Conference Interventions

Many conferences are dull affairs - a sequence of 30-minute presentations given by boring speakers who rely upon over-wordy slides. We call this "Death by PowerPoint".

As well as coaching individual presenters, we work with clients to enliven their conferences with sketches, exercises and "Invisible Theatre".

Invisible Theatre usually involves a couple of actors who appear to be delegates. At a suitable moment, often at the very start of the conference, these two will start a conversation which, because they are miked up, can be heard by everyone. (Sometimes they are videoed too so that people can see them). They usually comment on the conference themes, often amusingly but sometimes the aim is to bring unspoken cynicism or resentment out into the open where it can be dealt with.

We often devise sketches for conferences. Rather than have delegates listen to a dull speech, why not play out a short scene which shows the subject dramatically? Far more entertaining and memorable.

Some clients have asked us to run interactive sessions as part of a conference. We've had whole conferences painting murals, singing African chants and learning and playing a percussion piece. And these are often the parts of a conference that delegates remember most.