BIG WHEEL uses drama-based interventions in conferences to get across facts and concepts in a memorable way. As well as their straightforward educational use, our presentations are fun. Companies and institutions have also emphasised their value for group bonding and morale. In addition, we also offer facilitation and conference design. So you can use us for anything from a three minute sketch to designing your whole conference.

We can do serious...

and silly...

Here's why we are successful:

• We ask for a very detailed brief from our client about what exactly they expect the conference to achieve, and where they see our contribution fitting in..

• Our presentations are tailor-made for each conference. There is no 'one-size-fits-all'.

• We take account of the context in designing our interventions. For instance, a conference with 250 delegates, most of whom don't know each other, needs a very different approach to a small seminar of 30 people, most of whom are colleagues. A presentation that kicks off a conference will be very different from one that rounds it off at the end of the day.

• We attend design team meetings to make sure that our contributions are not only perfectly pitched for the audience, but are followed-up by facilitated discussion where appropriate.

• We deliver really great facilitated discussion. We have found that many conferences rely on agencies or untrained staff to provide facilitation which delegates often see as patronizing and unhelpful. We are experts in designing useful, focussed facilitation that helps move the conference along.

• We always submit our programme in advance for the client to check that it is suitable and 'on message'. Where possible, we actually present the work to the client in advance, for their criticism, and modify our programme accordingly.

• We place great emphasis on the sensitivities of the particpants. Although the work may involve elements of participation, the only people required to do anything silly are ourselves! Our tone may be hilarious, but is always respectful, and we never, ever embarrass individuals - that is not our idea of drama-based interventions.

• Our presenters are experienced at responding to different audiences and varying the work depending on the needs of the day. They are also extremely well-briefed so are not fazed by jargon, acronyms and references to specific issues. Clients are often astonished that they are not 'in-house' trainers!

Not sure how we can help? Wondering how on earth a complex or obscure policy could even be made entertaining? Puzzled about the idea of introducing drama into your day?

Types of Drama-Based Presentations

We were approached by the NHS five years ago to develop new drama-based training programmes. Since then we have successfully piloted a wide variety of different types of intervention for the NHS and for related bodies. Here are some examples of our presentations.

Click on one of these presentation types to skip straight to that type.

The Serious Drama (A Bit Like Eastenders)

The Short Sharp Sketch (To Make a Short Sharp Point)

The Game Show (Like On The Telly)

The Workshop (Training, Role-Play, Forum Theatre, And All That)

The Conference M.C.'s (where we present and 'anchor' your conference)

The Fantastic Mixture of Absolutely Everything

The Serious Drama (A Bit Like Eastenders)

Format: a scripted play performed on a 'stage' with costumes and a 'set' (can be presented to large audiences of several thousand)

Duration: a 30-minute play, or a series of 'episodes', like a soap opera

Best for: telling a story, such as the story of a patient's journey

Example: The Expert Patient Programme

This format the opposite style of presentation to the 'Game Show' or 'Workshop' style which are largely un-scripted. For this, er write a tightly scripted play, which the actors rehearse and perform to an audience which just sits and watches.

For the conference at the Royal Society of Physicians on 'The Expert Patient Programme' we wrote a 30-minute drama which told the whole story of a Patient's Journey.

A man with a chronic condition was seen first unable to cope and very depressed. The audience also saw the bad effect on his wife and their relationship. Over the course of the drama, the man gradually took control of his life and learned to manage his condition in a way that enabled him to enjoy life to the full.

FROM TO

This play was the second half in a series of presentations - in the first half, we presented a series of sketches caricaturing poor attitudes to Chronic Conditions among professionals and Patients.

To read the full script, go to expert patient programme-SCRIPT (it's fun, with great pics!)

Click to return to list of 'types of presentation'

The Short Sharp Sketch (To Make a Short Sharp Point)

Format: a sketch which is simply watched by the audience (can be presented to large audiences of several thousand)

Duration: 5 to 10 minutes.

Best for: making a simple point really clearly

Examples:

• The NHS Modernisation Agency Learning Exchange conference, Harrogate CC 2003 click for SCRIPT
• The Coronary Heart Disease Collaborative London conference 2003
• The National Conference on Critical Care, Birmingham ICC, 2004 click for SCRIPT
• The NHS Modernisation Agency Performance Development Team (PDT) 'Change From Challenge' Seminar, London 2004 click for SCRIPT
• The Expert Patient Programme conference, London 2004 click for SCRIPT

Sketches are economical ways to get a point across in a really clear way, quickly and humorously. They need not be ridiculously funny, if that would be inapproproiate. For instance, the sketch we presented for the conference on Critical Care was actually quite serious (though there were a few good laughs), as the conference organisers were mindful that delegates wouldn't be happy with any sense of 'trivializing' or 'dumbing-down'. But they can be really hilarious - we've had senior NHS chief execs laughing till they cry!

