Ahead Summit - From Strategy to User Experience - Meeting Design is Everything - July 2017

Dan BergerCEOSocial TablesJuly 2017

Meeting and Event Design is Everything

From Strategy to User Experience

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

● Your time is valuable. You’re free to leave any time.

● No one knows everything. Questions welcome whenever.

● Spread the knowledge. Take as many photos and share.

Interact with me and the audience...

● me on twitter = @danberger

● hashtag = #aheadsummit17

Presenter-Audience Agreement

I am a participant.

I am a planner.

I am a supplier.

100 employees

Raised $22.6 million

Founded in 2011

Boost event sales overnight.

Sales Success Platform

Fuel demand. Attract Fortune 500

planners with the space search engine.

Grow bookings. Engage qualified

planners with interactive content marketing.

Win more.Negotiate faster with

personalized proposals.

Deliver better.Create accurate setups

that lead to repeat business.

Destination Convert Propose Diagram→→ →

Free Planner Essential

● 100% accurate floorplans● 181,000 unique event spaces ● Live collaboration● 700+ custom objects● Free diagramming capability

Plan for the unplannable with collaborative event software and accurate floorplans that make it easy.

4,350 customers creating

2 million events with

250 million participants

I am a participant.

I am a planner.

I am a believer.

I am a supplier.

We envision a world where face-to-face events achieve great things

Sample of the 40+ awards Social Tables and its leadership have received.

1. Define meeting/event design and understand why it’s important to our profession.

2. Adopt a framework for meeting/event design

3. Apply new design concepts to transform experiences.

4. #BONUS: Discover trends that will directly impact meeting/event design.

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

Learning Objectives

Stage Setting

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Design tellsa story.

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Design sends a message.

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Design changes behavior.

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“If you don’t think about design,someone will think about design for you.”

Defining Meeting Design

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● The meaning of “meeting design” is not agreed upon.

● The term “meeting design” is not widely used.

● There is a lack of popularly accepted frameworks and tools.

● The term is constraining. What about the whole experience?

The Problem with Meeting Design

Source: MPI report on Meeting Design, 2013

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Experience Design is Everything and Everywhere

● The design of the organization’s overall event strategy.

● The design of your meeting’s theme.

● The design of the experience.

● The design of the program.

● The design of each breakout room.

● The design of each tabletop.

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“The purposeful shaping of both the form and the content of a meeting to deliver on crucial business objectives.”

Source: MPI report on Meeting Design, 2013

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Manage

Comm.

Plan

Source

Strategize

Data

Mission

Project Management

SchedulingTransportation Housing

Surveys

Badges, Check-in, etc

Marketing

Design

Reg Social

Reports

Measure

Logistics

The Meeting Planning Process Pyramid

(c) Social Tables, 2014-2016

Site Selection

Design

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The Opportunity of Design in Meetings

“[Design presents] one of the few

opportunities to enable meeting

professionals to do more with less...

to reduce costs and increase value.”

Source: MPI report on Meeting Design, 2013

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The Urgency for Design in Meetings

Automation Outsourcing Expectations Competition

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“The meetings manager is now far more than an event planner. She now plays a strategic role in the livelihood of the organization, bolstering its current conferences and other events while finding ways to innovate future ones.

Say hello to the new strategic meetings manager.” business event strategist.

The Framework

@danberger | #aheadsummit17 Inte

ntio

nal M

eeti

ng D

esig

n1. Identify the stakeholder you’d

like to improve the experience for.

Note: It can’t be everyone.2. Identify the objective they’d like

to achieve.

Note: Every stakeholder group has a different objective.

3. Create a design intervention.

4. Simulate your intervention.

The Tools

@danberger | #aheadsummit17 Inte

ntio

nal M

eeti

ng D

esig

n1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to

improve the experience for.

Note: It can’t be everyone.

