Team Meetings Up to 30 People Can Still Take Place

While the UK Government has announced plans for returns to live events from 1st October have been postponed they have clarified business meetings of up to 30 people can still take place in adherence to the social distancing guidelines.

Of course many employers are requesting teams to continue working from home but there is also a recognition from business leaders that employees can travel into the office, albeit with a reduced capacity inside the premises, and the energy, creativity and teamwork that comes from the human connection will start to fade during the next 6 months.

We see this predicament as an opportunity for team leaders, managers and heads of departments within larger firms, plus of course for SME business owners, to create a safe, secure team meeting which inspires your team to meet the challenges we all face head on over the next 6 months.

The Starting Point

The starting point for any team meeting right now is for the leader to demonstrate their vulnerability and be open with their teams about the last 6 months. This has been a shared experience, but the team will look to their leader for permission to air their thoughts, concerns and reservations about the period ahead.

By doing this, the meeting creates a safe space to address those concerns and enable the team to bond, support one another and then to understand they all need to push forward. This is one reason why external speakers who have a story around adversity or change have been especially popular over the last 6 months, as they open up the floor to questions and provide suggestions to help teams come together.

Of course, the key factor in any team meeting that takes place in a venue right now is to make your team feel comfortable. The venue needs to be safe and secure, so the meeting organiser needs to set out the rules of the meeting, not just including social distancing guidelines, but also reassuring those who have concerns, re-iterating the rules concerning symptoms and testing, and generally being there to answer questions.

Our Experience of Test Events

In early September we assisted the Government test events to demonstrate how an external speaker can go on stage and address an audience in a safe and secure manner. The delegates were spaced 2 meters apart and our speaker, Brendan Hall, wore a visor mask while delivering his speech. Delegates were asked to enter and exit via separate doors and one-way traffic systems were put in place.

Our MD Nick Gold, in his role as President of the International Association of Speaker Bureaus, has been regularly liaising with venues since lockdown began discussing how the return to live events will take place. While those larger scale events have been put on hold for now, what is clear is venues are willing to help meeting planners.

As we just mentioned, it’s likely you and your team will have concerns. That’s entirely normal and so we’re very happy to help guide you in the venue booking and selection process too, so it’s never too early to give us a call and discuss your meeting plans!

Setting the Agenda

It is vital the meeting organiser sets out the aims of the meeting in advance to all participants. Hiring an external speaker for your meeting will require a start and end time, perhaps the speaker will stay on to facilitate discussions or join working groups, but from then on we’re encouraging the planner to allow the meeting to develop in its own time.
There is an acceptance that no one truly has all the answers at this moment in time. But your external speaker will provide the platform to pose questions, suggest ideas, use their experience, and provide theories to forge debate.

The beauty of small meetings is how the audience becomes far more involved with the speaker. Not only can the speaker see the impact of their words, but the questions which flow from the audience generate answers which stimulate discussion points.

However, it would be an opportunity lost to see this external speaker as a one-off event. The virtual events platform has created the tools to deliver follow-up discussions with the team and even with your speaker participating too. So, the agenda that is set needs to look past the fixed date in the calendar and instead be looked upon as a chapter in a series of events.

The content is important, and we will work with you to understand what it is your looking to achieve and best match that to the speakers who work well with small intimate audiences. If you’re looking for inspiration right now, then please take a look at our top 10 Keynote Speakers To Inspire Your Next Team Meeting .

For further information or to book a speaker, call us on +44 (0)20 7607 7070 or email  info@speakerscorner.co.uk

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