Elior Awards – Sound of the 70s

The background

In March 2015, award-winning contract caterer Elior held its annual awards ceremony and management conference.

The purpose of the awards was to honour and reward Elior’s hard-working employees and chefs.

With the conference and awards happening on the same day, but in different venues, we made sure that entire day ran effortlessly for our client.

The evening was based on the ‘Sound of the Seventies’ and featured a retro style dinner, prepared by Elior’s top culinary team.

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What we did

Finding the right venue for the glitzy awards ceremony was only part of challenge handed to us here at Apex; we also had to source and secure a separate conference venue for 220 attendees. And, both venues had to be within a 20-minute drive of each other.

Fortunately, with 25 years’ event management experience, we knew what to do. Quickly establishing two dedicated teams – one to set up and run the conference and the other the awards evening – we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

With both teams working closely together, as well as sourcing and securing suitable locations we also:

Found the right venue. The Leicester Athena – a stunning conferencing and banqueting venue – was selected for the awards ceremony.
Organised accommodation for the event
Arranged for executive and VIP transport between the event locations
Took care of the venue contracts
Oversaw the set-up of the conference including AV equipment and room layouts
Sourced a celebrity host for the awards dinner. The event was hosted by TV personality and impressionist Alastair McGowan
Set up the contracts and managed the celebrity host and their representatives before, during, and after the awards
Sourced event theming and props for the awards dinner. Including a bespoke raised illuminated DJ booth, wigs, costumes, retro sweets, and a mini arcade – was both brought in as props and custom-built on site.

Took care of production and the provision of AV, sound, light, and stage setup for the awards ceremony Sourced entertainment for the awards; including singers, bands, dancers and actors. Soloist, Lady Motown provided a range of classic Motown and soul tunes, and with entertainment and dancing to 1970s tribute band, Love Train continuing well into the night Organised additional temporary dressing rooms to be built to house the various artists Managed the show-calling aspect of the awards Set up and managed all supplier contracts and was the point of contact for these suppliers throughout both events Provided logistics and production support before, during, and after the Elior awards and conference; working hard to ensure that project was a success, and followed the agreed timescales and budget.