8 Unique Ways to Encourage Conversation at Meetings

The PTTOW Summit, held in May at Southern California’s Terranea Resort, encouraged conference attendees to sit with one another and answer some of life's big questions. A spinning wheel positioned adjacent to a seating group offered a series of topics—like "hate," "doubt," and "purpose"—to break the ice and make the exercise more interesting. The coffee table positioned at the seating group offered a workbook that participants could open to find questions or activities to do together, and the event also offered "conversation cookies,” fortune cookies filled with more conversation topics. JOWY Productions was behind the event’s production.

So-called “dine arounds” are hallmarks of the Engage luxury wedding industry summits, offering opportunities for small groups to interact and to give them some intimate time with event speakers. Each speaker plays host to a table of 10 randomly selected attendees, encouraging guests to mix and mingle outside their circle of friends. And to make the experience more fun, table assignments are given in playful ways. For instance, in Las Vegas attendees selected from among personalized playing cards that all bore speaker photos and restaurant names.

Similarly, for Engage at Palm Beach's the Breakers, custom fabric flowers indicated each attendee's designated table number.

At Cisco Live, held in San Francisco in May, attendees ate lunch outside every day, with about 1,500 seats at large round tables—or on blankets available for those who wanted to find friends or experience a more casual setting. In another networking opportunity, Cisco Live attendees were also invited to join peers and Cisco experts in small groups over lunch for a chat about technical topics of the group's choice. The "Table Topics"  discussions offered a fresh perspective on the issues that the masses were talking about at Cisco Live, for instance cloud security. Anyone was also welcome to start a discussion on a new topic and lead the agenda by finding an open table and posting the topic so other interested attendees could find it and join.

Similarly, for the TED Conference's simulcast event, TEDActive, held in the Southern California desert last year, about 700 guests gathered for a picnic lunch. The conversation-facilitating twist was that picnic baskets were available not for individuals, but for groups of seven—so each person had to meet six new attendees with whom to eat and talk.

Sometimes it takes a little break from formal networking talk to get the creative juices flowing—and the personal connections happening. To that end, TEDActive also set up informal game stations on hay bales around the venue as ice breakers for guests.

Some organizers get the networking going before the event doors even open to maximize the opportunities for interaction on site: Metropolitan Events & Production was behind a pre-event networking campaign for the 2012 shows that took place in both Chicago and Orlando. Organizers encouraged attendees to use social media to post selfies they took while holding signs that said "Meet Me at the Makeup Show,” along with their names and the event’s hashtags. The stunt was intended to build community and promote face recognition when the show kicked off. Organizers gathered the images and shared them on the event’s social channels to further build visibility among the participants.

The Exhibitor Show's "Dinner With Strangers” program offered people attending the show solo a chance to maximize meal time for networking, instead of dining in their hotel rooms alone. Attendees could join group reservations arranged by organizers at multiple restaurants for each night of the show. Sign-up sheets in the conference registration area detailed the eatery's name, type of cuisine, approximate cost, and reservation time.