Event Showcase | A Welcome Event That Turned Up The Volume!
The Welcome Event at AIME (Australia’s leading event industry exhibition), is always a much-anticipated date in the event calendar. It’s the social event that brings together guests from all aspects of our industry.
Hosting the AIME Welcome Event is a tough gig – the guests attending are all experienced in planning events and are guaranteed to take note of EVERYTHING and openly make judgements. To impress a crowd like this you have to step it up and throw everything you’ve got at it.
This year, the team from Solution Entertainment did just that and the result – we thought – was pretty darn good! Let’s take a look…
The arrival – nailed it!
As I stepped out of the cab, just off St Kilda Road, there was an immediate buzz. You could see the party in the outdoor courtyard, you could hear the band and see the aerial artists swinging above the roofline. Streams of well-dressed guests where heading towards the entrance as civilians on the street gushed and pointed, wishing they too had a golden ticket to attend.
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The venue – new and interesting
When hosting an event for people in our industry, guests want to see something new. Choosing The Big Group’s latest venue, The Ormond Collective, was a fabulous choice. The venue has three distinct areas – the art deco, heritage Ormond Hall + The Bar (a gorgeous, European-style wood panelled bar) + the stylish outdoor Pavilion, which opened onto an even larger outdoor courtyard.
There was plenty of people to fill this grand-scale venue, but you could also see how each space could be used for smaller events.
The catering – plenty of deliciousness
The Big Group did not disappoint. Outside you could choose from a tasty souvlaki or grab a burger from the burger wall. Inside loads of canapés did the rounds. There was also an impressive Waffle Bar – with quite a line at one stage – where people topped their choice of either sweet or savoury waffles.
The bars were well stocked and glasses were rarely empty for long.
Dessert canapes circulated too – I may have had a mishap trying to eat the salted caramel ice cream with caramel popcorn on top – but it was worth it!
The entertainment – so much variety
The range of entertainment was amazing! There literally was a showcase of bands, performers and solo artists throughout the night. The vibe and atmosphere created was fun and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves – all night long.
As usual, I was one of the last to leave the party…
It was pretty icy outside when we left, but grabbing a cab on St Kilda Road was easy. Location wise, the venue is outside the CBD, but very easy to get to.
Final word…
The AIME 2018 Welcome Event was fabulous. It served the purpose of bringing together all those involved with AIME (hosted buyers, exhibitors and industry media), it showcased new and exciting products and gave the guests a chance to catch up with each other in a fun and social environment.
A huge congrats to all those involved and thank you for a wonderful evening.
Suppliers involved included:
Event Producers and Creators:
Solution Entertainment – Solution Entertainment did all the styling and florals in-house
Suppliers:
Harry the Hirer – Furniture and Audio Visual
Evan Evans – Signage
The Big Group – Catering and venue
Entertainment:
Hugo Bladel – Main stage acoustic performer
Gin Project – 7 Piece, RnB and funk band
Simon Page Jones and Wild Boys – The opening performance
J’AIMIME – Bubble Pop and Invisible Man caber ate performance
Horns of Leroy – Horns band
Anna Lumb – Bottle walk and Hula Hoop performance
La Rumba and Laura Yu – Mexican band and Flamenco dancer
Dancing with Strings – Puppet dance performance