[MD3] Meeting Design 1: The Basics

Pre-requisite Courses

Either MD1 or MD2

Course Description

This is one of AMA’s foundational training courses; this is where it started…

If you want to understand how meetings work as a form of communications, this training offers you the way in. We will cover all aspects of what makes meetings unique as a communication tool. We will do so by means of short design assignments, so that the practical implications become immediately evident.

This course gives you the fundamental insights about the people, the physical circumstances, and the opportunities you have as a designer to create impactful experiences for participants. And all that for the purpose of achieving the objectives of organisers and participants alike.

Three Highlights

1. Discover the roots of the unique profession of Meeting Designer.
2. Open up to a new mindset about what meetings can – and should – achieve.
3. Experience how FUN is engaging and contagious.

Modules

In this course, we cover:

• Venue Message
• Recap of Introduction Course
• The 7 Characteristics of Meetings
• Using the 7 Characteristics for Design
• Knowledge – the Wisdom of Crowds
• Order and Sequence in Meetings
• Mind & Body
• Meetings and the World Outside
• Elementary Meetings
• International Meetings
• Meetings can be Magic
• Designing Experiences

Course Objectives

1. Learn the 7 characteristics of meetings as a form of communications and how to start applying them.
2. Understand the importance of meetings in catalysing relationships of trust between people.
3. Appreciate that ALL meetings deserve to be well-designed and that ALL participants deserve a well-designed programme.

Who is it for? Who is it NOT for?

This training is for all those who want to learn how to improve meetings and events: internal meeting planners, PCOs, HR professionals, association leaders, etc. And by “improve” we mean: creating meeting programmes that perform better on Efficiency, Effectiveness and Energy. An open mind and curiosity are the main attitudes that are required to attend this course successfully.

It is not for those who believe that conferences and congresses done the traditional way are good, and those who prefer to focus mostly on logistics and operations.

Professional and Organisational Impact

This training is the main stepping stone towards becoming a professional meeting designer. We introduce it to everyone who has an interest in meetings the opportunity to embrace a new, different, better way of conceiving meetings and events. That can be achieved only thanks to a powerful mix of personal and professional growth. Beware, because once you have embarked on the path of meeting design, there is no way back!

For those with decision-making power on meetings and events, this course will set new expectations about their communicative power. And that will change the roles and expectations of team members involved in creating and executing meetings and events.

What are we going to do in class?

The course is fast-paced and full of unexpected exercises. It will destabilise many of your ideas about meetings, and it will stretch you, asking you to experiment with your own behaviours and those of your peers.

Our guide is there to put all of that in the appropriate context because nothing in meetings should happen just for the sake of it, and the same applies to our training courses.

And of course, you will experiment with designing experiences and activities in small groups.

Reading List

Into the Heart of Meetings, by Eric de Groot and Mike van der Vijver

The Art of Gathering, by Priya Parker

Alumni Reconnect

One month after the course, this cohort will be invited to an optional online reconnect session with your guide. Join if you would like to share what happened when you applied what you learned, discuss obstacles you encountered, and receive further guidance for your practice.