Date: June 17, 2016
Guests: 2,450
Where: Halls JK FGH (Central Building)

Variety – the Children’s Charity SA is a professionally run organisation dedicated to inspiring hope and assisting children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs. The Adelaide Convention Centre has enjoyed a 15 year partnership with Variety SA which started with the Centre’s sponsorship of the annual Variety Ball from its inception in 2002.

The partnership has flourished since then. The Centre has worked with Variety to help grow the Ball by providing guests with a unique experience for every event, and in turn encouraging them to return every year.

In 2016, the Variety Ball set a new record with 2,450 guests attending. A truly out of this world result.

What We Did

The annual Variety Ball requires meticulous planning and draws upon the full resources of the Centre.

Planning is almost an ongoing 12-month process that starts immediately after the Ball and involves both Variety’s team of 15 dedicated volunteers and the Centre’s team of event and audio-visual professionals.

Feedback from the previous year’s Ball is always used to further develop and refine the event starting with selecting a theme and then developing ideas to bring them to life.

The Centre’s dedicated Event Planner works with the Centre’s diverse team, from technical services through to catering, to utilise their expertise and resources to grow and evolve the Ball.

A series of ideas are put forward to Variety including options for event space, menu suggestions, lighting, audio visual and special effects to align with the chosen theme.

The 2016 Ball Theme ‘Out of This World’ saw the Centre work with Variety to bring their outer space theming to life through a series of specialised technical services. Variety’s volunteers build the props for the theming and the Centre activates them with customised visual, sound and lighting effects.

The centrepiece of the Ball’s theming was a 10 metre high, giant rocket ship which the Centre suspended off the ground, and then enhanced using smoke machines to simulate the take-off, with a pre-recorded countdown kicking off the event.

Additional theming of a space buggy and moon rocks were provided to simulate a lunar landing. Star shaped balloons also provided centrepieces for the Ball’s 236 tables.

The Centre researched and sourced NASA images of the moon from earth and vice-versa, which were then projected onto a 5 metre circular screen behind the stage. During the night, these images evolved to simulate a journey into space.

Other key technical features used at the Ball included four 30-foot by 16-foot full HD front projection screens, 200 intelligent lighting features and a state-of-the-art digital fibre distribution system to relay vision and sound to the screens.

Twelve of the Centre’s technical services professionals were engaged to set-up and manage the event, with the team spending 200 man hours working in the lead up to and on the night of the Ball.

A large Food and Beverage team was also required to cater for 2,450 guests. They included 30 kitchen staff, 106 F&B attendants, and additional team leaders and bar staff working on the night. Around 500 man hours were utilised by the Food and Beverage department to deliver the event.

The kitchen team produced 5,236 plated meals for the Ball which included 2,450 entrees, 2,450 main courses and 236 dessert platters.

Timing is critical when catering for much large numbers and nothing is left to chance, with precision in both the planning and delivery by the Centre’s chefs and front of house team.

The leadership team in the kitchen work closely with the floor captains to manage the flow of meals from kitchen to table, with service staff working methodically around the room to ensure guests are able to eat close together.

The Ball’s 2,450 entrees were served within 18 minutes – that’s more than 2 meals being placed in front of guests every single second. The main courses, which are typically more complex to prepare and serve only took 33 minutes for all 2,450 guests to be served – that’s more than one meal a second.

The period leading up to and immediately after the Ball is always a busy time for the team in the Centre’s loading dock, with precise logistics scheduling required to ensure adequate time to bump in and out such a large event.

It took a full two-days to bump-in the event and a further day to bump-out. This work is undertaken alongside bumping in and out a number of other large conferences and events.

Client’s Comments

The Centre is a true event partner in every sense.

Over the last 15 years, they’ve played a key role in building the Ball with us and in turn helping us to raise much needed funds for children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs. To date, the Ball has raised more than $2.4 million to assist children in need.

The Centre’s partnership for the 2016 Ball was exemplary.

From event planning to delivery, every detail was covered and the creativity of their team, particularly technical services, helped to create an ‘out of this world’ experience for guests.

The Centre’s activation of the event space with the lighting and audio-visual made for a rich experience, and guests truly felt like they were being transported to another world.

Catering for 2,500 guests isn’t for the faint hearted.

This year, with a large increase in numbers, we were amazed at how easy and seamless the Centre made it look.

The quality of the food was of a consistently high standard across the room, and meals were served promptly, and with the minimum of fuss.

The F&B Attendants were all friendly, professional and accommodating and dedicated to ensuring guests enjoyed the evening.

For fundraising events, the guest’s experience is directly related to how much money is raised. Guests are more generous when they’re enjoying themselves.

2016 was no exception. Our thanks go to the entire Adelaide Convention Centre team, we simply can’t think of where else we’d ever want to host the Ball.

We’re already looking forward to returning to the Centre again in 2017