1The Challenge
What was the challenge?
After a full day of high-intensity offsite sessions, McKinsey's team needed an evening that completely shifted the register. This was a room of 100 sharp, high-performing consultants — people who are professionally trained to analyse, optimise, and out-think every situation. The evening programme needed to disarm that instinct entirely and replace it with something looser, more playful, and genuinely surprising.
The brief was also operationally demanding: the hall was only available from 5:30 PM, the programme had to conclude by 7 PM sharp, and it needed to feel premium from the first minute. Ninety minutes. Zero margin for slow starts or flat moments.
2Our Solution
What solution did we design?
Mixology was the perfect fit for a McKinsey evening — sophisticated enough for the audience, hands-on enough to break through the professional armour, and genuinely competitive in a way that consultants can't help but embrace.
The programme was designed in three acts with a strict 90-minute clock: energisers to warm the room and form 10 customised teams; a series of mixology challenges where teams competed to create the best cocktails and mocktails using a curated kit of shakers, beakers, shot glasses, juices, syrups and alcohol; and a final wow-effect close that brought the evening to a memorable peak. The kit was designed with inclusivity in mind — not every challenge involved alcohol, ensuring every participant could compete fully.
3How We Did It
How was the programme delivered?
The room was set up in 10 minutes flat from the moment the hall was handed over at 5:30 PM — a logistical precision that set the tone for everything that followed. Three facilitators held the energy of 100 people across a 90-minute programme that had no room for downtime.
Energisers opened the session quickly and sharply, establishing the 10 customised teams that McKinsey had pre-decided. The mixology challenges followed — a sequence of rounds that escalated in complexity and creativity, with teams competing across multiple challenges rather than a single make-one-drink format. The multi-round structure kept energy and competition alive throughout. The wow-effect close brought the session to a high: something unexpected, memorable, and designed to ensure the evening ended at the highest possible note.
4Key Outcomes
What were the results?
In 90 minutes, Mixology turned 100 McKinsey consultants into bartenders and left the evening on exactly the note the brief asked for. The programme delivered on every constraint: it was set up in 10 minutes, it ran on time, it felt premium throughout, and it gave a high-performing team the chance to compete and collaborate in a completely different register.
The multi-round competitive format was the right call for this audience. Consultants who spend their days solving problems professionally couldn't help but bring that energy into the cocktail rounds — and the friendly competition made the collaboration feel real rather than forced. Fun, energy, and collaboration. Shaken, not stirred.
