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In the third post in a series on off-site leadership, Aneta Key addresses the substance dimension of event design.

I strongly believe that any event design has 3 important dimensions to consider: 

Substance — This is the most important dimension of the 3. It is the “hardcore” look at the event and is what executives truly care about: What outcomes are we creating? What content are we discussing? What work are we advancing?

Structure — The second most important dimension addresses the logical and systematic approach that would allow the group to achieve its objectives. How are we breaking down and sequencing activities? How are we socially engineering alignment? How are we allocating time? How are we making decisions? 

Style — If substance and structure determine what and when it needs to be done, style determines how it should be done. In general, this should be the third dimension to consider, as “form follows function” in off-site design as well. That said, the 3 dimensions are interrelated and the ‘feeling’ you want to create may impact the other 2 dimensions. 

In fact, these 3 dimensions apply to speeches you give, presentations you develop, and even blog posts you publish.

Key points in this article include:

• Systems thinking applied to off-site design
• What are the desired outputs?
• What off-site modules do we need?
• What inputs do we need?
• Highlighting Design Choices

Read the full article, Leadership Off-Site 101: Part III — Substance design, on the Aedea Partners’ website.