Ivy Sea Online: Tips for jazzing up that company meeting

TIPS FOR JAZZING UP THE COMPANY (OR DEPARTMENT) MEETING
CREATIVE TIPS FOR SPICING UP YOUR COMPANY MEETINGS

Based on a request we received from an Ivy Sea Online visitor regarding ways to jazz up a company-wide meeting, here are a few ideas that we’ve collected, recommended and put to use over the years:

Will the real customer please stand up? One financial services company featured an "Investor's feedback group" – a small assembly of people who fit the profiles of typical customers. The ‘customers’ came prepared with comments and questions to share with the employees gathered together at the meeting. At first the ‘customer’ questions made sense, but as the meeting progressed, they got more and more strange and ridiculous, until the ‘customers’ broke into a song that had been written for especially for the occasion - they were a local do-wop performance group. Of course, the 'actors' could just as easily 'play' employees or any other stakeholder group as well as customers. The meeting organizers hired an entertainment group whose services include such corporate gigs – ranging from single tunes to full-blown shows of personalized content.

This is Your Life. For corporate meetings that include a mention or celebration of employee anniversaries, meeting organizers might select several of the anniversary celebrants – perhaps the longest tenured – and feature a "this is your life" game where a person offstage or otherwise out of view of meeting attendees speaks about a (hopefully light and humorous) memory of a project worked on, client, etc. and the anniversary (or other) honoree guesses who the speaker is. The speaker could then present the certificate, award or other special recognition.

On this day in history... To celebrate special anniversaries, meeting planners can group the employees by anniversary milestones (5yrs, 10 yrs, etc.) and give a brief introduction for each group, providing a bit of company history for the year the employees started working with the organization. For example: "In 1995, our biggest client was..., our total sales were...,we had ....many employees," etc. If your organizational culture is a bit more fun-loving, even zany, you can add fun historical tidbits about the prevailing fashion trends, television heroes and other pop culture trivia.

And the winner is... Contests, among other things, can help connect company-wide meetings with other organizational communication efforts to build knowledge, energy and commitment around the company mission while having a good time. Organizational communicators and meeting organizers can collaborate to create contests where employees can submit essays, drawings, etc. along a mission-consistent theme. Another group of employees – representing a cross section of the organization (not just one department or management tier) – can volunteer to participate as contest judges, and might be selected randomly or like a lottery (put your business card in a bowl from which ten judges will be selected). The contest could be advertised via other communication media – such as the company newsletter, email, bulletin board or intranet site – and winning entries could be featured via the same.

And the trophy goes to… Another special way to recognize efforts that might otherwise be overlooked is to ask employees to cast their vote for a coworker whom they feel goes out of his or her way to be of service to others in the organization and who does his or her job with a high level of expertise and service. Those nominated could be recognized at the event – as a surprise – and awarded with a certificate recognition, a gourmet gift basket or other small gift.

Guest Speakers, Unusual Topics. One way to liven up a meeting even in the most conservative group is to invite a guest speaker who can lead the group through a short period of exercises on something like stress management or office ergonometric exercises (or ergaerobics). This gets meeting participants out of their chairs and moving, while providing a professionally appropriate – and directly applicable – learning opportunity. Such exercises can be practiced quietly and professionally, even when the exerciser is wearing a suit and tie!

Attendees become investigative journalists. Meeting participants can be easily organized into groups of ten or twenty – by table, for example – and asked to ‘partner’ with a person in the group that they don’t know well. Optimally, meeting participants have already been seated or asked to seat themselves next to people in the company with whom they’re not familiar (versus sitting in cliques). Each person asks their partner five pre-selected questions from a list provided at the table or by meeting organizers (all professionally appropriate questions), and then introduces his or her partner to the rest of the group once the mini-interviews are completed. Questions might include what the person likes best about his job, what his favorite hobby is, what her favorite color is, what helps them make their workspace more comfortable and enjoyable, etc.

Meeting Yearbook. Another tool to make meetings more personal and help showcase particular contributions made by employees is to create a special publication, or Yearbook, that profiles the employees being celebrated, speaks about various leaders’ or employees’ passions regarding their work, etc. Profiles should help other employees ‘get to know’ a co-worker with whom they’re not familiar. Such activities also help personalize leaders or employees in areas where it’s easy for others to create stereotypes about certain departments or leadership areas. The Yearbook could easily be translated onto other communication media, such as the intranet site or bulletin board.

Of course, any idea for a meeting or other communication tactic must be tailored for your organizational culture and to suit the personalities of the people within your group. And any idea must be thought through, so that fun isn't created at the expense of any individual or group. Mindful meetings leave participants feeling respected, and respectful. Think of ideas such as these as clay, from which you can mold an activity that fits your group, yet exceeds the norms of the same, boring meeting approaches. The ideal result? Meeting participants leave the meeting feeling energized and more aware of the people with whom they work.

...And a few more ideas to cut the meeting snooze factor

• Send a fun, intriguing invitation.

• Turn attendees into participants, via open-mike Q&As, small-group discussions, graffiti walls, etc.

• Make sure participants know why they are at the meeting (and not because it's mandatory). In the invitation and the welcome speech, tie the meeting and its contents back to participants' roles - why should they spend their time here when the company goals dictate high-production, for example.

• Hire a lively speaker to emcee, such as a comedian (ensuring that her content is appropriate to your professional environment, of course).

• Don't rely on your typical presentation slides to do anything but cause participants to tune out after the first ten slides. Use presentation slide software to complement presentations, but don't overuse them.

• Use talk show format (not in a corny way).

• Make it easy to listen - consider having handouts in the meeting 'kit' so participants can follow along and take notes on the speakers' handouts. Or, provide "talking point" handouts after the meeting to help people keep key points in mind.

• Have welcome gifts under the chair as a surprise.

• Have a graphic recorder record the event visually, allowing an entertaining element to the meeting itself and creating a tool to share with everyone later.

This information provides food for thought rather than counsel specifically designed to meet the needs of your organization. Please use it mindfully. The most effective leadership, interpersonal or organizational communication plans are those that have been tailored to meet your unique needs, so don't hesitate to contact us or get assistance from your own qualified adviser.