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Timing / Agenda

Wall Walks can be taxing – for the facilitator and participants. So it’s better to run them in the morning. That said, if you need to allow time for staff to travel or there is a good operational reason why you need to start earlier or later, then we can adjust the timings. Here’s how the timing typically works:

  • 0815
      • Let your Wall Walker in to the venue and help them set up
  • 0845
      • Participants start gathering at venue – if desired, you ensure venue have tea, coffee, water available on arrival
  • 0900
      • Open workshop – ideally a senior staff member from your organisation says karakia, welcomes everyone (including your Wall Walker) and sets the strategic context, explaining why everyone is doing The Wall Walk®
  • 0910
      • The Wall Walk® begins
  • 1045
      • Break for morning tea… your organisation arranges this and someone to bless the food beforehand
  • 1100
      • Workshop continues
  • 1300
      • Workshop closed by a senior staff member from your organisation (possibly offering people the opportunity to debrief in 1-2 weeks and start talking about how to translate new ideas into action), and someone else says karakia

Audience Size & Participation

Audience participation is a vital component of every Wall Walk. In order for the audience to help the story along, they are given pre-work a couple of weeks beforehand. They are split into 10 groups and each group is assigned a topic to research and then prepare a 6 minute presentation on.

The Wall Walk® is optimised for an audience of 60. However, it can be run with groups as small as 30 and as large as 120. With small groups you don’t get the same energy in the room on the day, especially when people pull out at the last minute. Nor do you get workplace debates going before and after each workshop. Groups larger than 60 carry passengers – they’re the people who want to attend but don’t want to participate. Having a handful of these people is fine, especially if they’re family members. But more than a handful can be counter-productive.

The cost is the same regardless. If you want to invite people from other parts of your organisation or even outside of your organisation (including spouses and offspring) to make up the numbers that’s fine. Please let me know beforehand. It’s best to invite people from external agencies in multiples of 6 (each group of 6 people gets assigned a topic in advance).

I recommend that you ‘over-subscribe’ Wall Walk participants. If you want 60 people to show up on the day, invite 66 (or more if COVID-related absences are running high).

Venue capacity can sometimes be the deciding factor in audience size.

Venue

The Wall Walk can be run on-site at your business, or off-site at a location of your choosing. If in doubt, send me a picture/schematic of the venue for approval before booking or invite me along to a site inspection. At the venue we need:

  • A blank 6m long wall for me to put up five 2A0-sized wall charts. I’ll be using 3M strips to hold the posters up.
  • Chairs arranged, theatre-style, in rows facing the wall that the posters will go up on (either 3 rows of 20 seats or 4 rows of 15 seats works best).
  • 1 or 2 long narrow table(s) at the side or back of the room for any refreshments you supply/order.
  • PPT facilities (projecting onto a different wall to the one the posters go on) and audio. Many projectors have speakers but the audio quality and volume is usually awful.

When booking a venue please allow 5 hours all up:

  • 45 minutes set up time before participants arrive – for me to put up posters and banners, adjust the seating where necessary, test technology. If you want a Wall Walk to start at 0800 and it’s at your own site, setting up the night before can be a good idea.

  • 4 hours workshop running time (including welcome and opening remarks from one of your senior leaders and 20 minutes for morning tea supplied/organised by you – to arrive 1.75 hours after the workshop starts)

  • 15 minutes take down time

Wellington venues to consider

  1. For a group of 30 (with 1m spacing), try Seminar Room 1 at the Silverstream Retreat, 3 Reynolds Bach Drive, Stokes Valley;
    email info@staywithus.co.nz or phone 04 562 9080

  2. For groups ranging in size from 40 to 70+ (with 1m spacing), there are rooms of assorted sizes at Wharewaka on the Wellington Waterfront;
    contact Marissa at info@wellingtonfunctions.co.nz or phone 04 499 8180

  3. For groups of 60-80 (with 1m spacing), Pipitea Marae on Thorndon Quay;
    contact Marissa at info@wellingtonfunctions.co.nz or phone 04 499 8180

  4. For groups of 55 (with 1m spacing) or 80-100 (without), Te Wāhanga Atawhai Mercy Conference Centre on Guildford Tce in Thorndon;
    contact Karen Lowe conference@mercy.org.nz or phone 04 819 8310

