SUCCESS STORY
Leadership and Incentive Events that Create a Palpable Cultural Movement
Client: Access Information Management
Project Timeline: February 2023 - April 2024
Services Provided: Event Strategy + Programming, Content Creation, Graphic Design, Video Production, Travel Logistics, Attendee Experience Planning, On-Site Execution
DELIVERING EVENT EXPERIENCES THAT UNITE GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONS AND STRENGTHEN COMPANY CULTURE AND IMPACT.
The Challenge
Company leadership summits and incentive events play a crucial role in fostering collaboration, recognizing outstanding performance, and promoting a shared vision among top executives and high achievers. Our team has supported Access Information Management on their leadership and President’s Club events dating back to 2015. While the pandemic forced these events to pause or pivot to virtual, when it was time to deliver the next powerful, full-blown, in-person event, the Access team once again approached The Moving Company.
We were energized to ideate, strategize, plan and execute meaningful and memorable events, beginning with the Leadership Summit in January 2024, followed by The Club (formerly President’s Club) in April 2024. It was our shared vision that these events would be positive inflection points in the ongoing growth story at Access.
“Thank you for the excellent work on the recent Club event. I have heard from several sales team members, and they could not stop talking about the great time they had, all because of you.”
- Doug Hoffer
“Thanks so much for everything this week. I feel like I could not say enough about how amazing you and the whole team were to work with – such professionals and handling every challenge with competence and grace!”
- Melissa Kolodziej, Senior Director, Content and Communications
The Process
Summit 2024:
To kick things off for Summit 2024, MCO created an overall event strategy on behalf of Access stakeholders. Our playbook included insights into schedule and agenda planning, key event goals and messages, as well as suggestions for unique experiences, keynote speaker ideation, and considerations for award ceremonies. In parallel, we started the site selection process, and visited a variety of locations across the country, providing recommendations and justifications in order to nail down the best fit venue for our event. This entailed negotiating meeting space, food and beverage, room blocks, and a host of other factors to ensure all of our requirements were met and we were choosing the most beneficial option for this group.
Ultimately we landed on the St. Louis Union Station Hotel to host our event, a stunning and historic venue that was a central destination for our attendees. With our venue in place and Access’s internal 2024 theme determined, we supported the development of the event logo and branding to deliver an overarching look and feel. The “Be the Reason” theme was stamped across a multitude of signage, swag and print materials like guidebooks and custom agendas, to ensure the Access team felt that cohesiveness across the entirety of the event.
The Summit was planned for 275 Access leaders, so our mission was to get those guests in and out of St. Louis on time and on budget, moving them through a week of successful programming and events before returning them safely home. From invitations and frequent communications, to registration and transportation planning, the MCO team handled every detail through to on-site execution. Throughout the week, we planned evening events complete with Access-branded decor and entertainment - from a grand Welcome Reception in the showstopping Union Station lobby, to BBQ and World’s Fair-themed award ceremonies.
Our on-site videographer and photographer captured every main stage presentation and breakout meeting, along with B-roll and event stills to support the creation of our post-event wrap-up video. We collaborated with the hotel A/V team to ensure proper presentations were queued up, presenters properly identified, prepped and mic’d, and music and special last-minute requests were downloaded and readied.
In all, the event was a huge success and received a ton of praise from our stakeholders and guests alike. The post-event survey sent to all attendees solidified the sentiment, allowing MCO the privilege of locking in this event again in 2025.
The Club 2024:
With the Club event not too far behind Summit in terms of timing, many of our Club tasks were taking place at the same time that we neared Summit execution. During this timeframe, we created a Club playbook to help paint the picture of what would be an unforgettable event, at the culmination of a hype-filled year of messaging to help push the Access sales and ops teams to larger financial wins.
The purpose of this event was to celebrate the high achievers within the sales team, and so we needed to find the perfect location to do just that. We completed another site selection exercise, weighing the pros and cons of a list of locations in the US and its territories - ultimately landing on San Juan, Puerto Rico. We created a refreshed brand and logo for “The Club,” both on its own to be used for future events, and specific to this year’s location.
MCO handled the coordination of everything from registration, air travel and ground transportation, on-site and off-site events, activity and excursion planning, and branded signage and swag. We also crafted a hype program, with a new video and communication every couple of months throughout the year, to keep the team engaged and continuing to push to meet their sales goals and join us on this extraordinary trip.
Once we had our list of winners, each one received a Club-branded gift box to their home, including a signed note from their sales leader and celebratory champagne and flutes. On-site, the MCO team was there to triage every request, working directly with the hotel staff and destination management company to ensure these winners had a top tier experience. Our videographer and photographer joined us in Puerto Rico as well, capturing footage and photos of all events and activities for our wrap-up video that was sent out post-event to all winners in a branded video brochure.
“Your team has a lifetime contract with us for these events”
- Doug Hoffer, Chief People Officer
“In the (maybe) 10 President’s Clubs from my previous days at [Competitor], we never did something this great.”
-Erik Rich
Problem Solved
In the first four months of 2024, we successfully delivered two events that our clients at Access have been raving about ever since. The testimonials say it all - MCO gets the job done, on-budget and with a smile. We look forward to supporting Access in 2025 and beyond.
This type of work is both exciting and rewarding for our team, and we have a unique approach to executing events like this that build momentum within our clients’ companies. If you’re looking to start a cultural shift in your business, reach out to us. We’re confident we can create and execute some of the most meaningful events your company has ever held.