How to Act Like a Leader

Admired leaders are accessible and outgoing. A meeting leader, especially in a virtual setting needs screen presence. A leader should display the four C’s — competence, confidence, calmness and control to the audience. These qualities can be learned through practice and can make you a more effective leader.

• Competence

Nothing helps a leader’s image more than a demonstrated sense of competence. Wise meeting leaders never attempt to step in front of a meeting without being well-versed on the subjects to be covered. They prepare by knowing what they should accomplish and what is needed to drive that accomplishment. They understand, in advance, what problems, questions and comments might arise and they are prepared to handle them should they come up.

• Confidence

Confidence is in large part a by-product of competence. The leader who knows the subject matter and their company objectives has reason to be confident. Confidence is essentially, an outward expression of an inner sense of security.

Confidence and a sense of competence come from feeling secure about the subject at hand. Confidence creates charisma, and that’s what people look for in a strong leader. When participants spot it, they, too, feel confident about the outcome of the meeting and that helps improve the quality of their participation.

• Calmness

Nervousness before a group stems from two sources. One is the adrenaline that automatically pumps into the bloodstream–it’s nature’s way of preparing the body to react quickly in a stressful situation. Most speakers feel an anticipatory rush of adrenaline a few minutes before they go on stage. Experience teaches them the adrenaline surge is short lived and typically subsides once they begin. Nervousness in front of a group is not a physical or psychological deficiency. It is a normal, healthy reaction to what is perceived as a stress filled situation.

The second source of nervousness is uncertainty. A leader who does not know their material, or their audience well, may not convey their messages effectively. The obvious antidote is to know the subject thoroughly, take the time to prepare a solid presentation and practice it as many times as necessary.

• Control

Leadership, according to President Dwight Eisenhower, is “the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” In practical terms, this means that a leader must know how to inspire and motivate their people. The meeting leader has two important roles: moderator and facilitator. The leader controls the meeting’s pace and direction. Ideally, the leader keeps things on course, maintains an orderly progression and steers the ship if it encounters any shoals or sandbars. In mission-oriented meetings, where problems are to be solved, or policies hammered out, the leader’s job is to generate discussion, drive the group towards a resolution and pull everything together in a final summary.

Good presenters and speakers approach the podium, or the screen, in a calm fashion and take a few seconds to let the audience settle in. They look at the audience, or camera, and hold that gaze for a few seconds. All of this gives the adrenaline a little time to subside and reduces any nervousness. It also gives the audience an opportunity to prepare to listen.

During the talk, good presenters consciously strive to keep their speech slow, recognizing that most people talk too fast when speaking in public. The best speech is made at a pace about half that of normal conversation. The slow pace permits good enunciation, enabling the audience to hear and understand every word. This is especially true for audiences that include members for whom English is not their primary language.

As the MC, the leader acts as a coordinator and introduces the presenters, manages the time of the meeting, interprets, explains and summarizes content for the audience.

The leader must know how to run the meeting and the participants must be aware of this control. Sometimes the control is exercised in subtle ways, sometimes it needs to be made abundantly clear. Take a look at these examples.

Leadership Cautions

Control can be subtle. Little things can affect the tenor of a meeting, especially if it is virtual, and cause it to come apart or lose its momentum. Little things also can destroy the respect the participants have for the leader. Examples include:

• The leader resents a question from the audience and shows it…questions, even unwanted ones, should be encouraged.
• The leader jumps into the discussion and monopolizes it.
• The leader plays the role of a comic–while some humor is welcome at most meetings, a leader with aspirations to be a stand-up comic can quickly reduce a serious meeting to an amateur vaudeville show
• A comment from the leader comes across as a smack down to a participant, especially a remark of a personal nature…there will always be problem attendees, but a public put-down is never the right way to manage it, take the participant aside during a break and discuss the situation.
• The leader looks confused, unprepared or unknowledgeable…coming to a meeting unprepared is worse than not attending…if there has not been time to prepare, the best course is to postpone the meeting until the preparations can be completed

Racing Ahead

A deceptive kind of inattention occurs when participants are so involved in a meeting discussion that their minds race ahead of the speaker to new ideas. On one hand, racing ahead is a good sign, an indication that participants want to contribute. But it needs to be controlled or much may be missed. The best solution is to listen attentively and jot down one or two word reminders of fresh ideas as they occur.

