It’s not as difficult as you might think. With just some simple adjustments, your meeting can accomplish its goals and still be extremely welcoming to family members.

Here are a few ideas that we have seen:

Put the spotlight on the kids

The Cincinnati Music Hall is not just a gorgeous building. Its staff is also pros at incorporating children easily into events. Take, for example, the American Girl Fashion Show the Music Hall plays host to. This three day event has children as the models, and all proceeds go to a local charitable organization. This combines many things family love, especially the chance to dress their kids up and teach them values.

You can have those same aspects to your event. Create your own fashion show with children by working with a local department store such as Macy’s. Voting with cash for your favorite model can provide a charitable aspect and provide a little more excitement for the budding models.

Pick a family-friendly location

The easiest way to make your event welcoming to families is to simply have it at a family-friendly location. The best family-friendly locations have many activities going on while your meeting is accomplishing its goals.

The Cincinnati Zoo does a great job of this. All of those animals and exhibits provide a fantastic all-day activity to keep kids busy. And the meeting rooms still provide the quiet needed for a productive event. You also never know when you might see an animal pop its head in, which means the fun isn’t just reserved for the family.

Choose a networking activity everyone can do

There is no one that can make faster friends than children, and they have no idea of titles or specialty areas. So incorporating children into the networking activities can actually help create connections across the board for your event. And that means new ideas and increased cooperation.

Luckily, there are so many ways you can do this! You can have a family dance class that the Cincinnati Ballet would happily work with you on. You could invite the penguins from the Newport Aquarium to come over and play. Or you can just have free-play at the Duke Energy Children’s Museum at the Cincinnati Museum Center. The possibilities are frankly endless and full of fun.