Team-building activities and corporate event speakers are two components usually at the top of a meeting planner’s priority list. Luckily, these services are in ample supply in Las Vegas. In the current economy, however, the challenge is not locating a speaker or an activity, but ensuring these components contribute to the event’s ROI.

Including these two meeting elements can add a large chunk to a restricted budget, and many of these companies still demand top dollar for their services, especially high-profile speakers and team-building services with big-name clientele. As a result, meeting planners need to justify that the money spent is contributing to the overall goal of their event.

It’s up to planners to understand their event’s goals, the functions of team building and speakers and what they intend on accomplishing by incorporating one or the other into their meetings.

The New Team in Team Building
Just a few years ago, the term team building was a general concept that included organizing interactive activities for a set group of meeting attendees. The idea behind team-building activities during a corporate event was that employees of the same company would be able to get to know one another outside of a strictly work environment, thereby creating a sense of community that would ultimately lead to productivity.

That sounds like a logical plan-of-action on paper, but unfortunately those intentions don’t always pan out after the event is over and everyone is back in the office. Translating the enthusiasm generated by the event’s team-building session to an exceptional output of work is a hit-and-miss endeavor, but it seems that the problem stems from who is actually participating in the activities. As it turns out, many of the groups engaging in team building activities are not, in fact, teams.

For example, you plan a traditional group survival team-building activity where the objective is to get the participants to work together and come up with the best plan to be saved from the given scenario. The planner’s client has not preselected the team. Instead, the client just gave you instructions to have team building on the agenda, so on goes the activity as scheduled with a hodgepodge of attendees working to complete the fictional scenario. The activity is finished, and the group leaves with a good experience and several new friends. You then assemble a new group and the activity repeats itself.

The problem with this picture is that each group is made up of attendees who have no correlation with each other outside of working for the same company. Chances are, each person works for a different department and are meeting their “team members” for the first time. Despite the immediate bonding providing by the activity, odds are that their interaction with each other back at the office will be limited to a few quick greetings whenever they run into each other on the elevator.

To combat this situation, companies are now putting more thought into how they organize their event agendas, taking particular care to schedule employees according to the departments they work in. For events that are exclusively devoted to team building, companies are now beginning to assemble their groups beforehand. In many cases, these groups are actual teams that are working on current projects for the company, meaning that the participants have already had experience working with each other on complicated tasks.

Team building, then, is now being used to iron out the kinks in the group dynamics of employees that are expected to work together in the office on real-world projects.

Gauging the strengths and weaknesses of each team requires in-house meeting planners to know their fellow employees on a personal basis. In particular, identifying patterns of negative behavior will enable planners to orchestrate team-building activities that will correct the communication flaws between participants. The sidebar on this page identifies seven types of dysfunctional groups that can put a damper on productivity in the office. If a planner knows they will be dealing with one of the listed groups, then an activity should be planned that will pinpoint those specific problem areas.

For example, if you find yourself dealing with a listless team, then organize an activity that requires the group to use creative thinking strategies that will give them the confidence they need to press on with the work assignments that lay ahead. When dealing with a confused team, make sure the team-building activity is geared toward defining individual roles and group expectations, ensuring that they move forward and not backward. There are many options for solving the problems of group behavior, but it’s identifying the troubling characteristics that’s key.

When meeting planners approach a team-building provider, they should be active participants in the organizing process, even if the company is a self-described turnkey institution. Planners shouldn’t hesitate to ask questions. Make sure to find out what activities the company has most experience providing. Does the company offer any system of measuring the success of the activity? Can they customize their services to meet your event needs?

Understanding what’s included in the package will better enable meeting professionals to make sound team-building decisions. Above all else, meeting planners should remember that the team-building services they hire need to provide more than just a diversion, but will enhance and improve the way the participants deal with each other in the work place.

Booking Corporate Speakers That Bring Success
The trends in the field of corporate speakers reflect many of the changes of team-building services. Corporate speakers are no longer being sought after for entertainment or motivational purposes, but for topical information that will contribute to the company’s success initiatives and overall productivity.

“Event planners are under pressure today to make sure there’s a return on investment for the event,” says branding expert Nick Nichols of LVPR.com, a PR agency that handles some of the most high-profile speakers in the city. “So what they should look for are speakers who are going to provide one of three things: actionable content, audience engagement and customization.”

The first component, Nichols explains, is information that the audience will be able to apply in their work lives once back in the office. In other words, actionable content is more than just a feel-good speech that pushes listeners to an all-time high during the event, only to see the level of enthusiasm drop significantly afterward.

An event speaker who can successfully engage the audience will do more than show up with a PowerPoint presentation and conclude with a standard Q&A session. An engaging speaker incorporates the audience in all aspects of his presentation and doesn’t stay in the spotlight the entire time.

A speaker who is cognizant that his presentation is meant to inspire and produce results will also be adept at customizing his work. It’s impossible to think that a presentation will work for every organization, but unfortunately some speakers will repeat their information verbatim, regardless of the disparity between audiences. Planners will want to be sure that the speaker they select can adapt his message to the industry, audience as well as address the event’s goals.

When interviewing speakers or speaking to their booking agents, don’t hesitate to ask for a demo reel. Watching a speaker in action can help a planner gauge whether or not his presentation style is suitable for the intended audience. Ask about past clients, the speaker’s credentials and his area of expertise outside of public speaking. Make sure the potential speaker knows the type of engagement he will be presenting at and if he’s comfortable with all of the event specifications. Doing so will prevent an awkward match-up of speaker and event.

Part of the challenge of booking an appropriate speaker is that the meeting planner is sometimes left out of the loop in terms of establishing the outcome of an event. “Oftentimes, meeting planners don’t know what they want out of the event,” say Nichols.

Meeting and event planners need to work closely with the department putting on the event and get a clear understanding of what’s to be the end result. “As a planner, it helps to know the intended outcome and how to measure it, then you can convey that to the speaker or the presenter. The more specific you can be with the speaker, the better the chance is of getting what you want.”

Before a planner hires a speaker, it’s best to identify at least three points that the audience needs to leave the event knowing. Let the speaker know beforehand these points and ask if he will be able to convey these messages through his presentation. If the speaker can do this, it’s likely a positive return on investment can be achieved.

When asked about the booking trends of the Las Vegas market, Nichols, summed up the situation with this declarative statement: “Soft topics are out, hard topics are in.” Not surprisingly, the most successful corporate speakers in terms of total bookings are the ones who can provide listeners with what LVPR.com refers to as a follow-up program or system of metrics that the audience can take home and implement immediately. For example, a printed list of itemized things-to-do is a great way for listeners to keep in mind the speaker’s main points once back in the office. Providing an interactive Internet forum for communication with the speaker after the event also allows participants to obtain positive advice on a regular basis.