For the nearly 300 meeting planners and suppliers who took part in the ReThink Forum's first conference, on Monday, the need to create engaging and informative business functions is one of the biggest incentives for testing and developing new meeting models. The biggest impediment to such industry innovation is a lack of internal buy-in from decision-makers and executives.
The hybrid event, based at Sentry Centers' Midtown East location, was organized by interactive conference consultancy Wizerize, the Event Leadership Institute, BizBash, and the venue. It was a chance to host a multinational discussion abut how meetings are starting to see a dramatic shift in content and format and what steps can be taken to accelerate the movement. Through videoconferencing and live Web streaming, the conference connected 98 participants in New York, 20 in Minneapolis, 27 in Copenhagen, nine in Paris, and 140 online in other locations.
Facilitators Flemming Fog of Wizerize and Mary Boone of Boone Associates set the stage for conversation by presenting case studies of their own work. With examples of business games, shortened speeches from C.E.O.s, and attendee participation pre- and post-corporate meetings, Fog and Boone endeavored to show the success of new and unconventional formats.
"There's a major paradigm shift happening in the world right now. With the advent of more collaborative technologies, and in particular, social media, it's changing how we're using information. We're sharing more, we're integrating, we're co-creating," Boone said from the stage in New York. "Meetings, in my mind, are one of the most important collaboration tools we have, but the problem is, they look like they did in the 14th century when the term was first coined ... so we've got to rethink how we are approaching meetings. We still need people from the stage, but we've got to add in the peer-to-peer—the feedback to the stage and feedback to us."
Following the case studies, the conference organizers asked attendees to identify key reasons for and against revising meetings, inviting participants to chat with their tablemates, input suggestions in Wizerize's custom computer programs at laptops, and vote on the pooled ideas. Among the motivators for change, the group underscored the importance of making conferences engaging as well as educational experiences, contending that standard meetings don't deliver enough value. There were also arguments for the need to handle larger volumes of information. Less weight was given to pressure from younger, more tech-savvy attendees.
In the debate over factors preventing change, attendees indicated an absence of comprehension and support for new strategies as a top concern. The group also maintained that many—planners, executives, and suppliers alike—are comfortable with the status quo and believe there to be cost involved in exploring new "innovative" meeting techniques. The idea that executives and organizers fear a loss of control ranked low on the list.
ReThink Forum plans to continue the discussion after the conference, posting video from the gathering on a dedicated Web site and encouraging attendees to add to a list of ideas for action.
