The conference day coincided with the Day of Poetry, which gave us our hook. Every participant arrived to find five identical verse-line cards in their conference pack. Each card carried a single line of poetry, drawn from a library of 200+ lines we wrote ourselves, all rooted in the absurdities of office life: inbox zero mythology, the kitchen fridge, the colleague who always books the meeting room for one minute too long.

The task was simple. To complete a four-line poem, you needed four different lines. Since everyone started with five copies of the same line, the only way forward was to talk to people. Trade your duplicates. Hunt for the lines that made your poem work. We designed 18 different rhyme schemes across the 200 lines, so every assembled poem could be genuinely unique, whether the player was going for rhythm, humour, or a particular mood.

Completed poems were photographed and submitted via the Connect conference app, which meant the game also drove app adoption for the client. A joint jury selected the 10 best entries from over 127 submissions. Then, in the post-lunch slot, a professional improv troupe performed the winning verses live on the main stage. The authors received books, board games, and free tickets to next year's conference.