Leadership Tips

• Strive to be known as a rainmaker, people developer, decision-maker or something else of value
• The old model said that managers did not do anything but “manage…” the new model says lead by example
• If you have nothing constructive to say, say nothing–you will command much more attention when you have something of value to say
• Do not automatically look at change as bad
• Do not micromanage your people, your projects or your own life
• Never say, “That’s not my job”
• Never appear stressed in front of a client, a customer or your boss…take a deep breath and ask yourself, how important is this really
• Never correct a co-worker in front of a customer or client — or anyone else
• Do not tell people their idea isn’t very good–just work at coming up with a better one
• Be more results-driven than methodology-driven
• Gather all available data to support your positions
• Make decisions in a timely fashion, even if you are not 100% certain that it is the right decision…not deciding is a decision as well
• Send thank you notes.
• Always strive for a deeper level of trust and truthfulness with associates

Summary: The Face Value of The Art of Leadership is that becoming an effective leader today is more complex than ever before as you now need to be effective and persuasive in person, on-line and on-camera.

Chapter VII

Impactful Virtual Conferences

Virtual conferences and webcasting have been around for over a decade. With the pandemic came a major increase in the use of these types of meetings. Like live meetings, there are many different types of virtual meetings. To help clarify all of your options a recently published paper entitled Virtual Conferences – A Guide to Best Practices by the Association for Computing Machinery states, “it’s not just about the technology that supports them, but about rethinking and retargeting the things that organizers and participants normally do with new media and new forms of interaction.” In this detailed guide you will learn about the variety of virtual events you can host, from straightforward conference calls, Zoom and WebEx video conferences to professionally produced day long conferences or events.

Our production team at Esprit Productions has worked on many hybrid events with a live audience, and a world-wide virtual audience over the past 10 years. Here’s what we produced at a Nielsen Customer Conference hybrid event. https://espritproductions.com/events-university/stand-out/

Today’s pandemic has created the need to change the way you produce major virtual events or conferences with impact. Take a look at how you can turn your next webcast into a show.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z4xxmdgfqpme9qw/Esprit%20Productions%20-%20Impactful%20Virtual%20Conferences%20-%206-20.ppsx?dl=0

Summary: The Face Value of Virtual Conferences is that in the near term it will be our main means of directly communicating with our core audiences. Try these ideas. Be strategic. Be bold. Good luck and good meetings!

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How to Listen

All of us believe we know how to listen. After all, listening is a behavior we do every day in nearly every hour we’re awake. At the same time, we all regularly experience the problem of talking to people who don’t listen well. Hearing is a physical act, listening is the act of hearing with comprehension.

As presenters we must be good listeners, and, we also need to help our event participants be good listeners as well.

Smartphone Apps and Webcasting Tools

One of the most exciting listening tools for events is the smartphone app as they offer polling and digital Q&A capabilities. This allows the audience to share their thoughts and concerns in real time and makes them feel actively involved in the event.

Collaboration Through Groupware

Collaboration software for high-performance virtual events can replace the traditional flip-chart. These online tools can elevate participant engagement to a new level during brainstorming sessions. Participant ideas are captured, by topic, as they are entered into the cloud. Once the brainstorming is complete, the group can review and discuss all of the ideas and prioritize action plans.

Breakout Leader Skills to Maximize Results

• Stimulate group discussion
• Be open to listening and changing your mind
• Consider the suggestions and opinions of everyone
• Suggestion systems work — use them
• Too much resistance to a new system or change probably means there is something wrong with it as employees usually act in the organization’s best interest
• Document and prioritize all ideas
• Strive to demystify problems that seem insurmountable—others have probably found solutions to similar challenges in the past
• Become known for listening, building ideas and not for finding fault

Summary: The Face Value of Listening & Feedback is that it builds an environment of trust and receptivity so everyone feels free to speak and becomes a motivated, involved stakeholder.

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Every company, every meeting has it’s “freight” — the information that has to be communicated and discussed. The challenge is for the planning team to make it interesting enough to get the message across, and remembered.

The objective for most meetings and events is to share information to achieve behavioral change. In the process of developing your event, the planners, speakers and the event staff communicate and send thousands of messages — some overt and others subliminal. The event look, feel and brand, the agenda topics and even the PowerPoint font style all send messages to attendees about what they should learn, feel and do.