Click to return to list of 'types of presentation'

The Game Show (Like On The Telly)

Format: a parody of a TV Game Show (can be presented to large audiences of several thousand but normally to smaller 'studio' audiences of a couple of hundred)

Duration:

(1) a 45 minute 'one-off'

(2) a series of interventions over a whole day or several days

Best for:

• rounding-off a conference (so the partipants leave with a spring in their step, a tune in their heads, and love in their hearts)

• 'interrupting' a conference so that the delegates have some 'light relief' - also inspiring debate.

Example: The Healthy Communities Collaborative

We used our tried and tested Game Show format to help with three conferences on raising awareness about Health issues. in particular The Dangers Of Falling, part of the 'Slips, Trips and Broken Hips' campaign, and Healthy Eating. Our brief for all the conferences was to help the participants think as imaginatively as possible about ways to raise awareness among a wide variety of target groups.

The 'Ways of Raising Awareness About The Dangers of Falling' Show

This was a 'one-off' 45-minute show, which took place half-way through a three-day conference, so it both re-inforced what the participants had been looking at, and helped inspire their work during rest of the event.

Highlights included:

• the new James Bond movie 'Fall Over Another Day' - James Bond goes on a mission to save the world but faces various dangers (tripping over Q's gadgets or a rucked carpet in M's office; falling off cliffs, out of bed, down a mine-shaft, or into the arms of a beautiful spy). The audience has to alert 007 to these dangers so that he can successfully complete his mission.

• 'The Odd One Out' - the audience has to spot the odd one out in a set of items related to falling.

• 'The Ways Of Raising Awareness About The Dangers Of Falling Game', - working in groups of ten. Each group is given a particular target group, (for instance, supermarkets) and a silly prop (for instance, a banana). Each group has a couple of minutes to come up with an awareness campaign for their target group using the prop, to include a catchy slogan.

In feedback the particpants emphasised that the great aspect of this presentation was the number of ideas generated in a very short time, all of them interesting and amusing, some of them potentially really useful. This helped enormously when they spent the rest of the conference attempting to develop similar ideas in more detail, as it broke down the intitial block to coming up with new concepts.

Click to return to list of 'types of presentation'

'I'm An Unhealthy Eater Get Me Out Of Here'

This was a series of interventions over a three-day conference

At a Blackpool hotel, teams assembled from all over the country, all dedicated to promoting healthy eating. We opened the conference with an evening Game Show, called I'M AN UNHEALTHY EATER, GET ME OUT OF HERE! Various celebrities were introduced and interviewed about their diets. E.g... ·

• Luciano Pavarotti, who ate a very healthy diet, but had a problem with portion sizes;
• Jack Sprat, who was worried about his wife's cholesterol intake;
• The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe, who had so many children she didn't know what to do, never mind them all living in a most unsatisfactory environment

Over the course of the conference, in different parts of the hotel (such as the entrance lobby, the dining room) the characters engaged in a series of fearsome and dangerous challenges, in order to try to raise their awareness of healthy eating. (e.g. The Affordability Challenge, The Accessibility Challenge). The audience tried to assist them, and voted them off the show one by one. Here are some highlights:

The Big Bad Wolf has a serious problem with the concept of a balanced diet

Elvis Presley and Goldilocks both opt for unhealthy, easily available breakfasts

Old Mother Hubbard is far more worried about finding something for her dog than something for herself. And having only a cupboard but no fridge is a problem.

Delegates unsuccessfully try to persuade Winnie the Pooh to vary his diet.

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Other Game Shows have included:

• 'The Florence Nightingale Show' - in which the Lady With The Lamp herself hosted a Game Show reminiscent of 'Blind Date' in which a contestant had to choose between three possible 'dates', basing her decision on their ideas for improving the NHS Modernisation Agency.
• 'Person Centred Planning: The Game Show' - in which a presenter works with the audience to help a friendly but rather stupid robot develop a person-centred plan.

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The Workshop (Training, Role-Play, Forum Theatre, And All That)

Format: a variety of drama-based exercises, for a smaller group (20-100)

Duration: normally a whole day (but this would usually include other input - such as speeches and presentations by other professionals)

Best for: working out policy, reviewing good practice, analysing methods, practicing how to work well.

Examples:

(1) NHS Rapid Response Units Seminar: Leicester 2003

We were asked to lead a seminar for a group within the NHS called the RRU's (Rapid Response Units) which are 'sent in' to help improve the serivces provided by under-performing Primary Care Trusts. The particular issue of the day was 'Partnership'. The aim was to improve the way different departments within the NHS work with each other, in particular Primary and Secondary Care, and also their partnership with other statutory bodies like Social Services, and with the voluntary sector.

Big Wheel provided a theatrical framework for the day, introducing each topic with a theatrical presentation. Other professionals added their contributions; there were three speakers from within the NHS, who presented more conventional lectures. Reference was made by the lecturers to the dramas, and by us to the lectures.

A professional facilitator was also involved, helping participants to focus on the issues through a variety of teaching aids, and assisting with a summing up at the end of the day.

The framework of the day was based on a genuine case history we had been given by the NHS, in which failures of various NHS departments to work well in partnership led to a patient suffering unnecessarily, to huge extra costs to the NHS, and finally to a malpractice suit.

