Meeting experiences that are so exceptional they burrow into the brain and stay there for years are rare. But, they do happen. When being interviewed for Convene's recent series of articles on innovation, author Seth Godin (author of Small Is the New Big) and Roger Martin (dean of the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto), both admitted separately that the best meetings they've ever been to were held almost a decade ago by Fast Company magazine. This cutting-edge business magazine has since changed hands a few times and shifted the focus of its non-publishing ventures, but memories of the gatherings in its early days still burn brightly.

What made these events so special? Three elements: timing, content, and creativity. Fast Company was launched in 1997 at the height of dot-com fever when optimism ran high and creativity knew no bounds. It had a fresh approach and trumpeted such axioms as change is good, work is personal, computing is social, and knowledge is power.

The magazine's founding editors, Alan Webber and Bill Taylor, were the main maestros at these conclaves and a three-person team put their ideas into action. Dawn Nadeau and Elizabeth Busch both spent time as director of live events; Nadeau from 1998-2000, and Busch from 2000-2005. Although they are no longer with Fast Company (Nadeau is taking time off to raise a family and Busch has started Black Sheep Studios, her own meeting planning company), they agree that the years spent with Fast Company were some of the most stimulating in their careers.

"The main meetings we worked on were called Advances and Real Time," Busch explained. The Advance (as opposed to a "retreat") was an annual three-day think tank that brought together 50 movers and shakers from a variety of industries to discuss trends in the marketplace. Its primary goal was to "take the pulse of what was going on in the business world and generate editorial ideas for the magazine," Busch said.

Real Time meetings were held once or twice a year and were dedicated to readers of the magazine. They lasted two-and-a-half days and drew between 350 and 500 people to hear speakers and take part in team-building activities.

Real Time
The purpose of Real Time meetings was to "bring the magazine life," Nadeau said. Themes included leadership, innovation, technology, design, and survival in tough times. The target audience was people who understood change was a good thing, but might never meet otherwise. "They were about making unexpected connections, recharging your batteries, and providing inspiration for change," Busch recalled.

From content to execution, these meetings offered zip. Real Time speakers had usually been profiled in the magazine and "were disrupters and envelope pushers. Sometimes they were ordinary people doing extraordinary things," Nadeau said. Sponsors were encouraged to go beyond a simple "pipe and drape" presentation and get involved in interactive activities. In one case, Gateway provided computers so attendees could track each other in a business strategy competition. To enhance content retention and encourage conversation, presentation rooms featured visuals hanging on the wall that corresponded to the subject. Often the design of the room was a little different, too.

"It was fairly simple. We'd have the seats in a circle or a horseshoe. Before people sat down, we'd have them walk around and look at visuals because that sparked a kinetic energy and they'd talk to each other," Nadeau said. One of the prime objectives for all the speakers was to get attendees thinking about "Monday morning."

"They provided a takeaway that summarized the presentation and would inspire action at the office when the attendees got back Monday morning," Nadeau explained.

Paco Underhill, the anthropological shopping guru, was the main draw at one Real Life session. "We had the editor of the magazine interview him and then he walked around the room and shared his story using lots of anecdotes," Busch said. As soon as one of the Fast Company event team heard a great quote, the magazine's art department swung into action and designed an instant poster that was taped up all over the hotel. In Underhill's case, the memorable quote was, "Would your wife pee here?" He had been explaining to the audience that when retail CEOs would meet with him to ask about ways to boost sales, he'd tell them to examine the women's washroom in their stores and then ask themselves if their wives would use the facilities.

"The hotel general manager wasn't too pleased about that one but when we explained the background, he was more understanding," admitted Busch. The quotes worked to give a speaker's story legs long after the presentation and sparked a buzz among attendees. Another quote Nadeau recalled was "one buttock listening." Key speaker Ben Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, uttered it. "He was talking about when you are so eager to hear something, you lean forward," Nadeau explained.

Drama and entertainment were often used to enhance the Real Time experience. At the end of a meeting in New Orleans, while the editors were on stage saying thank you, a gospel choir burst through the doors singing. "It was a great way to wrap up and it really had an uplifting effect," Nadeau noted.

