Compelling (Re)Design Questions to Generate Better Event ROI (Facilitation Friday #42)
Many meetings, workshops, conferences, and other events use a “repeat and replace” design method. We must do better.
Every day millions of people convene in conferences, meetings, strategy sessions, or workshops. Over time their formats and agendas can become stale and need upgrading to deliver a better return. So can the conversations about how to do so.
Let’s face it. Many meetings, workshops, conferences, and other events use a “repeat and replace” design method: Find last year’s agenda. Leave time blocks roughly the same. Delete speaker names, workshop titles, and entertainment acts. Replace with new info.
This isn’t inherently evil and it definitely saves time, a value that sometimes takes priority.
To prevent diminishing or lackluster results, it helps to periodically ditch the previous year as a template and start again from scratch. Or if “repeat and replace” is all your resources can support, at least explore how to ensure each of your replacement choices brings more value to the experience.
Facilitating dozens of event design and redesign sessions has helped me produce two sets of compelling questions (henceforth referred to as CQs) to help improve event ROI whether it be a conference, meeting, workshop, or other form:
#1: The Ala Carte Questions
Fifteen succinct and focused questions typically addressing one area of tactical improvement for the event. I think of these as “ala carte” options from which you can build your own discussion menu based on current appetite for conference redesign.
#2: The Set Menu Questions
A set of more expansive and strategic questions organized thematically by common event ROI value propositions. While any of these questions can be used ala carte, I tend to think of them as a set menu appropriate for a complete meal of conference (re)design discussion.
All of the CQs use strategically chosen language as a catalyst for fresh ideas and creative thinking. Notice how they specify a “job to be done” for the meeting, workshop, or conference design, a framework popularized by Clayton Christensen.
Each CQ also intentionally begins with how might we, language known to help facilitate innovative thinking. The language and framing for each CQ also reflects IDEO’s Goldilocks Principle: neither too abstract and systemic, nor too specific and uninspiring.
Five Ways to Use Compelling Questions (CQs)
Whether you’re the facilitator or a participant seeking to be facilitative, introduce an appropriate CQ when the conversation or idea generation lags and needs a reboot: “I wonder how we might … CQ.”
Explore a CQ or two each week with a staff team or volunteer committee … or even on your own! This enables ongoing consideration of new ways to improve your event ROI in a manageable chunk of time.
Incorporate CQs into a design summit or session that is examining ways to improve a specific conference or event or an organization’s overall offerings. If you use the set menu questions, I often assign each theme to a small group followed by large group reporting and discussion.
Use CQs as an activity in a workshop you’re presenting on meeting or conference design and R.O.I.
Prime a longer event design session using CQs as a quick icebreaker. Make cards for ach ala carte question, have participants draw one, introduce themselves, and offer an idea for their CQ.
Additional tip
Gathering input from a large and diverse mix of stakeholders will increase the odds of discovering fresh and interesting ideas. When possible, use social media, surveys, et al, to invite contributions from people beyond the specific group you will facilitate.
Selecting CQs for a Conversation
Each CQ focuses participants’ design thinking on one specific desirable outcome for a meeting, workshop, or conference. Use the maximum number of relevant CQs that the group size and time allocated for the conversation allow.
If time is limited or your group is small, select a theme and corresponding questions from the set menu or a few ala carte CQs addressing the most important desired improvements. The design session conveners (if not you) can do this, you could survey participants’ preferences in advance, or at your session each participant can allocate five votes among the CQs they want used.
Generating and Evaluating Ideas
Concerned about the answers these questions might yield? Here is additional guidance to improve the quality and quantity of ideas generated.
No matter how many ideas produced, you want to evaluate them in an efficient and effective manner, using agreed-upon criteria and decision-making rules. Here are three simple criteria I find useful.
Three ideas that are the easiest to implement right now.
Three ideas to improve the ROI for the largest number of participants.
Three ideas to improve the ROI for stakeholders you want to better engage; i.e., new professionals.
Incorporating favored ideas into a conference (re)design is the final step in upgrading the event ROI.
Bottom Line
At some point even the best event designs grow stale and need a refresh. Prevent this by having a set of timely compelling questions you can use at any time to generate timely ideas that will enhance the ROI of your meeting, workshop, or conference.
Whether used in a formal design session or dropped ad hoc into a group discussion, they are a useful catalyst for fresh thinking and new ideas.
Getting in Action
Identify a future meeting, workshop, or conference you’re facilitating and use the CQs to improve the event ROI.
What additional CQs might you include in either the ala carte or set menu of questions?
Identify a few like-minded individuals in your organization with whom you will discuss how CQs could enhance event ROI and how you might individually (and collectively) do so?
Bonus: Another ROI Improvement Approach to Consider
In addition to (or in lieu of) the structured approach of my suggested outcomes/themes and questions, you could use this more open-ended five-step approach to inform your design choices.
Another Bonus: Conference Redesign Case Study
Curious about the tangible outcomes of using CQs to improve event ROI? Here is a PDF illustrating how one group redesigned their major conference’s registration area so it would accelerate learning, connections, and community.
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