A good friend of mine recently asked me my opinion around using rapid fire presentations at his event, which he had done previously.  He wanted to keep the format going because it’s not traditional.  Not boring, something different for people to enjoy.  Reader of this blog know that I totally agree that rapid fire presentations are amazing.  However, I told him that I no longer think that just sticking to that format will serve him, especially since he wants to keep his event fresh.  So, we’re going to schedule a working session, and include his business partner.  During that session, I’m going to ask them a series of questions so we can determine if there’s maybe something totally new and unique to them that will work for their event.  Like most communications occasions, this process will be totally focused on the audience.

That list of questions is here, maybe you can ask yourselves these questions and be inspired to create your own new dynamics:

  1. What is your ultimate goal for the event?  What should people know?
  2. What is the curated question you want all of your speakers to answer?
  3. How much time do you want to allot for this event?  Why?
  4. How many individuals do you want at the event?
  5. How do you want individuals to interact with each other?
  6. What qualities do you want your community members to have?  (Who’s your target audience)
  7. How do you want people to feel during the event’s experience?  What about after?
  8. How collaborative should speakers be with participants?
  9. What tangibles should participants have after the event?  specific skills? physical products? awareness?
  10. What events have you been to in the past that inspire you?
  11. What types of speakers do you want?  same industry? multiple?

After we go through this list, we’ll have a sense of what the dynamics for the event should be.  And at that point, we may want to go for some traditional break out discussions, unconference, workshops, or something new!  We’ll know this after we balance and rank the requirements for audience dynamics and brand attributes for the event.  If we come up with something really great, I’ll be sure to share!  If you come up with something great, please share here, too!