To drive innovation, said the late Steve Jobs, we must “think different.”

It’s one of the reasons he threw meeting agendas out the window and banned PowerPoint presentations, preferring spontaneity and free thought instead.

Clearly it worked for Apple. Could doing things differently at your next event work for you? We asked planners to share their own experiences of alternative event formats to show how shaking things up can lead to even better results…

Related: 70 Event ideas and formats to inspire your next great event

Martin Sirk, CEO, International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)

Martin Sirk

We’re constantly exploring and experimenting. At this year’s ICCA Congress (13-16 November) in Malaysia all sessions will include time for delegates to write up their detailed action plans, which we’ll survey in six months to check if they actually make the changes they intended.

We’re also sending small groups out on the river on a “Ship of Serendipity” whilst other traditional concurrent sessions are running in the centre. Here 50 delegates at a time will mix with four of our top speakers – the twist being they’ll have to sign up without knowing who will be leading the discussions, nor what the topics will be.

Our half-day First Time Attendees session has changed from an orientation and preparation exercise into a tribal initiation ritual (the ICCA tribe, that is, getting to know all of our idiosyncrasies), since we are meeting on the island of Borneo.

We’re running debates, small table discussion groups (four per table). In previous years we’ve run sessions that were “courtroom” style, “talent show” style, and every year we send coach loads of delegates to attend “Outside the Box” sessions, where a local speaker can present in a local, non-convention centre setting.

The most amazing of these took place in Leipzig in 2011, when 50 delegates were lectured by a medical professor whilst watching his colleague conducting heart surgery, and joined in the discussions about how medical education is evolving!

Our approach is designed to ensure all delegates engage with, rather than passively consume, the content.

Related: 7 Steps to more productive meetings

James Murray, Business Development and Marketing Director, Projection Artworks 

James Murray

We’re a creative company, so we want our meetings to be as creative as possible. It’s why we have an “immersive meeting room” in our office: a 360-degree environment where projection mapped content can run floor-to-ceiling, across walls and even the meeting table (watch our video below).

We’ve found that engulfing everyone in a multi-sensory experience fuels the senses and gets people thinking in fresh ways. It’s a huge help when it comes to generating ideas within the company; and an even bigger help when it comes to wowing clients. We sometimes use this approach to sell an idea by helping clients to visualise our proposals through immersive 3D mood boards.

We’ve also found there’s a potential cost benefit. If you need to go to a forest for a brainstorming away day, you can skip the logistics and expense by bringing the forest to the office via the medium of projection.

For anyone out there who’d like to transform their meetings from mandatory chore to enticing highlight, you’re welcome to give our meeting room a try.

Nicki Cresswell, Wellbeing Co-ordinator, CABA

Nicki Cresswell

CABA is a wellbeing association established for members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and we are big advocates of alternative meeting formats for increased productivity.

Unfocussed meetings are a drain on productivity, with research estimating that only 44% of meeting time is actually valuable to a business. Here are three ways you can ensure your meetings are concise and achieve more, as well as fun:

1. Walking meetings

Walking meetings are a chance to step away from your desk, have a succinct conversation and gain exercise. Fresh air and a change of scenery may inspire new ideas. They are effective for one-to-ones, and their informal style makes them great for brainstorming and building relationships.

2. Sweat working

Working while exercising more vigorously – i.e. dialling into a call while on the treadmill – is challenging, helping you to get to your point quicker. Exercise increases the heart rate, pumping more oxygen to brain, optimising brain function.

3. Standing meetings

Prolonged sitting negatively impacts musculoskeletal health. Not many people can stand comfortably for two hours, so standing meetings are an effective way of keeping meetings concise.

Related: 7 New and innovative networking ideas for your events

Samantha Burton, Head of Events, Merlin Events London

Samantha Burton

I think we can safely say that the days of an event constituting a group of people in one large room, talking over canapés, are over. Today’s event world is about seeking new avenues and the journey your guests are taken on being evolutionary, innovative and adopting unconventional formats.

Unusual venues with alternative layouts like museums and attractions make great places to host events, because they usually house expansive auditoriums and galleries, but they are also easily accessible and built to flow from one space to another. They therefore lend themselves well to experiential events where guests walk-through as part of a storytelling experience.

In the case of Movies at Madame Tussauds, there are three separate event spaces, where guests can interact with iconic characters from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises. Guests are taken on a journey from a drinks reception, mingling with Marvel heroes like Iron Man, moving on to the Marvel 4D experience, which combines 3D effects and interactive seats to immerse guests. This is followed by a three-course dinner in the Star Wars Experience zone where the company includes Jabba the Hutt and Princess Leia. Not only are these exhibits a great talking point, they can make an event set-up feel intimate.

A museum or other unique venue complements the concept of the “unevent” and allows your event to use the power of storytelling.

Dinner in the Star Wars Experience zone

Juliet Freud, Head of Event Planning, The Brewery 

Juliet Freud

At The Brewery, we pride ourselves on offering something unique, and that certainly extends to our meetings and events offering.

During the Forex Finance Magnates London Summit, delegates required additional meeting space and as such, six inflatable pods were erected in our King George III room to facilitate smaller hosted buyer meetings for sponsors.

Following the success of our summer conference packages, we doubled our outdoor event space with the addition of a second marquee, increasing the capacity from 200 to 500. The marquees contributed to an increase in outdoor events by 43%, with conference presentations, drinks receptions and after parties frequently utilising the space throughout the summer.

Guests enjoyed being able to hold meetings within the beautiful Rio 2016 themed first marquee, before using the second as a team building or breakout area. All the venue’s event spaces are designed to flow together, creating a sense of journey which allows event planners to avoid the lull that often occurs when delegates spend the entire day in a single room.

In terms of its food offering, The Brewery took inspiration from the local market at Whitecross Street and created its ‘Marketplace’ menu, in an attempt to move away from outdated conference lunch buffets. Brightly coloured, branded food boxes were introduced, allowing guests to easily see which dishes were meat, fish or vegetarian and allowing them to easily select one which was suitable for them. These boxes reduced queuing time by 70%, ensuring greater networking activity during lunch breaks, and increased footfall for exhibitors.

The Brewery’s second marquee event space

Stephanie Staszko, Founder, Manchester Gamers Unite

Stephanie Staszko

As a personal project I co-run a monthly gamers meet-up with a friend. We thought it would be cool to create a bar setting for gamers to meet up in, play games, test new games that are being developed locally and generally hang out and play board/card games.

The first time we ran the event we thought about 20 people might turn up but over 60 came. The bar we ran it in were really happy with the turnout and offered us the opportunity to rent their bar once a month. We have done ever since!

We regularly attract around 60 people to each meet-up and it’s definitely different to the norm! People bring their own consoles and plug them into the TVs at the venue and we run tournaments with prizes for the winners.

We also invite local games dev studios to come and show what projects they’re working on and give gamers a chance to sample the games before release and get some free copies.

I think the format works because going to the pub and drinking, with no other entertainment isn’t to everyone’s tastes. This setting gives people the chance to make new friends without the pressure, as there are other activities to do and conversation flows much more naturally.

Manchester Gamers Unite

Conclusion

Just because we’ve been doing something one way for a long time, doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do something – or necessarily the best way. Could shaking up the format breathe new life into your event? Try it and see!

Have you tried doing things differently? Share your experiences with our community!