The “hallway track”
It’s such a cliche in the meetings business, yet still true, that most of the best learning takes place outside the general sessions and breakouts. You know, the hallway track, where people meet and spark up some amazing conversations. Internet guru Dave Taylor writes about this very phenomenon, and even encourages people to stay in the headquarters hotel to maximize the experience.
So, planners, what do you do to encourage this informal networking? We all know how important it is, yet it so seldom seems to be an actually planned part of the event (no, receptions don’t count. Especially those with live music and other entertainment. Those are for business-card exchanges, not real conversations, IMHO).
August 24th, 2005 at 2:35 am
Ah, yes, another pet peeve of mine: why are networking events often so darn noisy? It’s all well and good to have a band, but I go to networking events to *network*.
August 24th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
Alternatively, make your best deal with whatever hotel you want and just hang out at the HQ hotel bar all night.
Start-ups do it all the time. And it works.
August 24th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
Ack! Rich, please don’t encourage people to book outside the block, at least, not on a blog for meeting planners!! Just because they do it doesn’t make it right (OK, maybe more cost effective, but hey, those negotiated HQ hotel room rates pay for more than guest rooms most of the time).
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