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September 22, 2009

Why Baby Boomers shouldn’t plan events

I spoke at a company’s internal conference last week, and was reminded how difficult it is to plan an event that’s lively, compelling and energizing.

Unfortunately, this one failed in all three categories. There were many problems, but the most serious one was pacing. From start to finish, everything simply moved too slowly and took too long. I blame the Baby Boomers who were running the show (My generation often moves way too slowly.). Here are the lowlights:

Registration began at 11:30 a.m. and opening remarks were scheduled to start at noon, with lunch to be served immediately afterwards. Because most people were punctual, participants were seated at their tables and had polished off their salads by 12. But for some reason, the opening remarks didn’t start until 12:20. By then, we were all hungry and bored (How much small talk can you make?).

Because lunch (chicken, of course) wasn’t served until 12:35 or so, the panel discussion didn’t begin at 12:45 as scheduled, but was delayed until after 1. That meant another long (yawn!) stretch at the table.

Finally, the panel discussion began. The panel discussion wins my vote for worst event format: It’s slow, it’s stilted and it’s almost impossible to do well. What usually happens is this: The moderator makes a statement, then asks the panel a question. Panelist #1 speaks for five minutes. Then Panelist #2 speaks for five minutes. Finally, Panelist #3 speaks for five minutes. Then the moderator asks another question, and it starts all over again. There’s nothing to look at and no interaction for the audience. Good panelists interact with each other, but that leaves the audience in a passive spectator role. And even if each panelist is interesting, the dynamic is deadly dull.

Once panelists had made their remarks, the moderator asked the audience if there were any questions. Since it was now nearly 2 p.m. (half an hour over schedule), and the audience’s brains were fried and their butts paralyzed, it wasn’t surprising that they had few questions.

At this point, we were all in need of a break. But when the break was over, the audience returned slowly and reluctantly for the after-lunch sessions. These folks were cooked, and were almost resentful about having to sit in a chair for another hour or so. I couldn’t blame them, even though I know had to facilitate a session and try to rouse them into some semblance of energy.

What could the Baby Boomer organizers have done differently? 3 quick ideas:

1. Be a stickler about the schedule. Unless the place is burning down, start and end on time. (If a key player is late, work around him or her.)

2. Involve the audience right from the beginning. I would have put question cards at each table, and during the opening remarks would have given this instruction: “During lunch, we need each table to come up with 3 questions for the panel. We’ll collect the cards after lunch and use them to start the discussion.”

3. Five minutes for remarks is four minutes too long. If you must use a panel discussion, coach participants to make one point at a time, and let them know the moderator will interrupt after about a minute.

Posted by Alison Davis at September 22, 2009 08:38 AM