, décor, breakouts, and gifts
• Help participants become more engaged and retain more information
• Create more effective, memorable and outcome-driven meeting experiences

Check out these three proven meeting theme-keynote combinations that build relevant, strategic meeting content.

1. “All Systems Go.”
Related themes: “Blast Off,” “Reach,” and “Stratospheric,”

“Failure is Not an Option.”

Whether your organization is about to launch a new set of initiatives…you’re starting a new sales program…or you’re on the cusp of the next fiscal year….a superb meeting theme is “All Systems Go,” or similar.

To reinforce this theme with fresh, exciting programming, choose a speaker who’s truly been to that “last frontier”…an astronaut…someone who knows how to reach that critical “all systems go” level of achievement.

Astronaut-speakers whose content and credentials directly align with the theme:

• Mike Mullane, among the first group of US Space Shuttle astronauts, and now, a high content and humorous speaker/author with a program entitled “Countdown to Teamwork.”
• Sally Ride, the first American woman in space
• Jim Lovell, Captain of Apollo 13, who with his crew faced nearly certain death when their oxygen system failed on the way to the moon, and whose phrase “Houston, we have a problem” was received by….
• Gene Kranz, flight director during the ultimately successful Apollo 13 flight. Kranz’ now well-known motto, “Failure is not an Option,” and the efforts by his “White Team,” brought the Apollo 13 crew home alive.

Event Gift ideas:

• Model rocket
• Signed photo of an astronaut
• Book about space flight

Corresponding Venues:

• Museum of Flight (Seattle)
• Future of Flight (Everett, WA, north of Seattle)
• Event facilities near airports
• Factories with funky, fun spaces

2. ____ Kick Off
(which can apply to a Sales kickoff, an Annual Kickoff, a Branding Kickoff etc.)

For a high-energy, venue-oriented, and content-based meeting, use the “Kick Off” theme. It’s perfect for that beginning-of-the-year time frame, or anytime you are launching something new.

Sports analogies abound, and when you choose the best-suited sporting figure-speaker, it’s a guaranteed touch down…

Some speakers with their origins in sports speak more effectively than others. Amplify connects you to the cream of the crop, including those in the list below.

Athletes-speakers whose content and credentials directly align with the Kick-off theme:

• Tom Flick, former NFL quarterback and Rose Bowl champion, who now speaks expertly on leadership, teambuilding, customer service and vision
• Vince Lombardi, Jr., son of the famed NFL quarterback, and superb speaker in his own right on high performance people, leadership and teamwork
• Rocky Bleier, the four-time Super Bowl Champion, speaks on the parallels between challenges he faced and the challenges all business people face in today’s crowded, competitive marketplace, in his speech, “Be the Best You Can Be.”

Event Gift ideas:

• [Signed] football, baseball, basketball
• Game tickets/box seats
• Nordstrom Shoe Dept. Gift Certificate

Corresponding Venues:

• Stadiums of all types

3. Reaching New Heights

The parallels between climbing mountains and reaching the highest heights in our professional and personal lives are vivid and vast. That’s why this theme is so effective at showcasing meeting content and giving you a strong “hook” on which to “hang” each element of your event agenda.

Speakers whose content and credentials directly align with the theme:

• Susan Ershler, world record-setting mountaineer and award-winning sales executive.
• Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mt. Everest, and top-notch speaker on motivation, achievement and overcoming adversity
• Ed Viesturs, the first North American to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen. He’s been called “the ultimate climbing machine” and has also climbed Mount Everest five times. Whew!
• Helen Thayer, first woman to walk solo to the N. Pole (at age 50!), best-selling author, National Geographic Explorer, and a globe-trotting athlete well into her 70s

Event Gift ideas:

• Compass
• Binoculars
• Atlas
• GPS

Corresponding Venues:

• Ski slopes
• Retreat center in the mountains
• Top floor of a sky scraper

Got a great event theme-keynote speaker combo? Share it with us and we’ll send you a gift!

More than 250 million people have downloaded the game Angry Birds. Every day, humans worldwide collectively spend about 200 million minutes playing this game on our mobile devices. Nearly 4 million “Like” it on Facebook.

