1.
From Strategy to User Experience
Meeting Design is Everything
Dan Berger
Social Tables
#PCMACL

2.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Audience-Presenter Agreement
● Leave at any time. ⏳
● I’m @danberger. You are #PCMACL .
● Steal everything.
● Participation encouraged.

3.
@danberger | #PCMACL
I am a participant.
I am a planner.
I am a supplier.

4.
120 employees
Raised $22.6 million
Founded in 2011

5.
4,229 customers creating
1.73 million events with
170 million participants

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@danberger | #PCMACL
I am a participant.
I am a planner.
I am a believer.
I am a supplier.

7.
We envision a world where people
meet, and achieve great things.
Sample of the 40+ awards the company and its leadership have received.

8.
@danberger | #PCMACL
● Define meeting/event design and understand why
it’s important to our profession.
● Adopt a framework for meeting/event design
● Apply new design concepts to transform
experiences.
● #BONUS: Discover trends that will directly impact
meeting/event design.
Learning Objectives

9.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Stage Setting

10.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Design tells
a story.

11.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Design sends
a message.

12.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Design changes
behavior.

13.
@danberger | #PCMACL
“If you don’t
think about
design,
someone will
think about
design for you.”

14.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Defining Meeting Design

15.
@danberger | #PCMACL
● The meaning of “meeting design” is not agreed
upon.
● The term “meeting design” is not widely used.
● There is a lack of popularly accepted frameworks
and tools.
● The term is constraining. What about the whole
experience?
The Problem with Meeting Design
Source: MPI report on Meeting Design, 2013

16.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Experience Design is Everything and Everywhere
● The design of the organization’s overall event strategy.
● The design of your meeting’s theme.
● The design of the experience.
● The design of the program.
● The design of each breakout room.
● The design of each tabletop.

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@danberger | #PCMACL
“The purposeful
shaping of both the
form and the
content of a
meeting to deliver
on crucial business
objectives.”
Source: MPI report on Meeting Design, 2013

18.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Manage
Comm.
Plan
Source
Strategize
Data
Mission
Project
Management
SchedulingTransportation Housing
Surveys
Badges,
Check-in, etc
Marketing
Design
Reg Social
Reports
Measure
Logistics
The
Meeting
Planning
Process
Pyramid
(c) Social Tables, 2014-2016
Site Selection
Design

19.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Opportunity of Design in Meetings
“[Design presents] one of the few
opportunities to enable meeting
professionals to do more with less...
to reduce costs and increase value.”
Source: MPI report on Meeting Design, 2013

20.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Urgency for Design in Meetings
Automation Outsourcing Expectations Competition

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@danberger | #PCMACL
“The meetings manager is
now far more than an event
planner. She now plays a
strategic role in the livelihood
of the organization, bolstering
its current conferences and
other events while finding
ways to innovate future ones.
Say hello to the new strategic
meetings manager.” business event strategist.

22.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Framework

23.
@danberger | #PCMACL
IntentionalMeetingDesign 1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to
improve the experience for.
Note: It can’t be everyone.
2. Identify the objective they’d like to
achieve.
Note: Every stakeholder group has a
different objective.
3. Create a design intervention.
4. Simulate your intervention.

24.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Tools

25.
@danberger | #PCMACL
IntentionalMeetingDesign 1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to
improve the experience for.
Note: It can’t be everyone.

26.
@danberger | #PCMACL
1. Identify your
stakeholders.
2. Place them in the
power vs. interest
matrix.
StakeholderAnalysis
Source: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/participation/encouraging-involvement/identify-stakeholders/main
Staff
CustomersSponsors Prospects

27.
@danberger | #PCMACL
1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to
improve the experience for.
Note: It can’t be everyone.
2. Identify the objective they’d like to
achieve.
Note: Every stakeholder group has a
different objective.
IntentionalMeetingDesign

28.
@danberger | #PCMACL
PurposeIdentification
Source: Marriott’s Meeting Imagined
Customers

29.
@danberger | #PCMACL
PurposeIdentification
Source: Marriott’s Meeting Imagined
Sponsors

30.
@danberger | #PCMACL
IntentionalMeetingDesign 1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to
improve the experience for.
Note: It can’t be everyone.
2. Identify the objective they’d like to
achieve.
Note: Every stakeholder group has a
different objective.
3. Create a design intervention.

