“Now this is different…!” I thought.
I was sitting in the back of the room at my customer’s sales kickoff meeting and noted that their team was frequently writing down key ideas from the presentations, capturing much more than at a typical SKO. I could see several folks who had already jotted down a dozen or more ideas.
What was going on? Rick, their head of sales was using “Swipes.”
The idea is very simple and tremendously effective! At the end of the day, Rick goes around the room (or virtual room) and has each person state something that he or she took away from the sessions. That’s seemingly easy, but he adds a twist: Each idea can only be used once!
If someone else verbalizes your take-away, you’d better have a backup. Or two. Or many more… Now you can guess where the name “Swipes” comes from!
Participants know, ahead of time, that they need to recall and retell at least one idea at the end of the day that hasn’t already been presented by someone else. To be safe, each person tends to write down a list of take-aways.
Additionally, I noted that participants tend to pay better attention during the sessions, since they need to listen to collect Swipes candidates.
Works wonderfully!
What a terrific way to ensure that your SKO participants remember the key take-aways! Swipes was first introduced to me during a SKO meeting at McLeod Software by Rick Halbrooks, McLeod’s then head of sales (and long-time Great Demo! senior leader).
Pragmatic Note: Swipes are wonderful for groups of fifty or so but could be challenging for larger teams. An elegant solution for larger groups is to do Swipes in breakout sessions or similar smaller subgroups.
