When Desiging a Conference, Remember that Structure Wins

I’ve helped design a number of conferences over the years, often working with organizations who want to make significant changes to the format of their conference so that it can be more productive. I offer some options here that you may wish to consider for the design of small conferences (20-50 participants).

Structure Wins

The width of the lanes of our roads in the US determines the width of a semi-trailer, which in turn determines the maximum width of anything that is manufactured in the US that needs to be transported. The underlying structure of a database puts limits on what data can be entered and how it must be formatted. The same goes for conference design. The four most powerful structural elements that govern conferences are the agenda, the layout of the room, the capture and display of information, and how a speaker’s time and presentation is formatted. One or several of these must change if a group wants to experience significant change in the experience and output of a conference.

Layout of the Room

1. Get rid of the tables and put the chairs closely together in a semi-circle. This discourages “nesting” and encourages focus and interaction. When participants nest, they lay out all of the things to distract them and shield them from each other (newspaper, computer, ipad, etc.). It allows them to disconnect easily from the meeting. At any given time about 25% of the people in a traditional conference are disconnected. No company would be interested in that if it were a productivity number. A semi-circle of chairs encourages interaction and helps people maintain their focus on each other and on a speaker’s content. It’s a benefit also to the speakers who get the full attention of the participants.
2. Put round tables in the back of the room or in an adjoining room to use when participants are in breakouts or on breaks. Put marker boards or flip charts by each table. Don’t allow people to sit at these tables during presentations and large group discussions. The physical shift from one mode (chairs in a semi-circle) to another mode (meeting at tables) actually breathes some energy into the room. People get to stand up, move around and renew their attention.

Formatting a Speaker’s time

1. Figure out in advance what you want to create together. This is the most difficult yet most valuable pre-conference activity. What do you want the participants to create together? Do you want them to make a decision about something? Plan something? Come up with three options? Once you have a sense of what you want, then you can help the speakers give you information that is valuable as input to the process.
2. Now, the purpose of a presentation will be to deliver information that can then be immediately used by the group to either design something together or make a decision. The first slide should say, “The information I have will allow us to design/build/create/decide ‘x’ immediately following the presentation.” Work with the speaker to craft this message or something similar. Help the speaker by giving them guidelines on what would be valuable to be included in their presentation. This should be a dialog with the speaker, not just a demand, and in this way a richer presentation will result.
3. Never let a speaker simply present what they want to present. If there is a presentation that needs to be delivered for only it’s content’s sake, put it on a secure server and stream it before the conference.
4. Follow the TED model. Give the speaker 20 minutes maximum. People have a retention span of about 15 minutes. After that they can’t hold more information, and if they don’t use what they just heard, they will lose it. Use a countdown clock if necessary to help speakers adjust their timing during the presentation. Then move immediately into design with the whole group with the speaker as a participant. Or move into breakout groups.

Capture and Display of Information

1. Graphic recording/scribing/visual modeling is one way of capturing conversations during the conference. These can be either done on paper and posted around the room or done on marker board, photographed and printed for participants to have access to during the event. It’s of benefit to surround the participants with the ideas that have emerged and visual summaries of what they’ve talked about as the conference goes on.
2. Sometimes a text-based documentation is valuable as a way to augment the graphic recording. Some people access ideas more easily as text and others as graphics. It’s good to do both if you can. Print the documentation periodically so that people can have access to it as well. Or do it online and post it there if everyone is connected.

Changing the Agenda into a Design

1. An agenda is a sequence of topics. A design is a structure of activities that lead to the creation of something of value by the group and for the group. A design is a workflow, a process for manufacturing ideas, shaping these ideas into options and making decisions.
2. A series of presentations followed by Q&A constitute an agenda, but don’t allow the participants to create anything of value to take away from the event. Putting substantive discussion at the end of the event means that many participants will have already left by that time and it always feels rushed and incomplete.
3. If there are a lot of presentations, they should build upon one another and be connected to one another in a logical way that allows the participants to create or design something together—a solution, a new program, a decision, a plan, etc.
4. Instead of 10 minute breaks throughout the day, try to give everyone a 30 minute break twice a day.
5. Structure each presentation block like this (good for up to 25 participants that can be divided into 4 small groups):

1. 20 minutes for the presentation itself, given to participants sitting in a semi-circle up close to the presenter.
2. 5 minutes for Q&A—questions for clarification only. Remember that the speaker will hang around for the rest of the block of time to answer questions as the participants are working.
3. 5 minutes to set up the assignment: what are we going to use this information to accomplish or build together? Remember that the assignment is closely linked to the mission given to the presenter and the structure of his/her presentation.
4. 30 minutes for work in small groups on the assignment. Putting participants into small groups generates diversity, allows more people to participate, allows the participation to be more direct, puts a bit of pressure on each group to actually create a product in the time period allotted, keeps the group from following one particular conversation arc, and allows the topic to be divided into several parts to be handled in smaller pieces.
5. 30 minutes for groups to share their work and discuss