Curse of the Canapé
How innocent little morsels are ruining networking events across the globe
It always goes something like this (A=person A, B=person B, W=waiter):
A: “…and that was the moment when I realised that my approach had been completely wrong all along. I was completely overlooking the most important thing. With one tiny tweak we were seeing immediate results.”
B: “That sounds great. I’d love to learn more about how you…”
W: “Canapé?”
B: [gesturing to A] “After you.”
A: “Oh, ah… Actually, I’m heading to dinner after this so I’m fine thanks”.
B: “I skipped lunch so I might grab one if you don’t mind. What are those ones?”
W: “Oh, I think those are mozzarella balls with a basil and tomato crust. These here are date and cashew risotto balls. Or, was it date and almond? I’ll just have to check”.
B: “Don’t worry. The mozzarella balls sound delicious. Are the breadcrumbs gluten-free?”
W: “Ah… I’m not sure. Let me ask my supervisor. We also have shredded cucumber, chilli and cream cheese on crostini”.
B: “But they’re not gluten-free are they?”
W: “Oh, sorry. No. Probably not. Let me check”.
A: “They actually look quite interesting. I might grab one of the risotto balls before you go. I’m not gluten-free, and my dinner is not for another hour. All this talk about tasty ingredients has made me quite peckish”.
[A takes a ball and, unable to work out whether they are one-bite or multi-bite morsels, pops the whole thing in her mouth. Waiter walks off in search of his supervisor.]
B: “So, where were we?”
A: [holds one hand over her mouth — now full of risotto ball — and raises the other hand as if to say ‘I can’t speak right now’ while looking guiltily at B]
B: “Oh, sorry. Ah, would you like me to get you another drink?”
Thousands of variations of this scenario play out every week at so called networking events across the globe. It’s an intergalactic dance, as if we — the attendees — are clusters of planets and the trays of canapés spaceships on random interplanetary journeys. The trays hover like UFOs around groups of attendees until the gravitational pull is great enough, at which point they come in to land, disrupting the natural order of things as they do.
Over the course of my career, I have attended many such events, assuming the role of A or B above. Like most people, I would attend an event in the hope of making interesting connections and having good conversations. On reflection however, what I often experienced were fragmented conversations interrupted by well-meaning waiting staff wielding trays covered in interesting-looking, unrecognisably-abstract edibles.
Canapé complexity was getting in the way.
Don’t get me wrong. I am very curious and I love trying new foods. I also appreciate the work that goes into preparing interesting food and the fact that when you’re serving interesting morsels as a part time gig to pay for your tuition you may not be as versed on their ingredients as the chef who made them. I’m just suggesting that there is a time and a place for culinary experimentation and a gathering of strangers or acquaintances is neither. I believe that at most such events, too much — albeit well meant — effort is focused on the wrong things.
Even worse, networking events are often an afterthought. They are tagged on to other events and conferences like part of an unwritten checklist: ‘People are coming to my conference so I’d better organise a networking event for them’. Or, they are organised by the wrong people who, with all due respect, don’t have the ability, insight or experience to consider the real needs of the audience: ‘My CEO has given me a budget of $X to organise a networking event so I’ll order in some drinks and finger food. It won’t matter what I order as long as it arrives on time, doesn’t run out and I don’t go over budget’.
As with all good design, good experience design should start with the user in mind. You should think about what value they are looking to derive from engaging with your product, service, or … networking event. Your two most important questions should be:
- Why are people coming to my event?
- How can I help them to achieve that?
Trying funky and unrecognisable finger-food is probably not one of their top priorities.
In broad terms I would describe an attendee’s expected value from a networking event as falling into one of two categories:
- Practical — ‘I want to meet people who will help me to achieve whatever it is that I’m trying to achieve’.
For example, you may be looking for a client, employee or co-founder. Or, you may be looking for a piece of knowledge, a skill or another connection that would help you to get unstuck or accelerate whatever it is that you’re working on. - Emotional — ‘I want to have a fun time, share stories and enjoy a sense of belonging’.
In this case you’re not so focused on a particular tangible or quantifiable outcome. Emotional value manifests in feeling good about yourself or, as is the case with great storytelling, being entertained, enlightened or taken to another world.
Regardless of your emphasis on practical or emotional value though, the role that food plays should be considered seriously. So should all other components of the design of your experience, from your choice of venue to the layout of your space to your decision to use name badges or not.
I am not suggesting that food should be removed from networking events all together. I appreciate that these events are often around meal times and your attendees might be hungry. What I am suggesting though is if you imagine a continuum from enabling at one end to contributing at the other, food should sit firmly at one end or the other. If you allow it to slip towards the middle it takes on a less desirable role that I would describe as distracting. Distracting food is what you’ll find at most networking events, as described in the scene that opened this article.
