Hard Hats and Safety Vests in a Quarry in Portugal

Volvo Construction Equipment

In the theatre everyone involved knows the difference between a ‘technical rehearsal’ and a ’dress rehearsal’ both of which are to be survived before the ‘first night’. However the 150+ members of Volvo Construction Equipment’s European Team are not so sure of the finer points of theatrical jargon – but to their considerable surprise they are becoming more and more interested….Why? Because what everyone understands, from mechanical diggers to cosmetics, is the immovable deadline of the ‘first night’. There is a date that will not change and everything has to be ready for then and you will have to perform… whether you feel ready or not.

Volvo Construction Equipment decided to change their European Product Launch from slide shows in a comfortable hotel to the more dramatic surroundings of a working quarry outside Lisbon, Portugal.

This involved extraordinary logistics of transforming the quarry site and shipping in the massive amounts of machinery to be demonstrated. All of which they are brilliant at organising and project managing. The event then consists of bringing in some 500+ of their dealers over 3 weeks and showing off the equipment and all the new innovations of product and service.

Mats Bredborg Volvo VP Sales & Marketing has the look of a man surviving on little sleep.

This event is his vision, and as well as the extraordinary pressures of organisation and the overwhelming concerns of health and safety on an industrial site, he is also well aware that his team have to live up to the scale of the surroundings. The quarry set against the Portuguese blue sky and inhabited by machines that look like yellow mechanical working monsters is undeniably impressive. Mats knows the dealers will have a good time. He also knows that the whole event will be a monumental waste of resources if the dealers do not go away with the message and specifics of Volvo’s innovation clearly established in their minds. To do this every one of the Volvo team has to transform from a technical expert to a gifted communicator able to carry the Volvo message to the audience.

A quarry
prepares

In preparation for the event Mats has been planning and working with DRAMATIC RESOURCES for a gestation period of 9 months. Talking, preparing, and running smaller events with different Volvo teams all over Europe to highlight and give practical input to the communication package. Now it is the final rehearsals in the quarry and Richard Hahlo and 2 actor/trainer colleagues from DRAMATIC RESOURCES have donned their hard hats and safety vests to work with the ‘performers’.

The quarry is divided into 12 different stations each manned by a team of 5-6 Volvo staff. Their job is to demonstrate their particular piece of equipment and associated features in 30 minutes, and x8 times a day. To help them they have a visual panel sited in a gazebo and an outline script. The machines are fantastic, the setting is impressive – what happens if you then have a presentation which is dull and/or inaudible? The dealers will reach for the mobile phones, wander off, and the event falls apart.

To stop this happening DRAMATIC RESOURCES is brought in to see everyone in action and to give them coaching: Make EYE CONTACT, TALK to your audience not to the display panel, use more BREATH, SLOW DOWN…and most of all ENJOY IT and be PROUD of what you are presenting! OWN the event and CONTROL the space and the audience! And REHEARSE and do it again!

To our gratification and partial surprise these assorted engineers and technical experts are more than happy to listen and to take on our points and try it again.

Because everyone knows the ‘first night’ is only hours away – and when an audience is in front of you everyone wants to look good.

DRAMATIC RESOURCES also has the advantage at this point of being outsiders – we can take a directorial overview and are able to command the attention of all the diverse teams and interests of a large business.

The ‘technical rehearsal’ is where you run the show but will stop and start, dealing with problems and glitches as they arise. The ‘dress’ is where you run it for real, getting from beginning to end regardless of anything that goes wrong. The only thing missing at the ‘dress’ is the audience – they arrive on the ‘first night’, at which point you are extremely grateful for all the rehearsal you have had. The audience add that extra rush of adrenalin and you are into the performance proper…it will often pass in a blur of nerves and excitement; and afterwards there is the satisfaction of a having stretched your capabilities and of having successfully met the challenge. There is also the enjoyable appreciation of the audience and colleagues as a reward for all the hard work of rehearsal.