Meeting Minds Report by Dr Lawrence Smith from University of Leeds
A new report commissioned by Yorkshire Tourist Board (YTB) has for the first
time examined how knowledge about psychology and human rhythms can be harnessed
to improve public speaking, conference organisation and the productivity of business
executives.Yorkshire Tourist Board worked with Dr Lawrence Smith, senior lecturer at the
Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, to produce the Meeting
Minds Report. Dr Smith is an expert in the psychology of human rhythms, sleep
and work scheduling. The study is the first time established psychological theory
has ever been applied to conferences, meetings and business events.
YTB’s business tourism manager, Nick Bond, representing www.venueyorkshire.com,
said: “We pride ourselves on offering high quality advice to anyone considering
holding a business meeting, conference or team building event in Yorkshire. We
already give advice on the range of exciting and unusual venues, travel, catering
and accommodation, but we wanted to go beyond this to understand what really makes
a conference work. If we can get behind what makes a delegate tick, we can advise
organisers on how to maximise the impact of their event.
The Meeting Minds report looks at the natural rhythms people are subject to and
explores how we can improve concentration and productivity at events and meetings.
Based on these rhythms, Dr Smith identifies two broad types of conference delegate,
or business executive – Early-Eager Employees and PM Professionals. And understanding
and catering for these two types of people is the key to productive business executives
and conferences, argues the report.
Early-Eager Employees are characterised by waking early and being effective from
very early on in the day. Since most conferences start and finish earlier than
the average office day they suit them well, but late afternoon sessions are challenging.
PM Professionals find it more difficult to attend a conference or get into the
office for 9am and become more alert mid-late morning. Workshops work much better
for them in the afternoon and networking in the evening is no problem. It’s best
for them to stay at the venue the night before, so they can get up as close to
the start of the conference as possible.
