The challenge we overcame with planning this meeting was uniting three diverse groups (Sales Force, Sales Support, and Technical Staff) with the goal of fostering learning, promoting interaction, and keeping them entertained simultaneously.
Our solution to the learning portion of the challenge was to create an intra-company “trade-show”. Taking into account the reluctance of the Technical Staff to speak in front of groups, this alternative allowed them to create product exhibits, which were visited by the Sales group. As a result, the different groups had one-on-one interactions in which Sales learned about products directly from the people developing them, and Technical Staff learned about field challenges and new product ideas from Sales.
As for the social portion, we held a Casino night with billiards, darts, and a disco. The attendees had the opportunity to socialize while partaking in fun activities, and the party ended up going past our scheduled time!