Last week, and first thing in the morning, an unsuspecting conference audience of just over 400 arrived a little bleary eyed and tired after a successful gala dinner the night before. No doubt hoping to gradually wake up and ease themselves into the day ahead, conference delegates probably expected the normal format of speakers and, perhaps, some business-related videos. However, that wasn’t what the conference organisers and their senior management had in mind. Our brief was simple – to start the day with an “absolute bang”!
In the previous week, I had been whisked undercover into one of the client’s actual stores. My job was to walk round and, under the gaze of a confused and suspicious-looking on-site manager, find anything in the store that could be hit, scraped and chimed! Everything I liked the look or sound of was duly photographed and, one week later, was to be found in a secret rehearsal room in one of London’s biggest hotels. We had huge litter bins, trolleys, flower stands and many other items that our conference audience would immediately recognise as items they use or see around them every day at work.
To deliver our event, we had five professional drummers and three of London’s hippest street dancers. On the day before the event, we spent two hours together creating a unique 20-minute show, fully utilising the blast of visual energy from the dancers and the instant up-tempo rhythms played on the various junk-style instruments.
Next morning, as the conference room filled with delegates, we hid behind the huge stage in our positions. As the lights went down, instead of the first speaker of the day walking on, we did! Commencing with a ‘Stomp’-style introduction with nothing but brooms, we had the room clapping along with us instantly.
The stage was then flooded with all our borrowed instruments and the show really began. As our head dancer, Page, spun and dived around the stage to the pounding sounds, the audience defiantly woke up! The day had definitely started with an “absolute bang”!
The various rhythm sections we had rehearsed sounded very powerful. Combined with this in unison, the dance routines provided an impressive visual spectacle. By the time we had finished, we had delegates on their feet and even the CEO was dancing! The event was a huge success and it certainly created the wow factor to wake everyone up and start the day in a great way.
From an event management perspective, we could provide maximum impact without interruption to the agenda. Because there was no equipment needed for the delegates, we were able to walk off with our instruments as the next speaker was walking on.
Our performance group is being increasingly demanded to create a high-impact introduction or finale using a client’s products or uniforms. We had a ball putting the team event together and I would like to thank my tireless team for all their hard work and creative ideas in designing the show!
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