National Trust Hybrid Leadership Event 2022

Client: National Trust

Executive Summary

Following two difficult years affected by both a landmark report into historic slavery links and the pandemic, the National Trust was keen to get its 500-strong leadership team back together for a hybrid event. We, Cascade Productions, were appointed to support the production and delivery of the in-person event, along with production of content. We immediately began working with the team to understand their objectives and their challenges for the two-day event. The main objective was to deliver an integrated experience across the in-person and virtual audiences. As the organisations first true hybrid event, the National Trust wanted all attendees felt equally involved and engaged no matter how they joined. The event would be hosted by a team of in-person and virtual hosts. Content would be pre-recorded or captured live and shared without delay. Q&As and workshops would be available offline and online, encouraging participation and engagement for all attendees across the two days. We worked tirelessly to push the budget to make the event a success, finding a venue within the Charity’s own property portfolio, negotiating reduced rates for accommodation and suppliers, and maximising the production value of the in-person event and what would be streamed to virtual audiences. The short film we captured and edited on site, closing out the conference, captured everything delegates had discussed and enjoyed over the last 24 hours, ensuring they left or logged out with a smile on their face. With a delegate satisfaction score of 4.5 out of 5, Hilary McGrady, Director General of the National Trust, described the event as “the blueprint” for how they’d like to do things moving forwards, while Chair, René Olivieri, was left impressed with the hybrid production.