Problem:
Your meetings are boring, painful, and woefully dreaded.
Solution:
Create excited anticipation for the meetings you organize by mixing them up with a creative twist. Do something completely unexpected and off-the-wall so that they are fun and memorable, or at least eagerly anticipated because people don’t know what you’re going to pull next.
Since I could probably start a whole separate blog on unique meeting ideas, I’m not going to burn them all in one post, so I’ll just share one at a time as part of a ‘Mix Up Your Meeting’ series. Plus, I know you’ve done some crazy things too, so share them with me and you can write your own ‘MUY Meeting’ post.
Here’s my first idea (and they are in no particular order.)
Start your meeting in the dark.
This only works in a room with no windows that you can get dark enough to be uncomfortable. Be aware of safety issues, help them get to their seat without tripping, or wait until everyone is seated before turning out the lights.
The idea is to turn off one of the senses so they can focus on something else. Let them just listen to your voice for a little while so they can really pay attention to what you are saying. Or use an analogy for darkness that relates to whatever you’re meeting about. Maybe you’re ‘in the dark’ regarding a particular problem you’re facing and you need everyone’s participation to help ‘shed some light’ on the subject.
After a while you could start showing images or words on the screen using a standard projector, or you could gradually turn on the lights as you are more ‘enlightened’ by the group discussion.
Or you could keep the whole meeting in the dark. I don’t care. Use your creativity. The point is to use the contrast of darkness and light to bring home a point or to provide a sensory experience that is unique in the workplace (and maybe for good reason, so don’t stay too long in the dark or make it a habit, you don’t want any danger or funny business going on.)
What do you think? Are you bold enough to try it?
You’ll be remarkable.
People will remark about you and your meeting for sure.
grootship 
I love your idea, Rex. How often do participants do something else (reply on their BBs). Not only will you capture their undivided attention but using it as an analogy is just fantastic. It will for sure be a memorable meeting.
Regine
Thanks Regine. When I did it, no one was messing around with their BlackBerrys. It was a small group, so it would have been a little too obvious. But I think the real reason was because I had their undivided attention. It was such a unique event that they were curious what was going to happen next.
If you’re in charge of a meeting, you have a lot of power.