Bonfire Road Show
An evening with friends, good music, maybe some delicious food and drinks…just a few things that come to mind when you think of gathering around a bonfire. Symbolically, a bonfire has been recognized as a generative power of life, energy and change, and a symbol of illumination and enlightenment. Sitting around a bonfire brings out the simple, genuine connection between people, and as a creative agency that believes in the transformative power of people coming together - we knew we needed an internal gathering to do just that.
Each year Ember hosts our own event called Bonfire, not necessarily a literal gathering around a fire, but a gathering of our team and our clients to connect, provide solutions, shed light on opportunity for change and growth, and ultimately to say thank you.
In 2019, we listened to our clients and instead of asking them to come to us we transformed Bonfire into a road show. We hit the road eager to share our thinking on how to move gatherings forward in 2020, and more specifically how to really help elevate a general session.
After creative thought and careful consideration, we developed an algorithm essential to any general session, and we shared our thinking on:
How to shift a general session to an AMAZING session
How to break OUT of the typical meeting design, and
How to build the bench strength of your team’s presentation skills
When executed correctly, our multi-faceted algorithm focuses on creating an experience for attendees, instead of showing them a static PPT presentation.
A humanizing approach to Q&A: Brand leadership takes the stage, testing hot sauces that intensify with every audience question.
We asked, is the same conference room always the best environment to present information? We encouraged our Bonfire attendee’s to break OUT, and consider incorporating dynamic locations and tactics to keep audiences engaged.
Create clear comparisons through experiential learning - their foam technology is like sleeping on a box-spring, ours is like a Tempurpedic mattress.
When you go out of your way to travel to a location that is authentic to the brand, don’t default to an indoor meeting space - break OUT.
Thirdly, we asked, are you utilizing your most effective and engaging presenters? Who is your best presenter now? Who will that be 1, 2, 3 years from now?
We didn’t just present the ideas. We broke out of the typical meeting design, transformed conventional meeting rooms into brand new spaces, added tasty bites, beverages, music and energy - and united people and ideas through an extraordinary gathering we like to call Bonfire.
At the end of the day, the 2019 Bonfire Road Show ignited new ideas and relationships, and that is all we can really ask for.