Alternative Education

It’s helpful to provide participants with “fidget” items—stress balls, Rubik’s cubes, or small gadgets—to play with. “People need to keep their minds in motion all the time,” says Judy Sunvold, business development manager for the University of Minnesota Continuing Education & Conference Center in St. Paul. “If you put things for them to play with on the tables, you’ll help get their creative juices going.”

Suckow says she often sees people reach for such toys about 45 minutes into a presentation. “They need to have their hands busy,” she says. “It frees their minds to focus on what they’re hearing. They end up with more mental energy to refocus on the meeting and get more out of it.”

Social Situations

Although marquee speakers and hot topics may lure attendees to a conference, that’s not all they’re coming for. Most participants recognize that every event is also an opportunity to network with colleagues—and most appreciate that element almost as much as the educational content. “Some of the best ideas you get come from the other people attending the event,” Leyden says. “The best balance is to have both meetings with experts and time for attendees to swap ideas.”

A good planner recognizes that allowing time for that interaction enhances the event as a whole. Not only do participants have a chance to share business cards, but they also get to talk through the issues they’ve been discussing in the sessions. “Networking is just another way for people to learn from the conference,” Mikolich says. “Besides making contacts, they get to chat about what they’re learning. It makes for a more successful meeting.”

Meals are also prime networking territory, so planners often nudge participants in that direction. Suckow suggests random seating, in which everyone draws a table number out of a bowl on the way in. Others recommend putting topics on table tents and encouraging participants to pick one of interest to them.

Leyden appreciated one industry event where table topics were used to address issues relevant to the attendees. “It was a great way to create little support groups of people who were dealing with the same issues,” she says.

However, a planner’s job is to facilitate the networking—not demand it. “You don’t want to do it for every table, because you can’t force everyone to do it,” Steine says. “You can help put things in place, but then let them do it themselves.”

That is, after all, what adults like to do best whether they’re meeting new people or learning new things. “One of the things we’ve found in our research is that adults like to find answers on their own,” Steine says. “They don’t want to be just told what to do. They want to be involved in the process. They want to discover it themselves.”