NHS Conference Freshener

Conference refresher activity for 400 people at an NHS conference. Based on our highly popular Art Factory team building session.

The NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Commissioning Support Unit approached us to support their conference at Aintree Racecourse in Cheshire. They wanted a 60 minute activity that would fully engage their 400 guests.

Finding the Purpose

We spoke with the client to establish what they wanted to achieve with this activity. They had three main desires:

1. Refresh & recharge: They wanted to engage and freshen guests after they’d been passively listening to conference presentations.
2. Fun & creative: They wanted the activity to be fun and creative to provide a true break from the rest of the conference.
3. Reinforce messaging: The activity should enforce the conference messaging.

Tailoring the Solution

One activity stood out to us as meeting all 3 criteria perfectly – the Art Factory. This activity can be moulded to suit almost any timescale, audience size or message.

Since it involves creating artwork, it’s naturally fun and creative. It provides active rest by engaging the brain in a novel way, which has the effect of renewing attention spans and engagement. And artwork can be themed to underscore core points form the wider event.

Delivering the Conference Freshener

Our facilitators split the 400 guests into 40 teams. Each team was tasked with creating artwork that underlined key messages from the NHS conference. Guests delighted in getting the paints out and creating giant masterpieces on their canvasses.

Themes from the conference included teamwork, partnership and communication. Some teams chose to write and decorate these words, while others chose to represent them metaphorically. One of our favourite representations of ‘teamwork’ was a series of connected hand prints, another a winding road that characters were travelling down together.

Successful Outcome

All guests were fully engaged with the artwork activity. They had fun and enjoyed exercising their creative sides! And the NHS had 40 pieces of unique art, createrd by their own team, to underscore the key messages of the day. Some fo these were taken away to be hung on office walls as a lasting reminder of the event.

Our client felt the activity was a perfect break from the conference presentations. They said:

“The session was a huge success – thank you!” NHS Commissioning Support Unit Team

Want to talk to us about one of our events? Get in touch on +44 (0)1905 330660 for an obligation-free chat about what you’re looking for.