It’s always an honor to be recognized by other professionals in your field, so the WM Events team was delighted by our win at the recent Allie Awards. We took home the Best Corporate or Association Event at the 33^rd-annual awards, for a winning project that had tasked us with producing a spectacular groundbreaking ceremony in an empty field under a bridge on what turned out to be an exceptionally cold day. If you think of breaking ground as mostly just a photo op, think again. We brought tech, we brought luxury accommodations, and we even brought charming, branded shovels to create a welcoming event that gave a who’s who guest list a taste of what’s to come with the project and development of the area. 

Come with us to the Gulch in downtown Atlanta and envision the future that is Centennial Yards.  

Conjuring Something Out of Nothing

This development is an exciting evolution for the city, as well as for residents and visitors. Beginning with the hotel and apartment building they celebrated at this groundbreaking, our clients are creating a neighborhood from scratch. So we needed to create a ceremony that reflected the monumental achievements to come – from parking to catering to an accommodating space for presentations, we brought it all. 

Our team leaned into our experience with outdoor events, festivals and technology to conjure up an enticing and comfortable space out of a raw construction site beneath an overpass. It started by making sure everyone had an easy arrival, despite the fact that parking in the area was difficult, and there was not enough of it. We commandeered what nearby lots we could, but some were too far for walking, especially on such a cold day. To help guests get from their cars to the site, we brought in two shuttles that ran continuously throughout the event.  

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We installed large directional signage, so no one lost their way even without that typical event feature – a front door. Instead, guests traveled a red carpet and were greeted by two registration attendants at the branded, magnetic registration walls before entering the main space, which we had delineated by wrapping bridge supports with graphics of skyline views displaying the future of the neighborhood.

Inside a large event tent, guests enjoyed hot cocoa and coffee and relaxed in theater-style seating among decorated highboys. Because it was an unseasonably cold day, we brought in many touches that warmed the site. The tent where the speeches and presentations took place was heated, we placed propane heaters outside, and we distributed hot beverages from the Frothy Coffee & Goods cart.  

Audio Visual Success in an Empty Lot 

To accommodate the day’s presentations, we created an elegant stage with skirting, steps, and a jumbo LED screen, and installed flagpoles bearing the flags of Atlanta, Georgia and the United States. Speeches celebrated the coming development of this historically vacant site in downtown Atlanta, which will become the residential-entertainment neighborhood Centennial Yards. This event boasted an incredible guest list, made up of celebrities, C-suite executives, sports team owners, and political figures. Speakers included Mayor Andre Dickens, Michael Russell of H.J. Russell & Co., and NBA great Grant Hill. Monica Pearson served as emcee.   

In addition to verbal storytelling from the presenters, with a jumbo LED screen, we provided guests with a vision of the future. We incorporated renderings of the hotel, apartments, and spaces beyond. These elements worked together to create a sense of place even from a vacant site that offered no inherent vision of it.  

And Finally, a Photo Op

Following speeches and presentations, it was time to break into the ground. Considering the gravelly terrain of the cold event site, we knew doing that with shovels would prove impossible, so we created a branded display — think grown-up sandbox — filled with sand and glowing red rocks and gave the development leaders and VIPs branded shovels to pose with. Yes, in the end, we did create an ideal photo op with the Atlanta skyline as the perfect backdrop, but the event was also so much more!

Afterwards, there was time for networking and dreaming about the exciting future of the neighborhood. The affair lasted just two hours, but like the landmark structures it will become, the memory of groundbreaking on the new site will last for decades. 

We’re proud of the part we played and know we’ll look back at this groundbreaking ceremony and remember – this was where it all began.