This Tropical Themed Corporate Event was a Huge Success
After many years on a smaller scale, this summer was a leap for the Pro Landscaper awards.
Branching out from a corner of their FutureScape exhibition space, doubling in size and being held outdoors for the first time did involve a few teething issues… Including no build time accounted for in the booking of the venue! Luckily our team love a challenge…
This corporate event design with Tropical theme really impressed all the guests who commented on ‘never having seen anything like it’ at other corporate events. In fact, so much so that the next awards ceremony is already booked and and has been quickly added to everyone’s diaries as a highlight of their year.
This is a huge win for us and the team, especially after having worked all night to pull it off…
Let’s welcome Ellie from Eljays 44 to tell us all the details!
Could this have been the fastest corporate event build in history?
Yes! We were very lucky to have you on board, it could very well have ended before it had begun…
We booked Farnham Castle for the Friday for our awards ceremony, then in our first meeting we quickly realised what we wanted to achieve would take 3 days to build!
The venue had another corporate event the day before and also the day afterwards, so there was no wriggle room at all.
This could have been a huge disaster for us, but Arabian Tents saved the day.
The team came from midnight on Thursday and stayed through the night building it until Friday morning. The whole thing was finished by Friday afternoon… Then back you all came after the award ceremony when the party was over on the Friday night and worked into the early hours of Saturday to take down fully.
We had never done a dry hire event before, everything else was always done for us so we were totally new to this and we had no idea!!
We are forever thankful we had such experienced corporate event designers Arabian Tents who could pull it off.
What was the awards ceremony for?
We do various horticulture sector things. Back in 2010 we launched a trade magazine for the landscaping sector.
A couple of years later we launched an exhibition off the back of that magazine, and in last few years its exploded.
FutureScape London is now the UK’s largest landscape expo and trade event. We book out the majority of the ExCel centre for our exhibition, we’ve got 4 or 5 different awards ceremonies, round tables, conferences and meetings.
This particular Landscaping awards ceremony was our Project awards ceremony: Pro Landscaper Project Awards.
We had 12 Categories on specific garden projects split by cost of project: Best Garden design under 50K. The Best garden design over 100K. Best special features under 50K and over 100K. Best planting design etc.
What was your vision for this corporate event?
FutureScape was nominated for an award recently and we attended the event. The prize for this particular award was a holiday. We really liked this idea and thought theming an event around the holiday destination prize would be really fun.
So I was thinking about Hawaii, islands, tropical paradise feel events and made a Pinterest board.
Although we ended up dropping the holiday prize idea, the inspiration for the style of the ceremony and after party really stuck. I sent a photo to Arabian Tents as inspiration for the corporate event design and they conjured it from there!
What atmosphere did you want to create for the ceremony?
The industry is very design focused. Garden designers and landscapers all know a thing or two about design, so it was important that this event looked the part.
The colour palette and theme we chose was bold but we wanted it to be delivered in a high end way.
Most of all we wanted the event to be really fun and for everyone to have a great time.
I think we may have over delivered slightly on this aspect. It’s now fast becoming the highlight of the year with people in the industry raving about it and moving other things in order to make space in their diaries!
How did the finished space compare to your original vision?
It was identical! I was blown away by the corporate design skill of Arabian Tents.
When I first met Katherine at Farnham Castle and showed her the picture she just ran with it and came up with such great suggestions. It was clear we were in safe hands.
How did everyone react to the space?
Our guests were blown away. We received a lovely testimonial which sums it up beautifully:
“Under a clear-roof marquee on a balmy July evening, surrounded by vibrant flowers and colourful festoons, with Farnham Castle’s breathtaking views as your back drop, this wasn’t just any summer soiree – it was Pro Landscapers refreshing take on industry awards ceremonies.” – Ann-Marie Powell, Award-winning garden designer, author, journalist and presenter
It was so unlike everything else that happens. The setting, the marquee, the location was perfect. The design, the venue, the relaxed atmosphere and the way it ran, it was more of a real party rather than a corporate event. It felt like friends.
The set up made it feel less stiff, going into the afterparty later in the evening was a real party atmosphere.
Doing a summer party was difficult as its the busiest time of year for the landscaping industry. Tying it in with the awards ticked two boxes and meant everyone could network and also celebrate. It was really nice to have everyone together over the summer.
This has fast become an industry highlight of the year and we are so excited to deliver the next fully booked awards ceremony off the back of this one.
How did it work on the day?
It was all incredible, maybe even a bit too good actually- no one wanted to leave the marquee at all!
In mid July you’d think we would be safe with weather, but this is England. The whole week run up we were watching the forecast and sadly it was raining on the day. However the sun came out later and we had the most perfect evening.
The Awards and the meal were always going to be outside due to numbers, the room inside was the dance floor, so the idea was the awards finished and then people would go inside for the DJ, but it was such a nice evening everyone wanted to stay outside.
So we had karaoke in the bar marquee, and no one wanted to leave the marquee!
We actually eventually had to shut the power off to get everyone inside.
This has given us some great food for thought and we’re going to scrap the indoor bit totally and have it all outdoors next year.
Did you get any feedback after your corporate event?
The comments afterwards were all glowing and all exactly the same; It was unlike anything they’ve been to before, it looked and felt very different, everything was beautifully designed, the overall aesthetic was mentioned by everyone.
There were some Very Important People in the industry attending, so it was really something get that kind of feedback from them in particular.
So what are your top tips for planning a successful corporate event now?
Aesthetics are key. Stick to your guns!
There are times when people were questioning me, but a strong vision is important. Equally, so is listening to the professionals.
Katherine was amazing- she was the expert and was amazing at suggesting things, trusting your experts to deliver definitely paid off for us.
Corporate events don’t have to be formal and boring! You can put on a corporate event that has personality and is really fun!
How will you do things differently at your next event?
We will be building on this year and also keeping things more outdoor focussed as that worked so well.
We built the event around the space available to us, the set up we had fit perfectly for the grounds at Farnham and worked beautifully with the surroundings. The views were so nice, so the clearspan marquee worked so well for 360 views!
This was actually the biggest event ever held at Farnham Castle. It was the biggest outdoor structure and the largest number of sit down guests so we really outgrew ourselves on year 1!
The whole event was built perfectly around the natural surroundings and space we had. Next year at a new venue, I’m sure it will be totally different but equally beautiful and maybe even more perfect.
We are already talking about themes… But how do you top it, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot!
It all went amazingly. We are so happy we found you.
Katherine had a vision but she wasn’t pushy. If we preferred something she would back it and help us achieve it. She was there to support and advise and also to make exactly what we wanted happen. We will never forget the team working through two nights to deliver and pack up the event.
We are so excited about the next Pro Landscaper awards. Word has gone round the industry and this one is set to be absolutely huge.
