The meeting-moderator is like the conductor of a symphony-orchestra: it is his job to execute the work of the composer to his best abilities and to elate the audience.

It is therefore inconceivable to image the conductor taking a look at the music for the first time, only just before he enters stage. You simply can’t imagine the director not thinking about his interpretation of a classical masterpiece.

Just as inconceivable it is having a meeting-moderator not preparing at all and solely trusting on his gut-feeling during the event. Yet, this is still very common.

The director delves into the music and tries to get a grip on the intention the composer put into it. Partly, these intensions are fixed by notation, but there’s also room for interpretation by the director.

Likewise, a meeting moderator should dig deeply into the Meeting Design and the underlying goal. A great and affective event is designed with great care and into great detail and you – the moderator – is the one to make it an effective meeting, by the way you execute this design.
Therefore, meeting moderators should develop a so-called Moderation Design for every meeting they conduct: a very well thought of design of tone, pace and style, to make the meeting reach its goals. Doing that is about transcending the regular buzzwords like engagement, experience and inspirational; it’s about conducting a monumental symphony.

Tone

Depending on the structure of the schedule, the moderator/facilitator chooses constantly changing ways of addressing the crowd. He might go for a sharp, maybe even bleak, opening, because the design asks first for people to be confronted with problems they deny. In other occasions, the meeting design dictates a more open and inviting tone-of-voice, for example when dealing with a touchy subject.
And this tone is subsequently changed over the course of the day: after sharpness, there may be room for reflection or even comforting. Or the tone could become more results-oriented and urging, once the invitational opening has had its effect. It’s all a matter of what your goal is.

Pace

A professional meeting design also looks into the attention span and the role of dynamics: the pace of the meeting. Time to quietly reflect at times for instance, is just as important as velocity. After flooding participants with information and/or inspiration, they need time to chew on it. You need to offer them space and time to process and translate what they’ve learned into their day-to-day reality it.
And after some ‘quiet time’ the next step is to translate the findings into concrete agreements or arrangements. In order to do so, you may need to raise the pace of the meeting again.
That constant and deliberate change in pace, keeps delegates perceptive and makes sure that every step of the way the meeting is effective. Of course tone and pace are closely related.

Style

The book ‘Into the heart of meetings’ (a standard work on Meeting Design by Mike v.d. Vijver and Eric de Groot, that I feel every meeting-pro should read!) uses the term ‘Facilitation style’: a very precise description of the way the meeting moderator (and all other concerned, for that matter) operates, put in just a few words.
It may be ‘entertaining’, or bombastic, dynamic, composed, observing, reflective, vibrating, scoring, playful… you could go on for ever. And the moderator could play the part of the journalist, coach, court jester, devils’ advocate, seducer, friend of the family, etc, etc.

Options are almost endless, so it’s a matter of putting a lot of time and attention in doing this right.

In Conclusion

A good and effective Moderation Design will engage everyone, even the introverts. It’s a process, starting with clear goals, a perfect Meeting Design and an extensive briefing of the moderator.
From that point onwards, it is something that needs fine tuning until the very last moment. That helps the moderator walk up on stage, knowing exactly what he’s going to do at what point in time, and why.
But pay attention: tone, pace and style must always remain flexible, as is the moderator. There is no meeting, without things turning out differently than planned and then you have to be able to adapt. Doing that ‘in a split second’ – since it will always happen in the middle of a meeting – takes a moderator who went through every detail of the meeting design.
Moderation design is a joint responsibility of meeting owner, meeting designer and moderator. Only if they are really prepared to invest and can trust each others expertise, the moderation design will truly fly.

Pre-event checklists, day-of agendas and post-event wrap sheets are essential to the success of events. So how can you ensure your event checklists are productive and beneficial to you and your staff?

Often times this continuous series of to-do lists can be overwhelming and boring, but as event managers, we rely on checklists to assist us in our planning process. As we all know, events evolve during the planning stages and every event is different, so although you are attempting to stay on task with your checklists, sometimes these lists become more trouble than they’re worth.

Here are a few tips to set you on the right track to start making the most of your event checklists:

Create Official Checklists
We all have our own process in place for planning events and while we may not feel the need to have formal checklists in place, they can provide many different benefits. Increased organization, improved productivity and better staff communication can all be attributed to a great checklist system.
Before you start working on your next event, sit down and organize out everything you need to do. Once you have a full to-do list, categorize the tasks and start a fresh formalized event checklist. Although this might sound like a tall task now, it will pay great dividends in the long run!
Ensure that your staff is aware of the checklist and integrate it into your planning routine. Having well-presented and organized documents makes everyone’s job easier and keeps your team on the same page with what has been accomplished and what still needs attention.

