My obsession with EDC helped me re-imagine dreadful meeting introductions.

I dread kicking off meetings with introductions, especially if you have more than 12 people. Don’t get me wrong, I love meeting new people and learning about what they do. What I don’t like is the awkwardness of interesting people trying to present themselves in an interesting way while not actually listening to other interesting people trying to present themselves in even more interesting ways. Even worse is how much time introductions steal from doing actual work.
I once timed introductions in a meeting with 20 people. It took 37 minutes for each person to tell us their name, title, credentials, experience and their take on what makes a customer experience memorable.
After 37 minutes all I remembered was Jim from Nebraska took his kids to some place and he thought it was memorable because something happened he didn’t expect.
Does this mean I don’t think you should do introductions? Yes!
As part of my job as a designer and facilitator of collaborative design experiences, I typically replace traditional introductions with activities that help people get to know each other beyond their title.
The following activity was inspired by one of my favorite web sites: Everyday-carry.com.
Everydaycarry.com features images of items people carry with them every day to support their personal and/or professional life. The common term is EDC (every day carry). The site displays an individual’s personal affects using an artistic way of organizing called Knolling. The founders of the site describe it as “an in-depth look into the pockets, professions and lives of people in our community.” I love how much you get a feel for person based solely on their EDC display. My EDC can be seen above.
Follow these steps at the start of your meeting:
- Introduce the objectives of your meeting and then say, “ before we get started I have a quick activity.”
- Have the participants partner up and visit Everydaycarry.com. (5 -10 Min)
- Have the participants break and individually create their own EDC display. (2 Min)
- Have the participants partner up with someone new and share their display. Encourage them to discuss how their display reflects their personal and professional identity, their outlook on the world and how they approach work. (3 min)
This activity should be no longer than 15 minutes.
In the end, you will have gained back almost twenty minutes of productivity. Your participants will have learned something new, had a full sensory experience, expressed themselves in more meaningful ways and ignited their curiosity for what is to come.
Give this concept a try at your next meeting. You may be surprised how much your participants enjoy this non traditional approach.
