Athens Global Finance Conference
Diageo (www.diageo.com) is the world’s leading premium drinks business. The company has a collection of global brands including Guinness, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan and Baileys.
A three-night event in Athens was organised for over 150 senior finance staff from Diageo’s offices across Asia, Europe and North and South America. The meeting was an opportunity for the staff, who very rarely get a chance to meet, to train together in relevant areas of the business.
Toolshed was contacted to help transform an event that had the potential to be uninspiring into a more engaging and interesting experience for the delegates. The remit included responsibility for the production management, set and stage/environment design, venue CAD drawings, fabrication and supply of all materials, technical production and AV and technical crew.
Athens provided a great base, offering good transport links whilst being a vibrant city with modern conveniences. At the time, Greece was also one of Diageo’s biggest markets.
Diageo took the opportunity at the conference to highlight its sub brand, Johnnie Walker’s sponsorship of the McLaren Formula One team, and the new car took centre stage at the conference.
It was our intention to avoid having the delegates sit in one place for the duration of the three days listening to endless amounts of information. Whilst it is of course important for delegates to take away information, there are other, more impactful ways of achieving this. So, the Formula One announcement, with its connotations pf glamour and excitement, became the theme for team building activities.
The topics for each daily session (business partnerships, people management and finance governance) were addressed with presentations which were then reinforced with interactive tasks. These tasks included building radio-controlled cars which were used in a race, creating cocktails using Diageo products, as well as a dinner and entertainment programmes.
Diageo and the delegates alike were delighted with the takeaways from the event. Since organising the finance conference, we have continued working with the company to plan a number of other events.
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