CONTEXT
Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA) is a management consulting firm providing leadership advisory and executive recruiting services for clients across industries worldwide. RRA hosts an annual meeting focused on critical business themes for its 200+ shareholders, connecting them with peers and engaging them in the firm’s plan to drive future success.

Every ten years, the company is required to elect a new CEO, and the shareholders meeting serves as the critical moment for them to participate in the CEO Succession program. A large and diverse pool of internal candidates compete for a chance to present their vision and answer questions at the Shareholders Meeting. And a handful of finalists then follow rigorous guidelines to ensure fairness to all as they make their pitch to the shareholders. With incredibly high stakes, and an eye toward professionalism, polish, and equity, RRA asked Touch to assist in redeveloping this typically in-person meeting as a premium, two-day, 100% live virtual event.  

OUR APPROACH
Since this was RRA’s first all-virtual meeting, we started with a series of work sessions to distill and refine the teams' big ideas into a tight, cohesive story that would inform and captivate the audience from beginning to end. The client initially provided a robust draft agenda with a large catalog of ancillary activities and experiences, which we then worked collaboratively to develop into a digestible and engaging program.

Next, we identified, secured, and implemented MeetingPlay as the virtual event platform. Leveraging RRA brand assets, the team developed an elegant look and feel, storyboards, and motion graphics package that beautifully complemented the RRA brand. The live stream leveraged the motion graphics and animations to give the event a professional broadcast feel, featuring internal speakers as well as several external guest speakers. The team also produced a series of wellness break interstitials, offering yoga and meditation sessions between presentations.

The CEO Succession portion of the program was highly regulated to be equitable and fair for each candidate. We developed several layers of contingency plans so that, in the event of a technical problem, the affected candidate would have the same opportunity as the other candidates. These included in-room technicians for real-time support and troubleshooting, simultaneous playback of their prerecorded presentation, and an audio dial-in/headshot option. Happily, none of these failovers were needed, as the show went off without a hitch.