We used drama in different ways during the day. Some examples:

• Bad Partnership / Good Partnership: a scene in a G.P.'s waiting room, presented firstly when partnership is working badly, then when it's working well.

• The NHS in the dock: a courtroom scene in which lawyers sum up the case for and the case against the NHS.

• The G.P. makes a call: a piece of 'forum theatre'. A G.P. makes a call to the patient on a referral from an emergency doctor. The audience suggests ways in which the doctor can use the call more effectively.

• The Partnership Web: We follow the path of a patient through the NHS with the whole audience representing different departments and associated bodies

(2) Roche Pharmaceuticals (Hitchin, 2004)

This was a half-day training seminar for representatives of Roche to reflect on presentation skills.

The day began with the particpants meeting Mr. P. Ratt, the Worst Presnenter In The World. He arrived late, and kept blaming the organiser for this (a senior exec - she had been primed!) He was badly dressed in a trying-to-be-smart-but-looks-like-shit way. His laptop took ages to set up. In the end he presented The Worst Powerpoint Presentation In The World, making all the mistakes of people who hide behind Powerpoint, rather than use it as an occasional tool. (This was such a hit that the delegates all requested a copy of The Worst Powerpoint Presentation In The World after our session!)

A second actor then stopped Mr P. Ratt, and worked with the audience to 'direct' him to be a better presenter.

After the break, we worked on interactive drama-based exercises, including role-play, to help people think about networking skills.

The way Big Wheel does 'Role-play' makes it fun and non-threatening - particiapants often don't realise that's what it is they're doing.

Click to return to list of 'types of presentation'

The Conference M.C.'s (where we present and 'anchor' your conference)

Format: a couple of Big Wheel presenters act as 'hosts' of your conference, usually playing a bit of a double act rather like hosts of a TV programme. We make sure things happen on time, that participants know what to do and where to go, and that the atmosphere is cheerful and energetic.

Duration: however long the conference lasts

Best for: making your conference go with a bang (the really great thing is, you can relax and leave the driving to us)

.... ...

Examples:

(1) 'Families Leading Planning': a series of conferences on 'Transition' for young people with Learning Difficulties (January and February 2004)

This was a set of different presentations over a one-day conference (repeated in different parts of the country). Presentations were aimed at three very distinct groups (total number of participants around 60) all of whom had to feel the conference was FOR THEM:

• the young people with learning difficulties themselves
• their parents/carers
• professionals working in this field

Big Wheel's style of presentation is perfect for this, as it uses a type of humour that is appreciated by all these groups. Everyone could see the relevance of every part of the programme. Two Big Wheel presenters led the conference (and also presented some of the break-out sessions).

(2) Valuing People Support Team 'Finding Our Voice':

A National Event for Family Carer Representatives on local Learning Disability Partnership Boards - 60-70 participants - two day conference, London 2004

Here again two Big Wheel presenters led the conference as 'parody hosts', (think of the way the Oscars are presented!) conducting the interactive training sessions, facilitating the round-table discussions, and introducing the speakers.

On the second day of the conference, they disappeared and re-appeared as actors - an example of...

The Fantastic Mixture of Absoutely Everything

Click to return to list of 'types of presentation'

Most of Big Wheel's work is a mixture of presentational styles. That's our speciality. That's what makes us right for any conference, on any topic, and for any type of audience, however senior and nervous! Most of the examples given above have been combinations of different presentation techniques.

Example: The NHS Modernisation Agency Learning Exchange conference, Harrogate CC 2003

This appears above under the section on 'Sketches' and also gets a mention in the section on 'Game-Shows'. Our participation in the MA's conference was a great example of The Fantastic Mixture of Absoutely Everything

The conference was over two days. We presented three distinct interventions:

(1) Day One, morning: Sketches

As part of the key-note speeches we presented two sketches to illustrate particular concerns of the conference click for SCRIPTS (audience around 1000)

(2) Day One, afternoon: workshops

In the afternoon we led two drama-based break-out sessions (each for around 20 participants. The aim of these sessions was to look at different ways drama-based interventions could be used by the MA in training and raising awareness. As a device, we asked the particpants to devise a 'Game Show' which we would present to the whole conference on Day 2. The aim of this 'Game-Show' was to summarize and clarify the main messages of the conference.

(3) Day Three, afternoon: The Florence Nightingale Show

This was a show devised by the groups who attended the Breakout workshop sessions.

Florence Nightingale, oddly reminiscent of Cilla Black and Dame Edna Everage, presented a version of Blind Date, in which eager 'volunteers' (also something we arranged the day before, so as to have people who were happy about this) picked people according to the improvements they would make to the M.A.'s programme.

Using Big Wheel in this way allows an audience to get to know the presenters, so they become 'friends'

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Fees

Fees for projects like this are based on a rate of £350 per person per day plus expenses. So the cost depends on how many people are involved and how much planning and rehearsing is needed - also any very unusual props, (like a NASA space suit!) The conference interventions detailed above cost a range of fees between £1,500 and £11,000. For more information about the kind of project which may suit your event, and likely costs etc - do contact us.