Eight steps ahead.

Eight years before the pandemic, a Bank had a bold, original vision – and it’s been growing ever since.

It turns out to be one of the most prescient emails of all time.

“We’re looking to combine a live and virtual audience into a single event…,” reads the email from a senior leader at the financial institution. “Is that even possible?”

Not only is the request possible, it’s transformative. At the time, the very concept of hybrid is newer than new…but the technology has caught up to a point where it’s possible.

What happens next combines a little strategy, a lot of vision, and a massive effort to produce a united, seamless event for hundreds of colleagues in Toronto, plus over 1000 tuning in across Canada.

Call it “hybrid,” long before “hybrid” became “hybrid.”

To execute, the team doesn’t simply transfer a live experience into a virtual setting. Instead, the entire event is reconsidered. The country’s top Broadcast Producers are sought out to share their insight.

In the end, the program delivers the best of a Broadcast (for the virtual audience) within a live setting. It has the electricity of a live election with the engagement of a highly interactive online discussion.

And it’s only the beginning.

This first event becomes the foundation for a year-over-year journey to improve ways in which audiences connect and meet. As virtual events rise, the program’s lessons serve as an incubator for what’s possible – a playbook that succeeds in events across the Bank.

Year-over-year, teams experiment with content structure, engagement models, timing, sets and graphics – developing teamwide trust that becomes the envy of the industry.

By the time the pandemic does arrive, that playbook has evolved to become the sharpest, smartest way to bring people together in the financial industry, leading to record engagement and satisfaction scores.