Case study
The final curtain
Tasked with producing a show-stopping gala event for 6000 international incentive guests, Encore Event Technologies had their work cut out for them—and they delivered.
T
he final moments of an incentive program has the ability to make or break an event. It demands creativity and innovation in order to leave a lasting impression on delegates. Event services company Encore Event Technologies recently produced the final gala dinner for a month-long incentive, overcoming creative and logistic challenges to end the program on a high.
The brief Each year, health and beauty multi-level marketing company Amway China rewards its sales force with a once-in-a-lifetime incentive program, often in distant, beautiful destinations. So it’s no surprise Cairns, Tropical North Queensland was the chosen destination for 2019.
34 Spice Summer 2019
The brief was simple: put on a show worthy of the employees’ hard work and inspire them to keep achieving. The chosen production partner was to deliver both the business sessions in the morning and a spectacular closing gala dinner in the evening for nearly 900 guests, seven times over.
The execution Encore’s winning creative concept, Rainforest to Reef, paid homage to Tropical North Queensland’s renowned landscape, following the flow of water from the skies to the ocean. The challenge was designing a never-before-seen experience for a well-travelled client that has seen almost everything. Amway China chose the Australian Artillery and Armoury Museum (AAAM) as the venue to add an unexpected element to the program. As the largest privately owned collection of military vehicles in the Southern Hemisphere, it offered guests a rare tank show experience. At moer than 4200 square metres, the venue was also large enough to accommodate the production equipment for both the gala and business sessions, catering and other suppliers.
The Rainforest to Reef theme allowed Encore to design four distinct experiences: rainforest, beach, reef and river. Each environment was themed using a 270-degree screen that wrapped around the venue walls, customised soundscapes, roaming performers and reef-inspired table styling which incorporated lighting design. A key performance brought each environment to life and were each enhanced with creative technical production. The ‘rainforest’ environment included a thunder and lightning performance by the Million Volt Man, one of the most extreme live performers who uses highvoltage Tesla coil in his stunts. For the ‘river’ component, Encore created a custom Fish Medley act which included singing and dancing animated fish on computercontrolled robotic LED screens that moved with the music. The ‘beach’ environment included an artistic Fabric Ballet performance featuring 18 DMX controlled fans with choreographed dancing, while ‘reef’ featured a game simulation of an underwater treasure hunt made possible using a range of AV techniques. The journey saw a live performer participate in the underwater adventure using layered multimedia with a holographic mesh screen, LEDs and choreographed robotics show.