Food is Facilitation Fuel for Enhanced Energy, Attention, and Community

You’d never knowingly let your car run out of gas or a charge. So why do some events leave participants with nothing in their tanks?

Approximate reading time: four to five minutes.

Facilitators spend a lot of time planning content and formats to achieve the intended outcomes for a meeting or a workshop.  But how much attention do you invest ensuring breaks and meals drive those same desired results?

Clients are usually surprised if I ask about menus for events where I am speaking or facilitating.  What I’ve discovered is that some focus only on tasty food that meets the budget. Both are important, but food’s role in determining an event’s success goes beyond satisfaction and finances.

Food is fuel.  Just as we opt for the best content and conversation to feed people’s brains and hearts, so should the best food selections possible be made to fuel energy, attention, engagement, and community.  The tips that follow are meant to spark your thinking, not be a comprehensive resource on this important topic.

Principle #1: Make more nutritious selections.

You don’t need a degree in nutrition to make better choices.  When speaking with a meeting planner, a hotel convention services staffer, or a restaurant’s catering contact, I try to enlist them as a partner or ally and use their expertise to achieve the goals that follow.

Make inclusive selections.

Provide appropriate options for vegans, vegetarians, and those who are gluten-free or have other restrictions. No participant should struggle to maintain energy or focus because little of the food available meets their dietary needs.

Serve whole grains. 

Opt for brown rice instead of white rice.  Ensure that whole wheat bread isn’t made from the less nutritious “enriched wheat.”  Include other protein- and fiber-rich grains like quinoa, wheat berries, and farro.

Ensure protein is available at every break or meal.

For breaks, add hard-boiled eggs, cheese chunks, cottage cheese, and almonds or other nuts. Hemp seeds and chia seeds are good yogurt mix-ins.  Nut butter spreads are also good options. 

Small servings of protein shakes are a nice break surprise.  So is popcorn covered with “cheesy” nutritional yeast in the afternoon. Roasted chickpeas are a tasty snack.

At meals, choose green vegetables richer in protein: broccoli, spinach, asparagus, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, peas, edamame, and sweet potatoes.  Lentils and beans also are an easy yes.

Right-size portions.

While most hotels and conference centers have abandoned serving gargantuan muffins or cookies, it is still worth inquiring about portion sizes, particularly for desserts.  The same is true if you order from a restaurant or caterer.

I tend to favor dessert samplers, small portions of a variety of treats.  This makes it easier for people to have a taste of just one or to try a few with less of a sugar crash.

Ask for mini bagels or muffins, cut banana or pumpkin bread into smaller slices, display sliced bagel halves instead of whole bagels.

For a plated meal, I’ll often bump up the vegetable portion and reduce the meat or vegetarian protein a bit if the latter is large.

Cutting large sandwiches in half allows people to perhaps sample more than one kind.  Sandwiches on slider buns are also a good right-sized choice.

Reduce sugar.

This often depends on the venue and their recipes, but we can almost always ask for lower-sugar yogurts and protein bars.

Putting wrapped candy on the table?  Opt for the mini sizes and also include a non-sugar option like bagged nuts.

Somewhat controversially, I rarely serve juice at breakfast because of the high sugar content, opting instead for a fruit display. If I do include juice, I always request smaller glasses be available.

Avoid heavy carbs.

Thankfully the days of having to facilitate an afternoon session after a lunch of creamy pasta alfredo seem to be gone.  But do proof your menu selections for any unhelpful carb overloads you may wish to avoid.

Principle #2: Serve food to facilitate community.

When I offer this counsel in one of my meeting or conference design workshops, I’m often met with puzzled stares.  Many facilitators don’t often think about how the logistics of their food service and room set enhance or impede community.  They should. Simple shifts can make a big difference.  Let’s examine a few.

Use two-sided buffets.

Not only does this speed up self-service, it immediately doubles the number of people you might speak with while in line.  Instead of only talking to the person before or after you in a single-line buffet, you also now have those directly across from you on the other line.  This means more possible connections, more possible conversations, more possible community.

Have food stations instead of a buffet line.

While we shouldn’t make people work a lot to get their complete meal, splitting some of the food and beverage among different stations increases the number of different people with whom they might connect.  I often place beverages and desserts at their own stations (usually near each other).

Use table sizes more conducive to interaction.

If your meal is in a separate room from your meeting or workshop, consider a different room set.  Smaller rounds (48” or 60” instead of 72”) increase the odds that people can hear and engage with more people at their table.  Communal conference or library-style tables can create the feeling of a picnic gathering and draw you closer to others.

Offer a mix of seating options.

Individuals may wish to engage or experience community differently, so consider providing a mix of table configurations.  People can select the one that best meets their mood or interest.  When implementing this approach, I usually include some highboy tables for those who might like to stand and eat. Small cocktail rounds are nice for those who may seek some solo time or a quiet conversation with only one or two others.

Switch from plated service to family-style.

Not every hotel or conference venue will do this, but I like the family and communal feeling of people passing dishes around the table and serving themselves.  If doing this for a whole meal seems a bit much, try it just for desserts and pass a sampler platter of one-bite options.

Try a “bulk food” break.

A highlight of the first TED Conference I attended was a bulk food break display similar to what you would encounter in a grocery store.  This self-service option increased the number of people I met during the break and also was an easy catalyst for conversation: “Ooh, what did you just find over there?”  Just be sure to right-size the cups or bags people can fill so that they neither break your budget nor their daily calorie count.

Add a conversation catalyst.

I never want to over-program a meal or break, but sometimes adding a small conversation catalyst can help enhance the learning and conversations.  A few compelling quotes or conversation prompts displayed as the centerpiece, on the buffet, or at each person’s seat is easy to do.

Bottom Line

Food can—and should—fuel energy, attention, and community at meetings, workshops, and conferences.  Facilitators and meeting planners should embrace this intention, make more nutritious food choices, and serve them in a manner that enables connections, interaction, and community.

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