Event designer Heather Thomas has become accustomed to dealing with shorter lead times for corporate events, but a recent event for Audi of America, which required a quick overhaul of an event venue, put her scheduling skills to the test.
The Herndon, Va.-based Audi of America last fall embarked on a 14-day cross-country campaign, called the Mileage Marathon, designed to showcase the auto manufacturer's fuel efficiency standards. For the event's Cleveland stop, Audi's event logistics firm Presentation Works called on Thomas' firm, HeatherLily, to design the event. The two-day event, an evening dinner reception and subsequent breakfast based at Cleveland's Glidden House Hotel, required floral, lighting, table designs and the most challenging element: a large clear-span tent that could hold up to 100 guests, which at the time was not available in Cleveland.
"I was given a total of about three-and-a-half weeks, which is not a lot of time when having to work with a tent company from another state," Thomas said. "Cleveland was a last-minute add-on, so that's why there was such short notice."
Thomas was able to find the tent through a Chicago-based company but still had to fly in an expediter to get the necessary permits approved by the city of Cleveland. To complicate matters, the hotel was hosting a wedding the weekend before the event, leaving little time for set-up.
"The wedding was on Saturday, so their tent had to be torn down and ours set up on Sunday," Thomas said. "Everything had to be timed precisely, so it really tests your abilities. Everyone was on board, through lots of meetings, lots of e-mails and no miscommunication."
Thomas accomplished much of the rest of the design through Internet conference calls, never meeting the corporate players for the event in person until the day before it happened. For the floral arrangements, which included white Hawaiian orchids and calla lilies, Thomas provided sample arrangement photos to the event director, who solicited final approval from Audi's global headquarters in Germany.
Extremely short lead time for detailed corporate events "happens more often than you'd think," according to Thomas, but those instances have become even more frequent this year. "This year has just astonished me," she said. "People are just waiting until the very last minute to book, and then they're booking very large events."
That is beginning to move in the other direction, she said."2010 is going to be completely different than 2009," Thomas said. "We already have a lot on the books and reserved for the year."
Thomas also offered budgeting tips for companies planning events in which design is a centerpiece. Floral décor, she said, should make up at least 10 percent of an event budget, and up to 20 percent of a budget if the arrangements are a top priority, she said.
Companies also are paying more attention to lighting, and Thomas recommended that companies plan to budget between 5 percent and 10 percent of the overall cost for that element.
Even with the short lead time, Thomas said Audi ultimately was pleased by the event. In fact, one of the Audi team members told her that the event set the bar high for the other cities that the company would be visiting as part of the campaign, she said.
"One of the directors said we blew it for the other cities," Thomas said. "Cleveland was the first stop and had the nicest party, so they were very happy."
Originally published Sept. 21, 2009