Limit the big group moments; the work happens in groups of seven.

technique — attributed to Xavier Mufraggi

YPO's Edge, the largest gathering of CEOs in the world, opens with a plenary and then breaks down quickly into smaller groups, sometimes as small as seven people, focused on topics that have emerged from the room. Mufraggi thinks this is the future model for all big conferences. The big group moment should be limited as much as possible. Next year he wants to skip the huge nighttime party and instead have people work in groups of seven and present something the next morning. The reframe treats the small group as the production unit and the plenary as the warm-up. The CEOs would have a blast, he believes, because the format treats them as makers, not audience.

For conference designers and convening leaders running large peer gatherings. The principle is most useful as a corrective when the plenary keeps expanding at the expense of small-group time.

small-groups, format, ypo, conference-design