Compare Your Checklists
There are hundreds of event checklists on the web and, although they may not be tailored specifically for your event, they can provide you with a great starting point. Begin by finding one that aligns well with your type of event, such as a wedding, corporate outing, or charity fundraiser and expand on it to further fit your needs.
You could also speak with your event planning colleagues or coworkers and compare notes. You may already be a member of an event planning association or part of a LinkedIn group where many other planners are available and willing to help you.
You could make it a collective effort and review each other’s event documents. Collaborating like this is a great way to build your relationships in the industry and expand your knowledge as a planner. It is always nice to have a fresh set of eyes on any aspect of your event. Taking a look at other planners’ checklist can provide you both with new ideas and help you to remember something you may have initially left off of your list.

Proper Checklist Layout
When creating your checklist make sure that you use a layout that works well for you. Some planners organize their lists by category such as attendees, budget, venue, and transportation, while others may prefer to have the checklist in a timeline format.
You can also integrate the two by having your checklist sorted by timeline, while also utilizing tags or color codes to signify specific categories. This will allow you to see your list in multiple views at a quick glance. You will know where you stand on your timeline and also what categories may need additional support or attention.

Assign Tasks To Your Checklist

You can easily use your checklists to delegate tasks to your staff. Beside each task, include an assignment section and write in the name of the lead person. This provides accountability for your staff and gives them an added sense of responsibility and ownership. In addition, this provides you with a big-picture look at how many staff members you may need and how much everyone has on his or her plate.
You can also make this a fun and interactive process for your staff by rewarding them as tasks are accomplished. Small bonuses such a gift card or special recognition can go a long way in keeping your staff motivated and dedicated to your event!

Assigning tasks will also give you the opportunity to decide which tasks can be delegated and which tasks must be completed by you as the lead planner. Letting go of certain tasks can be a challenge, but when you see everything on your checklist you will have a clear picture of how much needs to be accomplished. Assign yourself to the priority tasks and delegate the supplementary items.

Expand and Evaluate Your Checklist Following Events
As each event progresses, you should add to your checklist and continue building upon your system. You will gather more items as each event is completed and your checklist will grow into an essential part of your planning process.
Following your events you may hold a recap meeting to review your successes and possible areas of improvement. During this event review, be sure to not only look at what occurred during your event, but also take time to evaluate your planning process and checklist system. Be sure to look at what went well and what can be improved in the future. With each event, your checklists will become more helpful and integral to you and your team.

In Conclusion

Checklists can become overwhelming if you don’t take the time to organize and prepare them. Starting out on the right foot with your event checklist will set the tone for your planning process and drive your productivity.
In the end, you will become more efficient as an event planner and your events will improve, because you have an organized and focused process. This extra bit of organization provides for less wasted time and more energy to focus on making your events exciting and enjoyable for your attendees!

Want to improve learning, connection, engagement, and action outcomes at your meetings? Then use a process that requires and supports purposeful participant activity!
When people are actively involved in their learning they learn more, and retain what they learn longer and more accurately.

And when you eliminate attendees by turning them into participants in your meeting sessions, they connect more effectively with their peers, at a much higher rate than at conventional events.
Making this happen at your meetings isn’t rocket science. Here are seven simple and effective ways to increase participation at your events.

