We curated the end-to-end experience, beginning with a series of discovery workshops to understand WISE's core values and the community impact it has had since inception. This allowed us to evolve the WISE X brand, culminating in the following emotional pillars:

• Resilience
• Discovery
• Community
• Connection
• Celebration

These pillars were woven throughout each day's activities. The program (with pillar alignments in brackets):

• Day 1 — Welcome cocktail function (connection, community)
• Day 2 — Main Plenary (connection, resilience, discovery)
• Day 2 evening — 90s-themed Gala Dinner with Awards Ceremony and after-party (connection, community, celebration)
• Day 3 — Team building, learning sessions and farewell (discovery, connection)

These pillars, paired with the overarching 90s theme, provided the parameters for us to create an unforgettable celebration.

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• 1,000+ attendees: WISE staff coordinated by our team to travel to Hobart from all over Australia.
• 3 days of impactful and authentic content, with a huge party thrown in there for good measure.
• 1 finalist: State finalist at the Australian Event Awards for Best Corporate Event.

For the main plenary we sourced inspirational speakers Mark Mathews and Milo Wilkinson, with Christina Canters as MC — all aligned with WISE's organisational values and the WISE X pillars. We also provided speaker coaching to nine WISE staff members, who throughout the day presented their stories of survival, triumph, vulnerability, loss and impact to their peers.

To breathe some fun into the event, we extended the WISE X brand by turning back the clock with a no-holds-barred 90s-branded and themed Awards Gala. Entertainment was provided by Midnight Mix, who flew in from Melbourne, with Brihony Dawson as MC — later joining the band as lead vocalist.

We worked with our suppliers to coordinate a seamless travel and accommodation experience for a high-touch group of staff — many of whom had not had experience travelling, or had special requirements such as mobility needs. This guest profile made safety and care paramount, with significant engagement of venues and hotels to ensure safety and COVIDSafe standards were upheld. We also engaged a medic throughout the event to triage and treat guests as required.

Our core team of 12 staff — a mix of permanent Phoenix crew and local subcontractors — ensured seamless management of concurrent venues and provided a personal touch at each of the 12 hotels. They were supplemented by 20 WISE volunteers briefed and managed by our team, plus an AV team from a preferred supplier. A comprehensive crew briefing document ensured a consistent approach across the Phoenix team, local Hobart contractors and WISE volunteers throughout the three-day event. Feedback from guests onsite was hugely positive, with an emphasis on the seamless experience they had from registration through to the last day.

WISE X is a perfect example of the Phoenix values — creative tension, fortitude, empathy, foresight, obsession with quality and fierce solution-finding — coming to life through our work.