At last, spring has begun and the winter snow is becoming a fond (maybe!) memory. But is your last conference in the deep freeze? Did the audience go home and forget it, so everything is the same, with no change and no progress? It’s not too late to rethink your next event and turbo-charge it from “nothing much happened” to “look what happened!” Here’s the secret. Build a snowman.

Frozen Events

It’s been a banner year for snow thanks to the Disney blockbuster Frozen. Suddenly, Frosty the Snowman is so 20^th century. Today we have Olaf, a smart aleck snowman who has a 180-degree different perspective on cold and ice. He yearns for summer.

Well, your audience is like Olaf. They appreciate all the organization and planning but aren’t excited by events that are like glaciers – cold and slow moving. They want something warm, inviting and comfortable. You can achieve that by taking a 180-degree different perspective on the usual event agenda and how the audience understands and processes everything they see, hear and do.

We can dramatically improve the results and the experience by structuring event like a snowman. Hey, I bet you saw that one coming.

Building the Perfect Snowman

According to engineers at Bluefield State University in West Virginia, the size of the three snowballs is critical. They determined that the optimum ratio is 3-2-1 for the bottom, torso and the head. So that will be our guide. Here’s the design.

Three parts – relevant content and information

Two parts – experience and involvement

One part – people and relationships

As Easy As 3-2-1

Content and information form the base.

It must be solid and stable. Just remember, as important as that big snowball at the bottom is, people take it for granted. Relevant content is absolutely essential. People are never surprised to get it – but very upset if they don’t.

Experience and involvement are the center snowball.

This is where you add excitement and action – where the heart and the arms are. Creating audience involvement is what brings the information to life and motivates attendees to start achieving your desired results. It’s right in the middle of things, between the content and the people.

The top ball is the head – the people.

People and relationships are the face of any conference or event. They actually define the identity and personality of the meeting. As important as relevant content and experiences are, attendees ultimately come to be seen by and enhance their relationships with other people.

The Perfect Snowball

If this is our design, how do you build it? If you’ve ever made a snowman, you know that you don’t start by pushing a lot of snow together. You make the perfect snowball by starting small and then rolling it. As it rolls, it picks up more snow and grows larger and larger as you work. But most of us don’t design a meeting agenda that way!

How to Avoid the Most Common Design Flaw

Let’s be like Olaf and turn 180-degrees away from the accepted way of organizing content and sessions. Unfortunately, the most common way of delivering the big ideas or most important information in a meeting is: Put It at The Beginning.

You’ve probably organized, planned, produced or attended hundreds of these events. The session opens and the first thing is the Big-Dang-Deal presentation by the President, CEO or Chairman, who explains all about the new development, plan, product, process, reorganization, etc. It’s like dropping an avalanche on the audience – Kersplat!

The intention is to open big and get the important message out there while the audience is still awake and paying attention. Sure, people may applaud and you might hear some sporadic “whoo-hoo’s,” but then things begin to freeze over. After the initial reaction, everyone’s brain goes into suspended animation. There’s too much information to handle with no foundation, experience or personal engagement to support it.

Now They’re Snow Blind!

So far, the entire event is walk-in music, an attractive set and stack chairs. You might have an opening video to begin the event, but there isn’t anything to give all those people any context on what they are about to hear. So, along comes the big presentation and the audience doesn’t know what to do with the information, how to use it, or how they feel about it. They’re polite, clap, and then … stop. That’s really all they can do.

Let’s Break the Rules

Remember how you make the perfect snowman? You start small, get the ball moving and let it grow as it covers some ground. Instead of dropping everything at the beginning of the meeting, give them smaller pieces of information and the experiences they need to understand. Wait until the audience is ready to accept, understand and value the big message. Then deliver it.

Please forget the ancient “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them and then tell what you’ve told them” idea. It’s too slow and outdated for the digital age. Here’s the better plan.

•  Introduce a series of ideas, concepts, actions or people that set the groundwork for the big mega-message. These can be smaller presentations, workshops or even meetings.

•  Break things down to the essentials and let the audience build acceptance and understanding. Don’t get impatient.

•  Introduce ways to let the audience to work with the ideas, concepts, actions or people. Bring them to life with fresh, interesting audience experiences and involvement that make them personal. And real.

•  Continually provide some insight that helps people understand what it means to them.

•  When everything is stacked up like a snowman, go for the big message. Explain how everything fits together, and let the audience make the connections to what they’ve learned and experiences. Make a call for action or change. Then get ready to see some significant, measurable results.

Nobody Likes a One-Balled Snowman

You can’t have all content and no experience and relationships and expect to generate any significant results. So be the organizer, planner, producer or presenter who has a 180-degree different perspective. Start with some key “snowball” ideas or pieces of information. Get the ball rolling and allow the audience or attendees to push them around. They’ll quickly grow. And you’ll have an effective and successful event with a solid foundation, a sturdy torso and a winning face.

The key is to always provide that magic ratio of:

Three parts – relevant content and information

Two parts – experience and involvement

One part – people and relationships

Just remember, no two snowmen are the same. It’s the same with events. You have to mold the snow (and the event) into something stable and fun, with your company’s or organization’s particular personality.

Hey, it doesn’t matter if it’s 90 degrees outside. Everyone loves a snowman – and the people who build them.

Let’s spend 15 minutes talking about your next project or challenge. It’s a free consultation so we can get to know each other. Just click on CONTACT US or send an email to andy@ideagroupatlanta.com and get in touch.

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