1. Badge It!
   Who’d have thought that the humble name badge could provide useful information that can spark connections and engagement between attendees who are just walking around? Here’s how to do it.
   Use large name badges (I like 4”x 6” vertical badges) and design them so there’s space for attendees to write on them. Then add a “Talk to me about…” space, or an “I’d like to know about…” space, or an “All we need is…” on your badge. Voila! Attendees now have a way to broadcast their interests and expertise and an excuse to peer at each other’s badges.
   A slightly different approach is to have people write a specific area of interest on their badge (perhaps on the back if it’s blank) and then walk around and cluster with other attendees who share the same interest.
2. Seat Swap
   To increase conversational partners at seated meals, simply announce a seat swap between two courses (typically between the main course and desert). If the group includes approximately equal numbers of men and women, ask all the men or all the women to stand up and choose a chair at another table.
   Alternatively, have everybody move whose last name begins with a letter in the first half of the alphabet. All will double their pool of conversational partners at the cost of perhaps a couple of minutes’ rearrangement. At a seated buffet-style meal you can have more than one seat swap, with a commensurate increase in potential connections.
3. Post It!
   At the start of a conference session, hand out several sticky notes and a pen to attendees. Ask them to write down one or more topics they would like explored or questions they would like answered, one per note. Tell them they do not need to use all their notes. Supply a wall area where notes can be posted, and ask them, once they have finished, to post their notes on the wall.
   Give participants a few minutes to write their responses. As the notes are posted it is natural for people to hang around the wall and read what others have written. Let them do this, but ask people to allow late posters to get to the wall.
4. Body voting
   Body voting—also called human graphs, human spectrograms, or continuum voting—is one of the most versatile participative techniques. It provides an information-rich public tableau of opinions or personal information by asking participants to move to a place in the room that corresponds to their responses to questions with a range of possible answers. Body voting allows session presenters, the group, and participants to directly experience the range and distribution of responses, and then explore individual responses or group outcomes as appropriate.
   To demonstrate the collective amount of experience in the room, ask people to think of the number of years of experience they have and then have them line up across the room in order by their number of years of experience. Ask a few of those at the high experience end to say how many years’ experience they have and repeat their answers for the whole group. Then, walk to the middle of the line (i.e., the point where there are approximately equal numbers of participants on either side of you) and ask the people there how many years’ experience they have. Multiply their answer by the number of participants and announce the number of collective person-years of experience in the room, which will invariably be far greater than any one or two people could possess.
   To allow participants to quickly meet other attendees who live or work near them, create in advance a map of the geographical region that includes a majority of attendees’ locations, and display it in the room. Stand facing the map and point out the compass directions (e.g. “towards the map is North”.) Ask people to move to the spot in the room that corresponds to where they live/work. Once people are in position, have them introduce themselves to the people nearby, exchange business cards, etc.
5. Fishbowls
   Ever been at a “discussion” session that was monopolized by a few talkative individuals, with no one else getting a word in? Me too!
   A fishbowl encourages free-wheeling discussion that anyone can join without having to get the attention of a moderator or talk over a noisy interrupter. In one version, participants sit in a horseshoe arrangement of chairs, with a few chairs in the “mouth” of the horseshoe.

   A facilitator sits in one of the mouth’s chairs and explains the fishbowl rules:

   1. If you want to talk, you must come and sit in one of the small group of chairs.
   2. If all the small group chairs are full and no one has yet spoken, wait a little—otherwise, when you come up, someone sitting in a mouth chair must go back to a horseshoe chair.
   3. If you’re sitting in a small group chair and have finished what you have to say, go back to a horseshoe chair.
   4. When you’re in a small group chair, you can address your comments to someone else in these chairs or to the whole group.

   When the facilitator gently enforces these rules, everyone has a chance to speak, discuss, and be heard. Participants appreciate how the small group format focuses the discussion, how the contributors change as needed, how simply the front row shows who may talk, and how it’s clear when the conversation on a topic has run its course.

6. Pair Share
   Instead of one person talking and everyone else listening during a meeting session, use a few minutes of pair share to give every participant the opportunity to engage by thinking, talking, and listening. Pose a discussion question, have attendees pair up, and give everyone 30-60 seconds to think about their response. Then ask everyone to spend a couple of minutes discussing their answers with their partners. You may want to have one person in each pair start, and have them swap roles half way through the time you’ve allocated.
7. Pecha Kucha and Ignite
   Pecha Kucha and Ignite are dynamic short-form presentations that limit presenters to 20 slides automatically advanced, each shown for 20 seconds (Pecha Kucha) or 15 seconds (Ignite), while the presenter shares his or her passion about a topic. Because each presentation lasts just 6 minutes and 40 seconds (Pecha Kucha) or 5 minutes (Ignite), presenters are challenged to be concise, targeted, and creative—and you can pack four Pecha Kucha or five Ignite presentations into 30 minutes. While these presentation styles are entertaining and a lot of fun, their impact is maximized when they are immediately followed by small breakout discussion sessions with the presenters. The combination reinforces participant learning, as attendees follow up and explore the ideas presented.

In Conclusion

There’s no excuse for inflicting lectures on your attendees anymore. Incorporating any or all of the above participation techniques into your meeting sessions is a sure fire way to increase learning, connection, engagement, and action outcomes at your events!