The aggregation of all these bits of information shape the event experience. Dr. Richard Ackley believes it is important to consider how the brain processes information to avoid having your meeting fall short of its full potential. He offers several ideas for meeting planners to maximize the participant experience.¹

Setting the Stage

According to Ackley, when meeting organizers are planning an event, the first thing they need to ask is: “What do we want the attendees to take away from this event? What behavioral changes do we want them to make? Will our attendees already have what they need to understand the subjects or do we have to provide context for them?” With these answers in hand, leadership can organize, sort and present their information so that attendees can see the big picture, assimilate the facts, evaluate their options, focus on the details and embark to complete the task.

Tips for Engaging the Right Side of the Brain

Emotion is a powerful motivator, explains Ackley, and it plays an important role in behavioral change. There are many techniques that can be used to elicit an emotional response electronically. These include:

• Awe: Announce a surprise initiative or the rollout of a new product or service. Steve Jobs was known toward the end of his developer’s conferences to say, “One last thing,” and then roll out an industry changing new product.

• Convey Confidence/Determination/Power/Pride/Positivity: Coach your presenters to display these key characteristics. It will bring great comfort to your audience knowing they work with such successful people.
  
  
• Energy/Enthusiasm /Excitement/Fun: Especially with virtual conferences, they need to be well choreographed to have a distinct rhythm that keeps attendees engaged and energized. Develop a well-designed agenda that features inspiring speakers, a productive panel discussion and some surprising moments. People love a show!

• Honesty: People need leadership today to be honest. It’s a very tough world out there and we need the truth and facts even if the news isn’t good.
  
  
• Hope: There’s nothing like a well-delivered presentation, from a sincere speaker, outlining a specific challenge, followed by an inspiring call to action, and, specific plans for overcoming challenges. Don’t be afraid to think big.
  
  
• Humor: When well executed, humor brings a sense of community to a meeting. At live events we like to use a comedy troupe ala that would come on stage and present skits that were tailored to the audience’s organization. What made their performances so funny would be that the writers would “mine the pain” by focusing on things that recently didn’t go well. It made the organization look good as they admitted their mistakes, it made their executives look even more human and approachable, and the audiences loved the shared experience!
  
  
• Impress: Provide case studies that demonstrate how an individual or team accomplished a task that overcame a set of challenges and achieved superior results. Offer hands-on opportunities for attendees to interact with new software or products live, or on-line, to experience the benefits for themselves. Hear from your clients live of via video to tell the story of individuals who have benefited from your new products or service.

• Inspiration: News stories abound about politicians, sports figures and business executives who have not lived up to the qualities people expect from them. Today, more than ever, people want to be inspired. They want something and someone, they can believe in. Motivational speakers are actively participating in virtual conferences now to inspire audiences.
  
  
• Love: Yes, it’s an unusual word to use in the discussion of organizational events, but one worth considering. It’s very powerful when the stakeholders in your organization can say they love being a part of your organization. How can you make them feel that way?
  
  
• Surprise: Attendees love surprises. An unexpected gift sent to their home for a virtual conference, perhaps even a bottle of wine for the virtual networking portion of your event can truly make a difference.

Tips for Bringing Emotion to Your Event

• Share the credit for successful projects and make sure everyone’s supervisor knows about their team’s contributions.
• Bring the right attitude to your participation in the meeting. It shows, even virtually.
• The golden rule is, stakeholders should feel a sense of reward and recognition equal to, or greater, than their contributions to any meeting or event.
• Hope is a required ingredient for success

Summary: The Face Value of Humor and Emotion is that it opens up your audience to take in and remember more of your messages.

1 Dr. Richard Ackley, “Learning How the Brain Learns.” Meeting Professional International’s One+ Magazine, May 2011, www.mpiweb.org (accessed Feb. 11, 2015)

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The Presentation: How do we bring context and education?

