To meet growing demand, this year’s 99U Conference will now draw over 900 leading creatives to New York City. That’s a lot of friends to make over a two-day span, so we’re working hard to keep it as personable and intimate as ever.
So we ask: What’s the most creative ways you’ve seen a conference encourage mingling amongst attendees? Let us know by dropping your answer in the comments. To inspire you, we asked our Twitter followers earlier this week and here are some of our favorite answers:
Yes! @99u We ask pple what they’re looking for @ registration. When they arrive, we give out personalized lists of pple they should talk to.
— Stephanie Ortenzi (@PistachioWrites) November 12, 2012
@99u in 2007, the @iasummit encouraged mingling by passing out packs of cards, had us collect one of each card. Like baseball card trading!
— Jill Christ (@jillchrist) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@99u We ask pple what they’re looking for at registration. When they arrive, we give out personalized lists of pple they should talk to.
— Rebecca Selah (@ms_selah) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@99u Small, relevant games to play in teams. The rules state specifically that the teams must consist of those who don’t know each other
— 8works Consulting (@8worker) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@99u A workshop held by EESTEC at University of Belgrade had definitions of certain Serbian words written at the reverse side of nametags.
— Nela Dunato (@nelchee) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@99u each got one, and these definitions contained words you had to look up on other participants’ nametags to get the meaning 🙂
— Nela Dunato (@nelchee) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@99u @sustainbrands has “birds of a feather” dinners. Attendees pick a topic & restaurant & eat together after regular programming ends.
— Alli Blum (@AlliBlum) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@99u An effective way is to ask participants to make a large business card with a self portrait which is reported out to the whole group
— 8works Consulting (@8worker) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@99u 1. Crazy shared experiences (mystery destination, helicopter @funconf) 2. looong breaks 3. activities
— Amy Hoy (@amyhoy) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@workitbrooklyn @99u I bring a bottle of wine and a sixpack of beer.
— N Likely (@Ntspec) November 12, 2012
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
@99u At a paleontology conference I went to, rather than name tags, we had to draw a picture of what we study and wear that around.
— Matt @ NPAthletics (@nplainsathletes) November 12, 2012