Why You Should Run a Visual Strategy Fair

Have you ever sat through a three-hour strategy presentation only to realize you didn't understand a single slide? Traditional business plans are often buried in spreadsheets and jargon that obscure the real direction of the company. To fix this, leaders use a visual strategy fair, a high-energy event where teams present competing strategy canvases to stakeholders for immediate feedback. This process forces teams to stop hiding behind numbers and start communicating a clear, divergent path for growth.

Most corporate planning happens behind closed doors, leading to strategies that look like every other competitor. By opening the floor to a wider group, you create a space where the best ideas win based on their merit rather than the presenter's rank. This event transforms strategy from a static document into a living, visual conversation that everyone can grasp.

What is a Visual Strategy Fair?

A visual strategy fair is the third step in the visualizing strategy process outlined by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne in their book, Blue Ocean Strategy. It is a structured gathering where different teams within an organization present their proposed "future" strategy canvases to a mix of internal and external stakeholders. Instead of a 50-page report, each team presents a single-page visual that shows how their plan offers a leap in value while reducing costs.

This concept matters because it breaks the cycle of incrementalism that plagues most businesses. When you see your strategy compared directly to a competitor's on a graph, the lack of uniqueness becomes impossible to ignore. It provides a platform for the organization to decide which new market spaces are worth pursuing before committing significant capital.

Designing a High-Impact Visual Strategy Fair

Why a Visual Strategy Fair Beats Boring Slide Decks

The primary rule of the fair is that every proposal must be presented as a strategy canvas. Each team gets exactly ten minutes to explain their curve because any idea that takes longer to communicate is likely too complicated to work. This constraint forces presenters to focus on the big picture rather than getting bogged down in operational minutiae. According to the authors, the European Financial Services (EFS) group saw a 30% revenue boost in its first year after using this visual approach to clarify its direction.

How to Gather External Stakeholder Input Without the Noise

To get the most out of the fair, you must invite people from outside the core strategy team. This includes representatives from your external stakeholder input pool, such as noncustomers, demanding clients, and even partners from alternative industries. These outsiders provide a reality check that internal teams often miss because they are too close to the existing product. Their feedback ensures the proposed value curve actually resonates with the people you are trying to attract.

Use Transparent Voting to Kill Internal Politics

Once the presentations are over, every attendee receives a set of sticky notes to vote on their favorite strategies. This visual voting system makes the most compelling ideas immediately obvious to the entire room. It bypasses the usual corporate politics where the loudest voice or the highest-ranking executive dictates the plan. The transparency of the sticky notes provides a level playing field where clarity and value are the only metrics that matter.

Real-World Examples

European Financial Services (EFS) provides a classic look at this process in action. The company was deeply divided between its online and offline divisions, with each side resenting the other's approach. By running a fair with twelve different strategy canvases, they realized that customers didn't care about the online-offline split at all. The feedback showed that buyers simply wanted speed and ease of use, leading EFS to collapse its two divisions into one streamlined service.

Samsung Electronics also institutionalized this visual approach through its Value Innovation Program (VIP) center. Designers, engineers, and planners gather in project rooms to hammer out specifications based on visual strategy canvases. This collaborative environment has allowed Samsung to launch numerous hit products by focusing on the commonalities that buyers value most. By using visual tools to align their teams, they moved from a follower to a global leader in consumer electronics.

Three Steps to Launch Your First Fair

1. Draft Competing Canvases

Before the event, split your managers into two teams and task each with creating six different strategy canvases. These teams must use the six paths framework to look across industry boundaries and find untapped demand. Ensure each canvas includes a compelling tagline that captures the essence of the proposed move.

2. Assemble Your Judges

Invite a diverse group of attendees, specifically including those who are not currently your customers. Your goal is to gather strategy feedback from people who have previously rejected your industry's offerings. This group will be far more honest about the flaws in your current logic than your loyal fans will be.

3. Facilitate the Feedback Loop

After the voting, ask the judges to explain why they placed their sticky notes on specific canvases. Listen for recurring themes about which factors they want to see eliminated or raised. Use this data to synthesize the best elements into a final, master strategy that the entire organization can support.

Where Visual Planning Falls Short

Critics often argue that visual fairs can turn into beauty contests where the most artistic team wins. This is a valid concern if the leadership team doesn't hold presenters accountable for the underlying business logic. A strategy might look divergent and focused on paper, but it still needs to be backed by a viable profit proposition. If a team proposes raising expensive factors without a plan to eliminate others, the business model will eventually fail.

Some experts also point out that external stakeholders may not understand the internal constraints of a company. A customer might love a feature that is technically impossible or prohibitively expensive to build at the current time. Leaders must balance the fair's feedback with the reality of their technical capabilities and cost structures to avoid chasing a mirage.

A visual strategy fair highlights which ideas provide a leap in value for the mass of buyers. It forces managers to see where their plans are me-too imitations and where they are truly divergent. Schedule your fair as a one-day event to force rapid decision-making and break through the typical months-long planning cycle.