Mirage empowers delegates with Apprentice task

Mirage Events has revealed how it helped a leading pharmaceutical company fulfil its objectives for its annual conference.

The company faced some major challenges as the conference was scheduled to take place just after the company had been acquired.

Christian Marryat, managing director of Mirage, said: 'Our client wanted to build on previous conferences and continue to push the boundaries.

'It needed a unique and special framework tailored to its delegates and specific objectives.

In line with an existing initiative, the overall theme of the conference was 'The Power to Perform'.

Day one consisted of a keynote session and separate divisional workshops.

For day two, Mirage was asked to create a totally bespoke activity.

The event culminated in a gala dinner and award ceremony.

The management knew exactly what it wanted to achieve.

It needed the 80 UK field sales staff to better understand the processes and elements crucial to successfully bringing a product to market.

It also wanted the day to incorporate teambuilding, leadership and personal development in an entertaining and relevant way.

The overall objectives were to further empower the sales team, encourage each of them to think outside the box and develop their skills and confidence.

Mirage created a contemporary 'Apprentice'-style challenge to fit within 'The Power to Perform' initiative, designated 'The Great Smoothie Challenge'.

Dan Germaine, one of the people behind the launch and growth of Innocent Drinks, was booked to kick off the session with a motivational speech, act as lead judge and ensure the day was professional, innovative and fun.

Throughout the day, Germaine and senior managers monitored and advised the teams.

Success was based on a variety of factors, including:
Did the teams understand and follow the brief?
Did they set 'Smart' objectives for the project?
Did they set realistic goals and then plan for each part of the project?
Was everyone in the team actively involved or were there 'passengers' who did not contribute and left it all to the others?
Did the teams make the best use of resources, time and skills? Delegates were split into teams and given deadlines to invent the perfect smoothie, create a business plan, and present and sell the concept.

The inventing the perfect smoothie exercise encouraged delegates to think about target audiences and a typical product development lifecycle.

Mirage provided an innovation centre equipped with blenders and a variety of fruit, vegetables and other ingredients to allow delegates to try their creativity.

'Members of the public' were on hand to act as tasters and give feedback.

Once teams had agreed on their winning smoothie they were tasked with getting it to market.

Mirage created a resource area including PCs, internet access for research, a studio to produce vox pops, graphic designers and marketing advisers to help them create their final presentations.

The day culminated in presentations.

Each team had the challenge of wowing the judges, consisting of Germaine and two top managers.

Not only was their success judged on the taste of the smoothie and the excellence of their plan but also on their creativity, entrepreneurial abilities, innovation, sales skills and how well they had operated as teams.

Everyone agreed the day had been energising and thought-provoking.

The sales teams could understand the challenges and difficulties faced by other departments and could see how they, as sales people, meshed with the rest of the organisation.

The challenge helped them develop their personal skills and showed them the importance of initiative, planning, preparation, time management, teamwork and delegation.

It also encouraged them to be proactive and highlighted skills they never knew they had.

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