The Rubik's Cube of Meeting Planning

Shortly before starting Fusion Meetings and Events, I was asked a question that I had never been asked before: “When you picture a meeting that needs to be planned what are your before and after pictures?” Well, HELLO, people wandering around with nowhere to go and then the after is people networking, mingling, and learning based on the objectives of the host organization. Just like reality TV, however, there is a twist – NO PEOPLE can be involved and it has to be an object. Wow, that was a kicker. So I thought long and hard and while each planner will have their own visual, here is mine and the explanation for it. A Rubik’s Cube. Not to date myself, but they were big in my day. “Nuf said”.

Every piece of a Rubik’s Cube is attached to the other, which makes me think of meetings. Yes, puzzles come to mind, but each piece is connected to another but not to a central core like the Rubik’s Cube. To me, the central core represents the goals and objectives of the meeting/event. Each side of the Rubik’s Cube represents a different aspect of the meeting – education, exhibit, government relations, etc. Given this, I’d like to share my Rubik’s Cube philosophy on meeting planning.

For starters: meetings take both a scientific and creative aspect to solve; they can be frustrating, but when solved are invigorating. They can be solved by many means and each individual brings their own ways to solve the puzzle. They need to use industry standards and also the creative feel of the individual planer. When solved, great planners have the idea to mix them up again and solve them using different ways so that are fresh for future attendees.

We all have different ways of getting to the final product. We all have been in situations where we felt we solved the problem and then found that there was a better way. We have all successfully solved the problem one way and decided that we needed to try a different way the next time. Such is the magic of the Rubik’s Cube!

While I am dating myself in so far as the cube’s phenonomen, I think all meeting planners are also Master Rubik’s Cube solvers.  We each take multiple parts of a meeting – financial, entertainment, educational, networking, government relations, etc – and combine them into one event that meets all those needs for the attendees. If the events are not joined together they do not work. If the many parts of a meeting don’t meet the bigger goals and objectives, they don’t work. While the Rubik’s Cube solving record is under one minute, but meetings typically take anywhere from weeks to years to solve, I see how meeting planners can use the same scientific and creative aspects to make their meetings unforgettable.

While the Rubik’s Cube is my visual, think about it and figure out what your visual is.