Location was another important factor in the success of the meetings. Fast Company held Real Time in smaller, historic properties such as the Arizona Biltmore hotel in Phoenix or the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. The Disney Institute in Orlando was also used one year. The interior design of the meeting was never the same and always carefully orchestrated. When attendees came into a room the second day, the setup had totally changed. The chairs were moved around, a graffiti backdrop added to a stage, or murals were taped to a wall. "We'd always reference what had happened the previous day," Nadeau said.

Each meeting had a hub area with registration desk, comfortable furniture, a computer center, live music, street performers, and sponsor booths. A highlight was the gong. "Whenever a repeat attendee registered, we'd hit the gong and 50 staff members would cheer. People were jazzed that we remembered them," Nadeau recalled.

The registration desk also offered the opportunity for a little personal expression. On the wall behind the desk was a poster full of different colored "passion" stickers. The colors symbolized passions such as technology, creativity, or leadership and attendees picked one and put it on their name badge. "They were a great way to start a conversation with someone you didn't know," Nadeau explained.

Nadeau was able to implement a lot of what she had done at Fast Company at her next job as event planner at Goldman Sachs. "It was a more conservative company, but I always made sure the presenters made good use of stories and anecdotes as well as did a summary of the speech and covered items that could be applied at work on Monday."

Real Time was so popular with some attendees that a meeting within the meeting, Extreme Real Time, was added to the schedule to maximize the experience. Each day, this group of keen participants would gather at 5 a.m. for team-building activities such as hiking with Adventure Race athlete Robyn Benincasa, or creating a wall of graffiti that became a backdrop for presentations later in the day.

Advances
Advances were essentially to generate ideas of the magazine's editorial. These intimate gatherings were held in remote locations such as Sundance, Nantucket, and Telluride. The magazine's editors set the agenda and came up with key ideas to explore, such as creating a successful startup, branding, and the abiding human issues that underlie the new world of work. Each Advance featured a "fire starter" who would open the meeting with a story, then encourage the other attendees to jump in. The rules included no canned speeches, no overhead slides, and stated that "a great question beats a smooth answer."

"The point was to begin a dialogue or start a conversation. The participants were the program," Busch said. To visualize the conversation, Advances featured a graphic recorder. Butcher paper was taped across the wall and a graphic artist would illustrate the conversation as it evolved. "He'd draw things like a light bulb for an idea. It helped you understand and watch the conversation unfold," Busch explained.

As with Real Time, there was an emphasis on summarizing the content and pinpointing what action could be taken on Monday morning. Follow-up was important. Participants received an e-mail outlining the biggest ideas generated, as well as a scaled-down version of the graphic. Coverage of the event was also included in the magazine.

Fast Company's meetings delivered the unexpected, from unconventional room sets, to walls plastered with provocative quotes. A variety of activities helped people connect to one another and unusual methods were used to reinforce messages. Some attendees ended up forming companies together and one person contacted Busch years later to tell her Real Time "changed my life."

Although the heady dot-com days of Fast Company's first meetings are long gone, the takeaways from this exciting time still resonate. From the Advance rule of "no canned speeches" to Real Time's quotable quotes, the tools were simple and the results powerful. How do you measure the success of a truly innovative meeting? Ten years later, people are still talking about them.

Events: Where Does Fast Company Stand Today?

When Fast Company and its sister publication Inc. were sold to Gruner + Jahr in 2000, the
events division went dormant. "The company had other priorities, such as circulation and ad revenue," explains Kelly Winkler, former managing editor of Inc. In 2005, the two magazines were sold to Mansueto Ventures, a private media company controlled by Joe Mansueto, who is the founder and CEO of mutual-fund rating company Morningstar. Winkler, who last year was named Mansueto Ventures' VP, events and business resources, says the company is dedicated to rejuvenating the titles and reviving the events division. "Mr. Mansueto wants to leverage the brand by offering a fully integrated creative business solution to clients, including print, online, live events, and custom publishing. We want to create experiences like Fast Company's Real Time but it's going to take a while to build up again."
Winkler is working with new editor Robert Safian (whose first issue was May 2007), to define the focus and content of future gatherings. "We will be creating an event that reflects the magazine's strong features and sections. I can't tell you exactly when this will happen, but it will be soon," says Winkler.

° Contributing Editor Maureen Littlejohn is a freelance writer in Toronto.