  5. For groups of 30-40 (without 1m spacing), Poutama Room at National Archives, 10 Mulgrave St in Thorndon;
    contact joanne.cooper@dia.govt.nz

  6. For groups of 35-80 (with or without 1m spacing), the Helen Smith Community Meeting Room at Pataka Museum and Art Gallery on the corner of Norrie and Parumoana Streets in Porirua, parking in Te Rauparaha Arena . Contact Krista Shew on 021 105 5044 or Krista.Shew@poriruacity.govt.nz. There’s an onsite café that does catering: cafekaizen@xtra.co.nz.

  7. For groups of 40-80 (with or without 1m spacing), The Rydges hotel on Featherston St has The Grand Space.

Auckland venues to consider

  1. John Walker Lounge, Mt Smart StadiumJohn Walker Lounge, Mt Smart Stadium

  2. Limelight 2, Level 3, Aotea Centre

  3. Ruapōtaka Marae Training and Admin Rooms (not the marae complex per se but in the same building as Citizens Advice Bureau), 7-10 Pilkington Rd Panmure. Call Moana on 0273957000. She can tell you who to talk to about bookings, local caterer, etc.

  4. Te Mahurehure Marae, 73 Premier Ave, Pt Chev, Call 027 266 2245 or email info@temahurehure.maori.nz

  5. Jubilee Building, 545 Parnell Rd. Phone: 09 555 5162 or 027 555 4855. Email: venue@villagesquare.org.nz

Hamilton venues to consider

  1. The Whitiora Room at the Novotel Tainui on 7 Alma Street can comfortably accommodate a Wall Walk audience of 50 people and help with catering.

    2. https://accorevents.com/venues/novotel-hamilton-tainui/

Napier venues to consider

  1. The Small Exhibition Hall on Marine Parade in Napier can comfortably accommodate a Wall Walk audience of 60 people or more and help with catering.

    2. https://www.napierconferences.co.nz/venues-napier-conferences-and-new-zealand/small-exhibition-hall/

Hastings venues to consider

  1. Clubs Hastings, 308 Victoria St, Hastings 4122. They can comfortably accommodate a Wall Walk audience of up to 80 people seated at round tables in their “Dining Room”. They also provide in-house catering. Get hold of them on info@clubshastings.co.nz or (06) 878 8808.

Christchurch venues to consider

  1. For groups of 30-40 people (without 1m spacing), various rooms at “The Meeting Rooms” venue at 10 de Havilland Way near Christchurch Airport. They can supply catering and ample free parking. https://www.themeetingrooms.co.nz/index.php

  2. For groups of 30-60 (with 1m spacing), try the Savoy Rooms at The Rydges Hotel in Christchurch. They have in-house catering. https://www.rydges.com/accommodation/new-zealand/latimer-christchurch/meetings-events/meetings/  

Admin Support – Pre-Wall Walk

Step 1: Send me and the participants an electronic invitation / diary placeholder. Confirm venue, catering and participant numbers then lock the date in. Use the text on my homepage to help people understand what they’re signing up for.

Step 2: Receive (from me) a Word™ document containing instructions for participants and a topic list with links.

Step 3: Put people’s names next to topics. Assign people randomly, or, assign them based on particular interests, lineage. Aim for an equal number of people per topic. There are 10 topics – no more, no less. Save the document and send it out to participants with a covering e-mail, which I will supply.

 Step 4: Arrange for…

  • a projector and screen (if they aren’t already in situ)
  • some volunteers to say opening and closing karakia and grace before morning tea. If people want to sing waiata too, that’s great. If your organisation has a cultural skills APP, then let people know what it’s called so they can download it beforehand
  • (if this is a different person) a senior leader to explain why the workshop is happening, ie what it means for your agency / company

Admin Support – On the day

If it’s at your site, let me into the venue 45 minutes before kick-off.

If you want to make a list of everyone in attendance, do that.

If the room isn’t already set up, help me set it up.

Introduce me to the people from your organisation who will be speaking on the day.

Look after the catering and Health & Safety – or advise me accordingly.

I’ll take care of the rest.