UK business event organisers; event planning tips
Choose the right group size for your conference
Group size in a meeting or business conference has an impact on the quantum of ideas generated, the extent of participation possible by each attendee and the amount of discussion time each idea can have. It's important in planning events.
Think about the kind of event you're planning and organising, in uk or elsewhere. What's the purpose? Do you plan to generate ideas and tips but not take decisions based on those tips? If that's the case, the group size can be as large as the conference room itself. A larger group can throw up a diverse set of ideas.
On the other hand, if the event organisers are planning the business conference to take strategic decisions, then a smaller group is better. You need a significant amount of discussion, planning and consensus building -- and this can't be done with a large group.
A group size of about 8 to 12 is probably appropriate for such events. This distinction is a critical tip for planning business events.
Organisers could have a multi-state process for the event where you have a specific meeting for idea generation. This could involve 10 to 20 people or more. This meeting could be followed by a smaller meeting (around 8 - 12) that's meant to discuss those ideas and tips thoroughly and come to decisions that may have significant strategic impact.
If the organisers provide networked workstations for each participant (or each small group), that can be helpful in the brainstorming process. Because workstations at events allow participants to simultaneously contribute their business ideas thus resulting in a larger flow of tips in a short timeframe.
Further, if you so choose, event participants can contribute their ideas anonymously, which can further accelerate the ideas generated. Many business event organisers in uk and elsewhere use this to their advantage.
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