Plan To Succeed

Sarah Nicholson discovers it’s planning and teamwork that puts a five-star touch on every event staged at Shangri-La The Marina, Cairns.

HAVE you ever seen a 125sqm function room set four ways in a single minute?

No? Then snap the QR code at the bottom of the opposite page to see our versatile Lagoon Room flipped from a board room to u-shape meeting, then from cabaret conference to a gala-dinner setup in just 60 seconds.

So, we cheated a tad by asking Tropical North Queensland videographer Glenn Saggers to produce a timelapse clip showing our flipping skills. In reality that minute of action took only a couple of hours to complete with the hotel’s events team – guided by Food & Beverage Manager Rachel Renton, Conference & Events Manager Monyna Giner-Tan, and Banquets Manager Swapnil Desai – expert at arranging and re-arranging areas.

And, while this is all in a day’s work for the experienced banquets crew at Shangri-La The Marina, Cairns, we don’t rest on our laurels as extensive planning and preparation goes into every date booked at our 18 inside and outdoor venues.

“The harder you work, the luckier you get, so we focus on the details,” Giner-Tan says.

“And this happens during every step of the planning process. From conversing with a client to understand precisely how they want a function to work, through our weekly internal meetings that take a fine-toothed comb to the briefing documents, and the significant behind-thescenes preparations we put in place on the day.

“Of course, we would never need to flip a room four times in a day, but it is not a problem if it needs to happen twice or three times to achieve what an organiser has in mind.

Giner-Tan says readying a room is about more than just arranging furniture with the team focusing on the finer details – like pressing tablecloths and placing centrepieces – because it’s the thoughtful five-star touches that make a meeting as memorable as our location.

“That’s not just leading up to delegates arriving and during a day-long meeting we move through during breaks to refresh the room and ensure it looks as good after a few hours as it did first thing in the morning,” she says.

“Our venues are adaptable, making it easy to accommodate any event, from a board meeting for just a few VIPs to an exhibition with hundreds of people passing through.

“And having an experienced team at your service here at Shangri-La The Marina, Cairns means we can make almost anything happen and we love working with organisers who dream big.”

DISCOVER THE LAGOON ROOM