Have you ever been responsible for planning a large event? How about a leadership conference? Sales meeting? This task can be overwhelming for several reasons:
1. Agenda Wish List:
It’s common for word to go out in the organization that a meeting is coming up. Everyone wants to take advantage of having a critical mass of employees together and attempts to get their department’s topics included on the agenda.
2. Limited Time:
The amount of time available for activities always shrinks, mostly due to the agenda wish list mentioned in #1. Clients set aside 2 days for a workshop, then it’s down to 1 day, then 4 hours, etc.
3. Budget:
Oftentimes, leaders delegate the planning of these meetings and provide only a high-level overview of the topics needing to be covered. Therefore, the budget may not end up lining up with the wish-list.
4. Procrastination:
There’s something about planning an event that causes procrastination. We see it all the time. Far in advance, dates and venues are secured, then the specific details are left until only a month or two prior. There always seems to be a “mad rush” to finalize the agenda.
5. Immobility:
Another reason event planning is difficult is because of a bias towards “what we did last year.” For example, if a client had a speaker for 2 hours on the second day of the meeting last year, that’s often what they set out to find for the current year.
6. Logistics:
We’re talking thousands of moving parts, with perhaps hundreds of people’s travel, lodging, and meals needing to be taken care of. Then there’s also meeting rooms, speakers, partners, materials, shipments, storage, signage, decorations, audio-visual, room set-ups, and more!
Sound familiar?
Our most recent event took place during April 2018 near Miami, Florida. A Life Sciences company we had worked with half-a-dozen years ago was bringing 120 leaders together for a leadership conference. The first day of the multi-day meeting was all about the strategy and direction of the business. Our business acumen simulation, Zodiak®: The Game of Business Finance and Strategy, was a natural way to tie the strategy to the day-to-day decisions these leaders are making every day. A Master Facilitator and three zone coaches shepherded 30 tables of simulated business owners through the 4-hour customized program. The CFO wrapped up with a financial presentation.
How much lead time did we have to pull this off? One month and one day.
Over the past 25 years, we’ve been a part of hundreds of events. Our consultants have facilitated large sessions ranging from a hundred learners to over 1,000. Within a short window, we’re able to work within your budget, act quickly, and – most importantly – inject some energy into your event.
See how we use Experiential Learning to connect individual actions to big picture results, in our eGuide.
