Examples
Away days, team meetings and organisational reviews
Ketso has been used in a number of team planning sessions and organisational reviews. The following quotes reflect these uses:
"The ideas were excellent and I really enjoyed it, it certainly set me thinking about the future of the company...
The Ketso tree worked well and kept everything spontaneous. Excellent documentation too. All our products should be spec'd like this prior to inception" (email from a engineer following a product design day).
"I found both the Ketso materials and your outline plan very helpful... it saved a lot of time both in preparation and in the process, by giving such a clear structure. The 10-minute timing chunks worked really well, and as well as making the process quick stopped people getting bogged down" (Chief Executive).
“Ketso was brilliant, we saved lots of money by not having an outside facilitator, at our last away day, the facilitator plus the venue cost £3,000!” (A health care professional).
See our workshop plan for away days here.
Ketso for Conferences and Events
Ketso has been widely used to manage discussion sessions at conferences and events.
It can help to liven-up debate, as well as introduce elements of fun. The interactive nature of the toolkit gives delegates a chance to learn from each other, get engaged with the themes of the conference, meet new people and network.
In addition, the leaves from delegates can provide useful data for the conference organisers and even talking points for other workshop organisers or speakers. This image for example shows Ketso grids used to for delegates to map their interests against the special integration groups of the International Systems Society.
It is possible to use Ketso to engage delegates towards the beginning of the conference and to provide an interactive experience during the conference (either in a plenary session or in parallel workshops). It is also possible to use the kit to draw together key themes and ideas learned towards the end, or to use Ketso to gather feedback about the conference from delegates, as shown on the right for a conference at the University of Manchester. If Ketso is used towards the beginning, it is be possible to synthesise the key results and leave some Ketso felts up on display boards through the event, so people can see what came up in the different groups, and can even add ideas as the event goes along.
Examples and feedback from previous events using Ketso
At the International Systems Society Conference in Hull in 2011, Ketso was used to engage with roughly 100 delegates in the opening session, looking at systems thinking and the Society itself. These ideas were synthesised throughout the conference, with delegates adding ideas to the evolving discussion. The results were fed back to the conference, and feedback about the conference was gathered with a quick Ketso exercise.
Feedback from delegates included:
- “Ketso was great for getting instant feedback, and building a warm atmosphere of shared experiences at the end of the conference”.
- “It was nice to start with a discussion, usually it takes time to warm up. Ketso helped emphasise a participatory approach throughout the conference!”
- “People could come and see the themes [on the synthesis Ketsos on display], making the voice of each participant visible.”
At the International Enterprise Educators’ Conference in Coventry in 2011, Ketso was used to allow delegates a chance to consider the key questions of the conference what works? Why does it work? and How do we know it works? Delegates prioritised ideas in this hour long session, and key themes were fed back to the conference.
At a 2011 conference with 206 delegates, Civil Service Live, Ketso was used by a facilitator from the National School of Government to gather thoughts and ideas from all of the delegates in a 20 minute session, using Ketsos on both sides of a display board. read this report to see how a quick session with hundreds of people can generate meaningful discussion and a wealth of ideas.
Ketso has been used to encourage dialogue at the UK Systems Society conferences for the past seven years. An example was putting up Ketso in the ‘break out’ space at the 2004 Conference. Delegates were asked to provide feedback on the conference themes, the results of which were displayed through the conference. This captured people’s attention, and allowed participants to build a ‘big picture’ of the debate within minutes. In the 2010 UK Systems Society conference, Ketso was used amongst delegates following the key note speakers to develop questions to ask the speakers. In the process of developing the questions, delegates were able to answer many of each others’ questions. The process of coming to agreement about a set of good questions from the group meant that the resultant plenary discussion was fruitful and engaging.
Ketso can even be used to generate discussion and networking amongst participants in tiered lecture halls. The image to the right shows nearly 100 delegates at the 2011 Methods@Manchester Methods fair, using mini Ketsos to discuss 'what inspired them to do their PhD', 'what they hoped to get from their research training' and 'what they hoped to get from the day'.
In a parallel workshop for VITAE, the themes of the conference were used as a starting point for dialogue amongst delegates. You can see a blog about this workshop here.