A Conference Built to Dare

Overview

When a new CEO stepped into one of the business units of a global technology company, one of their first priorities was to bring the senior leadership team together to align around a bold vision for growth and transformation. They needed an event that would create clarity around strategy, build shared ownership of the unit’s direction and equip leaders with the mindset required to lead change in a rapidly evolving industry.

We designed a three-day leadership conference that didn’t avoid the uncertainty that often comes with new leadership – it embraced it.

The Concept

The event was built around a single, powerful theme: DARE.

Every element of the programme was designed to challenge leaders to step outside their comfort zones, question long-held assumptions and explore how they respond to change. The aim was to shift mindsets and encourage leaders to take a more confident, proactive role in driving transformation across the business unit.

The Experience

The event comprised plenary sessions with immersive team activities, all carefully curated for maximum impact. The plenary sessions were co-hosted by a bespoke, fully developed AI avatar which acted as a co‑host, intentionally designed to provoke discomfort and challenge assumptions about AI’s role in leadership. The message was clear: disruption is inevitable, by embracing it we unlock potential. Opening content positioned AI as rapidly evolving and potentially threatening, aligning with the initial theme of uncertainty.

The avatar was trained to respond to the audience with a human tone by large language models, with a ‘human’ face generated using AI tools. On Day 1, the avatar presented pre-recorded content in black and white then, as the event progressed, so too did the avatar. By the final day, it had transformed into full colour and was able to engage in a live interactive Q&A session with senior leaders. Audience perceptions shifted from fear (‘is my job at risk?’) to curiosity (‘how can we use AI to our advantage?’)

A 14m LED screen was chosen for cinematic impact, coupled with the use of interactive LED wristbands that glowed, building tension and signalling participation moments among the audience. Behaviour tracking cameras analysed engagement, emotion and sentiment, before during and after each plenary session.

Testing team-building activities

A range of high-impact experiential activities was selected, each designed to push physical, emotional, or psychological boundaries. Senior leaders received cryptic messages to select their team‑building activities without knowing exactly what they were signing up for. These included:

• Bed of nails - lying between two beds of nails while a colleague stood on top.

• Rebar bend - bending a steel bar using only the throat.

• Concrete block smash - breaking a concrete block with bare hands.

• DARE rap - improv artists coaching leaders to create and perform a rap (only realising they would perform on stage when their wristbands lit up during the gala dinner!)

Magic happens when you push beyond perceived limits and these experiences not only encouraged leaders to confront their fears but also recognise what they could achieve when they dared to try.

Dining differently

We designed a dining in discomfort schedule, which included a welcome dinner, hosted on the 41st floor of a skyscraper, with entertainment that included a flight simulator and AI magician. The end of event Gala Dinner was held in an industrial nightclub with self-selection seating (no seating plan in sight), a live chainsaw ice sculptor in attendance and surprise performances from the DARE rap groups

The Impact

The shift in mindset was measurable.

Psychometric testing and behavioural analysis showed that at the start of the event only 50% of leaders felt ready for change. By the closing session, that number had risen to 99%, with leaders reporting stronger alignment, renewed confidence and a clearer understanding of their role in delivering the business unit’s transformation.

The result was a bold, immersive leadership experience that successfully united senior leaders behind a shared vision for the future.

Sustainability achievements

As a B Corp accredited and ISO 20121 certified events business, sustainability was embedded into this event from the planning phase, through to post-event evaluation. We used our sector-leading sustainability checklist, supported by a preevent supplier benchmarking questionnaire. The event was measured for carbon impact through Greengage EcoSmart.

Specific sustainability measures include minimal single use plastic. Circular materials and decorative elements were preferred to reduce waste and cost, such as recycled lanyards and name badges; the innovative LED wristbands were returned to the supplier for future reuse. Together, these measures ensured the event experience was progressive, but not at the expense of people or the planet.