Sound n' Sight

14 tips I learned about collaboration at events from ECTC

Last week's Event Camp Twin Cities set out to help bring innovation, collaboration and experimentation to the events industry landscape and, as a participant, it was easy to see this at every turn. 

The space was brand new and featured interesting architecture and soft, intimate lighting. The decor by BeEvents reflected the innovative theme and featured exercise balls and couches. New formats such as Pecha Kucha were tested and new technologies such as livestreaming, business simulation games and Google Moderator were explored.

However, of the three goals organizers Samuel J. Smith and Ray Hansen set for ECTC, what stuck out most for me was how much was accomplished because of their commitment to collaboration.

Here are some things I learned about collaboration at events from ECTC10.

1 - It pays to have a strong network of industry friends

When Ray and Sam announced their plans for Event Camp Twin Cities, I, among many others, immediately contacted them and offered to help.  Why? Because after meeting them at the original Event Camp, I knew that they would be fun to work with, I shared their passion for innovation in the events industry and I wanted their project to be successful.  ALSO, both of them had always been very kind and supportive on Twitter.  

2 - People want to help. It gives them a sense of ownership

Everything I did as a volunteer for ECTC added to the richness of my experience as a participant. I was grateful to be able to help and appreciated the additional opportunities to network.  If I ever get the chance to help register people at another industry event, I won't hesitate.

3 - Dividing your audience into groups helps create intimacy 

GONE were the lined up audience chairs. In their place were tables, surrounded by chairs, exercise balls and cozy couches.  Almost every presenter included an interactive portion for event participants and several of those required people to divide into groups and confer among themselves. In addition to keeping us engaged in the presentations, this helped us get to know each other which made it easy when the time came for us to share our personal stories.

4 - A scavenger hunt done as a team breaks down barriers and helps people form immediate bonds

I was placed on a team with six people I'd never met and we all had to figure out clues to find particular places together. Guess what? I got to know them a lot better than I would have if we had just been milling about the coffee dispenser.  We walked, got tired, got frustrated, laughed, had a beer together and at the end of it I was really grateful to have those six new friends.

5 - At a hybrid event, seeking input from your virtual audience as if it were another group in the room keeps them engaged

Of course this requires that you hire a presenter like Emilie Barta to be the voice of the virtual audience and rally their support and involvement.  She acted as the leader of the virtual group during portions of the event that required audience interaction. She kept them involved and motivated and helped create a very professional web presence for ECTC.

6 - Seeking input from remote pods as if each were another group in the room keeps them included in the experience

There were two remote pods that took part in ECTC. One was located in Dallas, Texas and the other was located in Basel, Switzerland.  A screen was set up for each pod onto which were projected remote video links. Each was treated as a group for audience participation purposes, which made us all feel more connected. 

7 - Content can come from the virtual world

One of the members of the Basel group was part of the Pecha Kucha presentation which, again, added an international component to the content and reminded us all that distance was no longer an impediment to participation on most levels.

8 - Friends and participants will help you promote your event on Twitter

When you help others, they will look for ways to help you. Sam and Ray are open and very supportive of their Twitter friends.  And by contacting people who offered to help personally, they rallied their troops. So everytime they tweeted something about ECTC, their tweets were retweeted several times, expanding their reach significantly. This helped create a buzz of anticipation for the event.

9 - It's important to help people put the potential for failure in the right context

Sam and Ray made it known from the beginning that Event Camp Twin Cities was about innovation, collaboration and experimentation and, as such, was subject to snafus & failures that could also offer learning opportunities. Sam said on a few occasions that his fondest wish was that participants would take ideas home and improve on them at their own events. Barring a few communications problems with the remote pods, I didn't see much that went wrong at ECTC. However, being prepared for glitches helped me to be more relaxed and less critical.

10 - Create a place for participants to meet before the event

By creating a website community, ECTC created a place for event participants to discuss things before the event.  This was also done at the first Event Camp, and allowed participants to know who would be coming and who they might like to meet before getting to the event.  Discussions also took place that helped the community begin to bond before the event. The website continues to be a place for sharing even now that ECTC is over. 

11 - Encourage people to contribute what they can contribute

Sam contacted many people though Skype to thank them for offering to help and to explain face to face what it was he and Ray would be seeking to achieve with ECTC. This made people feel appreciated and also began to give them a sense of ownership of the event from the very beginning.  So even if they didn't know right away how they could best contribute, they were on the look out for opportunities and offered to help out when those opportunities presented themselves.

12 - Offer more opportunities for people to contribute

The call for presenters for the Pecha Kucha went out to everyone and several event participants ended up contributing a short presentation.  ALSO at the reception, Sam and Ray held a "story-slam" in which participants were invited to share their stories about using innovative techniques at events and a winner was chosen.  Just two ways in which content can be created by event participants.

13 - Support your participants efforts to enhance their own experience

Whether it was a get together at our suite, karaoke or dinner, ECTC gave us opportunities to promote it and Sam and Ray supported us. These activities enriched the experience for many ECTC participants and required no effort on the part of organizers Sam and Ray. 

14 - Let go of control. Take risks

Collaboration always requires letting go of control because it's about trusting other people to contribute. Sure there are things you can and should control, like choosing the right people to trust, etc. But once you get a good team in place, letting them do what they do best will help ensure your event is successful. Also, what better way is there to jump off a cliff than holding someone's hand? Stand or fall, succeed or fail, you'll become closer and learn important lessons together. 

There was SO much collaboration at Event Camp Twin Cities, I'm sure I missed something.  If you think of anything or want to say anything else about this event, please post a comment!

If you didn't get to attend ECTC10, you can still watch a recording of the entire webcast here. 

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