• Offer Purpose. Are your presentations clear and succinct? Do the presentations have meaning behind them for your audience? If not, the audience will be inattentive–especially in a virtual conference.
• Give them the WIFM. What’s In It For Me? What does your audience care about–and why? This information gives you insight on the best way to address the audience and how the information should be delivered. Sending out a survey such as Survey Monkey in advance assists in learning what’s important to your audience and what exactly you need to give them. Sending out a survey after the meeting lets you know how you did.
• Teach. Good meetings teach the audience something new or remind them of something they have learned before. The core ideas behind teaching – explanation, reasoning, finding things out, questioning, content evidence and credible authority should be supported by storytelling. A well told, true story can provide an amazing emotional lift that makes the lesson truly memorable. For more complex topics send out background information ahead of time.
• Encourage Different Points of View. Well-designed panel discussions, led by a knowledgeable moderator can fully engage the attendee’s thought process. Audiences embrace spontaneity and real answers. Questions from the audience can be easily gathered live or digitally.
• Persuade and Encourage. Always, and particularly during times of change, people need encouragement, hope and faith in their leaders. Define the messages you need to convey and what you want participants to leave your event thinking, knowing and feeling.
• Anticipate Tough Questions. Queries such as; What business are we in?’ Why are we promoting that product? What value am I getting out of my membership? And so many more that you need to be ready for.
• Length Matters. To determine how long a presentation should be within the confines of the overall agenda ask, “is this content relevant to this audience and will they learn something new that they can use?” TED Talks speeches are no longer than 18 minutes. Most speeches at corporate meetings are between 30-45 minutes. A technique that has worked well in live events and now virtual events is to shorten the formal speech and have the MC ask a few questions that leads into a few “pocket” stories (short, impactful story to reinforce a key point) as part of Q & A to make it look spontaneous.
• Master of Ceremonies. Often overlooked, but one of the most important elements to any conference is the MC. The MC should be well respected with a good grasp of the content. If live the MC should be comfortable on stage, if virtual the MC should be comfortable on-camera. Their personality and energy is really important in keeping the audience engaged and informed. The true value brought by an astute MC is by their ability to create a content thread, transitioning from one speaker to another, ensuring your messages are received, and setting up the next speaker or topic.

Visually Engage
Consider Design Elements. When planning a virtual event, there are numerous design techniques that should be considered. They can help amplify the delivery of your message and help fully engage an audience.

Speech Coaching for Virtual Conferences

• Have a backdrop or setting that is appropriate for the webcast
• Look at the camera, not yourself
• Maintain good posture
• Lean slightly towards the camera
• Minimize gesturing
• Don’t fold your arms
• Nod at certain points
• Smile genuinely
• Limit your movement when listening
• Record your presentation and play it back for self-improvement

Media
When presenting in a virtual conference, you can utilize many of the same types of tools and media that you would use in a live meeting. Consider these:

• Factoids. Approximately 10 minutes before the meeting starts, as participants are logging onto your webcast, display interesting facts on the screen about your company or industry which can generate excitement and focus your audience on the messages you want to convey. You can also billboard the upcoming speakers and topics.
• Speaker Support Graphics. The creation of visuals to accompany presentations is an art and science onto itself. When attendees hear and see messages they are much more apt to be remembered. In most cases keep text to a minimum, with a maximum of 6 bullet points per slide and use pictures when possible.

• Presentation Zen This technique encourages speakers to eliminate data points– and simply tell a story. Presentation Zen proponents recommend three rules:
  • Restraint: Resist the urge to cram too much information on each slide.
  • Simplicity: Talk only about what’s really important.
  • Naturalness: Create an interactive conversation with the audience.

• Spatial Parallelism. This concept has been developed by leading designers to present as much relevant information as possible, on as large a scale as possible. Spatial parallelism takes advantage of our capacity to reason with multiple images that appear simultaneously within our eye span. Audiences are able to select, sort, edit, and review information, which keeps them engaged. A picture can be more powerful than a thousand words. Also, in virtual meetings since you are looking at a monitor right in front of you more information can be placed on each slide vs. looking at a screen in a ballroom.
• Videos. With new, and even virtual technologies, presenting videos at meetings has become easier and can be very effective. While audiences overall have higher production value expectations, they also are used to seeing videos created by truly amateur videographers, like friends and mom and dad, on their smartphones. Sometimes those amateur productions communicate very effectively! Here are several ways videos can enhance a virtual conference:
  • Theme Opener
  • Product or Service Video
  • Customer Testimonials
  • Transition Videos
  • Awards Modules
  • Candid Videos
• Skits. Before the pandemic Esprit Productions was responsible for three meetings in three weeks. Each was very unique, with different organizations, audiences and subject matter. But all three had something in common–Skits! Here’s what each group did to reinforce their messaging and to make it memorable!
  • Music performance of a re-lyriced popular song
  • Product Intro – gesture recognition feature presented by a court jester
  • Software Intro (shipped in a box) sung to the SNL parody “In a Box”

In today’s corporate world, sanitized presentations with little risk-taking is the norm. But, audiences long for something different and fun in their events today. Messages can have greater impact when packaged in comedy. Skits can even be done virtually, by people in various locations, utilizing technology to bring it all together.

