There was a great series of blog posts this month about Cisco’s first ever virtual sales conference by Carlos Dominguez, Cisco’s Senior Vice President, US Service Providers Sales. The scale of the meeting was enormous, with over 19,000 virtual attendees. The list of technologies was as I would expect from Cisco, the stalwart WebEx, the immersive Telepresence, and IPTV. What caught my attention is that they also used an Alternative Reality Game (ARG) called “Threshold” to build teamwork and conduct training.
This is a big deal to move away from the traditional annual sales meeting. Even when looking at a 90% cost savings, the bar to change the traditional FTF meeting is very high. It’s a significant part of a sales force culture, a highlight of the year. Carlos shared in his blog post, “I almost had a brain hemorrhage” when the idea was first floated. Cisco figured out that it needed to offer something engaging in a new way in a virtual meeting format. It turned to Games.
“In addressing one of the key challenges of keeping the sales organization engaged, they came up with a concept of doing a game. I remember the pitch: ‘Everyone loves a game and we’ll make it competitive with prizes and leader boards. You know the sales teams love to compete and win.’” The logistical challenges of a 19,000 strong virtual meeting are daunting, but being Cisco, were overcome.
With much nervous anticipation, the event went off with flying colors, with the ARG “The Threshold” being the highlight of the experience. The game worked because Cisco applied the Funware model: start with the goal of making an engaging game and experience, and then weave into the game the salesforce training and team building aspects. Game designs that start with the training and add some bells and whistles usually fall far short of expectations.
There was almost twice the number of active game players than expected (13,000 active players versus the 7,000 expected). Carlos reported that “The combination of presentations and technical sessions via video, chat, discussion forums—and especially the games — really reinforced learning in a much more interactive way”. “The games, especially “The Threshold”, were over the top cool and forced you to learn and collaborate in a fun and exciting way.”
If you want to try “The Threshold”, Carlos has posted a first clue. How Fun Cisco!
Cisco Global Sales Meeting Uses Gaming for Engagement
