THE THINKABOUT CAFES

Day 0: Tuesday, September 28
Café 101

A number of years ago we began offering pre-event “thinkAbout 101” sessions to help new participants and alumni begin to form as an integrated group prior to our formal thinkAbout festivities. In addition to Pine & Gilmore sharing their thoughts, select alumni have shared their perspective on how to get the most out of the event. In keeping with the overall format of this year’s thinkAbout, this year’s “101” session will take the form of a conversation café, as groups of four will participate in multiple rounds of discussion, changing conversation partners for each round, and sharing responses to a series of Questions that Matter about one another’s expectations for the event. Everyone will have an opportunity to talk about their expertise as well as hear from alumni about lessons learned from past events. In this sense, Café 101 represents an opportunity to not only greet new participants, but also tap into the collective wisdom from past thinkAbout events.

Day 1: Wednesday, September 29
P&G Café

Following breakfast, our kickoff P&G Café will afford participants an opportunity to become accustomed to the café facilitation process. Responding to a set of Questions that Matter developed by Pine & Gilmore, this opening café will frame the dialogue for the overall thinkAbout and whet participants’ appetites for more.

Café Geek

After a short break, our special guest and founder of the Geek Squad, Robert Stephens, will share his perspective on how to stage compelling customer and employee experiences. Participants will then jump back into café conversations, responding to various Questions that Matter that Robert himself has prepared for the gathered group. As with all the café sessions, Pine & Gilmore will remix the participants at each table before they discuss each new question.

At the conclusion of the morning’s café conversations, participants will submit questions for consideration in structuring the afternoon and evening cafés.

LUNCH – not at a café! Here, we will announce the recipient of this year’s Experience Management Achievement (EMA) award, given to the thinkAbout alumnus who Pine & Gilmore deem has made the greatest individual contribution in significantly enhancing the experiences offered in his or her industry.

Café You
Using questions submitted by thinkAbout participants, the entire afternoon will consist of multiple rounds of conversations with fellow participants. You will be one another’s learning excursion as each round serves as a tour stop in exploring answers to your own Questions that Matter. There will be three or four rounds per hour, as well as a few breaks to clear the mind before once again engaging in conversation. And as outlined in the World Café protocol, one person will remain at each table to briefly share with newcomers to the table the highlights captured (on paper) from the previous round before we launch into each new question. This is done as a means of having a unique point-of-view unfold over time at each table. At the conclusion of the Café You session, you all (or y’all) will be provided an opportunity to share your personal insights with the entire group via the “You Wall” (or “Y’Wall”!) we’ll have constructed in the space.

DINNER – again, not at a formal café, but you will have plenty to discuss with fellow participants reflecting on the day over food and drink!

Café 601
Utilizing some of the unique spaces in the Graves 601 Hotel, this after-hours café will allow participants to freely flow between less formal café environments that we will set up in at least eight different suites or meeting rooms within the hotel. In these eight “cafés-within-a-café,” we will post questions left unaddressed in the afternoon’s session, as well as mix in various surprise experiences aimed at turning the conversation into relaxation as the evening unwinds.

Day 2: Thursday, September 30
Open Café

Following breakfast, we will take time to reflect on the previous day’s conversations and generate yet additional Questions that Matter to be used here. In addition to discussing these new questions, Pine & Gilmore will interject some additional stimuli (call them “Provocations that Matter”) in order to supplement these conversations with some hands-on exercises drawn from previous thinkAbout events – a kind of “Best of” retrospective! This mix of conversation and provocation should put an interesting twist on the World Café process, pushing the group to think as innovatively as possible. And to conclude this café session, participants will be given the opportunity to form sub-groups and “open” their own cafés in other rooms (the ones used on Day 1 for the after-hours Café 601) to discuss the “Big Ideas” that emerge over the course of the two days.

Café Top 10

We will conclude thinkAbout with our annual Top Ten list of experiences we recommend you take in during the course of the coming year, concluding with the #1 experience receiving our Experience Stager of the Year (EXPY) award. In keeping with this year’s café format, we’re planning a new twist to the Top Ten countdown. We have always posed a series of questions to participants based on each Top Ten experience, asking them to individually reflect on each question and write their answers on postcards that we provide, collect, and then mail back after the event, once a month. This year, we will form groups of four to discuss each question before having individuals complete their postcard answer and then move on to the next question. This will take a bit more time, but should allow for greater exploration of each question during thinkAbout itself, not just when the postcards arrive in our follow-up mailings (and e-mail summaries).

POST-EVENT
Alumni Planning Session
On conclusion of the event, all participants are alumni! Those interested may remain for a half-hour planning meeting to discuss alumni roles in 2011 and beyond, including the selection of an alumni advisory group. You will not want to miss this exciting session.

(OPTIONAL) POST-EVENT
Minnesota Twins Baseball Game at Target Field
If you can stay over Thursday night, join us for a group outing to see the Minnesota Twins take on the Toronto Blue Jays in the inaugural season of Target Field baseball park.