The people behind Evolve3 CIC went to a jury duty style 'live immersive event' at the weekend. It was fantastic in its staging, the people acting out the case were great, and it was an interesting way to spend a few hours.
However, the element that was immersive revolved around simply giving your vote via a QR code at the end. You, as an audience (and virtual jury) member, were encouraged to vote as to whether you thought the suspect in the case was guilty or not guilty.
You may feel that this request was immersive and that it invited the audience to participate more than the average theatre show does; however, we've been to plenty of theatre shows that involved the audience more than this. It felt like a very long show, as the actors demonstrated all the 'evidence' in their mock courtroom (which was incredible). There's no way that I'd describe the event as immersive - we were watching the case unfold as passive participants, just as we would a film in the cinema.
The reason I'm mentioning this is because this directly relates to Evolve3's 'Battle of the Barristers' event, which is immersive, and delivered in a very similar setting.
However, when taking part, every single participant in our activity is involved as one of the barristers. This involves reading and understanding the key points of, and the evidence within, the selected real-life crime case, and relaying this information to your fellow barristers.
As either the defence or prosecution counsel, all participants are then tasked with creating their counsel's opening argument and arguing each separate evidential exhibit against their counterpart on the other 'side'.
We consider this to be immersive, as you're not watching anything - you're part of the legal team vying to get the suspect freed, or emphasising the evidence that needs to keep him behind bars.
The Battle of the Barristers event is ideal for people who have an interest in:
Law
Politics
English
Psychology
Media
...or just those who love a good argument or debate.
It helps individuals and teams as a whole to:
develop their skills of comprehension
improve their deductive skills
be more effective in a debate
improve their teamworking skills
become better at seeing things from every angle
Our Battle of the Barristers activity is perfect for corporate teams looking for something different to do on their annual away day, or those teams working in sales and marketing who could benefit from a brushing up of their interpretive skills, their ability to negotiate and how well they understand customers' requirements.
It's also perfect for the educational sector, for students aged 16+. There are so many transferable skills and elements of learning embedded in this activity, and we have even inspired students who didn't realise they wanted to work within law to follow such a career path.
Here's what Barnsley College's Talent United Co-ordinator, Julia Davis, said about Battle of the Barristers recently. Note that the word 'immersive' crops up.
Could this be an event that your company, school, college, university or charity could benefit from? Contact us on 01924 654180 for more information or email info@evolve3.org.uk.
