The company I work for just had our annual managers’ meeting. It was a chance to bring our satellite teams together in one room to share information, highlight wins and losses, and engage in some supportive training. We try to make it fun and informative since most of the people involved must travel away from their families to participate.
The teams arrived last Tuesday morning and checked into the conference center where the event was taking place. It was a nice, clean location, albeit a little dated. The plan was to get things started by lunchtime, have a full day on Wednesday, and get them out the door by noon on Thursday.
Since I am part of the corporate management team, I was busy doing important things like setting up the projector in the conference room and making sure there were enough bags of chips and water available at the snack table.
In the weeks leading up to this event, I took it upon myself to make sure the flow of information was presented in a palatable manner. With 13 speakers on the agenda, the scenario was ripe for failure if the content was not engaging.
Anyone who has ever sat through a multi-day corporate presentation knows that it can be brain-draining, and if the event is not handled correctly, you’ll lose your audience before they get through the second speaker.
Being a wily veteran (and someone a bit creative), I told the guy running the event that we had to have a theme for the occasion. Since we had already been referring to it as our “kickoff” meeting, we opted to go with a football metaphor.
Over the last month, I went to work bringing this idea to fruition. The first thing I did was order 50 of those tiny stress footballs with our company logo screen printed on the side. The plan was to put them at each table as a cool gift that might initiate an impromptu game of catch with the more outgoing participants.
Then I ordered a bunch of football party supplies from Amazon.com (it’s amazing how much stuff you can get for $20). This meant that the tables we had reserved for food would be covered with cloths resembling football fields. The plates, cups, and napkins all had the same football theme emblazoned on them as well.
The beverages and snacks we picked out were what you would expect at an actual football game (minus the alcohol, of course). And while raw peanuts in the shell would be an obvious addition, we opted against it given the mess that would likely create.
When it came to the actual presentation, I made sure all the speakers delivered their slides to me well ahead of time so I could adapt them to a central theme. My years of creating corporate presentations have taught me that disjointed slides that have no coherenc make for an uncomfortable flow of information.
It took a solid week to put together everyone’s slides, but the end result was worth it. The final tally was 257 slides, which seems like a lot. But the truth is, the more slides you use during a presentation, the better chance you have at holding your audience’s attention—especially if they are visually enticing.
However, what really made things jump was the short, 45-second intro videos I did for each speaker. As each speaker approached the podium, a video would play, featuring the NFL theme song accompanied by a football motif that would allude to that speaker’s department (e.g. top management was a barrage of coaches cheering on players; the HR team was linemen creating openings; and marketing was the flashy touchdown celebrations).
The icing on the cake was a replica Vince Lombardi Super Bowl trophy that we planned to award to the top region at the end of the year. We sat it on a table under cover at the front of the room for all three days, making it a mystery until our COO unveiled it during the last hour.
And other than someone getting hit in the eye with a tiny football on the second day, things couldn’t have gone better.
This week’s feature, “Bye Bye Barry,” is a documentary film that follows the career of one of the NFL’s most explosive running backs and someone known to be able to take a hit both in and out of the game.
At the height of his career and on the verge of breaking the league’s all-time rushing record, the Detroit Lions marque player, Barry Sanders, quietly walked away from the game of football. Mystery has surrounded his decision for years; this film attempts to put the rumors to rest.
I remember watching Sanders as he burst onto the scene during the 1990s. He was humble and yet electrifying. Watching his highlights (which abound in the film) gives you a wonderful glimpse at the talent he embodied.
Check this one out if you’re curious how someone at the epoch of their career could quietly walk away.
A hasty “B+” for “Bye Bye Barry,” now available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
Got a question or comment for Dom? You can email him at moviediary@att.net.
