{"id":2801,"date":"2016-09-15T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eventmobi.com\/en\/blog\/?p=3839"},"modified":"2025-08-13T10:05:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T14:05:26","slug":"event-design-no-flip-charts-one-conference-organizer-put-down-pen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eventmobi.com\/blog\/event-design-no-flip-charts-one-conference-organizer-put-down-pen\/","title":{"rendered":"No More Flip Charts! Why One Conference Organizer Put the Pen Down For Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

A case study on how one planner used\u00a0better event design to help the planner and attendees explore their shared ideas during and after the event. Participatory sessions offer tremendous value for conference attendees. They help eventgoers work through professional problems, find solutions, and ultimately benefit from the collective knowledge of the group. In the past, flip charts were used to collect these ideas. But after the session is over, the papers get rolled up, left behind, and forgotten about. For the attendees <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>organizers, that\u2019s conference value left on the meeting room floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Speaker<\/p>\n

Doreen Ashton Wagner wanted more for her event. So when it came time to plan the final conference session of her two-day program, she gave pause. Her conference, Engaging Associations Forum, was in its third year and in keeping with the theme of her event:\u00a0to engage her participants,<\/em>\u00a0she was looking for a different spin on the same old participatory session.\u00a0That\u2019s when she came up with the idea to host a Hackathon-style session. Borrowed from the tech space, she wanted to create a collaborative, focused knowledge dump. This was a way for her participants (most of whom were in their 40s and 50s) to share their ideas, thoughts, questions, and concerns about a topic of their choosing. It was also a way to gain access to what others were chatting about and take those learnings home with them at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

In the past, these sorts of sessions were done manually. Ideas were crowdsourced in the room, written on a flip chart, and voted on by a show of hands. Discussions happened in small groups and the loudest voice at the table generally dominated the conversation.<\/p>\n

Out with the Old<\/h2>\n
\"group-discussion\"
Event App on a phone showing an Attendee list<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Ashton Wagner, it was time to go digital. She ditched the flip chart and\u00a0used her mobile event app\u2019s <\/span>live polling<\/span><\/a> capabilities to allow attendees to vote on predetermined discussion topics during the event. Before the Hackathon session started, she chose the top six topics and assigned two tables for each theme. This saved time and made sure the group size was manageable for face-to-face discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, she used the <\/span>Group Discussions<\/span><\/a> feature in the app as a collaborative digital notepad. Each member of the group could type their thoughts, questions, concerns, and solutions into the discussion group. This made the process democratic and removed the need for a single notetaker. This feature really leveled the playing field of participation opening up the discussion group to more introverted attendees and people more comfortable writing than speaking.<\/span><\/p>\n

When it came time to present each group\u2019s findings, Ashton Wagner pulled up each individual Group Discussion thread on a big screen, so the group could see what was talked about. Attendees could also follow along in the app. She was even able to access the discussion threads post event, as were attendees, so they could take all that they learned with them home without overloading their suitcase.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Meeting the Event Objective<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ditching the flip chart was the right choice for Ashton Wagner. Not only was using the app a more cost-effective solution than renting audience response hardware from her AV supplier, but using in-app features like Group Discussions allowed her to extend the discussion beyond the actual time of the event. In addition, if her attendees left the room to grab a bite to eat or a thought struck them on a break, they could still contribute to the Group Discussions. \u201cWhat\u2019s so great about the feature is that your attendees\u2019 physical presence isn\u2019t necessary and the time limitations are lifted,\u201d says Ashton Wagner. \u201cAll of these things contribute to getting maximum engagement which is the primary objective of the event.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Using Live Polls and Group Discussions as part of Engaging Associations Forum\u2019s session content also encouraged greater engagement and adoption of the event app and led to Ashton Wagner\u2019s best experience with an event app provider to date. And it satisfied the organizer\u2019s objectives of innovating, trying new things, and engaging participants.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"3
Doreen Ashton Wagner; Brandon Bedford, EventMobi; Meagan Rockett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOur event is a platform to try new things,\u201d says Ashton Wagner\u2019s second-in-command, Meagan Rockett. \u201cAs long as we\u2019re pushing things forward with new ideas, new things, new platforms, then we\u2019re achieving our goal of making it easier for people to engage.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Her only regret? Not using the audience response and engagement features more! \u201cIt would be awesome to use these features in even more sessions next year, and even post-session where people can ask and have questions answered by the speaker or the panel,\u201d says Rockett. \u201cThere are just so many ways you can use it!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s Next?<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n