Knowledge: Utilise meeting breaks

Posted on: 01 May 2015

A break in a meeting or conference programme does not have to be lost time. Plan your breaks for greater engagement and productivity.

TANIA GOODACRE
Events Manager
Australian Trucking Association

People want value for money. When potential delegates are deciding whether to attend your event, they will usually first look at the programme to decide whether the topics are relevant to them. After that decision has been made, they will then look at the networking opportunities to be gained by attending your event.

This is where you, as the event planner, need to influence the scheduling to give them these opportunities. Delegates need breaks. This is now more evident than ever, due to the rise in technology and our use of it to make initial connections while at events. Delegates need time to come face to face with other delegates, as this is part of what they are paying for when they register to attend your event.

If you are working with a programme committee, give them the framework to start with by providing a draft blank programme that has event breaks already listed. This will influence how the programme committee (or you) schedule the sessions. Remember that refreshed delegates will take more in, remember more and have a more enjoyable experience, making them more likely to be return delegates in future.

People will only hear what their rear end can stand! This means that if your session is too long, your delegates will start to get uncomfortable sitting, which means that they are no longer engaged with your content and you have lost them.

A break doesn’t have to be lost time. As the event manager, are you:

• Planning to have a guest speaker for your break?
• Going to need your delegates to interact with exhibitors and sponsors? If so, how do you want them to do that? Will there be food in the exhibition, or perhaps a promotional “exhibitors passport” that delegates need to have stamped by the exhibitors to enter a prize draw (donated by your exhibitors)?
• Providing the necessary refreshments, or do you need your delegates to go and get their own?
• Providing activities such as local handicraft demonstrations, local music acts, interactive displays?
• Providing formal networking opportunities, or letting delegates do their own organic networking?

Once these questions can be answered and planned for in the initial draft programme of the event, you will know how long to schedule breaks for. In my experience, a 15-minute break is only just enough time for delegates to go to the bathroom, grab a cup of tea and maybe check their emails. Longer breaks provide greater opportunities and less likelihood of delegates missing the actual sessions.

At one of my events, my schedule starts with panel discussions with very relevant high profile panellists and breakfast provided from 8.00am – 10.00am. Delegates are then given a 30-minute morning tea break, with refreshments provided in the exhibition hall, before heading into a 90-minute concurrent session. After this session they all come back together for lunch, which has guest speakers. They then head into two afternoon sessions with another 30-minute afternoon tea break in the exhibition hall in the middle.

I’ve found that such programming works well for this particular event, especially having food in some of our main plenary sessions. Delegates are drawn to food – having the refreshments in the exhibition hall encourages delegates to visit exhibitor booths, and we’ve found that breakfast is a key draw card in getting attendance for an early morning session!

When programming, also think about the destination that you are going to. Delegates like to do something unique at the destination, particularly if they haven’t been there before.
At my most recent event, a highlight of the destination was the city’s markets, which are only open from 8.00am – 2.00pm on a Saturday. To allow time for delegates to explore the market, the official programme did not start until 10.30am. This meant that we didn’t have delegates skipping sessions in order to sight see, but made for a later finish to the day.

At the same event last year, the destination lent itself to afternoon recreational activities such as swimming. In this case, I started the programme at 9.00am, providing an early afternoon finish and plenty of time for delegates to have their time in the sun.

As always with event planning, start by asking why you are having the event, and what the event is trying to achieve.

Once you have the answers to those two questions, you will be able to build a programme around them that will be beneficial to your delegates.

In all cases, keep in mind that if a delegate feels that they are missing out on networking, sightseeing, or other opportunities, they will make it happen – often by skipping a “less important” session. You will have empty chairs, and your delegates will miss out on content.

Well-planned breaks will help you keep your delegates engaged, happy, and productive!