National Independent Retailer The Mills Group is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK, operating 45 convenience stores and 31 confectionery, tobacconist and newsagent outlets throughout the North and Midlands of England and the South Wales region.

Key to the company’s success is customer service and teamwork, and it held the Pride and Passion 2006 management conference recently to inspire its staff to excel in both areas. It turned out to be a winning combination of successful theming, motivation and audience engagement.

Entitled ‘Be Brilliant’, the event featured acclaimed public speaker, the European gold medallist athlete Kriss Akabusi, who delivered a motivational and inspirational presentation on teamwork and how to address and achieve goals. The use of vividly painted tales of sporting triumphs over adversity and challenges brought company messages, such as addressing and re-addressing goals, to life in a vibrant way for the 150-strong audience.

Bonding and teamwork
Delegates enjoyed a series of similarly inspiring presentations from in-house speakers, who all contributed to the corporate bonding and strong feeling of teamwork that ran through the event. Meanwhile, event organiser Fresh’s creative use of animation and strong visual graphics further added to the sense of occasion.

Fresh handled everything from event theming right through to staging, audio visual and presentations. The pivotal word ‘brilliant’ was woven into the day’s series of presentations to great effect, and in the post-event vox pops, where delegates were caught on video immediately after the conference, the interviewees agreed that it had been a truly ‘brilliant’ day.

Important, strategic business messages were conveyed throughout the day’s presentations and events, and the conference was very interactive, with unashamedly enthusiastic delegate participation.

The ‘M’ Factor
The evening’s itinerary provided a sparkling showcase, with the Mills Group’s prestigious ‘M’ awards presented in the style of the TV talent search, The X Factor. The topicality and popular appeal ensured delegate buy-in from the outset. An inspired choice of music played a huge part in setting the scene and the tone for the occasion, and the highly appreciative Mills Group audience was buzzing with anticipation in the build up to the awards.

“It was a glittering occasion, high on emotion, with delegates taking great personal and professional pride in their nominations and award scheme successes,” says The Mills Group’s John Porrett. “Indeed, buy-in from the Mills team – at all levels – was magnificent, and recall and ownership of key messages are regularly demonstrated in everyday business life throughout the Mills Group.”