Midlands & North West
Seeing Red … KDM’s Team Building Event. Well not really but to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the British Heart Foundation’s “Red for Heart” Campaign, the KDM Events Team saw this as an opportunity for our own team building activity! We organised the day so all 16 of us wore red items of clothing, and could participate in the mini-games we organised which included how many red M ‘n’ Ms are in the jar! We also had a ‘bake off’ between the ladies (not very pc round here! and anyway the blokes are useless at cooking) which included jam tarts, cupcakes and a whole tart which Sarah McGregor won for her scrumptious tasting, red coloured cupcakes!
Our Team Build raised £46.75 for the British Heart Foundation, we all had a lovely, fun day and then went down the pub to get red noses!
Latest Events Homepage
KDM see Red and do a bit of Team Building!
July 2011
Switching a day in the office for a 106 mile bike ride … are you crazy?
July 2011
Well, the crazy culprit was Caroline Archer, our recent addition to the direct sales team. Caroline switched organising Corporate Events for a day to organise and participate in a Charity Cycle Ride to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Caroline and 15 fellow cyclists cycled 106 miles from Lullington to Skegness in 11 hours, successfully completing the challenge to do it in a day!
After this energetic outburst Caroline is back gingerly seated in the office ensuring everyone’s Team Building and Corporate Event needs are looked after.
The bike ride raised over £6,000 which included kind donations from the whole KDM Events Team!
Come Rain or Shine, KDM have it covered!
July 2011
With my hen party weekend approaching I’m sitting here wishing the weather was much better and instead it looks as though we will be in for a wet one!
Some of my clients that have booked outdoor Team Building events have been asking me the question ‘ What happens if it rains?’. As it is not possible to book the sunshine along with our team building events then KDM always have a wet weather contingency in place. For our outdoor events, as standard we will provide disposable waterproofs for each guest and also coloured tepee marquees where guests can shelter in the event of a heavy downpour. Plus, for a nominal fee, our clients also have the option of booking our wet weather contingency. For this an additional indoor event as a backup activity is available should you decide not to proceed with your outdoor event due to bad weather. Options include a Mega Quiz or Play your Games Right, to name just two! This can be arranged at a nominal fee and gives our guests peace of mind during our good old British Summer!
Sam
Sheep seek Corporate Entertainment with KDM!
April 2011
It might have been a long hard day, but to emerge from the office at chucking out time on a busy industrial estate to see mother sheep and her two black lambs entering our yard was a turn up for the books! Cheeky blighters just looked at us and strolled nonchalantly in.
Being public spirited we shut the gate behind them thinking we would entertain them whilst we scratched our heads trying to work out how to find the farmer.
Plan B however quickly had to spring into action as all three of them promptly decided to ignore the weeds we’ve been trying to kill and instead decided to munch our carefully cultivated shrubs. Picky little devils!
Yikes! Now if Meirion and David had been here with the sheep dogs then no worries but instead a bunch of desk jockeys turned quickly into cowhands and, showing the creativity and rapid response for which we are renowned, somehow managed to usher the sheep from the yard onto the street and then ‘direct’ them somehow back into their field. Mint sauce anybody?
A Company Party in Venice!
March 2011
For the fourth year running our client – a leading medical supplies
company – came to us to organise their annual staff ‘thank-you’ and awards night and this year asked us to provide a ‘Medici Masquerade’ themed event.
We were delighted to work with them on this project and luxurious table covering, decoration and Venetian centrepieces set the scene. Our giant Venetian masks, busts, columns and statues together with stunning lighting effects completed the setting for a corporate event to remember.
Entertainment was provided by one of our favourite function bands playing their ‘Time After Time Show’ – 3 sets from different eras, on this occasion 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
And the clients’ feedback … ‘Everything went superbly, the room looked lovely and everyone commented on how good it looked! The band was terrific, your staff were professional and efficient in their set up of the room … thank you again for all your help and we look forward to working with you again soon.’
KDM Score a Conference Management Hat-Trick!
February 2011
For the 3rd consecutive year we were delighted to be asked to produce a motor finance giant’s annual conference and awards. Previously the conference involved just the sales team, but this year they took the bold decision to involve the entire workforce from Edinburgh to Southampton travelled to the Barceló Hinckley Island hotel.
The client’s crucial aim was to engage every member of staff in the 2011 business objectives and to recognise the vital importance of every individual’s performance within the organisation. However this presented a challenge on two fronts:
- how to motivate people to give up their weekend to attend the event
- how to engage the non-sales staff with company targets
KDM were asked to manage and produce the conference and to convey the message the concept ‘Celebrating being the best you can be’ was selected and conveyed with the help of a theme with which everyone would easily connect – celebrity, film and awards. We designed a bespoke conference logo and began by sending each guest a personalised ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’ desktop pad and a unique combination code; guests would use their code to seek to open one of 5 golden safes at the event with the winner enjoying the mystery contents! Further email teasers followed up on the ‘star pads’ to build excitement for the conference itself.
Of course the top performing sales people were also treated to a little VIP treatment as they arrived in chauffeur driven supercars and enjoyed express check in, upgraded hotel rooms, champagne, event goody bags, after dinner liqueurs and red carpet security for dinner!
The Conference Check in area was themed with giant film reels, golden stars, clapperboards and plasma screens displayed the conference logo and welcome message. Once through to the main conference set however the entire look and feel was business focused with the AV set reflecting the company logo for the Directors’ presentations. Following a Q&A session where pre submitted burning questions were answered, guests then enjoyed a high energy motivational speaker followed by a team event centred upon producing a spoof review of the latest Hollywood blockbuster – filmed around their company Directors!
