SKO 2026 PROPOSAL
Event Date: January 13-15, 2026 (Virtual)
Submitted: 08/18/25 v2
Assist the Riverbed planning team in designing a unique virtual event experience that includes gamification and storytelling to create a captivating and entertaining experience for the viewer. All of the content created must by memorable and help spark conversation and engagement amongst a virtual audience.
REQUESTED SERVICE
WHY RIDGELINE EXPERIENCES IS UNIQUELY QUALIFIED:
WORLD CLASS EXPERIENCE: Building on the foundation of service honed during my earlier career at The Ritz-Carlton, I bring a commitment to excellence to every project I undertake.
2,500 EVENTS: Since 2003, I have designed, delivered and hosted over 2,500 events spanning everything from keynote presentations to custom game shows and everything in between.
DIRECTOR OF FUN: When the executive producer of The Amazing Race needed a private scavenger hunt for the CEO of CBS, they called me. When AT&T wanted a custom game show to award over $1 million in sales bonuses, they called me. Why? Because of the talent and experience to bring big ideas to life.
CHIEF STORYTELLER: Over the past five years, I’ve served as the de facto Chief Storyteller for several organizations, helping to elevate the craft of storytelling across their business units and creating a narrative that aligns with their core objectives.
RECOMMENDED SERVICES
Based on the requested deliverables, I’m recommending the following services to drive engagement and entertain the Riverbed go to market team during the 2026 virtual SKO event.
Storytelling: One of the best ways to get people to engage is to make them a part of the story. To achieve this, I will interview close to two dozen members of your global team and ask them a series of questions that support the themes and topics covered at the upcoming SKO. I will then use their answers to create short, creative films - with a touch of humor. These films will then be featured throughout the SKO event as a way to reengage the audience following a break or as a way to kick off a new speaker.
Gamification: For a pre-recorded and virtual show, I recommend featuring a series of unique video-based trivia questions that will allow the viewer to submit an answer questions using their smartphones. These trivia questions would be sprinkled throughout SKO as a way to reengage the audience and give them a chance to take a break and have a little fun between sessions. To make it even more engaging, at the close of each day, the person from each session who answers the most questions correctly will be awarded a prize.
Watch Party: There are a variety of different concepts that could be implemented for the watch party to help draw and capture attendee engagement. These could be anything from having a DJ playing music in the office between breaks, to asking everyone in attendance to dress in themed attire, to conducting a live reporter that would travel to a new office each day, interviewing team members (i.e. I could fly to a new city and engage participates, perhaps even host a live game show or interactive experience at each of the offices). The options are endless and once we flush out a full concept, I will be able to provide an accurate figure of what it would cost to bring to life.
DELIVERABLES & PRICING
The pricing below is based on the outlined deliverables and may be adjusted depending on the final confirmed scope of work.
STORYTELLER
DELIVERABLES
Conceptualize and design a series of films that fit with the conference theme
Develop a series of questions to gather team member responses
Coordinate and schedule virtual interviews with a maximum of (25) team members (US based and international)
Editing of interviews into a series of (6) films, each film will be between 1 - 3 minutes in length
COST: $10,500
GAMIFICATION
DELIVERABLES
Conceptualize and design (4) trivia based games; (2) games featured on Day 2 & 3 of the conference
Each game will take between 1 - 3 minutes to complete
Creation and delivery of the video based trivia games, including all of the video and graphic design assets
Selection and implementation of a globally compatible “voting” mechanism to gather participants answers
Client to provide prize(s) for the winner(s)
COST: $7,500
WATCH PARTY
DELIVERABLES
Conceptualize and design an interactive watch party concept
Outline the deliverables needed to bring the idea(s) to life
Outline any purchases or expenses necessary to bring the idea(s) to life
COST: $TBD
TOTAL PROJECT COST:
$19,000