“We were looking for a way to bring the story, the interaction, the engagement and the co-creation of our experiential simulations more fully to life. There was no other way around it, we had to build a complete presentation platform from the ground up.”
John Stevens
There has been a revival of the Town Hall in the last decade. U.S. President Clinton traveled across the United States holding Town Hall meetings. Now President Obama, along with senators and congressmen are holding them almost as a matter of course. In Canada, major crown corporations have jumped on the bandwagon. And the practice is not confined to the political sphere. Nowadays, no corporate conference is complete without a Town Hall session with the leadership team.
The new Leadership paradigm is participatory. Leadership must not only proclaim, pronounce and present, it must listen, invite, and share. It must create an experience where people are actually engaged in the search for a better way from all parts of the organization.
However, despite the increasing participatory nature of web tools such as Facebook, Twitter, podcasting and every variation of blogging, there are few widely available conference tools to support interactive participation. PowerPoint and its preoccupation with bullet points and monologues prevents many leaders realizing the power of true participation and authentic storytelling.
No longer. Storied Ground has built a new participatory – presentation tool for leadership, from the ground up—Townhall Builder:
"Right from the beginning everyone saw the analogy... I was transfixed watching 100 people becoming so unusually attentive and introspective and at the same time so engaged... This is a product that continues to make a difference to our organization. I unreservedly recommend it.
- Glenna Kaczmarczyk, Director of National Sales, Electronic Banking – Bank of Montreal
"The folks came in from TeamEverest and made about a one-hour presentation and, less than ten minutes in, I was sold.... People loved it and the interactions were outstanding. People had a good time doing it. The interaction was very passionate. It was really well done. It really integrated with our business objectives. We've used consultants in the past, but they've never really met our objectives as well as TeamEverest has.
- Dave McDonald, President of Bell Helicopter
“As the beta version of the revised simulation was presented to us, I was blown away by the limitless possibilities for the technical platform upon which the revitalized simulation was created. I believe this new tool- TownHall Builder- will be leading edge for the next generation of interactive processes and learning programs"
- Tim Dixon, InCourage Inc
