RAET: annual kick-off

RAET, a Dutch company working in salary administration, human resources software and consultancy, asked Troje to do something with their annual kickoff, held for all 650 employees. Besides hosting the managing director's usual speech, RAET wanted this event to strengthen the sense of community and pride in the company. They also wanted a number of the coming year's themes to be addressed in an engaging way. The most important of these was 'optimal customer satisfaction through maximum customer orientation'.

Design
The final concept, designed in close cooperation with RAET, was a 90-minute event in which part of the director's presentation was integrated into a theatre show. Every seat provided a 'theatre programme' containing a brief explanation of the themes. The show was partly scripted and partly an interactive improvisation, with guest roles for members of the RAET management team, who had had a short rehearsal in order to prepare.

The show presented a RAET employee and a customer, both played by members of Troje. The question was: would the customer eventually decide to buy a new system? The audience gave suggestions on how to communicate with colleagues and with the customer. Armed with these instructions the Troje team and the management team took the stage and set to work – with predictably entertaining results.

This combination of presentation and show has a number of advantages:

· familiar people in a familiar setting
The fact that the management team appeared on stage in a familiar setting:
· increased audience involvement in the show (seeing colleagues on stage, no matter how limited their acting talents, appealed strongly to the audience's imagination); and
· it made it clear that everyone, the management team included, was expected to roll up their sleeves and get to work to reach the company targets for that year;

· undivided attention
incorporating the managing director's address into the show ensured that the audience's attention never wavered;

· alternating theory and practice
the 'daily reality' enacted on stage formed successive introductions for the managing director's talk, effectively alternating theory and practice;

· active involvement
the interactive character of the show contributed to the idea that everyone was being challenged to think about how the company's ambitions could best be achieved. During the presentation, audience comments and suggestions were immediately translated into visible behaviour; in the same way that, once back at work, everyone would have to translate general themes into individual actions.

Results
The combination of presentation and show was most successful. Company employees attended a memorable kick-off, whose central issues for the coming year were communicated by way of several channels. They were reminded of their own responsibilities in an engaging and light-hearted way. Stage appearances by the managing director and management team ensured that the kick-off was still being talked about long afterwards. Sharing jokes about the company's position contributed strongly towards a sense of community and shared pride.

The client
Saskia Verhoeven, RAET Communications Manager:
"This event was quite a challenge for us. We came across Troje in a roundabout way, and the ideas for the presentation arose pretty much on the spot. Our management team was very enthusiastic about taking part in the show; Troje is an easy-going outfit and that struck a chord with us. By allowing themselves to be vulnerable the management team showed everyone another side to their characters, and that appealed to many people too. In Communications we are always looking for creative ways of getting our message across, because in our experience it's the only way to make it stick. This was a really special occasion; people are still talking about it, and about the situations and remarks they saw and heard played.”