Bootcampers! I’m in desperate need of some changemaker advice. I’m running a 20 person retreat next week (once again, working with @renee) and there’s one BIG obstacle. Literally, a big, huge, board room table that despite all my attempted arm twisting will be smack dab in the middle of the meeting room.
Any advice / strategies for neutralizing the big behemoth in the room, helping attendees connect and stay focused despite the big table standing between them? Any exercises / guidelines from successful meetings you’ve participated in?
Eugene, 
Rebecca, 
brooking, and 1 other are discussing.
Eugene 1:08 pm on October 15, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Ooo, excellent! A group physics exercise! Unfortunately, this was the workout that tanked the last session, and the new group hasn’t gotten to the revised workout. 🙂 Still, I’d love to hear what others think.
Modeling bootcamp, my first question is about the goal: What is the goal of the meeting?
My second set of questions is about understanding the constraints a bit more. How long is the meeting? Is there separate breakout space? If not, is there room around the table to do small clusters? What shape is the table? Is the room carpeted? Is there blank wall space? Are there windows? A picture of the space would be wonderful!
Finally, a question for my bootcampers, past and present: What’s been your best meeting experience with 20 people stuck in a conference room? What made it great?
I just finished my last site visit (of six) with Garfield Foundation. All of them have been full-day meetings in conference rooms with long tables. Yesterday’s had 15 people, which was not ideal, but was fine. We’ve gotten excellent feedback on all of our meetings both in the checkouts and afterward.
We’ve been using graphic recording heavily at our meetings, and we’ve employed two exercises designed specifically to get people moving. The space does you no favors in this regard, so you have to prod a bit more as the facilitator. We haven’t had breakouts, but if we needed to, we could have made it work, either by pairing people up in cases of severe space constraint or more if you have some flexibility.
So despite all of my previous ranting and ravings about the evils of conference tables, it will totally be okay. 🙂 I’ll wait to hear your answers to above before making suggestions, and I hope others will share their experiences as well.
Rebecca 2:04 am on October 16, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Eugene. What a great question: “What’s been your best meeting experience with 20 people stuck in a conference room? What made it great?”
Would love to hear the answer to that question!
And to answer yours, here are our meeting goals:
Shared understanding of what we’ve achieved together: organize our shared thinking
Group understands the potential and existence of “we” : The FCCP network
Catalyze collective strategy for the network
Hard for me to upload a picture of the space… but we will have a break-out room so that’s a plus!
Natalie 1:53 pm on October 15, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Doughnuts and bacon down the center of the table within easy reach of all participants?
Hi, Rebecca! 🙂
brooking 9:35 pm on October 15, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi there Rebecca – I’m a new bootcamper starting today and just chiming in as I read all the recent posts to catch up 😉 One Idea I used to do with Adaptive Edge was to have objects to play with in the middle of the table – white sheet paper, markers and crayons for doodling, some fun finger toys that you can get at a science/discovery sort of store or a 5 and dime, and PLAY DOUGH. Play dough is magical — it actually can really help people focus and stay in creative space while they talk, especially helpful with tension diffusion. Another trick to make use of the table is to get a bunch of cut outs of images from magazines, e.g., that might relate to content, and have an exercise where folks gather favorite images from the center of the table to create a collage related ot whatever visioning you are doing. These images, the play dough creations, doodles on the paper can all end up being powerful anchors for themes that emerge from whatever process your group is diving into. I don’t have much context to be more specific but all these are creative ways to make use of that table and bring some life to it and to your group, and make it a tangible representation of the creative space that lives between all your participants. Good luck 😉
Rebecca 2:02 am on October 16, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Brooking! This is all great advice. I was just shopping for play dough today! I’ve decided to cover the whole table with butcher paper and provide crayons, pipecleaners, and play dough. It could turn into a fun palette!
Rebecca 2:00 am on October 16, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Natalie! Nothing beats this advice. Eager to catch up soon 🙂
Rebecca 1:07 am on October 31, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi all!
Just wanted to follow up and let you know that we had a good meeting despite the big table in the room!
One thing we did was downgrade, we chose the smaller conference room that was technically too small for us. This intimacy was well worth the distance created by the large board room table.
There was colored paper and markers all over the table, and folks started off with a creative exercise. It was a bit more touchy feely / creative then I often like, but really important in setting the tone for “this will be a different type of meeting.”
But really, what made all the difference was the PLAY DOUGH!!! Great suggestion @brooking. Here’s a glimpse into what was created: https://plus.google.com/photos/106758161096309037901/albums/5940338959027890849?authkey=CMrjmLOYpqC5qAE
Eugene Eric Kim 2:57 pm on October 31, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Glad to hear it worked out! Thanks so much for coming back to share how it went. There was some serious Play-Doh artistry going on at your meeting. My favorite is the dude bowling.