31.
@danberger | #PCMACL
DesignSomeEpicSh*t
@danberger | #PCMACL

32.
@danberger | #PCMACL
1. Identify the stakeholder you’d like to
improve the experience for.
Note: It can’t be everyone.
2. Identify the objective they’d like to
achieve.
Note: Every stakeholder group has a
different objective.
3. Create a design intervention.
4. Simulate your intervention.
IntentionalMeetingDesign

33.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Innovation in Design Sets

34.
@danberger | #PCMACL
“
Room set is extremely
important to the success of
a meeting, and a serious
responsibility for the
meeting professional to
manage.
- Convention Industry Council Manual

35.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Form:
The General Session

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@danberger | #PCMACL
Change up the seating in your theatre sets.

37.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Create multiple stages to keep the audience’s attention.

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@danberger | #PCMACL
A mirrored theatre helps create community.

39.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Form:
Open Spaces

40.
@danberger | #PCMACL
“Spaces designed to
promote engagement
increase the likelihood
of collisions...
More collisions create
positive outcomes.”
C2 Montreal (Arsenal)
Source: Workspaces That Move People, Harvard Business Review

41.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The 3 E’s of Successful Interactions
Source: Workspaces That Move People, Harvard Business Review
● Engagement - Interacting with people within your
social group.
● Exploration - Interacting with people in many
other social groups.
● Energy - Interacting with more people overall.

42.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Build coworking spaces into your day-long programs.

43.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Popup office sets let participants create their own environment.

44.
@danberger | #PCMACL
A living room design helps participants get comfortable.

45.
@danberger | #PCMACL
PCMA Convening Leaders 2014 (Navy Pier, Chicago)
Inject art installations into your events to send a message.

46.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Design a club in your next event for both fun and exercise.
Daybreaker party at #STConf 2016, Social Tables HQ

47.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Form:
Trade Shows

48.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Innovation zones offer a condensed expo for smaller companies.

49.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Campus design squeezes every element of an event together.

50.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Freeman booth at IAEE Expo! Expo! 2014
Rethink your trade show booth as art exhibits.

51.
@danberger | #PCMACL
American Express Global Business Travel booth at GBTA 2015
Rethink your trade show booth as an educational opportunity.

52.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Form:
The Breakout

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@danberger | #PCMACL
Mixed sets are all the rage.

54.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Old Way:
Banquet
The New Way:
Family Style
Out-of-the-Box:
Extended Banquet Table / Serpentine Banquet
Summit Outside
Social Tables Company Dinner, Newseum
Serpentines give you options.

55.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Use furniture to create event flow
The Old Way:
Staggered Ballroom
The New Way:
Mixed Seating
School for American Ballet, Winter Ball 2014

56.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Old Way:
Classroom
The New Way:
Learning Pods
Use the layout to set expectations.

57.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Old Way:
Classroom
The New Way:
Crescent Rounds
Use the room set to create outcomes.

58.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Old Way:
U-Shape
The New Way:
U-Shape w/ details
Little changes go a long way.

59.
@danberger | #PCMACL
The Old Way:
High Boys
The New Way:
Parisian Cafe Style
Make people sit when they least expect it.

60.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Who needs tables anyway?

61.
@danberger | #PCMACL
What does the future of meeting
design look like?

62.
Aligned incentives for event success
between buyers and suppliers

63.
On-site logistics will be handled by
machines and robots.

64.
Content will be crowdsourced
or auto-generated.

65.
@danberger | #PCMACL
Wrapping up...
Dan Berger
dan@socialtables.com
twitter: @danberger
snapchat: danjbeger
“If you don’t think about design,
someone will think about design for you.”