In a message dated 97-06-26 05:14:39 EDT, Debbie Broome writes:
> We sat "in the round", 8 -10 people per group,
> without a table. It was very effect ive (enhanced communication, all
> could participate more easily without the barrier of the table--even a
> round one). This also allowed us to get a lot of people in a room without
> the classroom seating style. Interestingly, when round tables were
> brought in prior to one group session in preparation for lunch, everyone
> had gotten used to working without the tables--and the feedback was--get
> rid of them. They went away after lunch.
Debbie,
I normally do away with tables for the reasons you mention however I was
one of the "surprised" speakers at ASTD. When our presentation was
accepted and we were told there would be tables we designed an activity
that required tables. People had to work with M&Ms - counting, checking
quality, doing a frequency distribution, etc. The evening before our
presentation we were told that there would be over 400 people in the
session and "oh, by the way they will be sitting in chairs auditorium
style." The room wasn't large enough for people to sit in circles even
without tables and the exercise was very difficult to pull off on one's
lap!
This was my second presentation at an International ASTD Conference. In
Orlando last year ASTD notified us weeks before the conference that we
would not have tables so we designed accordingly. THe last minute change
this year was pretty frustrating, especially since the evaluations raked
us over the coals about using an "inappropriate activity for the room set
up."
Now, before anyone out there writes to tell me that we should have been
more creative OR thrown out the activity all together - we had over $100
in M&Ms and the thought of being stuck in a hotel room with that stash was
just more than a couple of chocoholics could deal with ;-)
Bill Gardner
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>