After sitting in a two day corporate workshop, I took time out to read gapingvoid. The latest post has a cartoon with the caption : “Working for a corporation means having to worry about getting fired on a daily basis.”

It started me thinking about why almost every workshop is the same format, almost every conference is in a bland boring venue and why so many people sigh when they discover they have been selected to attend an offsite.

It’s because they are designed/planned to be safe. Nobody gets their nose out of joint, everyone knows what to expect. and nobody gets fired for breaking the paradigm. How do you design an event that’s not safe? An event that people not only remember, but value? An event when nobody falls asleep after lunch?

You can start by reading this list of nine things that are wrong with the conference/workshop/off-site format :

1. Passive events = passive thinking : an event composed of talking heads on stage provides little chance for interaction and leads to people tuning out.

2. Never give handouts before a presentation. People read them ahead of you, and then switch off.

3. There’s hardly any divergent thinking to engage and challenge people. If you get more of the same speakers from within your organisation then you will get more of the same outcomes.

4. Agendas – a known format allows people to tune out when they feel like it. If they don’t know what’s coming, they don’t know when they can go and check email and answer messages. Take people out of their comfort zone and refuse to give them an agenda.

5. Powerpoint. It’s a tool for showing images, not a word processor. Do yourself a favour and give all presenters a copy of Seth Godins “Really Bad Powerpoint” well before the event.

6. Conference rooms. Beige walls, flourescent lighting, lecture-on-a-stage and inflexible furniture. It’s all stuff people have seen many times before, and makes them comforted. Comfortable people aren’t going to start revolutions.

7. The belief that adding excessive decoration to a bland conference room adds value to the outcome of an event.

8. A seating plan that lets people stay in the same seat at the same desk for the entire event.

9. No follow up from management. On the off chance that you come away from the event with enough energy to burn a block of asbestos, the walls that you encounter on the return to the office will soon stifle your enthusiasm. What’s needed is a structured program of follow-ups and refreshers.

What’s your 10th item?