Today we are often presenting to a new generation of tech-savvy, sometimes short attention-span participants, who respond much more positively to anything other than another staid corporate presentation. Audiences want to be engaged, entertained and heard–not just addressed.

Other Ways to Capture Your Audience’s Attention

• Make the Information Come Alive. Support what is being presented and enhance audience absorption of new information through demonstrations and case studies.
• Small Group Q&A and Discussion. In live events we have our breakout rooms and in virtual events there are also ways to break the main group into smaller groups. This can increase participation and idea generation.
• Networking. While we are in virtual conferences we can still have a coffee break or cocktail hour where networking can take place. Most webcast systems allow us to do split screens where team members can be at home sipping their favorite beverage, and still make new connections.

Summary: The Face Value of Context and Education is that it takes your audience through a shared journey of where we are at, what are our challenges and how together, we can do something to improve our situation.

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Our client’s leadership should not hunker down together. They need to become gracious hosts and hostesses and work the room. Having members of your audience meet one or more speakers in person ahead of time is powerful in driving personal connections.

To help develop these connections and trust virtually here are several ideas to consider:

• Certainty: The virtual conference, needs a logical information flow as it helps people predict what is coming next. Pre-event communications should include an agenda and background information to begin matching your audience’s expectations to what is about to occur.
  • Create a Net Information Gain of what information do you want your audience to know now that they don’t already know.
  • Create a Net Motivation Gain of how do you want your audience to feel after the virtual conference that they don’t already feel.
• Status: Make your audience feel important and make them feel comfortable so that when asked “who has any suggestions” your audience responds. When people feel comfortable and confident, they are more apt to speak up. Then their ideas, thoughts, questions and constructive criticisms flow – and that is when the golden nuggets flow. These nuggets can be the next great idea that helps make your organization a success in both big and little ways. Check out this video with ideas how to make this connection on your next virtual conference.

• Connection Tips: Recently a few days before a virtual conference that I signed up for I received an email from the President of the organization thanking me for signing up and asking if I wanted to have a 15 minute conversation after the virtual conference in the near future with him or any of the other organization’s leaders.
• Get on the virtual session early

Summary: The Face Value of Connecting before Content is that it opens up your audience to what you are presenting, and frees them up to create innovative, new ideas.

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“Mutual trust is created when things go according to plan. There are actually neurotransmitters in our brains that make us feel good when expectations are met.”

Treat texting like you are speaking face-to-face, conversational and exact. Your client will feel acknowledged and rewarded. You will be on your way to meeting their expectations and establishing trust. Whether your communications are in person, or virtual, remember these things:

• Ask for input – Match your audience’s expectations by asking them what are your challenges and what would they like to talk about?

• “Walk in your client’s/customer’s/member’s/stakeholder’s shoes” – What you say matters–but only if it matters to your audience.

• “Walk the talk” – Growing up on the south side of Chicago, you learn to do what you say you are going to do. When you do that, and surround yourself with people who do that, your increase your chance of success.

• There is almost always an element of selling – Whether you are communicating to a new prospect, an audience or convincing upper management, matching their expectations is critical to your success.

• Clearly lay out your scope of recommendations/products/services and expected outcomes.

• Help them visualize what you are saying.  Utilize photos, drawings, floorplans, spreadsheets and detailed budgets.

Matching Expectations to Develop Trust Tips

• Always tell the truth-even when it hurts
• If you do not know the answer, say so
• Never miss deadlines
• Being good at your job is important…being trusted is essential 

Summary: The Face Value of Matching Your Audience’s Expectations is that when things go according to plan, everyone feels rewarded, trust is created and objectives are achieved.

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Since 1986 I have been producing live meetings and events from small start-up software companies to large global corporations and associations. We produce the show. From the impressive staging and lighting in the general session room, to technically perfect breakout sessions and demos. From set-up, through 2-5 days of show, to strike, we turn empty hotel ballrooms into memorable events for our client’s customers, employees and other stakeholders.

