Facilitation · Sean Blair

Nine conditions for brilliant meetings, workshops and events

What makes the best meetings, workshops and events? Nine conditions, from personal responsibility and clear objectives to people learning something new.

First published 2014. Updated October 2026.

After years of facilitating meetings, workshops and events, I asked myself what the best ones have in common. Here are the nine conditions I look for when planning and delivering a brilliant meeting.

What makes the best events
What makes the best events
  1. Someone owns it. The meeting, workshop or event is owned by people who take sincere personal responsibility for its objectives.
  2. The objectives are super clear. They address common or corporate goals in creative ways that get results faster and better than expected. (Here is how to write them.)
  3. People want to be there. They understand that their time and insight can make a difference, and they show up alive to possibility.
  4. Everyone participates openly and honestly. Participation and diversity are welcomed, including minority and dissenting views.
  5. Every perspective is valued, and contributes to a picture of a greater truth.
  6. Energy is high. The process includes physical movement, and the room feels alive.
  7. Spoken inputs are brief, engaging and from the heart. Formal presentations are short: ten minutes ideally, rarely twenty, never more. I have never heard an inspiring half-hour speech.
  8. Clear action intentions arise and are shared. You know the actions will happen.
  9. People learn something new, about themselves, about working together and about the subject. This is the moment when change can happen.

What does the leader believe?

Next time you are in a meeting, try an observation game. Take a minute to notice what is really motivating the person leading it. Do they believe the people in the room hold the answers, or that their job is to get the room to agree with them?

The nine conditions follow from a belief: that people do their best work when they come together with purpose, and that the leader's job is to create the conditions for that. It is the core of participatory leadership, and the reason a facilitator can make such a difference. When the leader is freed from running the meeting, they can take part in it.

Planning an event and want these conditions designed in? See conference facilitation or workshop facilitation.

Sean Blair is the founder of ProMeet and Serious Outcomes, an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and a LEGO® Serious Play® Master Trainer. About Sean.

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