In a world of time-starved business people, a vast chunk of us find time for an admittedly silly game, a pastime that has us fully engaged and focused for hours at a time. (Full disclosure: I love to play too!)

What’s going on?? What makes this digital interface so compelling that gamers can’t stop interacting with it? Wouldn’t you like just some of those folks to read your emails? And just SOME of that engagement and energy at your meetings?

Let’s see what Angry Birds game teaches us about designing more captivating meetings filled with more focused meeting goers.

The Power of Story

Knowing why the Birds are Angry (they stole the birds’ eggs, and they’re….mad!) gives the game some context and an added layer of fun.

The same holds true for a well-designed meeting, which tells a unified, compelling story with a captivating arc and interesting characters, dialog and plot.

What story does your meeting tell? Does it have a clear and compelling beginning? Plot twists that create positive surprise? A suspenseful, clear and high-energy conclusion? What specific roles do each of your participants-as-characters play in the telling of your organizational tale—before, during and after the meeting?

We humans are wired for story-telling and story-listening. That’s why paying attention to your event’s narrative will get and keep participants engaged. Can meeting participants retell your story effectively and passionately? Are they actively involved with how to be “on the same page” with your organizational objectives—or do they just check out to check email?

Anticipation and Surprise

Angry Birds, like any good game, becomes incrementally harder the more you play. We are met at our skill level—plus a bit more. And the more we learn, the more challenges we get. A skill gap and the desire to improve keep us engaged.

Meetings are mediocre when participants are given little or no new insight or challenges to solve. Boring agendas often consist of retelling the same information that everyone already knows. No wonder they disengage (and play Angry Birds quietly in the back of the room).

Yet UNBORING meetings feature fresh insights, new ways of working and important people connections that could never be experienced virtually. Meeting goers are paying attention because they’re learning and applying new insights to solve new problems.

According to Work Happy Now blogger Karl Staib: “People quickly get addicted to [Angry Birds] because it challenges them on different levels. When you can anchor into a wide range of emotions – anger, joy, frustration, and love – you keep people wanting more.”

Indeed, Angry Birds—like a great meeting—taps the power of anticipation. How will you surprise your audience with unexpected guests, new information they don’t know and yet NEED, reasons to meet in person that they can’t get on the Internet, Twitter or Facebook?

A juicy example of integrating anticipation into an event: SHRM staged a powerful surprise at a 20,000-attendee convention. Their Random Acts of Conference Kindness (ROCK!) segments fostered interaction and happy surprise—without without a hefty price tag. Lisa Block, SHRM’s director of meetings explained: Out of nowhere, staff appeared bearing gifts. They came, they delivered, they disappeared. Mugs, T-shirts, Starbucks cards, free cab rides to the airport, front row seats for keynote sessions. And all the winners got a “ROCK’d” ribbon to commemorate the occasion. The campaign cost under $5,000, including ribbons for recipients [that’s less than 25 cents a person!].

Maximizing Multi-Sensory Impact

Like any video game worth a few million downloads, Angry Birds has distinct sounds, vibrant visuals and an easy-to-use interface. Players are involved with their eyes, ears and hands.

When you design meetings, how do you purposefully honor our many ways of absorbing information? Or are attendees just that—attending—sitting passively in their seats listening; seeing some (or way too many) slides? Next time, get everyone actively involved—with all their senses–in creating content themselves, interacting with and learning from one another. Include music, sound effects, kinesthetic experiences and even scent to boost learning and allow for new and surprising ways to absorb information.

You can even try darkened dining. This multi sensory experience has diners eating in a darkened space. It allows the audience to tap taste, smell and touch with a deep sense of focus. We all have so much information coming at us. Mostly at our heads, and much less to our kinesthetic sides.  So with a sensory experience like this, you immediately broaden how people experience your organization—and build enormous buzz, too.

