Our client organised a European competition to find the designer of the most beautiful architectural project. With this, the search for the architect behind the best and most creative building began. We partnered them for the competition’s climax: an evening award ceremony. Now we wouldn’t be De Buck if we didn’t turn this into an incredible event at a top location.
The challenges
Our client wanted to hold the award event on one of evenings of their annual conference, which we also organising for them. “It has got to be in Spain.” This was their only stipulation. Where everything else was concerned, it was ‘carte blanche’. They were expecting about 3 to 4 hundred people. These included the conference goers, their partners and the finalists. The guests were flown in from several countries including France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy. It would have to be a huge event, but not the party to end all parties. And all the finalists would have be presented in an entertaining video.
What challenges did they set us?
- Find a location to suit the theme
- Create a memorable event on a limited budget
- Get the conference goers, their partners and the finalists to the event on time
Making it happen!
One of the first things to do, when organising an event, is to find the right location. The location must suit the theme you have in mind. In this case it was for a large group of architects and other people in the construction business, so we wanted the ideal place to reflect this.
It has to be said: Spain has an exceptional wealth of locations to offer. As the award event was part of the client’s larger, several day conference, we had to find conference and hotel facilities close to a suitable venue. As the award was to be issued by a professional jury of architects, we started looking at some of the buildings they themselves had designed on the Spanish mainland. Before long, we had an impressive short list. From this list we selected the Parque de las Ciencias, a futuristic looking museum designed by the president of the jury.
A museum? But isn’t that a public space? Yes, it is. In this case we had to respect the museum’s opening hours. It presented an additional challenge. How did we solve it?
- We took extra security precautions: more staff and safety crew to build the stage, sort out the projection and position the audiovisual equipment.
- Backstage, the catering staff began their preparations. When the museum closed its doors we brought out the tables and positioned them.
- We ran the installation of the audiovisual equipment from the mezzanine to get everything ready in good time.
- We brought a Spanish-speaking colleague with us to make sure that there were no communication problems on site.
✔ Find a location to suit the theme
We arranged all the Spanish transfers for the guests. From museum to hotel, from hotel to conference, from hotel to airport… Despite a couple of inconvenient arrivals at airports, such as Malaga, which is quite a distance away, we managed to get all of the guests to the event on time. None of the guests were forced to make arrangements of their own.
✔ Get the conference goers, their partners and the finalists to the event on time
We planned the award event to the smallest of details. And for many of those we even had a ‘plan B’ – well, you never know. We had a separate strategy, for example, covering a ‘bad weather scenario’. Thanks to all these preparations everything went like clockwork on the day of the event. We arranged for the suppliers to visit the location a few times in advance, to make sure that nothing would be left to chance. On the day of the event we provided four De Buck Project Managers, to make sure that everything ran smoothly. When you use your own people it is always easier to bounce off each other, get your preparations right, switch up to a higher gear and rely on each other.
✔Create a memorable event on a limited budget
Our client was highly stressed about this award event, which was his first. He was extremely happy to leave us in charge, to see that everything was going well and to concentrate on enjoying what was happening. Or, as he put it:
“An architect tries to combine uniqueness with solidity in a building, within the budget given him. You have approached this event like a good architect !”
De Buck Agency NV – Steenweg 233a – 9810 Eke (Gent) – België
BTW nr BE0439.980.122 • Licentie A1053
Contact us
BTW nr BE0439.980.122 • Licentie A1053
Contact us
