24 Feb 10 Fun Ways to Break Participants into Work Groups
Many trainings, retreats and meetings require breaking your large group of attendees into smaller working groups for games, task completion, brainstorming or team building activities. While you can always simply assign each attendee a number or break them into groups according to how they are sitting, there are also options that are a bit more fun and will get your participants activated and involved in the process, leading to more productivity and more fun.
Little games that break them into groups also serve to re-energize the room and bring more life to your meetings, and for team building.
One example is the comic strip game. This game is easy to organize and takes minimal preparation. Simply clip comic strips out of a newspaper and separate each frame of each comic. During the meeting, have each participant pick a piece of a comic strip out of a bag or bowl. Once all of your participants each have one comic strip frame, the objective is for them to find the folks who have the rest of the comic strip and to line up in the correct order to piece the comic strip back together.
To add a bit of competition, you can also give a prize to the group that is able to find each other and arrange themselves correctly quickest. Upon completion of the game, you now have small working groups that can get to work on a task of brainstorming session.
Tags: Attendee, Attendees, Brainstorming, Break, Comic Strip, Comic Strips, Fun Games, Large Group, Little Games, Minimal Preparation, Objective, Participant, Participants, Productivity, Retreats, Strip Game, Task Completion, Team Building Activities, Work Groups, Working Groups
22 Feb 10 Preparing Your Attendees for a Successful Meeting
Corporate meeting planners wear many hats, which sometimes includes making sure the attendees are well-prepared. Pre-meeting preparation is an important part of ensuring the meeting is effective and productive, and also allows the attendees to know what to expect and which materials, presentations or notes they may need to bring. Productive meetings that stay on task and on schedule reflect well on the meeting planner, even if the planner is not the one actually conducting business during the meeting.
Here are ways you can help your attendees prepare for a great meeting:
1. Distribute the agenda beforehand – Make sure that all attendees have an accurate agenda prior to attending the meeting. Since you will be including the date, time and location of the meeting on the agenda, this also works as an effective meeting reminder.
2. Make sure attendees have background information – Either distribute materials related to the meeting topic, or let the attendees know where they can find the information they need.
3. Give the attendees pre-meeting homework – Whether it is simply asking them to read the background material or asking them to prepare ideas or a presentation, assign pre-meeting tasks that will help the meeting run smoother and get participants involved in the process.
With a little preparation, your meeting participants will have a more fulfilling meeting experience and will have you to thank for it.
Tags: Attendees, Background Information, Background Material, Business Meeting, Corporate Meeting Planners, Date Time, Effective Meeting, Hats, Homework, Meeting Agenda, Meeting Planner, Participants, Presentation, Productive Meetings, Reminder
10 Nov 09 World Meeting Time Planner Tool
We just found an interesting new meeting planning tool – the World Meeting Planner.
Planning an important conference call or videoconference with participants from many different locations around the globe can be difficult, especially when you need to find a time in the day when everyone is in their business hours, or at least close to business hours! This world meeting planner tool allows you to select the date for your meeting and the various locations of the people attending.
Your world meeting time planner results show you the relationship each location has in regards to daytime hours with any needed adjustments for locations observing daylight saving time, so you can quickly target a time that works for everyone who is to be included in the virtual meeting.
For anyone who has had to try to plan a teleconference with participants from many locations around the world, you know how difficult it often is to determine a time that is convenient for all, and doesn't have anyone having to be on the call at 3am. The world meeting planner tool is a great resource for scheduling those calls and conferences.
Tags: 3am, Business Hours, Business Tool, Conference Call, Conferences, Daylight Saving Time, Globe, Important Conference, Meeting Planner, Meeting Planning, Meeting Time, Nbsp, New Meeting, Participants, People Meeting, Relationship, Target, Teleconference, Time Planner, Videoconference
23 Sep 09 How to Lighten Your Workload
Event planning takes a great deal of time and energy. There are a great many details that go into the smooth transition from a client’s request for an event to making that event come to life. How can you lighten your load and become more efficient as an event planner?
Instead of filling out forms and emailing them to you, require that participants use online registration forms. These are stored in an online database that you can access at any time. Using an online registration form cuts down on the amount of data entry work that you have to do.
Online registration forms can effectively cut down on other aspects of your work. They can be set to respond to online registrations by emailing receipts and any event materials that are needed for the conference. Everyone who is registered can be emailed a reminder about the upcoming event with just one click of your mouse.
This software keeps you up to date should someone cancel as well. The registrant can simply go online and cancel his registration and your file is updated immediately. The more information a registrant has access to online, the less time you will spend repeating things over and over. Give online registration forms for your next event and discover how much time and energy you save.
Tags: Data Entry, Discover, Event Materials, Event Planner, Event Planning, Filling Out Forms, Mouse Software, Online Registration, Participants, Receipts, Registrant, Registration Form, Registration Forms, Registrations, Reminder, Smooth Transition
07 Jul 09 In Support of Meetings
It may sound like a self-interest broken record, but meetings are good for the economy despite what many may think. The next time someone maligns your line of work as a meeting planner and tells you meetings are a waste of taxpayer’s money (in the case of bailout companies), here are some arguments in your favor.
“I’m helping local communities.”
When a meeting comes to town, money is spent. It may not be evident right away, but there is more changing hands than the money you as a planner dole out for meeting space, hotels, and details. The participants will visit local restaurants, they will shop, they buy souvenirs, they leave tips, they go on short expeditions within the town–all this an more contributes to the local economy. (more…)
Tags: Bailout, Changing Hands, Ears, Economy, Event Planner, Expeditions, Government Efforts, Government Guidelines, Helping The Environment, Local Restaurants, Lots Of Money, Meeting Planner, Meeting Time, No Doubt, Participants, Planners, Public Image, Real Estate, Self Interest, Souvenirs
05 Jul 09 Creating an Idea Factory
When you have an event to plan, the last thing you want to do is run out of ideas. Here are some ways to ignite the creative fires when you’re tired, pressed for time, or your creativity is running on fumes.
Map It
Word your problem concisely–three words or fewer–and write it in the middle of a large sheet of paper. Place related words or concerns around it and connect anything that is related with a line. Continue doing this in layers until you hit the right word or term. There is software that will help you do this if you would rather be on the computer. Do a web search for “mind mapping software” and related terms. (more…)
Tags: Candy, Creative Fires, Creative Problem, Creativity, Exercise, Experiences, Maple Syrup Factory, Mapping Solution, Mind Mapping Software, Music, New England, No Doubt, Participants, Possibilities, Right Solution, Running On Fumes, Synesthete, Web Search, What The Heck
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