IDEAS by GUARANT organized a 2-day kick-off meeting for its long-term client in mid-January. The event was attended by 300 company managers from around the world. Due to the bad covid situation, the event took place in a virtual form and our team had one month to prepare the event.

The kick-off meeting was held in the spirit of the most popular sport on the planet – football. This topic was chosen because of the symbolism of team sport. The client wanted to support teamwork across all countries in which it has branches. The football theme was permeated by the entire virtual event. It was the program composition, graphic design of the virtual studio, presentation of individual speakers, or a unified background for the participants, which was a virtual football stadium. Participants were able to add the flag of their country in the background and thus properly represent it during the event.

The program of the virtual kick-off meeting was divided into two halves and consisted of several interesting parts. It included, for example, educational workshops or a welcoming ceremony presented by 2 commentators with headphones and microphones, who officially opened the football match (kick-off meeting). One of the client’s main wishes was for an inspiring speaker from the football community to speak at the event. In the end, British professional football manager Casey Stoney was chosen. Casey is a former British national football team captain and former coach of the Manchester United women’s team. She joined the event at 1 am (EST) from the USA, where she now works as the head coach of San Diego Wave FC. The end of the kick-off meeting belonged to the awards ceremony for the individual teams for their achievements in the previous year. It was in the spirit of the Oscars.

The meeting was very interactive for the participants. The managers themselves were involved in the event, for example, in presenting their plans and goals for this year. One of the entries, which had the most response, took the form of an interview with a sports journalist and a football coach.

Despite the fact that this year’s virtual meeting was a success, we believe that it will be possible to organize the next year physically.