Maarten Vanneste has published another book to shake up some of our (bad) habits

The “Invisible Failure” of Events

Many conferences fail to meet their primary objectives—which are to connect and educate—but this failure goes unnoticed. If the food is good and the logistics run smoothly, attendees leave seemingly satisfied, even though the actual return on investment in terms of knowledge and networking may have been zero. This raises a very powerful idea: it’s important to create opportunities after the event for attendees to share their feedback; however, it’s also important to develop other metrics to measure whether objectives were met.

The Power of “Perfect Strangers”

When 50 people enter a room to listen to a talk on a very specific topic, they become the best possible group for networking. They share a common interest, but most of the time they walk in, passively listen to the speaker, and leave without having exchanged a single word with the brilliant minds sitting right next to them. It’s important to take advantage of this opportunity to foster synergy, which is the fundamental goal of any conference.

The Solution: The CATS Method

To address this issue without a large budget, Vanneste proposes the CATS method (Conversations on the Topic). It consists of:

• Pause the presentation at certain points.
• Divide the participants into groups of 5 people.
• Give them 5 to 10 minutes to talk freely about what they just heard.

Why groups of five?

Science and experience show that the ideal number is 5. In larger groups, such as typical roundtables of 10, the group becomes fragmented, or people simply don’t have enough time to speak. With 5 people, everyone has at least one minute to speak, which creates a safe environment where even the most introverted participants feel comfortable joining in.

The Three Major Benefits of the CATS Method

Implementing these brief conversations has a huge impact in three areas:

• Learning: The brain experiences “cognitive overload” after 15 minutes of passive listening. Discussing the topic helps process the information, increasing learning retention by 25%.
• Effective networking: In just a few minutes, you get to know the personalities and expertise of four other people. By the time the coffee break rolls around, you already have people to talk to naturally, dramatically increasing your number of valuable contacts.
• Motivation and Energy: It breaks the monotony and combats drowsiness. Professionals are intrinsically motivated to share what they know, help their colleagues, and feel heard, which boosts the overall energy in the room.

High returns at no cost

The CATS method proves that you don’t need to hire expensive facilitators or use complex technology to revolutionize an event. It’s a free, easy-to-scale approach that works just as well for 150 people as it does for 1,000, and it doesn’t take away from the budget for other aspects that attendees value culturally, such as food.

“Imagine a global conference with thousands of cardiac surgeons. Now imagine a specific one-hour session where 50 of those surgeons enter a room. That group of 50 people are “complete strangers”: they don’t know each other, but they’re the best possible group because they’ve been selected based on the session’s topic. Connecting these people creates tremendous value, but that connection doesn’t happen if they just sit there listening to the speaker. That’s where CATS comes in: you divide those 50 people into groups of five and give them time to discuss the topic of the talk. They exchange cases, stories, and knowledge. In 5 or 10 minutes, they’ve already gotten to know the other four people a little and know who they’d like to grab a coffee with. That way, when the break comes, you’re no longer sending people out to interact with strangers from scratch; they’ll go have coffee with the people they’ve just connected with.”