Jeopardy Meets Event Innovation: The Fishbowl Sandwich Format

The innovative Fishbowl Sandwich: Image of Adrian Segar playing JeopardyKen Jennings: “Welcome to America’s favorite answer and question game, Adrian! The answer is ‘The Fishbowl Sandwich’.”

<DING!>

Adrian: “If you had to pick one unique/creative/innovative session format or strategy you successfully implemented or you’ve witnessed that resulted in better interaction and engagement, what would that be and why?”
Merijn van Buuren question via LinkedIn, July 17, 2024

Ken Jennings: Right!

And, just like that, I was on to the next round!

We can dream

Here’s how I answered Merijn’s question:

“In 2015, I invented the fishbowl sandwich. It’s a session format where hundreds of people can profitably discuss and learn more about a “hot” topic—typically “hot” because it involves difficult challenges for the participants—and crowdsource creative, unexpected solutions by drawing from the ideas and experiences of the entire audience.

A well-designed and facilitated fishbowl sandwich is the best way I know to uncover, share, and develop solutions in a single session. People are often unaware that they know things that could be of immediate value to other group members. The fishbowl sandwich process finds these individuals and helps them share their knowledge and expertise. It encourages active participation and ensures that multiple perspectives are heard.

As a bonus, you can also use a fishbowl sandwich to offer structured consulting to group members grappling with a specific issue or problem.”

You can learn the what, why, and how to run a Fishbowl Sandwich from my book Event Crowdsourcing: Creating Meetings People Actually Want and Need.

But wait, there’s more!

Having only one tool in your tool chest of conference session designs and formats won’t get you far. No problem! I also wrote The Power of Participation: Creating Conferences That Deliver Learning, Connection, Engagement, and Action, which Julius Solaris called “a mandatory read for the modern event professional”.A print ad for Adrian Segar's book "The Power of Participation"The book comprehensively covers twenty-seven fundamental session formats that transform traditional conference sessions into a powerful learning and connection experience for your attendees. That’s why Jerry Weinberg described The Power of Participation as “a catalog of tools for designing meetings”.

For each format, the book includes:

  • A descriptive overview.
  • When to use the format.
  • Required resources and pre-planning.
  • Step-by-step implementation guidance.

Thousands of event professionals have purchased Event Crowdsourcing and The Power of Participation. They’ve beefed up their event design toolkits with the tools to tackle the hardest event design jobs.

Join them today!

The Power of Participation

The Power of Participation! Take a look at this photo.

A photograph of a conference session using a process from Adrian Segar's book "The Power of Participation". Every single participant is in active conversation with someone!
VT Vision 2012 break

Do you routinely get this level of interaction at your conferences?

If not (and even if you do) you may be interested in my book, The Power of Participation: Creating Conferences That Deliver Learning, Connection, Engagement, and Action, which explains how participation enhances learning, sharing, and connection, and provides presenters and event organizers with a compendium of powerful low/no-tech participatory techniques that can greatly improve any conference session.

Here’s the outline:

One

  • Eliminate Attendees At Your Meetings!
  •  – Get on your feet!
  •  – Meetings are a mess—and how they got that way
  •  – Why participation is so important for today’s meetings
  •  – Active learning
  •  – Connection
  •  – Engagement and community-building
  •  – Action
  •  – Wishes

Two

  • Creating An Environment For Participation
  • – Introduction
  • – Badge design
  • – Meals
  • – The event space
  • – Seating
  • – Information display
  • – Safety
  • – Ground rules
  • – Play and fun
  • – Facilitation
  •  – Small group selection
  •  – Getting attention
  • – Timing
  •  – Asking questions
  • – White space techniques
  • – The conference arc
  • – The conference metaphor
  • – Giving up control

Three

  • Participation techniques overview
  •  – How to use this compendium of techniques
  •  – Techniques glossary
  •  – Techniques table
  •  – Techniques by goal
  •  – Techniques by conference phase
  •  – Techniques by group size
  •  Techniques for encouraging connection outside conference sessions
  • Openers
  •  – The Three Questions
  •  – Roundtable
  •  – Human Spectrograms
  •  – The Solution Room
  •  – Post It!
  • Middles
  •  – Small Group Discussions
  •    – Pair Share
  •    – Guided discussions
  •    – Open Space
  •    – World Café
  •    – Fishbowl
  •    – Affinity Grouping
  •  – Participatory Voting
  •    – Voting considerations
  •    – Hand/Stand Voting
  •    – Roman Voting
  •    – Card Voting
  •    – Table Voting
  •    – Dot Voting
  •    – Anonymous Voting
  •  – Creating Learning Opportunities
  •    – Short Form Presentations
  •    – Case Studies and Simulations
  • Endings – Consolidating learning and moving to outcomes
  •  – Pro Action Café
  •  – Plus/Delta
  •  – Personal Introspective
  •  – Group Spective
  •  – Closing Rituals
  • Resources

Buy it today!