What Is Meeting Architecture?

If your job requires you to attend meetings or conferences, you know the frustration that comes with one that is poorly organized and lackluster. To curb this, planners can now turn to an uprising trend in the meeting industry: Meeting Architecture. This concept is achieved through a Meeting Architect, an expert in weaving together key elements of human interaction and engagement, conceptual design, creativity, technical production and advancements in technology to drive forward a client’s objectives, and generate visible results.

Have we forgotten anything? Did we look at everything and do we know all potential objectives for our meetings? Do we really understand all the reasons why we are organising this meeting? Are we focusing our attention and resources on the most important objectives? In most meetings these key questions are either not addressed or, in the best cases, only partially so

Maarten Vanneste, "Meeting Architecture"

Meeting Architecture is a relatively new term coined by a Danish entrepreneur Maarten Vanneste. According to Vanneste, the meetings industry has come a long way since the late 1990s, where hospitality logistics and satisfaction of attendees was the focus and deciding factor of the meeting business deal.

As a meeting planner, the stakes are high with tighter budgets, the need for quick-turn around, enhanced value, participant satisfaction, and delivering a return-on-investment. Therefore, it is beneficial — if not essential — to find a partner with turn-key services and someone to help a planner put their puzzle pieces together. Connecting the effort and expenditure to the real objectives is paramount.

At The Banff Centre, we take the guesswork out of the puzzle. Utilizing a combination of Meeting Design Principles and Meeting Architecture toolbox elements, The Banff Centre works with meeting planners on conceptual design and formatting, engaging content value-adds — artistic and technology-based — and, most importantly, creating measurable results that deliver on the dollar investment. We have the knowledge and experience to deliver positive results, from innovative programming, and enhanced technology, to an onsite hotel, dining, and entertainment options.