Red, White and Blue in Vegas

Every five years this union holds its national meeting in Las Vegas. A mixture of business meetings, exhibits and voting in new leadership, the week-long event always ends with a great send off. But what to do for a mostly male crowd of 4,000 in Vegas?

In keeping with the clientele, AOO Events event producer Nick Gentile and I created a casual night of camaraderie at Bally's Las Vegas. As you can imagine with that size of event, two ballrooms were used. The one in the Grand Ballroom (pictured at top) was meant to be more of mellow pub feeling with a jazz band and pool tables by AGR Amusement Game Rentals.

The second area, held in the Event Center and pictured below, was more clubby and high-energy. It featured a large-screen projection, lounge furniture and oversized S-shaped lamps.

We started, as we always do, with a Style Page...





The main focal point would be the 20-foot-high, 170-foot-wide video screen that told the history of the union starting with its inception in the early 1900s to the present. The images on the screen continued to scroll through, showing highlights from the organization's history. DAV Productions, a specialty company, created the video and a process that used more than 12 video projectors synced simultaneously.

Because of the sheer size of the ballroom and the amount of guests combined with a challenging budget, any decor piece had to be designed as large as possible and made to standout as large of an element as possible. These flower arrangements helped fill the massive space.

The colors of the union's logo tied the event together through all elements down the details like this elaborate ice carving by Ice Studio.

Here we used two gobo projections from Angstrom Lighting to create the back wall treatment. A gobo pattern with one 90-degree barrel created the base of the stage treatment. A horizontal split gel of lavender and magenta gave it a two-tone look. Then a glass gobo of the client's logo was placed on top to create the finished look you see here. Overall lighting for the event was provided by DAV Productions and Freeman Company.

Working with two A/V companies on the same event was challenging but necessary due to the way that Bally's is set up. The Event Center is part of the convention hall and the ballroom is in the hotel although they are close to one another. We were literally walking the LDs into each others' rooms to make sure they understood what they were lighting and how it had to complement one another!

And other details not to forget in Vegas -- the bling! Hey, when in Vegas ... Showgirls in red, white and blue! This was just the right touch for this All-American client.