Growth Code: A leadership talent day where every participant met their future self

The occasion in two lines

Growth Code is a corporate leadership programme with a clear brief in its strapline: Making INM Future Ready. For its talent day in 2026, a cohort of leaders spent a day of addresses and workshops with a Sociana app that turned each session into something they did, not just something they heard.

What the client needed

A leadership day works when people take part. The programme team wanted:

• Instant entry. No waiting at the door for a code by SMS. Each participant should walk in with a personal code.
• Leadership voice before the day began. A video message from the Operating Committee on the first screen participants see.
• Participation in the room. Polls on the day’s big question, and a quiz with a prize that everyone played at the same moment.
• A personal AI moment. One reason for every participant to open the app, about their own leadership, and something to keep afterwards.
• Honest reflection. Feedback on each session for the organisers, and a private place for participants’ own notes.

What we built

A personal code at the door

The event team issued every participant a Unique Code. They typed it in capitals and were in, with no SMS code to wait for. The same screen carried a disclaimer that the Future Self avatar may be shown on event screens, so consent was captured before anyone took a selfie. For programmes that prefer it, the app can instead open on phone or email sign-in, which asks for name, employee code and city once.

A Home screen in the programme’s own look

The app was built in metallic silver and red with circuit lines, to match the Growth Code identity. Home opened with a video under the line “Listen to what the Operating Committee has to share on unlocking Growth Code”. Below it, ten tiles covered the day:

• Attendance questions
• Agenda
• Cast Your Poll
• Talk To Your Future Self
• Speaker Profile
• Quiz
• Growth Gallery
• Session Feedback
• My Reflection
• The Growth Selfie

A tile with a lock opened when its activity began.

Attendance and agenda

Before the day, participants answered one question: attending, or unable to attend. The agenda ran from arrival, tea and networking at 09:00, through welcome addresses from senior leadership, to sessions such as “Leading at the Top: The Good to Great Playbook” and “Leaders & Agents: The Future-of-Work Sprint”. A PDFs tab held the programme documents. Speaker Profile carried biographies, and a speaker card can stay blurred under the line “Identity reveals live on stage” until the guest walks on.

Talk To Your Future Self

This was the centrepiece of the app. Participants took a selfie, chose Retake or Proceed, and within about a minute met an AI avatar of their future self. Tapping a question played what “your future says”. The questions were about each person’s own leadership:

• How did I earn the trust of my customers and the people around me?
• What should I stop doing to become the leader I aspire to be?
• What leadership quality became my greatest strength?

A shuffle button brought new questions, and Your Interactions kept past answers. The avatar can be downloaded, and it stays under View My Avatar on Profile. If generation was slow, the screen said Still Working with a Check Again button. If it failed, it asked for a clearer, well-lit photo.

Polls and a quiz on one clock

Cast Your Poll asked what will make the business future ready, with lettered options. Once a participant voted, it showed percentage bars and the vote count.

The quiz ran to rules the organisers posted on the Timeline in advance:

• It began at 3.45 pm sharp, on a common clock.
• Each question allowed 30 seconds.
• Anyone who joined late missed the questions already asked.
• There was a prize for the winner.

In the app, each question showed a timer. After answering, participants saw “Correct! +points” or “Not quite this time”, then “Waiting for the host” until the next question. The quiz finished on a leaderboard showing each participant’s rank and score.

Feedback, reflection and the Growth Selfie

Session Feedback gave each session its own form, answered by option, text or date. My Reflection was a private journal: participants typed a thought, sent it, and built a list only they could see. The Growth Selfie added one of four branded frames (Chesis red, Red circuit, Silver line or Lithium code) before upload. The Timeline took up to five photos or one video per post, and managers could post there even when participant posting was switched off.

Profile and the organiser’s tools

Profile held the participant’s Entry QR Code for check-in and View My Avatar. Managers also saw Trigger Notifications. There they scheduled a message for everyone or for selected groups, and it went out automatically at the set time.

How it ran

The Timeline did the warm-up. Organisers pointed participants to the Operating Committee video on Home, then posted the quiz rules and the prize. On the day, the agenda carried the room from welcome addresses through the morning’s leadership sessions to the afternoon sprint. Polls and the quiz ran on the shared clock, and feedback came in session by session. After the day, avatars stayed on each participant’s Profile, and the Growth Gallery opens AI photo highlights once the team unlocks it.

Outcomes

A single poll drew 72 votes on the question of what will make the business future ready. Beyond the poll, the result is what participants left with: a downloadable avatar of their future self, the answers it gave them, their own reflections and their framed selfies.

What we would do again

• Hand out personal codes. Entry takes seconds, and the sign-in screen is the right place to ask for avatar consent.
• Make the AI moment about the person. Leadership questions in the participant’s own voice beat a generic chatbot.
• Post the quiz rules ahead of time. A fixed start time and 30 seconds a question keep the whole room on one clock.
• Keep reflection private and feedback per session. People write more honestly when they know who will read it.