BANISHING boring business events is the task of a new virtual firm.

Rarely have employees seemed as animated as the workers at The Firm.

Saville Gold, a subsidiary of Saville Audio Visual, which is based in Millfield Lane, Nether Poppleton, has launched the company to bring business and training events to life.

The Firm uses humour to communicate serious messages to workforces at conferences and seminars. It used 3D computer-generated characters to entertain audiences while delivering key messages.

Appearing either on a wide screen or apparently live on stage using a holographic format, the characters can react to and interact with each other.

John Baxter, head of creative media for Saville Gold, said: "Nowadays it's vital to engage and entertain your audience. Their expectations are high and if your conference or seminar consists of sitting through endless PowerPoint presentations, it's a fair bet that most of the audience will at some stage start to lose concentration and switch off. Employ The Firm to work for you and that will never happen at your events again."

Updated: 11:20 Wednesday, May 19, 2004