During pre dinner drinks, Marilyn Monroe and Sean Connery dropped by for a glass of champagne and to congratulate the lucky golden safe winners. For dinner, the conference room was transformed to give a glamorous exciting feel to the evening with tables dressed in gold and black complementing the evening awards’ set flanked by giant 7ft Oscars. Hosted by the irrepressible Keith Chegwin, guests were wowed by the video intros, themed film soundtracks and lighting sets as the Directors presented awards which encompassed every area of the business.
‘And the Winner is …….’ our satisfied client! Achieving a 95% attendance, the client was delighted with the results from the event – “I just wanted to say again a massive thank you to you, Kathy and the team for such a fabulous event! It couldn’t have gone better and I am still on a major high. Your team were all so efficient and everything was extremely slick, controlled and timely.”
The highlights of the day were captured by our photographer and each branch’s formal team photograph will ensure they have a reminder of their belonging within the company’s goals.
Nicky
Our Corporate Events Team are Superstars!
January 2011
Every week we collate the client feedback we received from the previous week’s events. We are totally committed to maintaining our high standards and not allowing the inevitable pressure on costs to deflect us from our objective of delivering high quality corporate events every time. All of last week’s feedback is not yet in but the following will give you a flavour and confirms that we are succeeding. Well done and thank-you to all the KDM team.
“Nicky, I just wanted to say again a massive thank you to you, Kathy and the team for such a fabulous conference! It couldn’t have gone better and I am still on a major high. Your team were all so efficient and everything was extremely slick, controlled and timely. I was particularly impressed with Graeme, your event manager, and everyone had a great time with the team building.”
- Conference Management and Production, Magazine Mayhem Team Building and Hollywood Themed Dinner
“The event went well, was well received and I was pleased with how it went. I thought it met the objectives, everyone seemed to enjoy it; it was a good experience and useful.”
- Bigger Picture Team Building
“The event staff were excellent.”
- Krypton Factor and Quest for the Best Team Building
“Feedback from the event was awesome … best party so far. The guys were great as usual and the room looked fantastic!! I look forward to the next event we have …”
- Calypso Carnival Themed Dinner and Party
“The event went really well. It was excellent and a lot more fun than expected. The guys were great!”
– Crystal Maze Team Building
“The event went really well, my colleagues were all really pleased and they all noticed the branding on the balloons and the colours. The guys on the event were great too! I would definitely use you again if I needed any help!”
- Table Dressing for Product Launch
“They team told me they had a fantastic day, everybody really enjoyed all the events including the team building.”
- Crystal Maze Team Building
“Everyone had a fun night; the boys were excellent and did a good job! I was happy with the event and the pre-event service.”
- Horses, Hogs and Hounds Corporate Entertainment
“Thanks so much to you and your colleagues the evening went really well and everyone seemed to have a good time. The theming was lovely and the snowboarding was managed very professionally. Lots of people had lots of fun so thanks very much!”
- Winter Wonderland Themed Party
“The evening was marvellous! Everything was perfect and the staff were great as always. The entertainment suited the theme down to the ground.”
- Masquerade Ball Theme Night
“The event went very well and all credit to the guys for fitting the screens into the room. Garry and Shaun were fantastic.”
- Mega Quiz Corporate Entertainment
“As usual Graeme and the boys did a fantastic job, we couldn’t ask for anything more, please pass on our much appreciated thanks to them all. Once again thanks for all your help.”
- Fun Casino Corporate Entertainment
Team Building with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards
November 2010
When a major retailer introduced a programme for its junior employees to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme as part of their personal development they approached KDM to help them implement the physical element of the programme. (read more …)
Major plc Conference Success
November 2010
When a major plc was looking for the design, production and management for the annual conference of their senior management team they came to KDM. With the objective of the Chief Executive and his senior leadership team reviewing their progress towards becoming an HPO the standards expected were self evident and with a brief covering the conference from conception to delivery within a three month timescale.
From sourcing the venue – and with over 80 bedrooms plus eight breakout areas needed – this was a challenge. We however came up with the perfect venue in terms of location, quality and price and then focussed upon preparing the conference itself.
We helped in the motivational music selection, created the Conference image, designed the Event invitation and the PowerPoint template design for speakers before moving onto the opening video introduction.
We shot the pre-event film and edited it to show as part of the conference opening sequence and were filming during the conference to produce the final event film which was shown at the end of Day 2.
We designed the set, specified, booked and delivered all the conference AV, reformatted the speakers’ presentations to fit both the plasma screens and the digital projection formats.
At the start of the event we coordinated the rehearsal to ensure that the speakers were familiar with the layout and comfortable with the set and ironed out the inevitable wrinkles.
We then moved on to ensuring that the delegate check-in ran smoothly and their baggage drops worked smoothly and we worked with the hotel through the two days of the conference to ensure that refreshments and room changes worked on schedule whilst facilitating last minute changes and troubleshooting problems as they arose.
The result was a successful conference and a happy client.
Corporate Event Thank-you!
October 2010
Feedback from our clients is always very welcome but I was really pleased when Sarah Fitz received this email from our client – the Personal Assistant to the Finance Director of one of the UK’s major food wholesalers following our organising of their corporate event. Why was I so pleased? – because it compliments us succinctly about the area we care about most passionately – our people and the quality of good, personal service they give to all of our clients.
Well done guys.
“Sarah,
Thanks again for all the work that you did for us on the run up to the booking.
Also a big thanks on behalf of all the team – the night was a great success!
Darren organised the evening brilliantly and was a great asset to your business.
Please send him our thanks as well.
I look forward to speaking to you next summer!
All the best,
Rachel”
