Corporate entertainment
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
The show woven between the awards, so the room stays up between categories and nobody drifts to the bar.
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Rounds written around your year and your people, threaded through dinner, with the winning table on stage at the end.
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An energiser after lunch or a closing session everyone remembers. Conference hosting lives on conferencehost.uk.
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Anniversaries, summer parties, away-day evenings. One host, one show, the whole company in the game.
Find out more →All sixteen games
Five rounds the whole room plays on their phones, nine big-screen games with teams at the board, and two that need no screen at all: a phone on a forehead, and a coin. The screen games are all 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.
Vote with the room, score for matching it
How it plays →On your phone
Three stories, one true, the room decides
How it plays →On your phone
A knockout quiz down to the last few standing
How it plays →On your phone
Play money on what happens next on stage
How it plays →On your phone
Everyone answers, the lowest scores are cut
How it plays →Big screen
Two teams, one survey board, three strikes
How it plays →Big screen
Categories, buzzers and picture rounds
How it plays →Big screen
Higher or lower on a row of giant cards
How it plays →Big screen
Fill the gap, match the room’s funniest answers
How it plays →Big screen
A hidden phrase, one letter at a time
How it plays →Big screen
Describe it without saying it, against the clock
How it plays →Big screen
The whole room up, hunting and mixing
How it plays →Big screen
The conveyor belt of prizes to remember
How it plays →Big screen
Rave bingo with dance breaks and forfeits
How it plays →No screen needed
Charades with a phone on your forehead, table against table
How it plays →No screen needed
One coin, the whole room on its feet, one winner
How it plays →Almost all of these can be played as a show, at the tables or on the app, and the questions are 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
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
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
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
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
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.
See personalised game shows on the big screen →
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.
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.
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
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.
Questions, votes, bluffs and bets land on every phone at the same moment. Everyone plays, not a few volunteers at the front.
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
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
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
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
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.
Anywhere you want the whole room involved rather than watching: awards nights, Christmas parties, conference energisers, sales kick-offs, anniversaries and away-day evenings.
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.
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.
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.
No. Fourteen of the sixteen 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. The other two, Heads Up and Heads or Tails, need no screen and no phones in the room at all. I pick the mix that suits your room, your layout and the running order.
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.
Yes. Send me the year’s stories, the people and the in-jokes and I write the rounds around them.
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.
Right across the UK. Tell me the venue and the date and I will confirm availability.
Enquiries
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.
