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Seminars and Conventions

Today’s business environment is fast-paced. To stay ahead, a company’s employees must understand change, and more importantly, know how to respond.

Equinox Consulting works with clients to orchestrate events designed to spark meaningful communication around changes affecting the organization.

Holding a seminar or convention can be an effective way to meet a variety of goals, including:

• Boosting employee morale
• Rewarding performance through group events
• Explaining management or organizational changes, and garnering employee buy-in
• Launching a major project
• Energizing an entire company or division
• Giving management an opportunity to gain fresh insight into day-to-day operations through off-site events

Not only are these issues common, they are also closely interrelated. To address them, Equinox Consulting has developed proven expertise in event management based on one simple rule:

An event’s content and orchestration must resonate with and motivate a company’s employees.

All successful events share three characteristics:

• Customized: Equinox consultants work with clients at every step of the event planning process to gain a thorough understanding of the context surrounding the event and “tell a story” that addresses the participants’ concerns
  
  
• Flexible: Equinox consultants design events to meet any type of client request, regardless of how unorthodox
  
  
• Efficient: Equinox consultants orchestrate each event carefully to:
  - Eliminate downtime
  - Maximize productive time
  - Alternate speaker-driven and participant-driven activities, using both plenary sessions and interactive workshops
  - Obtain relevant speakers and facilitators

Equinox Consulting combines in-depth knowledge of the strategic issues that drive organizations with a proven event-management track record.

Our event management techniques have been tested — and proven — by experience.

Event content

Executive seminars and employee conferences must have tangible benefits with a lasting effect on all participants.

The way an event unfolds is a key factor in maintaining interest, adding value, and ensuring that employees’ time is used productively.

For example, a special meeting or seminar can be used to mark a transition or the completion of a major change, and lead to a set of concrete action items.

Event format

Variety is the key

• Just about any kind of activity can be included in an event. Equinox consultants work with clients to determine which ones will spark the desired group dynamics, facilitate teambuilding, and enable knowledge transfer.
  - Information-sharing activities: results of surveys conducted by consultants; talks from outside experts; topic-based subgroups; etc.
  - Interactive activities: workshops and team games
  - Demonstrations: new applications; projects; financial results; etc.
• Equinox consultants employ a range of unique teambuilding techniques, such as:
  - Cross-introductions, coats of arms, five verbs, pictograms, large-group activities, brown paper exercises, Metaplans, team charters, mission statements, etc.
• Event content is designed to provide a broad perspective, and is alternated with activities focused on practical, day-to-day applications

Participants are placed at the center of the event. After all, they are the true “stars” of the event — not the consultants or senior managers!

Equinox consultants always select methods suited to the event’s target group and purpose

	Target group size
	5 to 15 participants	15 to 50 participants	More than 50 participants
	Client expectations
One-off event	- Support Executive Committees or Steering Committees; step out of the day-to-day environment - Get an expert opinion on a given topic	- Boost management or sales force motivation for a key issue - Obtain buy-in for a key issue - Gain perspective - Recognize and reward performance	- Explain the rationale behind actions - Present a strategy - Rally the organization around strategic goals - Reward performance - Build employee loyalty
Regular sales or management events	- Break with old practices - Change behaviors	- Boost management or sales force motivation for a key issue - Obtain buy-in for a key issue - Gain perspective - Recognize and reward performance	- Rally the organization around strategic goals - Develop a sustainable action plan

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Sample projects

An annual convention for 300 retail bank managers to prepare their medium-term business plan to 2011

An executive summit for the Spanish subsidiary of a consumer credit institution

A convention for 150 bank managers in charge of SME accounts and wealth management:

• Developed three activities focused on customer satisfaction
• Planned an annual employee convention for a bank specialized in home loans
• Orchestrated and ran an executive summit on forward planning for 40 executives of a manufacturing corporation
• Orchestrated and ran an executive summit for the Spanish subsidiary of a French consumer credit institution