Global RLI

Great Places Housing Group have been providing affordable social housing across the North West and Yorkshire since 2005 and as one of the largest home building housing associations in the north they work in some of the region’s most diverse neighbourhoods. They are truly committed to creating great homes, great communities, and great people and in the year of 2020 undertook a new adventure in their quest to do so. From April 2020, Great Places merged and joined forces with Equity Housing to help deliver on their joint strategic ambitions and tackle the housing crisis together. Following a successful venture into the world of virtual events via their Leadership Conference back in November 2020, and with COVID restrictions continuing to put live events on hold, once again Connectin events called upon our technical expertise and Sterling Studio to take the Great Places Managers Conference virtual. Since their merger with Equity Housing, this was to be the first time that all managers across the business would ‘gather’ and connect to share plans for the coming year, and so it was imperative that despite the current climate they were able to do so in a way that encompassed maximum engagement, production value and flair. The aim of the conference was not only to share plans for the coming year but also incorporate engaging sessions focusing on their new Corporate Plan and cultural indicators, sessions on the Importance of Internal Communications, and the sharing of results from their recent Intelligence Gathering survey. Additionally, Great Places wanted to integrate the opportunity for managers to attend an optional networking session via Starleaf.

We worked in collaboration with RLI from initial brief, right through to show day to ensure that their vision was brought to life, and the final result was truly reminiscent of the live event. The virtual awards encompassed a live awards ceremony hosted from Sterling Studio by newsreader Lucy Alexander and RLI’s very own Jayne Rafter, and was a harmonious fusion of live and pre-recorded content. This included award announcements live from the studio, award sponsors being brought in remotely, sponsor advertising opportunities, live acceptance speeches and pre-recorded videos from winners who were unable to tune in on the night. Sterling Studio extras were also incorporated into the production and further enhanced the glamour and wow factor of the evening. These included a green screen, fountain spark effect pyrotechnics and the space to accommodate a giant sparkly unicorn. The final show was then streamed live to the Global RLI Awards website and was viewed by ‘virtual guests’ across the globe.