Enabling food is there to simply provide sustenance. It enables attendees to stay focused on connecting and conversing without having to think about what they’re going to have for dinner or if they should probably eat something to soak up the three glasses of wine they’ve had so far. Rather than fancy or funky, enabling food should be familiar. It should be clear at first glance what it is so all your attendees need to consider is if they want another one. Their only decision is: ‘Am I still hungry?’
Contributing food refers to food that is deliberately designed into an experience. It is selected, created and served in such a way that it actually contributes to the overall experience. It is not funky for the sake of being funky but because it serves a purpose, supporting the overall concept of the experience.
Several years ago I co-ran an event series in Amsterdam — WAGES, an acronym for ‘We All Gotta Eat Sometime’ —in which the food was purposefully contributing. It played an important role in stimulating conversation. At one such event — where the theme was ‘Challenging Assumptions’ — we had food prepared that tasted very different to how it looked. For example, small tarts were created that looked like sweet desserts but tasted bitter or savoury. At another— where the theme was ‘Gaps in the Market’ — we only served food with holes (from donuts to onion rings to Emmental cheese). In each case, the food was chosen to stimulate conversation or keep conversations on track, rather than distract from it. There are of course hundreds of creative ways in which this might be achieved.
At Wok+Wine — an experiment in social chemistry we’ve now tested in 11 countries — we took enabling to the extreme by removing choice all together. There is only one type of food to choose from. In the interest of complete transparency, our original motivation for only serving one type of food was driven by our desire to reduce effort. What we discovered however was that attendees found their lack of choice to be refreshing and liberating. When you know there is only one type of food, you don’t need to make any food-related decisions throughout the experience. This in turn frees up your mind to focus purely on making connections and enjoying conversations. We went one step further and applied the same rule to what people were drinking. At Wok+Wine there is also only one type of drink (aside from water) so everyone is drinking the same thing. The result has been the same.
On reflection, while we were initially considering food (and wine) as an enabler, it has become clear over the course of hundreds of events that the simplicity of our design choices has meant that food is one of the most powerful contributors to the strength of the concept.
There are undoubtedly many ways to thoughtfully and creatively embed food (and drink) into an experience such that it significantly increases the likelihood of you delivering value to your attendees and achieving your desired outcomes. What we have found is that the best way to do so may at first seem counter intuitive. In the example of Wok+Wine, we wondered if removing choice would cause attendees to devalue the concept. We learned that the opposite was actually true.
In a world where we as consumers are spoilt for choice as we accelerate into the so-called Experience Economy, there is a tendency to think that additional choice equals additional value and that because everyone has ‘been-there, done-that’ we need to impress them with something surprising and special. Our experience has taught us that the opposite can be true. These assumptions are both traps that distract us from understanding and focusing on the purpose of what we are trying to create for attendees. Unless you are the likes of Cirque du Soleil or El Bulli, your attendees won’t be expecting a culinary or sensory extravaganza. You should definitely look after them but perhaps focus a bit more attention on helping them to make new connections or strengthen existing ones. That’s what they’re really there for.
In summary, here are some of the things we have learned:
- Start with the end in mind — Think carefully about what you are trying to achieve with the experience you are designing. Whether you’re organising a 1,000 person gathering in a conference venue or a meeting of 5 team members in the staff canteen, it is still an experience and you should understand the outcomes you’re hoping to achieve.
- Consider how food and drink will enable or contribute to your experience — Food and drink should not be an afterthought. The choices you make can have a huge impact on your ability to achieve your desired outcomes. Start with the basic question: ‘Is food there simply to enable something else to happen or might it actually contribute to the success of my experience in other ways?’
- It’s about them, not you — Choosing a local catering company just because they make really funky things that you have been dying to try is not a valid selection criteria, unless it will lead to a more successful experience that delivers greater value to your attendees. Think carefully about your attendees, not just in terms of who they are and what they might like but also in terms of the situation.
- All else being equal, simplicity wins every time — Unless food is an integral part of your creative concept, keep it simple. Your attendees are not at your event for a culinary journey. They are there to learn something or make connections or share ideas. As such, keep quality high and choices low. Food should not be competing for any of the mental processing power your attendees will need for what they are actually there for.
ps. In case you’re interested, the word canapé is literally French for sofa. As the Collins Dictionary explains, ‘When a chef created a new type of hors d’oeuvre by putting a savoury topping on a piece of bread or toast, the topping was thought to sit on the bread like a person sitting on a sofa, and so the snack came to be called a ‘canapé’.
