In October, veteran meeting professional Tahira Endean, CMP, celebrated the publication of Intentional Event Design: Our Professional Opportunity. The 282-page paperback (also available as an ebook) is organized around seven principles of intentional event design, which touch on everything from technology integration at events and brain-friendly design to digital marketing and creative learning formats. Here is the first of three short excerpts to introduce MeetingsNet readers to the intentional event design ideas discussed in the book.
If you are paying attention to the massive global shifts affecting us as organizations and individuals, not only do we need to meet, we need to attend meetings that provoke thought, define forward-thinking, actionable learning, and provide a toolkit for participants to move ahead in ways which will positively affect business outcomes.
This requires a combination of experience, intuition and research into layers of human behavioural science and the effects of our responses to technology in a rapidly evolving world; a desire to create better cross-cultural and multi-generational experiences; the fortitude to move forward even when you face stakeholder fear; and knowledge you can apply to any event to deepen relevance. It is critical we continue to grow our understanding of the innate human responses to the elements included in live event environments to maximize our results. The way we plan our meetings is being forever changed by the ongoing onslaught of disruptive digital capabilities. We can no longer ignore the impacts.
Great Meetings Inspire Conversations
These conversations deepen trust among participants. Trusted partners engage in discussions where ideas are sparked and innovative collaborations are incubated. It is these conversations which ensure the industry or organization keeps moving forward.Stating the obvious, this is one of the key reasons people attend a meeting. Building a sense of community is also key for associations focused on continued future growth as education becomes available on many mediums. Our responsibility as event designers is to understand we are not creating an event for one community of thousands, but for multiple communities within each event and opportunities to find each other. Finding and forming their tribes will maximize their overall positive experience. In a digitally driven world it is ever more important for us to create meetings and events where we find “our people” in an environment where we can foster important connections and intentional design sets the stage for this.
