It was a short 10 years ago that I met Jim Murphy, President of Afterburner Seminars based in Atlanta. Jim was a copier salesman-turned-fighter pilot who realized that the same combat mission planning that our military uses can be tweaked to fit a sales and management team’s objectives. Having met an executive from Home Depot at a local YPO meeting, Jim’s Afterburner team was off and running with a major annual Home Depot contract.
Once Afterburners hit the main-stream of corporate meetings (beyond Home Depot), not only did success follow, but meeting planners around the country were seeing the value of the half-day teambuilding seminar. And as a 21-year veteran of the corporate lecture industry, I’ve always been on the lookout for the next great teambuilding event.
I think I found it.
It’s 1pm on a May weekday and we are live at The Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, California. It’s a sunny Southern California day outside, but in the Los Angeles Ballroom of this hotel, the stage is set for a unique and innovative afternoon.
As 165 of Hyatt’s top sales, catering and convention services managers enter the ballroom, they are met by cameramen, directors and staffers from “CSI: Miami,” “24,” and some of Hollywood’s hottest shows. Over the next three hours however, these craftsmen will play the role of Facilitator as The Hyatt Masters audience is transformed into 11 production crews, competing to make the best 60-second commercial about their company.
Welcome to Lights, Camera, Interaction!
David Wendell welcomes the audience. David’s one of the principals of LCI who has just spent the morning directing Susan Sarandon and Patrick Dempsey in a shoot on their newest film, “Enchanted.” David outlines to the crowd the similarities between what they do on a daily basis and what a Hollywood production crew does—all working together toward a common goal. He introduces their audience to their facilitators who will oversee the process—2 per team of 15. Team leaders are then selected to head each group into action, and smaller meeting rooms are about to become creative brainstorm areas.
As each team assembles in its breakout area, ideas begin to flourish as the facilitators give an introduction to the storyboarding process. The team I was following decided to do a spoof on Paris Hilton, showing that even a Hilton stays at Hyatt. Another team would use an Outback theme, dressing their actors in Crocodile Dundee garb while shooting in a wooded area outside the hotel. Yet another group had “Joe Hyatt” give a tour of the property. Just off to the side of the Los Angeles Ballroom entrance is the props and wardrobe area. Selected crew members come with lists of their needs to find police uniforms, feathers, beads, hats, waiter’s outfits and more—but with some Hyatt tailoring: logo’ed uniforms, valet parking attire, even doorman’s coats lined the tables of this area.
As the actors get readied for their new roles, writers get the dialog set on cue cards while facilitators give hands-on training in camera usage and boom-mike operation.
It’s truly amazing to see the diverse ideas that flow from the creative process. But it makes sense. Because with LCI, the focus is two-fold. First, all business is creativity and creative decision-making. Second, every member of your team matters. From the moment the Hyatt Masters were introduced to this event, you could feel the excitement in the air.
As I walk through the lobby of The Century Plaza, one group is shooting a scene at the lobby bar and another at the hotel’s Starbucks counter. Walk outside and there’s a team shooting a husband and wife exiting a taxi, while the hotel doorman greets Joe Hyatt a few feet away. Look a bit further to the hotel’s Avenue of the Stars entrance and there’s a shirtless actor in his shorts standing in the landmark fountain screaming “I SHOULD HAVE STAYED AT HYATT!” to a camera crew 20 floors above me shooting from a balcony. This is filmmaking in its finest hour. But better yet, this is teambuilding at its peak. Truly the half-day program that fits the needs of corporate meeting planners.
Click to learn more on our website: http://www.nationwidespeakers.com/speaker/816/lights-camera-interaction/teambuilding-hollywood-style.
-Marc Reede
