Motivation
An annual event allows employees to understand how far the organization has grown over the past year. Nexus 2021 is also the perfect moment to introduce new objectives and plans that will be executed during the following year.
Connection
The opportunity to connect with our leaders and communicate directly doesn’t always happen every day. This makes an annual event even more valuable since it presents that opportunity in different ways. Having casual discussions over dinner is more than enough to make employees feel appreciated and connected.
Culture
Company events are a great way to highlight the company’s core values and culture. Employees want to work for companies where they feel engaged and empowered. In fact, companies with engaged employees make 2.5 times more than their less-engaged counterparts. Engaged employees are a whopping 87% less likely to leave their companies.
Collaboration
Employees have the opportunity to talk to new people in the company they don’t usually interact with on a normal basis. Because employees are communicating with people in many departments, our annual event can allow them to collaborate. Communication can spark creativity and new original ideas for the company that they can bring back to the office on Monday. When employees interact at company events, they can develop fresh ideas, think outside the box, and see things from a different perspective.
Keynote
My Role on this Project
It all begins with an idea. Beginning in April, our CEO has a bold idea to hold a year-end event.
Branding is more than just using a logo. In 2021, The CEO of Attorney Group and the founder of Johnson Firm, Anthony Johnson asked me and the Branding team that I lead, to hold an event at the end of the year with to goal of giving employees and strategic partners the agency to connect with each other.
This event had to accomplish a lot:
Help employees reconnect with each other after a year of virtual meetings
Remind everyone of how they fit into the larger company picture
Set the stage to announce 2022's goals and focus
Dream it.
I’ve never done anything like this before so I consulted with subject matter experts like Catherine from Bella Baxter Events to understand the scope of work.
My role was to plan, coordinate and execute the event with a team of two (me and another person).
Using the agenda and audience as a guide, I set about creating an intimate event where people to reconnect with teammates and focus on what we have accomplished together despite the changes we all faced this year.
Build it.
From the beginning, the event to be split into two sections- the past and the future. So naming the event “Nexus” (a connection or series of connections linking two or more things.) was a clear and easy choice.
I was the art director for the entire project, directing the team through video production, logo design, website design, and coding.
I created:
the agenda
the brand standard for the event
processes to update the executives of spending and progress
the printed materials such as workbook, banners, slide deck
budget and met with finance stakeholders to stay on track throughout the year
Planning Phase
This is a selection of the planning process documentation and development. I worked to plan all the elements of the event from working with the event team and vendors to create visualizations of the space, layout and furniture, to developing and reporting roles, agendas, and cost breakdowns of all areas of the event.
Visualization of what virtual attendees will see at the event based on camera location
Visualization of how the attendees will experience the space upon arrival
Seating arrangement
Second camera angle visualization
The Scope of what was planned
Documenting Responsibilities for Volunteers
Agenda broken down by focus time for attendees so that we can plan a mix of segments that give attendees cognitive "breaks"
giveaway research and planning
“Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.”
— Robert L. Peters, designer and author
Design
Photos from the Event
Presentations
Workbook
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Event Name - Nexus 2021
Event Date - November 18th, 2021
Event Location - Cache Restaurant, Little Rock Arkansas
Accommodation - The second floor presentation room of Cache. DJ Jelly bean, CAE
Website - https://nexus.yourattorney.com/
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Nexus 2021 is a celebration of where we have been and a look into where we are going as a company. It is an opportunity for us to come together as a company to celebrate the value that each of us has added to the company over the past year.
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Kristen Ware - Planning, Prep, Graphic Design, Branding, Art Direction, Leadership, Research
Brandon Creek - Videographer, Editor, Tech at the event, Vendor PoC, Web design, Streaming Support
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After the event, we know of one person who is coming to work with the team as a result of the experience.
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The Objective of the event was to show all teams the work the entire company accomplished this last year and give them clear direction for the year to come.
