Showcasing Australia as a World-class business destination with carefully curated experiences...
Date: March 2018
Guests: 460
Location: Sydney
Let’s get to know the Client and their Event…
The Wharton School is one of the World’s leading business schools with over 97,000+ Alumni living in over 153 countries. Each year Wharton’s hosts a Global Forum designed to bring together leaders from business and government along with Wharton faculty and alumni to explore the issues facing global business now and in the future.
In March 2018 it was the Sydney-based Alumni’s turn to host this prestigious event and they called on Business Events Sydney to help source an Event Management partner to help the local alumni and the US-based events team design and execute a 3-Day program.
So, what did the client want from their Event Management Company…
Wharton’s wanted to showcase Sydney as a business destination – where cutting-edge business practices and entrepreneurial growth was thriving.
They wanted an Event Management company to demonstrate they understood entrepreneurialism, business acumen and that they had experience working on events with international audiences.
The event management agencies pitching for the job were asked to design a program that in short included the Wharton’s Global Forum (a 2-day conference with speakers and panel presentations), plus a corresponding social program that gave the international guests an essence of Australia and highlighted the country’s thriving Business economy on a global scale.
Why This Space got the gig…
We were award this job on the spot for our creative edge, along with being able to demonstrate our knowledge of the expectations of the client and their guests. We didn’t just propose a Sydney highlights tour combined with a typical conference set-up, instead we took the time to research Wharton’s and truly understand what the guests would want to gain from attending. From this research we carefully curated a program that matched the calibre of guests and highlighted Sydney as a World-class business destination.
Our pitch was creative, innovative and something the team at Wharton’s hadn’t already heard prior to our team walking into the room.
Let’s take a look at what we delivered - the highlights reel …
This Space delivered an exceptional program that met the clients needs and exceeded the guests’ expectations.
Key deliverables included;
Designing the stage-looks for the Plenary and three-break out spaces
Designing and building the registration area and exhibition stands – including a Bloomberg’s broadcast booth
Designing all digital content for during the sessions
Planning the entire social program for the 3-day period
Creating a finale experience that showcased Sydney as a destination
Creating a casual cocktail reception that gave guests another opportunity to experience Sydney lifestyle
Creating a unique Australian Indigenous experience for all guests to enjoy and engage with the local Gadigal people
Many thanks to you and the team for all that you did to provide such a special and memorable experience for our guests! It was a fantastic event and we all miss Sydney!
The Wharton School
What little challenges did we face along the way…
Working with an International client
Working with the Wharton’s team was excellent, but like any long distant relationship you need to work on communication from the start. We made ourselves available at times that were convenient for them. Based on the east coast of the US, this wasn’t easy, but we enjoyed the challenge and the late-night chats. We also created a WhatsApp group so we could communicate easily.
Working with their US Tax Requirements
As a school, Wharton’s had a particularly detailed process for getting any charges signed-off. We worked to accommodate their requirements and helped the supplier chain in Australia to do the same.
They wanted “high-tech” without the risk
The theme for the event was to focus on the future of tech, the next big thing to change business and the modern world. But when it came to producing the event, they were very cautious about using “new” technology that they hadn’t tried and tested before, e.g. LED instead of projection.
While we had initially proposed working with LED, when we realised that projection worked well in this particular venue we decided to work within the client’s comfort zone rather than pushing them.
Planning a Smoking Ceremony within a 5* hotel
Smoke in a hotel is generally a “no no”, but with a persuasive nature, a detailed risk assessment and a skilled production team, we turned that “no no”, into “approved”!
And, the results were…
Check out the highlights reel and comments from the attendees:
Final note…
For us at This Space, the Wharton’s Global Forum gave us the opportunity to flex our creative muscle and excise our event management skills to the max. We loved working with this high calibre international group and were proud of the program we created for them - we showed that Australia is not only a place to have fun, but also as a World-class business destination.
