Fun and simple hacks for creating a showcase or wrap reel

My favourite part of any change is to be able to share back the experience that we went through with the people who were involved or with the stakeholders who were impacted by the change. But often it's more with the people who are involved in the change, the people who really pour their heart into it, the people who put in all of their effort, all of their blood, sweat, and tears. It's just such a lovely opportunity and experience to be able to play back to them the results and the experience that they went through. And the fantastic journey they committed to. 

I've got a few ideas for you, but the two big ones that I really want to talk about today are:

• the showcase

• the wrap video

Showcases

With the showcase, you can do this in many different ways. I like to probably run it more as a session and actually invite people to attend the showcase. And with the showcase, you can also open it up. I've seen showcases being opened up to everybody in the whole organisation. The scope that you want to do for the showcase is really up to you. It might just be your Project team or just the involved stakeholders, or it might actually be broader and be "everybody and anybody" who's really interested in joining the showcase. And then - it's giving them a walkthrough or giving them a presentation or doing a live demo of a system for them. Or if it was a brand new site or a brand new building, it might be a tour of the new site or building. Or if you can't get people onto the site, it might be doing a virtual tour or a virtual walkthrough.

So it's really about actually taking people through what it is that you've created, and it doesn't matter what change it is. It's about actually just walking them through what you did, how you went about it, and then what the outcome was and the results. Very powerful, really engaging. And if you build in a Question and Answer section into the showcase or into the session, then you can have it be quite interactive and people can really get engaged and connected to what you did. 

Wrap Videos

The second one is the wrap video, and this is one of my favourite things to do for a change. I'll often actually just create a wrap video just for the project. It isn't designed to really go further, but sometimes it might. I just really like celebrating and recognising, and appreciating and celebrating for the project, just the sheer amount of effort and work that's gone into it. And so doing a bit of a wrap video - it's taking bits and pieces, elements that you created, your footage that you've gotten along the way of things that you've done, or workshops that were run or training that was delivered or launches that happened, and piecing them all together into a video, and then adding music behind it. And you don't even need to have anybody speaking in the video. You can just have the footage and just have music, and it's just keeping it short, sharp, maybe a 2-3 minute video. It's a lovely, lovely way to play back the experience, especially to the people who are involved in the change. 

Start with the finish in mind

Now, the No.1 thing that you have to remember if you want to do either of these (especially the wrap video, but even for the showcase) is that it requires you to have planned at the start what you want to provide at the end! So you need to be thinking from the very moment that you start on a change (as morbid as it sounds!) how you're going to end that change and what you want to be able to do and provide. And what I would suggest is just making sure that you grab photos, video, screenshots, samples of communications that were created or materials that were created, or anything that can represent your change or the journey or the effort or the delivery, and that you're just collecting those resources and assets all along the way through the change.

Remember to do that, remember to do it. I know Change gets so busy and so many moving parts and you've got other priorities, but the problem is, is if you get to the end of your change and you're like: “I don't have any of this, any of these assets, any of these resources to build a showcase or to build a wrap video!”, it's pretty disappointing. And you're going to think to yourself: “Can I rewind the clock?!” And the answer is: “No, you can't!” There is no time machine. It's just about thinking about that at the very start and making sure that you've set yourself up for that. Maybe, if you are running a workshop, you might ask somebody else, tap them on the shoulder and just go: “Hey, can you take some photos and record some footage in landscape (or horizontal) mode?” and get them to do it for you. I've done this so many times. If you're facilitating training, you're either going to forget to get footage or you are probably going to not be able to because you're the one delivering it. So again, it's about getting somebody else maybe to just shoot some of that. But if you're a participant you might just want to shoot some of it as well. 

And so it's just about making sure that you've got those resources and you've got those assets. The good thing is that if you are doing more video stuff or virtual stuff, then often you might potentially have recordings that you can go back to. Whatever it happens to be, just make sure that you're capturing all the way through, because it's so powerful when you watch back a video or when you play back a showcase. It's so lovely to be able to have that experience. It resonates with a lot of people and it's one of the things that I've done on changes that I've been most proud of and something that is able to create pride in the people who went through it, or the people who participated or the people who helped. For one change, I remember it was Launch Day and I just filmed the whole thing all through the day. I just kept taking footage and I was able to put that into a wrap video for the Project team. And it was really, really nice. 

A  beautiful way to create a showcase of wrap reel for you personally and professionally is to complete my free 2024 Reflection Journal. The journal guides you through memories and achievements for the year, so grab it today. 

CLICK HERE to download my free 2024 Reflection Journal

And just a heads up - this is my last Change Inspiration newsletter for 2024. I’m wrapping up for the year too! I wish you happy holidays and can’t wait to share more inspiring change stories, ideas and tools with you in 2025. 

Lata xx