We hoped to announce the name of the Brand
Speak with leadership about next year
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$42,000
Per Person Cost - about $1000
Suggested Cuts for future events -
Gear
Shoot Lunches
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Tech rehearsal 17th, 2-4 pm Speakers, please plan to attend
Items to cover at rehearsal:
Tech walkthrough of slide deck and timing with presenters
Giveaway
Tested Videos
Brand Presentation
Leadership Panel
Keynote
Team Session
Grand Prize
Zoom test
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Breakfast is served at 9 am
Morning Sessions - All Recorded
Speaker: MC - 10 am - Kick off/ Warm-up - 20 mins
Intro the day, show both audiences - 2 mins
Rock Paper Scissor Tournament Game - 15 mins
Give the prize to the winner - $100 Gift card - 3 mins
Speaker: MC - 10:20 am - 10:40 - Personal Retro Time - 20 mins
15 mins to do the exercise
5 mins hear from the audience, one from each audience
Speaker: MC - 10:40 am - 11:05 am - Team Presentations:
Marketing
Tech
Ops
Legal
Audience Feedback: What did you get out of the videos? Let's hear from you? 5 min - One from the audience, one from the zoom group
Speaker: MC - Giveaway Segment - 11:05am - 11:20 am - 15 mins. 4 items (3 mins for each)
Speaker: MC- 11:20 - 15 min break 11:35 am
Speaker: MC - 11:35 Attorney Fun - 25 mins
Lunch served at 12 pm
Afternoon Sessions - All Live!
Speaker: MC - 1:30 pm - Warm-up for the second half - Bingo (20 mins)
Speaker: David - 1:55 - 2:05 ColorJar Presentation (10 mins)
Speaker: AJ, David, Bill, Yehia, Novack - 2:05 pm - Leadership Panel AMA (20 mins)
MC to introduce the segment and Laura to ask questions - questions will also be on slides
Speaker: MC Giveaway of 3 items after segment - 10 mins
Speaker: AJ - 2:35 pm - Keynote - 20 mins
Speaker: MC - 3:00 pm - Team working session
3:00 - 3:05: Set expectations with the breakout - Tell people where they can find the exercises in their workbooks. Take Questions.
3:05 - 3:45: Teams Break out and brainstorm planning based on keynote (40mins)
3:45 - 4:00: Hear from the teams
Speaker: AJ - 4:00 pm - Big Grand Prize Presentation (10 mins)
Mingle & hangout til Dinner
Dinner Served at 6 pm
Furniture to be picked up from 9-10
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Daily Slack Messages the week of the event
Multiple emails and Slacks leading up to the event
Monthly Meetings to update AJ on the progress
Volunteer Meeting to go over duties
Announcements at All Calls and PO Standups
Budget and Agenda Feedback meeting with:
Mary
Novack
Erin
Yehia
Cliff - as a future audience member
Special Guest - David
3 Meetings with Event Planner for guidance
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General Volunteer - Mary Jacobsen
The Day Before The Event - The day before the event, meet at the venue to help set up tables, swag and giveaway items
The Day of The Event - Greet participates at the main entrance, helping make sure every participant gets a gift.
Handout giveaways items to winners
Could also help make the Crisp team's work more streamlined by getting video participants ahead of time and helping minimize noise during the event.
Virtual Coordinator - Erin Loy
The Day Before The Event- Participant in the rehearsal, ensuring the breakout room process is ready and you are prepared for tomorrow's events.
The Day of The Event- Host the event for all virtual attendants, checking in on the zoom and leading the breakout room
Keeping each exercise on track and valuable for each attendant
Motivate participants to stay involved, be an example by offering insights about what you are getting out of each presentation.
Feed information from the virtual group to Brandon and DJ
VIP Concierge - Laura Webb
The Day Before The Event - Email each VIP and introduce yourself. Offer contact information and escort each person into the event
The Day of The Event- Greet each VIP by name and introduce yourself
Ensure that all VIPs are included in the team exercises
think ahead to streamline the experience for each person
anticipate the person's needs
Attend to each person to ensure they have an exceptional experience.
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Retrospective with Leadership, Attendees, and Project Team
A selection of people from stakeholders, executives, project volunteers, team members and attendees met to go over the event and talk candidly about ways it could be improved in the coming years. This is a screenshot of this retrospective.
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We were about $4000 over our estimated budget, we spent $10,000 on gear that we won't need to spend again.
We will need more help with the technical running of the experience and a possible camera person.
Eliminating distractions such as the Crisp shoot
Renting the entire floor if we use Cache again or finding a venue where we can make more event-specific decisions and decorations and make the space ours.
Overall the leadership panel was the most popular segment; offering more segments like this would allow the audience to connect with other teams.
More live content
Evaluating the virtual experience and making that part of the event more valuable.
The timing for some segments was awkward, more practice could help with this in the future.
Areas that need development:
Measuring employee retention and engagement pre and post-event
Creating a process to measure and communicate if the event was a success over time
Post Event Follow up
Budget Breakdown
Feedback from Attendees
Retrospective
Post Event Changes To Designs
Following the event, we designed the site to reflect the new keynotes, and other important videos from the event, so that the audience can review the event’s information.
