Strategic Plan Launch Convention in an Arena: 23,000 Employees United
WMH Project designed the launch convention for a multi-year strategic plan for a major client, gathering 23,000 employees in Europe's largest arena. The experience spans seven months, from teasing to post-event rollout, built around a unifying, positive narrative.
Why stretch a strategic plan launch over seven months?
A multi-year strategic plan cannot be delivered in a single day. WMH Project designed a five-phase journey — teasing, travel, welcome, live, follow-up — running from September to March. The aim: to move gradually from curiosity to commitment. The teasing phase unfolds over six months with successive signals (video save-the-date, QR-code hunt to reveal the venue, thematic questions, onboarding to a dedicated web app). This build-up also secures registrations and streamlines logistics for a 23,000-person gathering.
How do you turn the journey into part of the event?
The trip to the arena is treated not as logistical downtime but as a full sequence. Through the app, collective challenges are launched during travel: breaking the ice with fellow passengers, quizzes, selfie challenges, a roaming band made up of internal talents. Each interaction feeds a score converted into a charity fund donated to an association. The stated ambition: create 23,000 interactions before arrival, turning travel into a unifying act.
What happens on arrival at the arena?
The welcome extends the experience: a roller-skating brass band on the forecourt, giant photo calls, regional-colored signage. Inside, the concourses and lounges become spaces for conviviality — coffee, photobooths, roaming music crews. Lunch, designed for 23,000 guests with vegetarian and gluten-free options, is distributed via an app voucher across some twenty collection points. A lively pre-show (host, DJ, blind tests, regional battles) sets the mood well before the live.
How do you build a live show that carries strategic messages?
The highlight lasts two hours, most of it devoted to the strategic address, paced with energizing sequences. The scenography relies on multiple stages (main, full-LED satellites, music stage) and an 80-meter screen. Staging combines a live orchestra, a dance troupe and image-driven immersion. The narrative progresses in acts — spark, pride, challenges, launch — to move participants from pride to commitment. Expert witnesses (economist, AI specialist, customer voice, CSR figure) lend credibility to each pillar of the plan.
What role do the opening and closing films play?
Two films structure the emotion. The opening questions the notion of greatness: from the infinitely large — space, cities, crowds — to the infinitely human, the daily gestures of employees. The closing films "the gestures that make no noise," the invisible acts of the profession, shot like documentaries. These devices anchor the central message: greatness lies in people and in the strength of a collective.
How do you sustain momentum after the event?
The big day is not an end but a beginning. The follow-up runs in three stages, led by frontline managers: the memory (highlight replay, infographic of the pillars) at H+3, the appropriation (meeting facilitation guide, FAQ, digital magazine) at D+7, then per-role and per-region adaptation at D+21. This mechanism turns a spectacular moment into a lasting onboarding tool.
Designed and orchestrated by WMH Project — We Make It Happen.
FAQ
How many people can an arena convention bring together?
This experience gathered 23,000 employees in Europe's largest arena, with catering and reception logistics scaled to serve all participants on a single day.
Why start teasing six months before the event?
A gradual build-up creates anticipation, secures registrations and installs the theme. It turns a simple event into a collective adventure experienced over several months.
How do you extend a convention's impact after the big day?
A three-stage follow-up — memory, appropriation, adaptation — led by frontline managers anchors the messages and equips teams in the following weeks.