Win, Reward—and PING! You’re at the Next Level

Meetings in which little or no progress is felt can seem to drone on with no end in sight. Instead, give your audience a clear picture of where you’re headed, and what your meeting is accomplishing. You can go as far as posting a meeting check list, with clear milestones. And as time goes, visually and audibly show that you have in fact reached these hurdles. Even small wins, accompanied by public acknowledgement (a tangible reward, an audible ping, a loud bell), can—in the language of a good video game—move us to the Next Level.

Broken Birds, Broken Rules

Angry Birds breaks a number of gaming rules. It replaces fast with clever, for example. (For a fascinating review of the cognitive aspects of Angry Birds, read Certified Human Factors Engineering Professional Charles L. Mauro’s blog post here )

So, what rules can you break in your meetings? Not for the sake of rebellion—but to stage a more effective, memorable experience. For example:

• Do you really need chairs? What if everyone sat on exercise balls instead?
• Who says you must begin with the spoken word? What if you opened an event by singing a customized company anthem?

Let’s commit to designing meetings that foster Angry-Bird-level engagement and focus for all. There’s an app. for that—and it all of us as meeting professionals!

In this era of webinars, video conferencing, podcasting, ad infinitum, the need for authentic, human-to-human connection from live meetings has never been greater. Indeed, with so much happening virtually, the power of real time people engagement is at an all time high.

We in the meetings industry, then, have an unprecedented—and I believe under-utilized—opportunity to create exceptionally memorable experiences and greater productivity for our audiences.

How? By tapping into force fields: that invisible, palpable , contagious energy exuded by thought leaders, celebrities and really anyone we care about.

After all, what’s more compelling: watching Oprah on a screen—or watching her live? Seeing him skate on ESPN, or shaking hands with Apolo Ohno?  And why do thousands line up in advance to talk personally or even shake hands with Presidents and CEOs?

No matter how much we go virtual, or maybe BECAUSE so much is now virtual, we still LOVE to be physically near people we admire, and who bring skills and insights we need to be more effective in this wild world.

We are wise to allow this Force to shape our own knowledge, excitement, and energy.

7 ways to Maximize your Meetings’ Force Fields:

Let’s look at 7 specific ways that you can maximize the force fields—and thus the energy and engagement—of your meetings: Between participants and guest speakers, among executives and employees, amidst team members. These ideas boost inspiration, knowledge and connection to a level that could never be achieved in an email or experience via Skype:

1. Boost your “force field factor” considerably by scheduling a breakout session with the “larger-than-life” keynoter. Attendees will have a more personalized, smaller-group experience, and more powerful force-field exposure. Furthermore, most speakers offer a substantial discount for adding a breakout if it’s scheduled on the same (half) day as the plenary session; some will even include a breakout in the keynote fee.
2. Immediately following the keynote, and before participants disperse, pair attendees and have them discuss how they’ll personally integrate the speaker’s recommendations—and encourage them to become “accountability buddies” who will check in with each other to monitor progress long after the conference ends. You’ll have a whole room full of force fields at work!
3. After a speaker’s program, have an “up-close-and-personal” book or poster signing. This gives attendees the chance to come face to face with the speaker, talk one on one…and, of course, truly experience one another’s force fields.
4. Take your book signing to another level: hold a pre-event contest through which attendees vie for chances to win an exclusive and intimate reception with the speaker/author. This creates an exceptionally memorable experience for participants, and builds more event buzz as people get motivated to enjoy a unique event designed just for them.
5. Give attendees the chance to have their photos taken on-site with a celebrity keynoter at your event [making sure to confirm the speaker’s permission in advance, at the time of contracting]. Participants will always remember their time in his or her presence, and the photo will serve as a tangible memory of a rather intangible day.
6. Integrate a talk show into the typical (and usually plodding and predictable) keynote+breakout+lunch+breakout meeting format. You’ll succeed at mixing up the agenda in a more engaging, memorable way….AND can invite your force field-producing speaker(s) on stage with employees, managers and executives for an intimate, authentic and on-message set of conversational interviews.
7. Always be sure you choose a room for your event that is as small as possible…without being too small for the audience. That way, you create a sense of deeper intimacy and connection between the audience and those on stage—voila: easy-to-implement force-field builder.

Tell us about whom you find in YOUR next force field—and how the experience changes you.