Boehringer Ingelheim AGM Case Study.

Meeting Hosting - Value Through Innovation Day

Problem

Boehringer Ingelheim Canada is the Canadian Division of one of the leading pharmaceutical Companies in the world.  Each year the Canadian head office holds a Value Through Innovation (VTI) Day for all their employees.

During this meeting they recognize important achievements of the Company, the people who made these achievements and innovations happen, and reinforce their Corporate culture and business principals.

This year a number of departments were selected to present which, although critical to the Company’s operation, may not be typically considered exciting or high profile.  As a result a number of the presenters involved did not have the experience in making presentations to large groups of people.

The challenge was to come up with a format that would put all the presenters at ease, help them create a powerful presentation, aid in communicating relevant information, and keep the entire day moving, fun and exciting.

Intervention

The answer was to create a custom meeting-hosting package.

The first step was for myself to meet with each of the eight presenters and find out in detail what they and their team did, what information and innovation elements they wanted to communicate, and determine their “presentation comfort level”.

Next I designed an overall program that had a relevant Opening and Closing for the meeting, and innovative pieces that occurred between and introduced each of the different presenters and their segments.  These pieces ranged from magically making the presenters and/or their products appear out of thin air, to designing illusions that would communicate relevant information on what it was they wanted to impart.

Then we met again with all the presenters involved to rehearse their different segments, edit and critique their presentations, and provide some direction for improving their presentation skills.

Finally we rehearsed the entire production in our studio with our cast and crew.  And from there it was lights – curtain – VTI Day!  Everyone did a super job, the day worked really well and it was a lot of fun!

Outcome

“Each year we have a meeting for all of our office staff in which we focus on the principals that guide our business.  We have had a number of key note speakers/presenters ranging from an Olympic gold medallist to Cirque du Soleil to recognized life style speakers.  We also endeavour to recognize achievements and teams who made it happen at the meeting.  Expectations of the audience are high!!

This year we wished to focus on some teams whose work is essential to the ongoing success of the Company but whose work may not be considered ‘exiting’ or be highly visible to the organization at large.  So the challenge was to devise a presentation format which would keep everyone’s interest and allow presentations on the various chosen functions in a free flowing manner.  Most of the presenters were not experienced public speakers so a format in which they felt comfortable and could enjoy was also important.  Quite a challenge and one we were not readily able to solve!!!!

Rick Rossini was the answer to the challenge and after being briefed he quickly devised and proposed a presentation format that was interesting and unique… by integrating his magic skills to introduce each speaker and provide linkage and some fun to the proceedings.  The format proved to be very effective, was well accepted by the audience and presenters, and achieved all of the meeting objectives.  Rick and his team handled the ‘production’ in a professional manner and within the agreed budget.  All in all, we were very satisfied with Rick Rossini The Magical Motivator and would recommend them to any organization seeking an interesting and different approach to meeting presentations.”

Ian Mills, President & CEO, Boehringer Ingelheim Canada Ltd.

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