In the past year I've been to a number of conferences in my industry, such as DreamForce, DreamForce 2, Hub Models, Content Marketing World and WODC—and don't forget my company's internal meetings, known as Red Rock, Spark and PLM. These might sound like just a bunch of acronyms and buzz words to you, but attending conferences is a great opportunity for both networking and professional growth. While conferences can stimulate us in a way the daily workplace doesn't, I also see them as large, vibrant co-working spaces where work and sales are happening.

In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we share insights from author and blogger Tim Leberecht on how companies are using a stimulating conference-style environment to energize the workplace, and attract and retain Millennial talent.

1. Create intimate experiences. With an increasingly distributed workforce, in-person meetings are becoming infrequent, and often off-site retreats are the only remaining time for leaders to convene their teams and build deeper relationships beyond the fire hose of everyday transactional tasks. Retreats can have a significant impact on company culture and team motivation. But only a few leaders make the design and flow of such team gatherings a top priority. The solution: instead of simply aiming to align around a set of pre-determined outcomes, create an experience that truly touches and changes people, including the hosts themselves.

2. Gather around purpose. Whether it is telecommuting or flexible schedules, non-traditional workplaces function best if there is a shared set of values; a communal spirit that inspires and creates a sense of belonging beyond physical boundaries. Leaders must be adept at creating ad hoc communities, "adhocracies" that form for a limited period of time around a clearly stated purpose and yet create a lasting bond because the experience, or the memory of it, continues to reverberate.

3. Tell stories. As work becomes more virtual and flexible, leaders should create, identify and curate more compelling programming to keep their audiences engaged. Conference organizers know how to curate content that is immediately relevant to the audience. They serve as storytellers who can weave together individual story lines.

It has also become fashionable to ask, "What would your TED Talk be about?" and use the popular 18-minute format as a catalyst for shaping one's organizational story and unlocking institutional knowledge. Capitalizing on this insight, TED, the mothership itself, has launched the TED Institute as a way to take TED inside big corporations. Boston Consulting Group, UPS, and IBM, among others, claim that hosting their own mini-TEDs has boosted knowledge sharing, thought leadership and employee engagement.

4. Design for serendipity. By providing a framework for the unexpected to occur, conferences offer an alternative to mostly linear processes at work. Networking breaks are examples of this, with opportunities to talk to "qualified" strangers. Where else do you have the permission to walk up to someone you've never met before and start a conversation without it being awkward? In fact, these moments are typically more memorable than general sessions. At the workplace, too, leaders must design these breaks to allow for this type of networking.

Look for ways to create valuable conference-like moments in your everyday work environment.

Source: Tim Leberecht is a marketing visionary with more than 20 years' experience in leadership roles in the design, software, telecommunications and entertainment industries in the U.S., Asia and Europe. He is founder of the consulting firm Leberecht & Partners, and is a prolific writer, speaker and two-time TED speaker.