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

1. Identify your stakeholders.

2. Place them in the power vs. interest matrix.

Sta

keho

lder

Ana

lysi

s

Source: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/participation/encouraging-involvement/identify-stakeholders/main

Staff

CustomersSponsors Prospects

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to improve the experience for.

Note: It can’t be everyone.2. Identify the objective they’d like

to achieve.

Note: Every stakeholder group has a different objective.

Inte

ntio

nal M

eeti

ng D

esig

n

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

Purp

ose

Iden

tifi

cati

on

Source: Marriott’s Meeting Imagined

Customers

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Purp

ose

Iden

tifi

cati

on

Source: Marriott’s Meeting Imagined

Sponsors

@danberger | #aheadsummit17 Inte

ntio

nal M

eeti

ng D

esig

n1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to

improve the experience for.

Note: It can’t be everyone.

2. Identify the objective they’d like to achieve.

Note: Every stakeholder group has a different objective.

3. Create a design intervention.

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

Des

ign

Som

e E

pic

Sh*

t

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to improve the experience for.

Note: It can’t be everyone.

2. Identify the objective they’d like to achieve.

Note: Every stakeholder group has a different objective.

3. Create a design intervention.

4. Simulate your intervention.

Inte

ntio

nal M

eeti

ng D

esig

n

Innovation in Design Sets

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“Room set is extremely important to the success of a meeting, and a serious responsibility for the meeting professional to manage.

- Convention Industry Council Manual

The Form:General Session

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Change up the seating in your theatre sets.

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Create multiple stages to keep the audience’s attention.

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A mirrored theatre helps create community.

The Form: Open Spaces

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“Spaces designed to promote

engagement increase the likelihood of

collisions...

More collisions create positive

outcomes.”C2 Montreal (Arsenal)

Source: Workspaces That Move People, Harvard Business Review

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The 3 E’s of Successful Interactions

Source: Workspaces That Move People, Harvard Business Review

● Engagement - Interacting with people within your social group.

● Exploration - Interacting with people in many other social groups.

● Energy - Interacting with more people overall.

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

Build coworking spaces into your day-long programs.

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Popup office sets let participants create their own environment.

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A living room design helps participants get comfortable.

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PCMA Convening Leaders 2014 (Navy Pier, Chicago)

Inject art installations into your events to send a message.

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Design a club in your next event for both fun and exercise.

Daybreaker party at #STConf 2016, Social Tables HQ

The Form: Trade Shows

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Innovation zones offer a condensed expo for smaller companies.

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The Campus design squeezes every element of an event together.

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Freeman booth at IAEE Expo! Expo! 2014

Rethink your trade show booth as art exhibits.

@danberger | #aheadsummit17 American Express Global Business Travel booth at GBTA 2015

Rethink your trade show booth as an educational opportunity.

The Form: The Breakout

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Mixed sets are all the rage.

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The Old Way:Banquet

The New Way:Family Style

Out-of-the-Box:Extended Banquet Table / Serpentine Banquet

Summit Outside

Social Tables Company Dinner, Newseum

Serpentines give you options.

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Use furniture to create event flow

The Old Way:Staggered Ballroom

The New Way:Mixed Seating

School for American Ballet, Winter Ball 2014

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The Old Way:Classroom

The New Way:Learning Pods

Use the layout to set expectations.

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The Old Way:Classroom

The New Way:Crescent Rounds

Use the room set to create outcomes.

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The Old Way:U-Shape

The New Way:U-Shape w/ details

Little changes go a long way.

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The Old Way:High Boys

The New Way:Parisian Cafe Style

Make people sit when they least expect it.

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Who needs tables anyway?

What does the future of meeting design look like?

Aligned incentives for event success between buyers and suppliers

On-site logistics will be handled by machines and robots.

Content will be crowdsourced or auto-generated.

@danberger | #aheadsummit17

Wrapping up...

Dan Bergerdan@socialtables.com

twitter: @danbergersnapchat: danjbeger

“If you don’t think about design,someone will think about design for you.”