Are you still listening or are you already participating?

Anyone who thought that the dull days of frontal lectures were finally over was soon disillusioned. The history teacher's monologue was simply replaced by a PowerPoint presentation by the Management Board at the annual conference. And even in smaller meetings, it is becoming increasingly common for speakers to think that their audience cannot read. Although, with font size 11 on the chart, it is often really difficult to read from the back row. But that's another topic.

New knowledge and ideas are created when people work together on issues they are passionate about or at least want to find a solution for in order to change a situation in the long term. In our view, a meeting is described as successful if the following factors have been taken into account: different experiences of the participants, meaningful dialog, interdisciplinary exchange, methodological variety, clear structure, concrete measures, good time management.

World Café, fishbowl discussions, open space conferences, marble groups, marketplaces - these are all tools that we like to use for events depending on the objective and target group. However, interactions for larger groups are often meticulously designed and planned, while smaller teams are often left to their own devices. The resulting chaos or disorientation often has a strong emotional impact and can have a lasting negative effect on the overall event. Dr. Benjamin Miller from Hamburg, an experienced manager in the education sector, has developed a process management tool for use in schools, educational institutions and companies that enables project goals to be achieved independently. Based on successful teamwork according to Coverdale, the TeamPad© gives the team as much structure as necessary and as much freedom as possible to achieve its goals and develop further as a team. And all this in the form of a mini flipchart in A4 or A3 format and all the necessary moderation tools for location-independent use. In our opinion, the TeamPad© is suitable both for team processes independent of events and as a method within the framework of events for groups of up to 8 people.