Corporate entertainment
Corporate entertainment the whole room plays.
Kevin Durham is a corporate entertainer and host with one signature show. Play Along is a live game show where every guest plays on their own phone, the leaderboard is on the big screen and Kevin runs the room. Awards nights, Christmas parties, conferences and company celebrations, right across the UK.
Where it works
One show. Four kinds of night.
Awards nights
The show woven between the awards, so the room stays up between categories and nobody drifts to the bar.
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Christmas parties
Rounds written around your year and your people, threaded through dinner, with the winning table on stage at the end.
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Conferences and kick-offs
An energiser after lunch or a closing session everyone remembers. Conference hosting lives on conferencehost.uk.
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Company celebrations
Anniversaries, summer parties, away-day evenings. One host, one show, the whole company in the game.
Find out more →All fourteen games
Fourteen games. One host. One screen.
Five rounds the whole room plays on their phones, and nine big-screen games with teams at the board. All of it is my own software, run from one screen, so I can switch format the moment the room needs a lift. Tap any game to see exactly how it plays.
Common Ground
Vote with the room, score for matching it
How it plays →On your phone
Who’s Bluffing?
Three stories, one true, the room decides
How it plays →On your phone
The Final Few
A knockout quiz down to the last few standing
How it plays →On your phone
Side Bets
Play money on what happens next on stage
How it plays →On your phone
The Cut
Everyone answers, the lowest scores are cut
How it plays →Big screen
Family Fortunes
Two teams, one survey board, three strikes
How it plays →Big screen
Quiz Show
Categories, buzzers and picture rounds
How it plays →Big screen
Play Your Cards Right
Higher or lower on a row of giant cards
How it plays →Big screen
What the Blank
Fill the gap, match the room’s funniest answers
How it plays →Big screen
Guess the Phrase
A hidden phrase, one letter at a time
How it plays →Big screen
Category Clues
Describe it without saying it, against the clock
How it plays →Big screen
Scavenger Hunt
The whole room up, hunting and mixing
How it plays →Big screen
The Generation Game
The conveyor belt of prizes to remember
How it plays →Big screen
Bongo Bingo
Rave bingo with dance breaks and forfeits
How it plays →Every one of these can be played as a show, at the tables or on the app, and every one is written around your company before the night. Not sure which mix suits your event? Tell me the room and I will suggest a running order.
Three ways to play
Three ways to play every game.
Every game I run can be played three ways, and I pick the way that suits the room, the timings and the layout on the night: as a show at the front, table against table, or with every single guest playing on their own phone. Mix them across an evening and nobody spends the night watching.
As a show
Teams at the front, the room roaring them on
The television format. Two teams come up to the board for the survey game, the giant cards or the conveyor belt, and the rest of the room shouts the answers, groans at the strikes and bets on the outcome. I rotate the players every round so as many people as possible get a turn at the front, and nobody is up there long enough to get nervous.
Best for: awards nights and gala dinnersAt the tables
Every table is a team
The whole room plays at once, table against table. The quiz board is played from the tables, higher or lower is called table by table, and the phone rounds are answered as one table with one phone. Scores go on the leaderboard by table, so the rivalry is between the people who are already sitting together.
Best for: conference dinners and Christmas parties with set tablesOn the app
Every guest on their own phone
Play Along. Guests scan the code on their table and every round lands on every phone at the same moment: votes, bluffs, knockouts and bets. Individual scores, grouped by table on the big screen. Nothing to download, and it has been tested with three hundred phones playing at once.
Best for: whole-company nights where nobody should be watchingBuilt for the room
Same games. Two very different rooms.
I customise every game I play for the audience in front of me: the questions, the answers and the style I present them in. A survey round for a room of graduates in their twenties is a completely different show from the same round for a board of chief executives, and it should be. I write for the people who will actually be there, and on the night I speak into the listening: I read what the room gives back and change gear to match it. Eight hundred events means I have hosted every kind of room, so if a different crowd turns up from the one on the brief, the style changes on the spot and often the questions do too.
Fast, loud and about them
- The games I would pick
- Common Ground to open, Who’s Bluffing? once they are warm, The Cut after dinner and Side Bets running all night. Quick rounds, lots of them.
- The questions
- Written around their year, their in-jokes and the things nobody says in front of the managers. Sharp, clean and quick to read on a phone.
- How I host it
- Pace and mischief. I chase the split votes, name the brave ones and keep the whole room playing rather than a few people at the front.
Same games, a different show
- The games I would pick
- The survey game with the directors on the panel, Who’s Bluffing? with stories from their own careers, and The Final Few for the nerve it takes to play it safe in front of your peers.
