International Moderation

Startsituation

An international company and its partner network in the DACH and CEE/SEE region had acquired several new locations in recent years. I was asked as a consultant and moderator to plan and conduct in co-creation with the management team a two-day, English-speaking partner meeting with 120 participants in an Eastern European city. The goal was to get to know all the partners, and to provide an overview of the history, the status quo and the joint strategy for the future.

Strategies for Evolvement

Factual-Logic

The design of the first day of the partner meeting included the presentation of the company history, entertaining country presentations with success stories and a Q&A session on the status quo of the network. A lecture by an international keynote speaker on the topic of “Entrepreneurship” and a gala dinner rounded off the day. On the second day, strategic future topics were collected using the Open Space method and worked on in mix groups. Together, the vision of a growing network and the focus on internal referral marketing were decided to invest in.

Psycho-Logic

To promote an animated getting to know each other between the network partners, rounds of introductions with guiding questions were complemented by networking assignments for the coffee breaks. A group mix that changed several times deepened the exchange of cultural similarities and differences in the DACH and CEE/SEE partner companies. Senior and junior partners discussed the synergies of their cross-generational collaboration. Reflection rounds complemented the presentations. A mix of countries in the seating arrangements at the gala dinner and a city tour helped to intensify the contacts.

REsult

A major international meeting requires careful, early and well-coordinated planning in advance. It succeeds with a project team consisting of client and host, moderator and in-house organizers. To ensure that the topics are well received, the creation of a positive atmosphere and an entertaining “flow” in the design of the schedule are essential for a successful outcome.