Want to share what you know? Want to learn from others? Want to have a good time?

Then join us for a ride in the meeting canoe.
In our work we always end up teaching people how to design engaging gatherings.  It is in meetings where people decide whether to pull hard on the oars, go along for the ride, or jump ship. If you want to have an engaged organization then you need to pay attention to what happens when people meet.
One of our favorite activities when we’re teaching design is to provide participants with the meeting canoe template and ask them to create ideas for activities for each section of the canoe. Participants love this activity.  They are able to share what they know and at the same time learn from others.  Everyone is delighted with the creativity that shows up and they walk away with ideas they can use the very next day.

We are asking you to join with us in creating a place where people can come together and share ideas about what works when it comes to designing engaging gatherings. We hope you will join us and are looking forward to seeing your contributions.

Most people consider meetings timewasting, energydraining, and spiritsapping. Most of us seek to reduce the pain by avoiding them or eliminating them—thus dealing with the symptoms, not the problem.

If we want meetings to be dynamic, energy producing, exciting experiences that get things done, then instead of eliminating them we need to focus on making them positive experiences.

Instead of working toward reducing the time we spend with each other we need to focus on how to make the time we spend together productive.

A New Blueprint for Meetings

Because we see meetings as engagement opportunities, we look beyond the typical notions of what makes for a good meeting. It’s not that agendas and efficient meeting structures aren’t important; it’s just that we don’t think they are enough. Meetings need to be more than something people endure, they need to create energy to get things done. To help with this task, we have created a meeting blueprint (above). This canoeshaped blueprint helps us create meetings with an “engagement edge.” This canoe shape represents the opening up and closing down of a conversation. It is the boat that that takes us from the beginning to the end of our time together. Let’s explore the elements of our blueprint in detail.

(click on the links above to join the conversation)