Nominet’s Company Day

05 Jul Nominet’s Company Day

Birthday celebrations and quality team bonding: last week our team organised an awesome event for an award-winning internet services company.

Location: Oxfordshire  |  Event: One day conference with team building  |  Numbers: 120 delegates

The Brief

Nominet approached CBA Events with the following requirements:

• Source an unusual venue within half an hour of their Oxfordshire offices
• Provide audio visual support for their conference
• Plan and manage a team building activity
• Organise informal entertainment during their barbecue

 

Organising the Event

Venue finding

Our amazing venue finding team proposed a number of options for Nominet to host their event. In the end it was the quaint and rural setting of Lains Barn in Wantage that won them over.

Audio visual

Requirements were basic but the room was near capacity and the space was unusual. Quirky features of the room, such as in-built seating around the perimeter and high beams, restricted space for audio visual equipment.

Our team ‘flew’ the screen and projectors (they were suspended) from the barn’s beams to save on floor space.

Two 50” plasma display screens were placed at the back of the room. Tables at the back were then able to view the presentation slides.

We also supplied the PA system, microphones, lighting and staging.

Team building

Our client’s main focus of the day was the team building aspect. Nominet wanted their delegates to be engaged in an activity that would inspire them but could be used in their marketing.

It was decided that we should adapt one of our existing popular team building products ‘Commercial Break’ to meet the brief.

The group were split into teams of ten and tasked with producing films that focused on bringing the company’s purpose to life.

Each of the teams created one of the following:

• A corporate film
• An induction film to help new starters within the business
• A feature for NTV (a silent film reel displayed on plasma screens throughout Nominet’s offices)
• A recruitment film

 

Every director needs a sombrero…

Filming activity

Working fast the teams only had two hours to complete their films. We equipped them with plenty of resources and specialists to make their videos fun and creative.

Team equipment (x 10)

• Consumer video camera and tripod
• Camera expert / editor (to help as an advisor)
• Mobile editing suite
• Box of stationary and crafts
• Written brief and storyboard template
• Laptop with presentation software, desktop publishing software and Wi-Fi
• 3 x  Vodafone 4G mobile Wi-Fi hubs
• Flipchart pad and pens
• Box of Nominet branded kit
• Document including biographies of the panel of experts

 

Rainbow wigs, branded umbrellas, mugs and other interesting props!

Props and extra kit

• Costume department
• Props department
• Arts and crafts
• Camera lighting

 

Panel of experts

• Illustrators and cartoonists x 3
• Nominet content expert (provided by Nominet)
• A brand guru and ex journalist with skills in copywriting
• A marketing and PR expert with an expertise in copywriting and corporate culture
• Audio visual experts to advise on presentation resources and playback for the end of the event

 

Engaging delegates

The teams embraced the filming challenge and were incredibly organised in their approach.

They had round table discussions and brain storming sessions to develop initial concepts.

Team roles were given and sub-teams set with the task of engaging the experts, investigating the props, costumes and locations and finalising the script and storyboard.

Mini tech workshops

Our technical team taught small groups the basics of camera work and explained the editing suites. They were soon armed and ready for the lights, camera, action!

We were incredibly impressed with the range of techniques employed including:

• Stop animation
• Claymation (clay animation)
• Cartoon animation
• Filming
• Voice-over narratives
• Film scores!

 

Not only did the teams have fun with the task and take to the technical side of the film process, but they also impressed their marketing department. Several ideas are planned to be developed further within Nominet.

Creative stop animation in progress with the help of Lego

Film screening

Finally the team building finished with a screening of all the films created by the teams.

Barbecue

After the premiere screening of the team films, the delegates retired outside.

They enjoyed a cold drink, barbecue, music and lawn games including volley ball, badminton, table football, giant Jenga, Kerplunk, draughts, Connect 4, and quoits.

Dessert was in the form of an enormous cake that everyone helped decorate to celebrate 20 years of Nominet.

The Agenda

• Set up night prior
• Lunch on arrival, 1-2pm
• Conference, 2-3pm
• Team building, 3-5pm
• Premiere screening of films, 5-5.30pm
• Barbecue and garden games from 5.30pm
• Coach home at 9.30pm

 

The Crew

At the event we had a total of 20 staff to help make the day a success:

• 1 x event manager
• 2 x audio visual technicians
• 10 x camera men editors
• 3 x cartoonist and illustrators
• 3 x marketing experts
• 1 x garden games host

Challenges

UEFA European Championships 2016

As the event day approached it became apparent that the date clashed with England’s Euro 2016 football fixture against Wales (back in the days when we were still in the tournament!).

This is every event organiser’s nightmare in terms of keeping the delegates focused and not glancing at their phones every two minutes.

To prevent disruptions we imposed a phone ban during the event. To make up for them missing the football, we recorded the match in the afternoon and played it back on our big screen. The delegates enjoyed watching it in the evening with a cold beer. Amazingly even the England football team rose to the occasion!

The ever threatening British Summer weather

The day before the event the forecast became worse. We increased the amount of outdoor shelter with seven gazebos on the lawn. On the day itself there was a twenty minute thunder and lightning storm resulting in a three minute power cut.

Thank fully all of our critical equipment is on UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies) battery back up and we had a back up generator at the venue. This was only a momentary blip and didn’t dampen spirits!

 

Client Feedback

Thank you to our client who gave us lovely feedback…

“Everything today has been so much more than I imagined!” Nominet Marketing Manager