As a corporate event management company, we’re always delighted for the opportunity to use our full-service range of skills and experience to exceed our clients’ expectations. This article, which features a testimonial from our client, Dentsply Sirona, a world leader in dental equipment and consumables, shows how much detailed planning and organisation goes into delivering all the components of a full-scale corporate event.
Dentsply Sirona’s corporate event management package over 4 days included: conference management and production with full audio-visual support, team building events and evening entertainment with theming. We were involved right from the start as organiser, planning the logistics and ensuring the coordination of all requirements.
The Details of this Corporate Event
The venue for this event was Walton Hall, a superb corporate events venue in the Warwickshire countryside. The event took place over 4 days, from 14th – 17th January 2019, with 110 attendees. Of course, the event planning process started months prior, with on site visits by our event coordinator to the venue, and several client planning meetings, all of which were necessary to ensure the following components were delivered with skill and professionalism:
- Complete Conference Management, Production and Audio-Visual Support – 4 days
- Team Building Events – 2 days
- Evening Entertainment – QuizMania – Evening 1
- Theming – Harry Potter – Evening 2
- Theming – James Bond – Evening 3
Conference Management – The Audio-Visual Solution
The conference took place in the venue’s Courtyard Suite, which was an excellent room to work with. At the centre of all conference management jobs is the audio-visual solution. It’s an area we invest heavily in to ensure our event production equipment is state of the art. The key elements required to execute the plan were:
- For this conference, we provided a twin screen set for the client to ensure clear sight lines for all delegates. Images were supplied by bright 12,000 laser projectors using short throw lenses. To ensure all went smoothly, everything was controlled by our video processors, including screen content and all presenter comfort screens, which featured the current slide, notes and timings.
- Sound and Lighting. The sound was delivered by a 6 speaker PA system with 2 additional sub speakers, all controlled by a 32-channel digital sound desk. The show included 10 radio microphones plus 2 wired lectern microphones. Lighting was delivered via LED fixtures with 8 moving lights, whilst haze provided fantastic lighting effects. This was all enhanced by LED up-lighting on the set, wireless up-lighting around the room and stage spot and wash lighting to illuminate the presenters.
In addition, the show used event management software, including live voting and audience interaction via a dedicated website, featuring live product demonstrations with slides and videos.
Team Building Events
The team building brief was simple. Providing the weather held, the aim was to get everyone outside and participate in something they had never tried before. Fortunately, the weather stayed fine (although an indoor contingency plan was ready and waiting, just in case), and everything ran smoothly.
The team building events were built around a country pursuits theme. We provided gun dogs, ferret racing, falconry, archery and crossbow, duck herding, laser clay shooting and the firing of Napoleonic mortars! As you can imagine it all went down a blast!!
Theming and Evening Entertainment
A four-day conference needs to have good evening entertainment, catering for the needs of the delegates so they can relax after the important work during the day.
- On night 1, the client wanted an informal activity as guests settled into the conference. We delivered our superb interactive and engaging gameshow, QuizMania. 6 rounds of ridiculous trivia and nonsense, including sound rounds, video rounds and creative rounds, certainly relaxed the delegates and got them into the swing of things.
- On night 2, the client wanted a completely different feel and chose a relaxed themed dinner. We provided our Harry Potter theme, which turned the hotel’s dining hall into Hogwarts for the night! We had lines of banqueting tables featuring wrought Iron Candelabra and real candles, with the Gryffindor colour scheme for the table cloths, table runners and chair covers.
The room was transformed by superb lighting -effects, and included letters in the fire place, owls, glasses, piles of books, ghosts, ghouls, broom sticks, bubbling cauldrons, flame lights – you name it!
The pre-dinner drinks area included a themed cocktail bar serving Harry Potter themed cocktails and a themed photobooth. Guests entered through the brickwork of Kings Cross Platform 9 ¾ into this magical environment! A superb evening.
- Night 3 this was the client’s formal evening for the awards ceremony, and on this night, we really needed to impress. Our stylish and sophisticated James Bond theme was chosen, which worked perfectly with the black-tie requirement for the evening.
The room was transformed using lighting and haze effects. With James Bond backdrops, props, Martini table centres, black and white table linen, red carpet, ropes and stanchions and flame lights this really was a night not to miss.
In addition, we provided a Shirley Bassey tribute act and 3 x casino tables to really finish off the James Bond theming. After the awards were over and the entertainers had finished, the delegates danced the night away to a DJ.