Until the pandemic, I loved sitting in the back of a ballroom, on the tech riser, watching speakers connect with their audiences. I have seen impactful leaders giving memorable speeches, leading the way in competitive industries, making tough decisions and urging their organization on during challenging times. I enjoy seeing people receive their awards and watch the audience rise to salute their accomplishments. I have seen our clients grow, innovate, inspire and turn their companies into world-class organizations.

In her 2014 book, The Village Effect, award-winning author and psychologist Susan Pinker uses the field of neuroscience and moving personal stories to demonstrate how face-to-face contact is crucial for learning, happiness, resilience and a long life.  Pinker explores the impact of face-to-face contact from cradle to grave revealing surprising findings about human relationships in a digital age.  In the process, The Village Effect offers a new way to think about how we educate our children, meet partners and conduct business.

Fast forward to today…because of Covid 19, we have been conducting business and other communications virtually, with the dramatic, instantaneous increase in the use of our cell phones, home computers, or iPads, connecting us to Zoom and other video conferencing services. 

As things begin to open up, we may segue into small, local meetings that will typically be shorter than usual with strict social distancing guidelines. These live meetings will often be coupled with a virtual audience–creating a hybrid event, so out of town attendees and others, who can’t, or won’t attend, can also participate.

We will then segue into mid-sized meetings with some people flying in and additional guidelines focusing on safe travel. These meetings may last 1-2 full days and we will begin to see some reduction in social distancing guidelines, and hopefully, no need to wear masks. Even so, for some time, some attendees will still only participate virtually.

Finally, we will get back to the typical 2-3 day meeting with larger audiences and air travel. Certain restrictions will be lifted, but again, some people will still not want, or be able to fly, and some will only opt to participate virtually.

The challenge facing today’s business leaders, managers and event planners is how, through virtual or hybrid meetings do we best communicate to give our organizations, the education, direction, hope and motivation needed. Chicago Tribune writer Rex W. Huppke notes “a funny thing about people is they seem to respond best when you treat them like people.  The fact remains that human-to-human interaction is most effective when performed in a sincerely human way.”  This human way of connecting — the person-to-person way — consists of behaviors learned from our first days on Earth.  While these should be very natural to us, the digital age and the rise of the Coronavirus has created a reliance on less natural and more virtual communications. The time has come to incorporate the value of human ways of connecting, into our virtual world, so we can communicate with what I call Face Value.

Face Value is taking the lessons learned, and the benefits of face-to-face communications and incorporating them into virtual communications and media.

Some may ask, ‘why do we even need these meetings and events, can’t we just send an email or talk on the phone?’ The answer is no, if you want the best chance to:

• Impactfully inform, persuade and encourage an audience
• Recognize outstanding performance 
• Gather honest feedback 
• Build trust with employees, prospects, customers or other stakeholders

In Face Value we will review the key building blocks of face-to-face communications as well as concepts developed by neurologists and psychologists–and offer ways to incorporate them into your big and small, live or virtual communications. 

Welcome to Face Value!

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One of Esprit’s “showcase” events for 20 years has been the Nielsen Consumer 360 Conference, attended by both their media (watch) and consumer package goods (buy) clients.  The theme of the conference was “Stand Out”, and we were challenged to make Nielsen’s presentations stand out as much as their measurement and information insights do for their clients.

Our solution to this was to employ a wide spectrum of cutting-edge technologies, bringing these together to enhance the event in three primary areas: impact, content, and reach.

Making an Impact

Nielsen had just completed a re-branding, and conveying their new “look & feel” was important, while seamlessly integrating featured speakers and their graphics and videos with such noted experts such as author Malcolm Gladwell, Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo, CBS’s CEO Leslie Moonves, and Nestlé’s Global Head of Digital Marketing and Social Media, Pete Blackshaw.  For maximum visual impact, we opted for a 164′ curved video projection wall, with multiple HD projectors expertly blended by our world class team to provide high definition graphics, videos and iMag of the speakers.

It took a village of 55 techs to make this happen. Take a look at this time lapse video of our set-up and opening session.

Creating Content

As significant as the general session portions of the conference were, they only represented one part of the whole.  Other key elements were the “Super Sessions” which broke out the different customer bases, the “watch” attendees and the “buy” attendees, to focus on their specific interests.  These sessions were structured with presentations and panel discussions to share new concepts and trends specific to each of the four topics offered.

