Following the successful Townhall’s in Epsom and Twickenham, D&G were keen to hold the 2019 Townhall in the midlands near to their Nottingham and Bedworth offices. We provided our practical advice during the venue sourcing process with D&G eventually deciding on Hangar 42 in Lutterworth. Hangar 42 is a gigantic 30,000 square-foot airplane hangar with ample space to create something really special.
The event was aimed at team leaders within D&G, delivering an interactive and engaging experience to update employees on business performance and the year ahead.
The full-day and night event included a main conference, catering areas which included an outdoor “street-food” market for lunch, several themed and interactive breakout sessions with the whole day concluding in a glitzy awards ceremony in the evening, hosted by TV presenter Claudia Winkleman.
We provided full design and production for the event, working closely with the client on their creative and content, ensuring we created the right experience to engage with the audience.
We were tasked with dividing up the space into several individual environments, each providing a unique experience in which delegates could engage. Gone are the days of endless PowerPoint and whilst there was a need for a business update presentation, a greater focus was required on the smaller, interactive sessions. We worked closely with D&G to shape the flow of the event and look at ways to bring their creative ideas to life.
With such a dynamic agenda we needed to keep changing areas that weren’t being used whilst others were, to ensure the event was as energetic for the delegates as possible – keeping us on our toes as well!
This included switching up props, scenery and production in different areas, plus moving street-food vans from the outdoor areas to create space for the evening entertainment.
Delegates enjoyed an outdoor drinks reception after the conference close whilst we turned around the main plenary space into an entertainment stage with live band. Additional lighting was installed for the added “wow factor” during the awards and live music.
Working on a ‘festival’ style theme, we initially divided the hangar up into separate areas; ticket collection, an outdoor zone (indoors) with a central bandstand, a festival main stage – where the conference took place, and areas for further breakout sessions.
We then styled the individual breakout areas. The first one being a giant inflatable cube where a “Back to the Future” style session was run, the second a huge Tee-pee where a wellbeing session hosted by Dame Kelly Holmes took place and a central bandstand area with grass and picket fencing where a number of other activities took place throughout the day.
We then worked with the content providers in each session to tailor the environment design and production to engage with their audience depending on the activity for each session.
Working with the rider provided for the band, we designed an impressive rig for the evening entertainment that would transform the space and provide another level of “wow factor” to the audience.
Ali Pierce, Head of Communications at Domestic & General said: “Chris, Jake and the team took our annual manager conference to the next level this year. The creativity, fluidity and seamless execution of our production ensured our messages landed with huge impact.
The results speak for themselves – this was our highest ever rated event and our employees came away with a renewed sense of purpose and engagement, which is exactly what we wanted to achieve.
