DestinationSouth Meetings & Events : Portfolio

PEOPLE-READY!
Project Type: Global Exchange Conference Welcome Reception

Everywhere guests turned, there was something new and interesting to see and do. Or hear and touch. Or taste and smell. Who would have thought that this sensory paradise was inside a plain old tradeshow hall? From over 30 countries, executives and employees of the Microsoft Corporation had traveled to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida for the annual Microsoft Global Exchange conference, held in July 2006. Though the 8,000 guests were comparable in age and gender profile, their diverse cultures brought tastes in entertainment that were enormously wide-ranging. Our mission was to cater to the shy as well as the outgoing, the hip as well as the square, the savvy as well as the uninitiated. This was the very first event, the Welcome Reception, where they would be introduced to the theme of the conference “People-Ready”. We had to enthrall them all.

Guests were welcomed outside by enigmatic black-clad mimes based on the People-Ready icon, who led them to the entrance. Here, a looped recording announced “welcome” in ten different languages. Inside, the 200,000 square feet of tradeshow floor was divided into five monochromatic lounges. The lounges were linked through certain common elements; however each lounge had its own distinct mood portrayed through the entertainment and décor. The RED lounge was X-box Central with video gaming pods, arcade games and a hugely-popular karaoke stage. BLUE was the vintage lounge, with live smooth jazz, pool tables and board games as well as our custom-built 10’-high sudoku puzzle. YELLOW featured photo opportunities and traditional pub games as well as a mural painting station, whereas in GREEN and ORANGE, virtual reality sports games and racing activities dominated the action. After greeting guests outside, the silhouette characters continued their entertaining mime acts inside the event, pulling people onto the dance floor and encouraging participation in the games and activities.

Three forms of entertainment in particular were emphasized throughout the event, and as such could be found in each of the lounges: “trading cubes” were 20’ high open structures inside which guests were given one of a number of different buttons that they could trade with other guests. Three caricature artists were in each area, with finished caricatures displayed in a wall collage, allowing guests a place to store their picture as well as creating a fabulous focal point on the large wall. Photo stations invited guests to take home a picture of their own silhouette.

Between the stage performances, artists and myriad of interactive activities, guests were engaged throughout the whole event and without exception left the party with smiles on their faces! They were fully fired up in the People-Ready spirit and in the perfect frame of mind for the next few days of intense training and networking.

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