VENUE: Olympia
EVENT DATE: March 2006
NUMBER OF GUESTS: 2000

This party was to form the launch event for a weekend of celebration for the most recognised employees of Lloyds TSB; Impulse where approached by the agency arranging the weekends events as they lacked the necessary experience of planning a party of this nature; Impulse provided the design, décor and production for the event.

Once the 2000 guests had checked-in to their hotels, located across the capital, they where bussed to Olympia by a fleet of over 40 classic red double decker busses. Upon arrival at the venue guests made their way through the bright and energetically lit entrance hall into the main space of the National Hall at Olympia, the room was split into 4 zones, each corner of which was dressed as a corner of the world: Italy, China, Morocco and America.

Each corner featured authentic cuisine, entertainment and décor creating the ambience and atmosphere of that country. This required in excess of 200 individual props ranging from Chinese lanterns through to a 15' high roman statue of Neptune, via cactus trees, camels, a real working fountain and palm trees.

Each corner had specially designed menu to complement to themeing; this included themed bars in each zone and complimentary service from noodle boxes to authentic Moroccan tea glasses. The American zone was completed with the cocktail experience of Manhattan Transfer who served in excess of 5000 cocktails during the three hour party.

In the centre of the room suspended from the roof hung 4, giant 40' tall flags, once all the guests had arrived a huge fanfare played and the flags where raised up from the ground revealing a tiered diamond stage from where the CEO delivered the welcome speech.

The main focus of the event was upon interactive entertainment and this required the sourcing of at least 10 acts or amusements per country, these where to be scheduled to ensure that something was going on in each corner throughout the entire event, a massive co-ordination task in itself. Entertainments included performers from the Chinese State Circus, a snake charmer, line dancing troupe, Ferrari simulators & the camel racing game.

The huge demand for props and entertainment left a tight budget for the technical event production, which for such a large event space required some creative planning. Flown rigging was kept to an absolute minimum instead the lighting was mounted on floor standing structures on the balcony level mixing moving head fixtures with a combination of generic fixtures with each country given a complementary colour palette. The sound was delivered from a centrally flown line array system pointing to each corner of the space. In addition the venue was enclosed with in excess of 1000 sqm of draping giving closing down the floor space and providing a ring of backstage area around the event for the 4 satellite kitchens and entertainment.

The event kicked of an incredible weekend and Impulse where able to work seamlessly and transparently with the lead agency. The weekend was awarded with an Eventia award for the lead-agency.