July-August 2004 Article                      

Getting Results from Your Meetings
Advice from Regina Farrington, vice president of client services at The August Jackson Company

“We use meetings and events to drive results,” explains Regina Farrington, vice president of client services at August Jackson. “When your people understand and are in tune with your goals and vision, their actions reflect it,” she continued. “ This means the messages your customers receive are also in line. A good meeting teaches and reinforces your vision, makes members of the audience advocates, and sends them off on a high note. The end result is measurable results.”

When planning a meeting, the communication often starts long before the event with surveys to find our what’s needed and promotion to build interest and buy-in. The event itself should be like a path of dynamic sessions that lead to your final goal.

When you have a major organization development to herald, a communications company can plan a complete campaign for you. However, here are a few suggestions from Regina that you can try out yourself at your next meeting. 

Facilitated discussions. The person at the podium is the facilitator. The audience is broken down into smaller groups. You use their brainpower to seek solutions to challenges. This way different people within an organization get to speak, not just senior management. Exercise could be as simple as “Come up with a two-minute elevator pitch to describe your company.” The teams report back with something of value to use after the conference.

Simulations. Present a real business scenario and ask each team to come up with a solution. It could be done just on site. They could be asked to work on it during the conference and report out at a later session. Or, they could be given the assignment prior to the meeting. You could set up round tables and give each a different question to discuss and answer, or give everyone the same topic. All this promotes networking, team building, and creative problem solving.

Case studies. In advance of the conference, assign various teams case studies of company success stories. Each day of the conference, have a different team present their study. This way staffers learn about inspirational and positive happenings in their organization. 

Live entertainment. Actors or other entertainers can be hired to do a performance that supports a conference theme. This can be a great opening or closing to a meeting and can reinforce key messages from the more formal sessions. Possibilities include a juggler or magician weaving in information about company products, and pulling folks out of the audience to help. Singers belting out a traditional tune with custom lyrics. Comedians or mentalists briefed about the company who then create tailor-made shows.

Networking. Networking is different from team building, Regina explains, as it does not involve competition and has as its goal the development of useful contacts. Regina recommends networking activities in the evening just before dinner. Two possibilities:

• Attendees can be divided intro groups and asked to do a branding exercise where they come up with ten things that they want customers to know about their company. This not only promotes networking, but some learning of lasting value. 
  
  
• Each person at a table is asked to introduce him/herself to everyone else at the table and tell them about something they’ve done that few people know about. This icebreaker can help get your juices going, make you more receptive to what’s to come, and be the start of a productive new business relationship. Once the table is talking, it can lead to good discussions about the topic at hand. 

The August Jackson Company produces meetings and events for some of the largest and most successful corporations and organizations in the world, connecting with critical audiences, such as customers, salespeople, employees, partners, members, delegates, influencers and shareholders. They develop the theme, look, content and creative components of an event, and provide the equipment, build the stage, and bring it all together on site.

Prior to joining August Jackson, Regina served as senior account manager for Jack Morton Worldwide's DC office and has 19 years experience in account management. Frank Andrews is the president and founder of August Jackson and previously served as general manager of three Jack Morton Worldwide offices over eight years. He began his career in public relations with Hill & Knowlton, first in Washington, DC, and then in the Asia Pacific region. 

Learn more about The August Jackson Company (tel: 202-223-3800).