Invitations  |  Active Close  |  Silent Mindmap

Invitations

Make sure you leave everyone with a call to action for the community. These may include;

• An invitation to join the Business Agility Institute
• An invitation to come again to the next Business Agility Meetup
• An invitation to come to one of the Business Agility conferences

Active Close

Closing a meetup can be an uncomfortable affair. No one wants to leave first and no one wants to leave last. I recommend having a strong closing ceremony. How you run this will depend on the social culture of your meetup, but here are two ideas that we’ve used in the past.

1. Hi-Five: Close the event, and ask everyone to hi-five at least 5 people on their way out. This is a high energy close and by achieving this very simple goal, people feel complete.
2. I’m complete: Ask everyone to join you in a circle (this only works if you have <20ish people in the event). Go around the circle and ask everyone to say 1 word to describe how they feel about what they learn. Then ask them to say the words. “I’m Complete”. E.g. “Insightful, and I’m complete”. Once the last person says, “I’m complete”, the event is closed. This is a low energy yet meaningful close.

Silent MindMap

If you have had a highly interactive and educational meetup, a silent mindmap is an excellent way to close out the discussion and integrate what they have learned.

Preparation

You will need one flipchart per 6-10 attendees. You want multiple people writing at the same time, but everyone needs to be able to access the chart.

You’ll need both thick and thin sharpies or markers. At least 1 per person in attendance (as everyone will be writing at the same time).

Room Setup

Set up the flipcharts equidistant throughout the room. No other setup is required.

Facilitation Process

The silent mindmap has two stages;

1. 1st stage (written in fat markers): What information did you get?
2. 2nd stage (written in thin markers): What are your emerging insights from the information / experience?

Expect a lot of people to take pictures of their map.