Jeff Hurt has a knack for coming up with some pretty catchy ways to talk about common meeting woes, such as cramming too much information into people without giving them time to digest it. His most recent is really sick: We Need a New Drug. Sample line: "We need some conference-related Pepto-Bismol that will treat upset brains, information indigestion, diarrhea mind and brain-burn when conference presenters try to shovel too much information into our minds." And he asks what conference drug we'd design to help cure the common conference.
OK, I'm game. How about:
The People Pill: Soothes CIRD (Jeff's acronym for conference information reflux disease, which is a pretty awesome play on GERD, though there's nothing funny about the latter) caused by information overload by forcing presenters to interrupt their presentations to allow for some interaction and peer-to-peer problem-solving.
Clarity: Brings relief to eyes that are red, itchy, and watery from straining to see overly complicated slides in a dark room hour after hour by making certain all slides are pre-screened to ensure they are simple, graphically pleasing, and are adjuncts to the presentation, not the presentation itself to be read off the screen.
SpecialEffexor: This pill will bring up the mood of the crowd by injecting some fun, creativity, and surprise into stage set and the overall meeting design.
SeeAllUs: Causes a presenter's laser pointer to rise up to the ceiling, where it stays for the duration of the session, forcing the presenter to interact with the people in the room instead of the PowerPoint on the screen.
I better stop now before I make myself feel a bit ill...