Tips to Liven Up Boring Meeting Space

These great tips for making boring conference/meeting space more conducive to creative thought come from Eva Niewiadomski, founder of Catalyst Ranch (an absolutely amazing conference space in Chicago where we hosted our first LexThink!):

• Bring a small boom box and a couple of homemade CDs with an eclectic and exoticly wild mix of music to set the mood for the meeting. Try to pick music that most people are not familiar with, but that is energetic.
• Use an unusual noisemaker to get people’s attention or to tell them when to start or finish an exercise (ie. bike horn, rattle, maracas, dinner bell, gong).
• Set up a station near the door where participants create their nametags instead of using preprinted or standard issue nametags. Provide them with different colored markers, stickers, mini-stamper markers and tell them to have some fun.
• Have the group actually create something during the icebreaker exercise that will give the room some character.
• Drape a few feather boas over several of the chairs.
• Place various ties, hats and wigs around the room and on the chairs.
• Bring small nerf guns and hoola-hoops.

Eva also suggests a few things to place on the tables:

• Pipe cleaners in cool containers
• Play-Doh
• Small etch-a-sketches
• Funny rubber noses
• Containers of crayons, coloring pencils and colored markers/funky colored pens
• Small mazes, puzzles
• Bowls of wild mixed candies and chocolates
• Yo-Yos
• Interesting books and magazines with lots of pictures
• Postcards you’ve received over the years
• Coloring books

Finally, Eva shared a bunch of “icebreakers” to use to start a meeting.  My favorite?  A backwards spelling bee:

Compile a list of reasonably common words with over 8 letters. Place them each separately on a colored index card. Give a pile to each team. Each team goes one at a time and is allotted 3 minutes in which to correctly spell as many words backwards as they can. One team member is in charge of reading off the words and each team member must take their turn. Of course, no pencils or paper are allowed.

Comments

[Lucy MacDonald]

I usually bring a big container of legos when doing a training session. I spread them out on the tables before people arrive and watch their faces light up when they say things like "oh, we're going to play with legos". It's always a great way to start.

[Lucy MacDonald]

I usually bring a big container of legos when doing a training session. I spread them out on the tables before people arrive and watch their faces light up when they say things like "oh, we're going to play with legos". It's always a great way to start.

[Lucy MacDonald]

I usually bring a big container of legos when doing a training session. I spread them out on the tables before people arrive and watch their faces light up when they say things like "oh, we're going to play with legos". It's always a great way to start.

[Michael Martine]

My previous comment sounds over-critical to my own ears. I certainly didn't mean to sound that way. I like this blog enough to subscribe to the RSS - thanks for having such a great blog!

[Michael Martine]

My wife is a tarot reader; I think she would agree that could be useful in terms of seeing things via archetypes and as narrative.

I think most people would totally cringe at many of these suggestions. Unfortunately, some very basic re-training has to take place before these kinds of tools will ever have a home in a business meeting. Two big examples that could help in any situation:

1) men need to stop interrupting and talking over women (and other men, for that matter). If you actually counted how many times this happens, you'd be aghast.

2) Define in no uncertain terms what actions will be done, by whom, and by when in response to issues raised in the meeting. Too many people confuse having a meeting with doing something. When you try to pin them down on specific actions, they squirm and writhe and talk in generalities (some may have read this in "Getting Things Done", but I think all of us can agree it happens).

Get the basics (and the new rules vis-a-vis women) right, and the fun tools will have their place.

[Eric Sohn]

Well, if you're going to hand out toys...

How about a pack of IDEO Method cards? Or Roger van Oech's Creative Whack Pack (adapted from A Whack on the Side of the Head)? Both are good creative tools, but are a bit more process-oriented than the toys suggested.

But...if you really want to mess with people...how about a Tarot deck?