International Power - Management games

The thought process

At the annual management meeting, the first event after registration was deliberately kept a informal to give everyone a chance to acclimatize, and renew their acquaintances from across this expansive company. The comms team needed activities which would be easy to implement, entertaining, and that set the tone for the days that followed.

The 2008 management meeting introduced the ACT initiative. (described in detail - click here) In 2009, the CEO wanted to focus on one aspect of the ACT initiative (the "T") which represented individual talent development and teamwork.

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I made the games revolve around Teamwork and the attendee booklet focus on The Power of One, (the talent of the individual).

Inspired by Trivial Pursuit, I adapted the design to Team Players, with a second reference to the original name in the line below the title.

The rules were the same as the original and therefore easily adapted to playing in teams. The questions were created to be specific to International Power and playfully test and expand company knowledge on everything from financial to operations, and corporate to global. The cards were printed large to amplify the experience while being easy to read in the evening setting. The corporate logo was a perfect fit for the back of the cards where the answer could be found...

logo

backs

The yellow cards were the "entertainment/popular culture" category which I was able to contribute to:

Q: Which Jack Nicolson, Leonardo DiCaprio film, set in Boston, wanted to use a working power station as a set, but ultimately couldn't because of the noise of the generator which they weren't allowed to shut off?

A. The Departed

The answer was predictable, but the story was not widely known – the plant manager told me the story when I was on site photographing the Boston Generating plant in question.

The 2010 management meeting fell shortly after the company had been bought by GDF Suez. Many of the people attending were going to lose their jobs. Others were going to go through major changes as a result of the acquisition. The corporate communications manager wanted to focus everyone's attention on the positives brought through change. The company's management were going to have to lead the company through the transition and the leadership needed to find ways to inspire them despite all the uncertainty.

In response, I invented a game that tackled the situation head on, and decided the best approach was to be direct, but tempered with humor.

Everyone was given a canvas pouch full of brightly colored marbles. They then had to visit five different stations where they filled in how many times they had experienced the particular change illustrated. How many times have you changed jobs, how many kids do you have, how many places have you lived? For every check mark you got rid of a marble. The goal was to get rid of (loose) all 30 marbles. The prize was a T shirt that said: I lost my marbles but won this T shirt.

The game was a hit and eased everyone into the rest of the meeting.

The attendee booklet, and posters for the event featured the line "The Power To Lead Change." I gathered images of the leaders of all the countries in which International Power had a presence tocreate the image. It was both a reminder of where the company was now, before the merger, and a recognition of others leading through change in a global context.

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Signature poster

I made a second poster print in the same style as the international leaders cover but with the faces of all those attending. At the end of the evening everyone signed next to their picture and the poster was kept to be framed and hung in one of the offices to remember this moment.

In the attendee booklet, everyone had their own page with photos and a personal story about experiencing and surviving change in their life. Again, the corporate communications manager managed to get everyone to contribute very generous, frank personal stories making the booklet very compelling. There were extra pages at the back for notes and, in this case, in light of the changes ahead, messages of good wishes for each other.

What the client said:

2010

Everything looks great and the books are my favorite yet... great work as always!! Thank you so much!

The game really helped bring people together.

International Power

Motivational & Team-Building Games

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE #8 - GAME DESIGN FOR ANNUAL MANAGEMENT MEETINGS

The brief: To design games that set the tone for the three day annual meeting.

Cube

These Rubik's cubes were custom imprinted so that the "T" would work as a practical metaphor for Teamwork. Both visually and in practice, you had to build the big T out of the many smaller, equal parts.

Meed quote
Quotation on the hang tag

Pursuit

20 by 20 inch double sided game board design based on Trivial Pursuit

Pursuit

Team Player (Trivial Pursuit) Question cards

In 2010 International Power was bought by GDF Suez

poster

Pursuit

Station posters featured everyones names with space to list the number of marbles you were losing...

Pursuit

I kept a corporate red yellow and blue color palette throughout all the header graphics

Pursuit
I thought children were the best illustration for "Life Changing" events

Pursuit

Moving home is always described as very traumatic and yet we all do it and survive just fine

Pursuit

The back of the T shirt featured a single line of text. The front of the shirt had the colorful circles image of world leaders.

booklets

5.75 inch x7 inch, 100 page Attendee booklets.

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