The brief
A national sales meeting for a team that had become extremely good at leading with data and content. The person on the other side of the conversation was coming second.
The intended outcome
Put connection before content in every conversation, and keep doing it back at work, long after the meeting ends.
What we built
Every session, speaker, soundtrack, seat and coffee break designed around one behaviour change. Sessions redesigned from the ground up, every keynote coached one to one, and leaders coached on their role in the room, not just on stage.
The moves, and the science behind them
Anticipation and secrecy
The obvious choice
A save-the-date and an agenda.
What we did
A month out, the planning crew let slip that something very different was coming, then said it was confidential. Key people were asked to help with pieces without seeing the whole. People who never normally present were given a special role they weren't allowed to reveal.
Why it works
Curiosity is a hunger for missing information. The gap pulls attention forward, so people arrived already paying attention.
Peers on stage, not just the organisers
The obvious choice
The central team presents everything.
What we did
Reps delivered sessions in teams with their leaders.
Why it works
People are most persuaded by people like them. And the people who teach an idea are the ones who learn it most deeply.
One message, many voices
The obvious choice
Each executive builds their own keynote.
What we did
We worked with every person going on stage, on their messaging, positioning and slides, so every talk pulled in the same direction.
Why it works
A message heard from several credible people, consistently, feels more true and is easier to remember than one heard once from the top.
Short bursts, then practice
The obvious choice
80 to 120 slides per presenter.
What we did
A maximum of ten slides, mostly visual. Ten minutes on stage, then straight into group work. Connection before content, then connection through content.
Why it works
A Harvard trial found people learned more from active sessions than from polished lectures, while feeling they'd learned less. That's why exit scores so often reward the wrong format.
Everyone their own walk-on
The obvious choice
One house track for every speaker.
What we did
Every presenter had their own soundtrack, chosen to lift their own energy as they walked on.
Why it works
Music changes arousal and confidence. Athletes use it deliberately before they perform, and audiences read a speaker's confidence in the first few seconds.
Leaders as the influence network
The obvious choice
Leaders sit together at the front and network in the breaks.
What we did
We coached leaders on how to behave between sessions, where to sit during them, and how to use each moment for the most influence. They modelled the new behaviour throughout.
Why it works
People copy those with status, and norms spread through the people around them. Where leaders sit and what they do in the breaks decides what the room thinks is normal.
Priming everywhere
The obvious choice
A theme on the backdrop and the lanyards.
What we did
Cues for the core message were placed throughout the spaces people moved through, so the idea was already familiar before anyone said it on stage.
Why it works
What people have already been exposed to shapes what they notice and how they respond next, usually without them realising.
Calls to action that were worked, not announced
The obvious choice
A key-takeaways slide.
What we did
Every session ended with a call to action people worked on in the room. Senior leaders carried those conversations into the coffee breaks, then into their coaching for months after.
Why it works
Specific plans made in advance are far more likely to be carried out than good intentions, as a review of 94 studies found. Follow-through from managers is what keeps them alive.
A phrase that became a game
The obvious choice
A tagline on the screens.
What we did
"Connection Before Content" became shared language, and people were encouraged to point it out when they spotted it in the wild. It became a game across the conference, and it was coached for months after.
Why it works
A shared phrase becomes a cue for the behaviour. Spotting it in others makes people notice it in themselves.
Also at work
Other behavioural science, psychology and neuroscience principles designed into the experience.
What happened
Shared language showed up in meetings on its own, and it's still in use. Medical presentations changed, and physicians said so without being asked. We were invited back, and asked to teach the team to do it themselves.