Conference for 120 People

The Situation

A Divisional Director within UK Government wanted to bring together all the people from different sites who worked within the Division. The aim of the conference was to create alignment of participant actions towards a common Divisional direction and to create better cross-functional working.

The main issue we faced with this group was the legacy of previous conferences which had suffered from the following

  • Lack of alignment between Senior Management agenda and participant expectations meant that key messages were not communicated effectively.
  • Actions had been ‘parked’ in previous conferences and then lost afterwards
  • Nothing had actually happened as a result of previous conferences, despite the amount of budget and time invested.

The Results

The conference participants prioritised 5 barriers to the Division heading in the right direction for the future. Working parties were set up from conference participants to address these issues. Staff across the sites have recognised an improvement in each of these problem areas and the Division is performing better against its overall business targets.

How We Did It

  • Meeting Magic worked with a small Design Team from within the Division to prepare for the conference.
  • We also consulted with all the Senior Management team and a diverse selection of participants, to gain their input into the conference design.
  • Prior to the conference, resources were established to support the successful implementation of actions after the event.
  • The conference design involved two short and pithy presentations from the Senior Team,aimed at effectively communicating key messages.
  • Most of the conference was spent engaging the participants in meaningful discussionsabout the work they do. This was achieved through using session briefs and graphictemplates to support discussions in table groups of 8.
  • The Senior team were engaged as active participants in the conference rather than sitting separately or on a podium.
  • We ensured that actions that arose from the conference had Senior support and involved the participants themselves resolving issues

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