How we co-created 16 pages of ideas in 15 minutes (and what we’re doing with them)
Yes, you read that right. 16 pages. 15 minutes.
During an internal, company-wide “Show and Tell” meeting in late 2020, we hosted a collaborative-problem-solving session we called “Fun with Networking!” The idea was to give the team a prompt (in this case: “Tell us about an event you’ve attended which successfully fostered relationship building among those who attended”), grant them access to a shared document, set a timer for fifteen minutes, and let thoughts run free. We thought we might get a handful of new ideas to look at in 2021.
We had no idea just how successful it was going to be.
16 Pages of Ideas in 15 Minutes!
How did this all get started? Well, we wanted to host a company retreat at the end of last year – give updates, help teammates (many of whom have never met – thanks COVID!) get to know each other, have fun, celebrate accomplishments, look forward… and we, like everyone else, needed to do it virtually. We came up with the idea to turn it into a one-day internal mini-conference and invited team members to create sessions around their interests and hobbies. We hosted the whole thing on an early version of our platform, Matchbox Virtual Spaces, and called it “Matchbox Show and Tell.” It was a huge hit!
It was in the afternoon portion of our “Show and Tell” event that we hosted “Fun with Networking!” We welcomed participants into the virtual space, outlined the concept and prompt, posted the link to a shared document in the chat, put some Harry Potter movie scores on in the background, rolled up our collective sleeves, and dove right in.
We had set up a one-page table with a column titled “Name,” and a second titled “Answer,” and then clicked over to watch the team ideate in real time….We couldn’t keep track; the page was filling so fast it was impossible to read. We had to keep adding rows and adding rows and adding rows. A table with 20 rows we hoped would maybe fill half way turned into 16 pages of palpable, successful networking tools. Yes, sixteen pages – over one page per minute!!!!
Igniting even more ideas
We left Show and Tell knowing this style of brainstorming had the potential to be powerful. So, over the course of the next few months we began to test and adapt the idea, hosting weekly meetings we started calling “design sessions,” each with a different prompt and objective. We also added two simple but powerful components: a “yes and…” column to the ideas table, and breakout room discussions. After the shared doc brainstorming session, participants are now sent to breakout rooms in small groups, each fleshing out one of the more promising ideas sparked just a few minutes prior.
By the end of each meeting, 4-5 never-before-executed session types or virtual event activities are formulated, co-creation style (just how we like it).
Simmering these new ideas into Recipes
After several design sessions, it seemed we had too many session formats to keep track of in these documents alone. There had to be an organized way to outline these new ideas that could be digestible for our clients’ use.
And then, inspiration struck! What better way to make session formats more digestible than to turn them into recipes?! A description, list of ingredients, and basic instructions… The idea pretty much suggested itself.
And so, we immediately began turning notes from these sessions into clear, organized, and appetizing recipes that can be compiled into cookbooks, which can, in turn, be used to design and plan event “meals” for any audience in any format.
Today, we serve you the recipe of the session format that started it all: Design Sessions. Have a taste, cook up your very own design session to bring to your community, and let us know how it goes!
Dishes to look forward to
So, what’s next?
Matchbox is trying something new, and we’re really excited about it. We are re-framing “virtual events” as “meals“, created from “recipes” for online sessions and activities. Each recipe is selected from a constantly growing cookbook and organized into easy-to-follow menus for your guests.
We’ll be sending out new recipes every other week, creating explainer videos, and we’ll even be inviting you to help us dream up new recipes in our brand new test kitchen!
If you’d like at least one guaranteed new recipe in your inbox every two weeks, if you want to know when we’re opening the test kitchen for design sessions, or if you just like being in the know, please fill out this short contact form and we’ll put you on the list!