- The questions
- Drawn from the strategy, the industry and the year the business has actually had. Fewer of them, with more room to talk about the answer.
- How I host it
- Slower, drier, and I let the silences work. A leadership team discovering where it genuinely agrees is worth more than another round.
1Written for your people
Send me the year’s stories, the in-jokes, the departments and the industry. The rounds are built from them, so the answers land in a way no off-the-shelf pack ever can.
2Speaking into the listening
The words on the screen are half of it. How I present them is the rest, and I pitch the pace, the teasing and the tone to the room that has turned up, not the one on the brief.
3If a different crowd turns up
Eight hundred events across festivals, awards, conferences and dinners means I have hosted every kind of room. If the mood is not what anyone expected, I change the style on the spot, and often the questions too.
How it works
Scan. Play. Watch the leaderboard.
Scan the code
A code sits on every table. Guests point their camera at it and the Play Along app opens in the browser. No download, no sign-up, just a nickname.
Play every round
Questions, votes, bluffs and bets land on every phone at the same moment. Everyone plays, not a few volunteers at the front.
Leaderboard on the big screen
Scores are grouped by table, so the rivalry is table against table. Kevin runs the room, reads the results and keeps the pace up.
Hosted by Kevin Durham
The tech gets everyone in. Kevin makes it a night.
Twenty years on stage, more than eight hundred events, and a television presenting background. I host the whole evening, not just the show: the welcome, the awards, the speeches, and the moments between them that usually go flat. The game runs through it all.
See it in action
Real rooms, real nights.
The survey round in full flow at a corporate event
A fast table-side round at a corporate Christmas party
A corporate game show night that won over the room
A corporate awards night with the stage games woven through
For the venue and IT
Nothing to install. Nothing to worry about.
- Guests play in their phone’s browser. No app store, no account, no personal data beyond a nickname.
- Runs on the venue’s Wi-Fi or on 4G. Tested with three hundred phones answering at once.
- One code for the whole night. Phones follow whichever round is on the big screen.
- The venue provides a screen and a sound system. I bring everything else.
What clients say
I just had a fantastic chat with Kevin Durham with some VIPs at Linnworks. You put me to the test, but that was really, really good. Thank you Kevin.
Kevin was very, very good. Going forward, anybody who needs a good host, Kev’s your man.
Kevin recently hosted a company corporate event and proved to be the consummate professional throughout the evening. He has the unique ability to read a room and keep everyone happy.
We had Kevin as our MC and our host for the Dash Foundation 10th anniversary and our third business awards. He kept us alive and he kept us entertained, and I’d recommend him.
Good to know
Corporate entertainment FAQs.
What is Play Along?
My signature show. Every guest joins from their own phone, the rounds land on every screen at the same moment, and the leaderboard is on the big screen. I host it live, so it has the pace of a TV show and the feel of a night out with colleagues.
What kind of corporate entertainment is it best for?
Anywhere you want the whole room involved rather than watching: awards nights, Christmas parties, conference energisers, sales kick-offs, anniversaries and away-day evenings.
How many guests does it work for?
From a team of thirty to a room of three hundred. Everyone plays individually and the scores are grouped by table, so the rivalry is table against table.
Do you host the rest of the event too?
Yes, and it is usually the point. I run the welcome, the awards, the speeches and the timings as well as the show, so the whole evening has one pace and one voice.
Do guests need an app?
No. They scan a code and the Play Along app opens in their phone’s browser. Nothing to install, no account, no personal data beyond a nickname. It has been tested with three hundred phones answering at once.
Do the games have to be played on phones?
No. Every one of the fourteen games can be played three ways: as a show with teams at the front, table against table, or with every guest on their own phone. I pick the mix that suits your room, your layout and the running order.
How do you tailor it to our audience?
I customise every game for the people in the room: the questions, the answers and the way I present them. A survey round for a graduate intake is a different show from the same round for a board, and if a different crowd turns up on the night from the one on the brief, I change the style on the spot.
Can the rounds be about our company?
Yes. Send me the year’s stories, the people and the in-jokes and I write the rounds around them.
What does it cost?
Fees are quoted individually for the date, the venue and the length of the show. Tell me the numbers and the running order and I will send a quote.
Where in the UK do you cover?
Right across the UK. Tell me the venue and the date and I will confirm availability.
Enquiries
Put the whole room in the game.
Tell me about your night and I will bring the room to its feet. The date, the venue and rough numbers is all I need to confirm availability and send a quote.
