Building Society Annual Conference – The Motocross Opening

Taking essential annual-review content and making the audience experience it differently.

The challenge

A long-standing Chief Executive client wanted to change the repetitive opening of his annual conference: lights down, annual-review film, then the Chief Executive on stage. The annual film still mattered. It brought together achievements, people, locations and stories from across the UK and gave the wider organisation a voice. The content did not need replacing; the audience’s experience of it did.

The creative development

Comtec proposed filming a cycle courier racing across town carrying a package for the Chief Executive. The audience would follow the journey on the main screen until the courier reached the venue. At the conference-room doors, the pre-produced film would transfer seamlessly into live action and the courier would deliver the package on stage.

The Chief Executive loved the idea, then discovered that Comtec’s Neil Morris had raced motocross. He immediately pushed the concept further: forget the bicycle and use a motocross bike. He wanted more excitement while retaining a direct connection to the annual-review opening.

The solution

Comtec filmed motocross sequences at a test facility using a specially branded race bib, followed by the motorcycle’s approach through the hotel grounds.

At the live conference, the big-screen film brought the motorcycle towards the room. At the precise moment it reached the doors, the screen action transferred to live camera coverage. The real doors opened, controlled pyrotechnics fired and the motocross bike entered the conference room, travelled up a purpose-built ramp and across the stage to deliver the package to the Chief Executive.

The wider project also included conference presentation production and a substantial accompanying exhibition.

The result

The film had effectively stepped out of the screen and into the room. The opening became an experience that people involved in the event continued to remember many years later. Behind those few seconds of impact sat detailed planning across filming, staging, camera direction, sound, lighting, pyrotechnics, construction and safety.

Comtec principle

Spectacle should not be added for spectacle’s sake. Start with what needs to be communicated, understand the audience, then find the most engaging way to bring that message to life.