Nielsen was also very interested in accessing the thoughts, ideas and concerns of its client base, and by utilizing a collaborative groupware software package from Facilitate.com we were able to provide an innovative way to capture and organize the audience’s ideas. As topics organically arose in each group’s discussions, a Nielsen representative with their laptop or iPad at each table inputted into the custom designed Facilitate template resulting in capturing 1,216 ideas, sorted by topic and sub topic.

Additionally, over 24-hours of video content was recorded, from the general sessions, the Insight sessions and a series of on-site interviews produced by our team in two back-stage studios.

Expanding Your Reach

To get the message out from the ballroom to a world-wide audience we put together a Stream team which included a producer, graphics, audio, tri-caster operator, production assistant and make-up artist. This team produced live full-featured streaming general session programming for Nielsen’s clients and employees around the world. They also were responsible for features and interviews, during the coffee breaks.  This enabled a far wider audience to be able to get the latest information, news, and trends to be able to receive this information live.

Following the conference, videos and the “brainstorming” research was made available to the attendees, allowing them to use more information from the conference and spreading Nielsen’s message to a much wider audience.

Summary

The conference was a huge success and the client realized a huge ROI on their meeting investment as the final production deliverables included:
6 hours of general session and walk-in
7 hours of global streaming the general session and interviews
8 hours of Super Sessions capturing 1,200+ ideas by Facilitate
14 hours of Insight Sessions in 5 rooms
40 hours of Ad-Hoc meetings between the 8 rooms
9 hours of foyer media displayed on 12 monitors and 2 projectors
24 hrs. of videos captured, edited and uploaded

We helped Nielsen make an impact, create content and expand their reach.

“You and the team did another great job, perhaps even raising the bar again if it’s possible. Thanks for your partnership and top notch performance.”

President, Nielsen North America

“The stage was a big wow, the online experience was run very well and we had some really happy attendees. Thanks for making my first 360 such a hit!”

Event Planner, Nielsen

“Flawless execution results from detailed planning and you accomplished both. Your team, crew, everyone was just great. They worked hard and showed up ready to play and play they did. You took on a lot of new stuff; the speed networking, Super Sessions, Live stream, all executed beautifully. This has turned into a world class event. The look your team created on that huge screen was splendid. It all worked so well from start to finish. We strive for perfection and hit excellence. This year we hit perfection. Well done Ron. A great event. Thank you.”

Communications, Nielsen

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Something that every Cubs fans loves to hear, and it’s amazing! Having the realization that your organization’s success comes from great esprit de corp, priceless!

This year with so many new player additions from their farm system and free agents there is hope on Chicago’s north side for at least a run at the playoffs. The new manager for the Chicago Cubs, Joe Maddon attributes Sunday’s win against The Rockies through esprit de corp, but what does that mean? 

Merriam-Webster states gives this definition:

es·prit de corps

noun

1.  feelings of loyalty, enthusiasm, and devotion to a group among people who are members of the group

At Sunday’s Press Conference, Joe Maddon states “It was an entire team victory….I really love when you win that kind of game, on the road, utilizing everybody, it’s really good for esprit de corps.”

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Doing things together creates a sense of mutual trust and shared influence begins.

As you look at ways to harness the power of live events and to get a larger ROI for your event think of creating these shared experiences when it can tie into your event’s theme.

As I looked back on some of Esprit’s events here are two of my favorites.

Chart the Course – Sailing Regatta – Dekalb Genetics – National Sales Meeting – To make this meeting theme come alive we conducted a sailing regatta where each attendee was part of a sailing crew on one of the 12 meter boats that we rented so they could be part of a full blown regatta on Newport Bay in Newport Rhode, Island. It made the meeting theme come alive and created close bonds as we turned the meeting attendees into part of a crew!

https://espritproductions.com/case-studies/dekalb-genetics/

Caring is the Key in Life – Habitat for Humanity – Sun Health Care Group, Annual Management Meeting

The rise in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) over the past decade has been very beneficial not only to the people or organizations who are the recipients of the work done or funds being raised on their behalf, but also to the employees who are part of these events.

Several years ago we planned and produced a management meeting for Sun Healthcare Group. We incorporated a Habitat for Humanity CSR function the day before the meeting began. Over 100 managers worked on building several homes in the Lower 9^th ward where some of the worst destruction took place after Hurricane Katrina.

The day was a huge success, as the team saw the efforts of their work unfold. They also realized a bond between all of the participants that only face-to-face communications and group sharing can realize.

It also made the meeting theme of “Caring is the Key in Life” come alive!

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