When Burns International Security Services
decided to hold a special meeting celebrating
the new direction of their organization—and
setting the tone for its future—they turned to
meeting producer Media Matrix to help them
meet an important challenge: communicating
a new corporate identity. The Burns
organization had been formed by combining
a number of existing, smaller security agencies,
each of which had its own identity before
Burns was created. The first-ever Burns
meeting needed to help establish a new
corporate culture, one that was unique to
Burns International, emphasizing
teamwork and demonstrating that the new
organization was ready to shape its own
destiny. Media Matrix responded to this
challenge with a creative and original approach
that held the audience spellbound with
a distinctive blend of high-tech excitement
and the human touch.

"It was an interesting challenge because this was the first time that people from a range of different security services companies would get together under one banner, the Burns name," said Media Matrix President Michael Olenski. "Burns felt that the meeting should reinforce the message that Burns was a distinctive, new entity and that the Burns name meant something special."

To accomplish that objective, Media Matrix
turned to the person behind the Burns name, legendary detective William J. Burns,
who founded the original Burns security company in 1910. Through the talents of a professional actor in authentic period costume, working from a Media Matrix script developed from biographical information, William J. Burns himself was able to "appear" at the opening session, address the audience, interject actual anecdotes, and continue throughout the event
as the meeting's host.