Solutions
At Live Union we're expert in creating live experiences for senior audiences. Whether that's reimagining flagship customer events for Visa, Amazon and Deloitte or rethinking leadership events for National Grid, Reckitt and M&G. Here are some of the things we know.
Geopolitical and macro-economic uncertainty
Navigating tech disruption
Balancing innovation with core operations
Data overload and decision-making
Adapting leadership styles and workforce expectations
Leaders often feel isolated and reluctant to share concerns. Smart experience design outs the elephants in the room and creates candor.
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Transforming Live Events for Senior Audiences
+44(0)333 800 6121
Carefully crafted live experiences create the space and stimulus to view the world differently, to share ideas with peers and tackle senior leadership challenges.
Senior Leadership Challenges
About Live Union
To achieve real leadership impact, we need to aim for an informal and very human style of engagement. Avoid the predictability and stuffiness that goes hand-in-hand with a traditional conference. Banish the fun police!
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"The experience was amazing. The bar has been raised."
Visa, project lead
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Delivering value means taking senior people beyond surface engagement, it means embracing immersive formats that take people deeper. Deeper connections to ideas and deeper connections to one another.
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impact
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The best events achieve a shift in how people see the world. This means deploying all the event design tools at our disposal, combining psychological and physical engagement. Opening new perspectives and making them personally relevant.
These ideas are just a taste of how we think about designing live experiences for senior audiences. We'd love to learn about your audience and their challenges as leaders.
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Above all else, senior audiences want events that help them connect with one another. This means freeing agenda time for discussion. It means thinking about content as a spark for conversation, not as an end in itself.
With over 15 years experience creating events of all shapes and sizes for senior audiences, you can be confident introducing us to your top tier. From initial strategic conversations to experience design and production delivery, we offer a full event service.
With senior leaders facing technological disruption, financial uncertainty and changing employee expectations, live experiences need to respond to the evolving needs of leadership now more than ever. Last week, we gathered at the BoTree Marylebone to explore how in-person events can effectively inspire active engagement and tackle senior leadership challenges.
A huge thank you to Faye from Deloitte, Murray from M&G, Emma from Dell and Tim from Congregation for joining us and sharing their sharp insights.
Quick Takeouts
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Designing for relationship building
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Designing for open conversation
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Designing for lasting impact
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Designing for joy
Deep Dive on Takeouts
The panel emphasized relationship-building, with tools like Brain Dates and tech-enabled expos creating space for meaningful, serendipitous connections. There was debate around optionality versus directive agendas, with consensus on pre-event engagement and smart design as key to navigating this tension.
Finally, speakers acknowledged internal barriers to innovation—tradition, budget, and risk aversion—and stressed the role of advocacy, data, and leadership alignment in securing buy-in. The session concluded by highlighting the speakers' shared desire to pioneer new formats never tried before, viewing live events as fertile ground for innovation and a bold expression of brand and leadership ethos.
This dynamic panel explored evolving event strategies through the lens of large-scale corporate experiences. Inspired by the candid format of “Hot Ones,” the session sought deeper, unscripted insights into audience engagement and event design.
Emma Howe from Dell detailed the company’s global event replication strategy, emphasizing consistency balanced with local relevance. She highlighted a growing demand from senior, time-constrained audiences for high ROI and emotional resonance.
Murray discussed leadership events requiring variety and authenticity to reflect a wide demographic, stressing the importance of tailoring experiences to diverse learning styles.
Faye reflected on Deloitte's shift to ever more active formats, emotionally engaging story-driven interactions, noting that humor and novelty need careful application.
AI Summary of the Panel
At Live Union we create immersive in-person and broadcast experiences that change minds and behaviours. Our start point is understanding business audiences and how what they value is shifting.
Whether your audience are leaders, employees or customers, we'll work with you to create live experiences that resonate more deeply.
Networking is the starting point – not the end. Intentional experience design goes beyond giving people a few minutes to exchange information. Effective live experiences remove friction, allowing leaders to meet people they can learn from, collaborate with, and challenge. Go deeper with your formats and create room for connection.
Technology can suggest valuable connections, but it becomes really valuable when you combine it with real people facilitating introductions and interactions.
Designing for relationship building
Leaders don’t just want answers - they want meaningful discussion. Formats that lead with provocation, not presentation, open space for honest debate and shared problem-solving.
Smart experience design sees content as a spark for conversation. It treats senior leaders as normal people and recognises that we have better interactions when we’re having fun.
Designing for open conversation
Events are being viewed not as one-off moments but as always on year-round engagement.
The answer to achieving this is part human part digital. It’s about people building on the relationships they’ve sparked and using technology to make this more intuitive and efficient.
We heard how smart badges are generating insights for sales teams to act on. How AI synopsis are giving people the content reminders they most value and how companies are using internal comms platforms to measure whether cascade programmes are landing.
Designing for lasting impact
Senior leaders carry the weight of responsibility. When they show up in-person, they want something human, active and most importantly: joyous. An approach that shone through was getting people to step out of their comfort zones and try something hands-on and new.
Avoid gimmicks. Being entertaining is vital but ensure a clear link to the subject.
When crafting your next experience, remember real impact goes hand-in-hand with joy!
Designing for joy