Monty Python’s Lesson for Meetings

And Now For Something Completely Different”

Fans of Monty Python will definitely remember that line! And, it might be a very good idea to keep it in mind, as a plan to save your next meeting from boredom.

Do you run the same event in style and format every time? Are the events, on the same dates, for the same length of time? Is there ever anything unpredictable, or done just for fun? Why not?

Event Professionals call meetings SHOWS. Do you think of them as shows? You should.

Determine which of the following tips are right for your particular cultures show:

• Be entertaining.
• Take inventory of the resources in your toolbox.
• Keep refreshing and changing the show elements: venues, types and tempos of music, lighting, seating, pacing, different styles of seating– everything. Small changes are important. It is a show.
• Have a bright daytime look, a darker nighttime look. This includes colors and lighting. Daytime TV uses much brighter “daytime” lighting and bright colors.
• Have your serious business and also make it interesting and at times exciting to be there.
• Keep the attendees involved. Use your audience response system to determine the topics of interest and importance to the audience. Honor that choice.
• Have an unexpected quick interactive game with meaningful prizes.
• Look for and welcome differences of opinion. Conflict is the backbone of drama—and real interest.
• Create and ongoing joke. Ask an interactive inside joke about some company, or event related topic (golf, food, etc.). Perhaps ask why the attendees are at the event; include something silly such as free coffee as a choice. Then during the event (especially when things get dull, or tense), use it as an unexpected running joke. Go back to it unexpectedly with: “Let’s see how the people who are here for the free coffee responded to this question”. As hokey as it sounds, it really works. It works because it is lighthearted and unexpected in the midst of serious business. It is something completely different.