One Minute Wins

Here’s a fun, rapid-fire way to share ideas and expertise from dozens of “experts” that works really well at the end of the day in a virtual (or in-person) event:

• Select 20-30 attendees, experts, speakers, vendors, etc. who have something interesting to say, have a success story to share, or have solved a problem in a unique way.

• Give each of them a minute — and no longer — to introduce their story, talk about the problem they solved, or to share their brilliant idea.

• Once their minute is over (being merciless with a bell or a buzzer makes it more fun), tell everyone in the audience that the speaker will be “at table X” if anyone would like to learn more.

• Introduce the next speaker, and so on, until all have had their one-minute time in the spotlight.

• Then, move to breakout rooms* for the rest of the hour, with each of your “Experts” helming their own. In their breakout, they can elaborate on their story, share more about their idea, etc.

• For the remainder of the hour, attendees can “hummingbird” their way from table-to-table, learning more from the experts most relevant to them.

• At the end of the session, send everyone a list of the speakers (with their picture, in case people forgot names) and contact information so attendees can connect, follow up and learn more.

* This works best with a tool that allows attendees to move from room-to-room on their own. If you’ve got to manage the breakout room movement, bring the entire group back every 10 minutes or so and allow them to resort themselves into the next room they’d like to join.