MORE ABOUT CONFERENCES

"Every battle is won or lost before it's fought." - Sun Tzu

1. VISION CLARIFICATION: First things first. If you are going to invest a bunch of time and money into a company offsite, it makes sense to get completely clear about your hoped for outcomes – and how you will measure success. Which is why our conference services begin with an in-depth conversation with you. You share your vision with us. You share your concerns, too – along with the pros and cons of past conferences. We listen, address your concerns, and explain how we can help you turn your vision into reality.

2. NEEDS ASSESSMENT: After we get your input, we’ll connect with a cross-section of conference attendees. Yes, we want to know what you think, but we also want to know what they think – especially since they are the majority. Towards that end, we’ll interview and poll selected attendees (and customers, too) -- providing you with a crystal clear picture of the forces at work and how they are likely to impact your conference design.

3. LEARNING PLANS: Will there be chicken at your conference? Muffins? Nametags? Yes, there will be. But there will also be too many people just taking up space, assuming their role is to be spoon fed by presenters. Not a good idea. If you want your offsite to really make a difference, you’ve got to change the game and create a learner-directed approach. Towards that end, long before your conference begins, attendees will commit to three things they want to learn at your event, three people they want to learn it from, and three things they can teach. All of this will be summarized in a Conference Playbook that everyone will receive – a simple way to ensure meaningful, real-time, peer-to- peer learning.

4. AGENDA DESIGN: Most corporate conferences are like American cities. Sprawl rules the day. Someone speaks too long. Then someone else speaks too long. Slides are shown. Maybe there’s a cheesy icebreaker. And then people enter into a trance state. No matter what the particulars of your event, there’s one thing you can definitely count on -- people will be sneaking peaks at their smart phones and wondering what’s for lunch The missing piece? A well-crafted conference design that ensures maximum engagement, teamwork, creativity, networking, commitment, fun, and follow-up. Hint: We know how to do this.

5. STORYTELLING: We know there’s a lot of bright spots in your company – best practices, lessons learned, and past successes. That’s the good news. The not- so- good news? Too few of these bright spots are known. That’s why the conferences we design include a healthy dose of storytelling – not just from our presenters to your attendees, but from your attendees to each other. Months before your event, we’ll identify a mix of in-house successes and coach selected attendees how to present these successes, in story form, from the main stage.

6. PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Every conference has a lot of moving parts. Usually, your conference planner is responsible for these moving parts. But when my team and I get into the mix, there will be other moving parts your conference planner will not be familiar with – conference elements that will need to be managed by someone and that someone is us. Our Project Manager will work closely with your conference team to make sure that all of the puzzle pieces fit together and that nothing falls through the cracks. And if a crack opens up, we’ll fill it fast.

7. COPYWRITING: Let’s assume, for the moment, that you are totally clear about the purpose and process of your conference. Congratulations. But even if you are clear, there’s a good chance that the rest of your organization is not. Why? Because, historically, your pre-conference communications have been an odd mix of unclear, uncompelling, and unread. That’s why we offer our world-class copywriting and editorial services. We can help you – oh over-committed future client of ours – get the word out in a painless, elegant way.

8. FACILITATION: You know the old expression “If a tree falls in a forest and there’s no one around to hear, did it make a sound?” Well, there’s a modern day correlative to that: “If a conference happens and no one is listening, was your money well spent?” The answer is a resounding NO, but we can fix that. On site, my team and I will do everything possible to ensure that participant engagement is at an all-time high. Based on your need and budget, we can do any or all of the following: MC, facilitate icebreakers, deliver keynote presentations, lead teambuilding challenges, get people out of the box, spark idea generation, facilitate breakout sessions, stage manage, and work closely with you and your team to adapt the agenda, as needed.

9. TAKEAWAYS: When attendees leave your conference, you want them to leave with more than a t-shirt, hat, and water bottle. You want them to leave with the kind of takeaways that will help them continue to live the spirit of your event. Guess what? That’s what we provide -- decks of innovation-sparking cards, decks of teambuilding cards, books that foster a culture of innovation, booklets that spark idea generation, and a selection of more than 50 handouts on innovation, change, storytelling, and creative thinking. Plus, we create a private page for your organization on our website with links to more than 20 videos and articles that will keep your people on top of their game long after your event is over.

10. FOLLOW-UP PLANNING: One of the biggest complaints we hear from our clients is that, no matter how good their conferences may be, meaningful follow-up rarely happens. Sound familiar? This is why we will work closely with you and your design team, on the front end, to strategize an easy-to- implement follow- up plan that will significantly increase the odds of conference outcomes sustaining over time. You’re not the only one who wants results. We do, too.

What Our Clients Say