Summary

• Originally scheduled for the fall of 2008, this Global Financial Services Organization Board Meeting was delayed until March by Hurricane Ike’s September landfall near Houston.
• More than 300 guests and journalists descended upon Houston for the company’s first ever Board Meeting in the United States.
• Sullivan Group mastered this complex, culturally diverse event with precise scheduling and a flair for handling the unexpected.

Objective
In March of 2009, Sullivan Group’s experts sprung into action to orchestrate a highly complex Board of Directors Meeting for one of the world’s premier financial services conglomerates. Originally scheduled for the fall of 2008, the Board Meeting was delayed until March by Hurricane Ike’s September landfall near Houston.

Production Management
More than 300 guests descended upon Houston for the company’s first ever Board Meeting in the United States. A majority of Board Members, company leaders and executives arrived from Europe and Latin America, along with approximately 150 international journalists.

Totaling four energized days and nights, events surrounding the Board of Directors Meeting took place under the direction of a stratified Sullivan Group team. This team included one master producer and a bevy of sub-groups that oversaw a variety of diverse agendas among visiting groups.

Production tasks largely centered around travel management for all arriving guests. Sullivan Group’s Destination Managers organized guest transfers among airports, hotels, dinners, tours and numerous events. Such transfers often involved high-level security details and movement between an array of different lodging, dining and entertainment venues. For the Board of Directors Meeting itself and associated gatherings, Sullivan Group managed all locations, food service, photography, audio-visual systems, entertainment, branding and signage.

Away from their formal duties, guests and journalists were treated to a number of tours and events that captured the diverse, dynamic character of Houston. Stops throughout four days and nights included NASA, Minute Maid Park, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Petroleum Club, a host of the city’s premier restaurants, and even a visit with Mayor Bill White.

Upon the Board Meeting’s conclusion, Sullivan Group arranged for the departure of guests to two seperate continuing destinations. 

Challenges
Never a company to shy away from a challenge, Sullivan Group faced several obstacles before and during this highly demanding gathering. The Board Meeting’s four days and nights in Houston may be best characterized as a enormous number of “moving parts.” Every group of guests that comprised the 300 attendees had a seemingly different agenda that often required artful improv by Sullivan Group’s producers and destination managers. A diversity of cultures among attendees also brought with it many challenges in the form of protocol, food and drink, as well as other considerations that were necessary to make all feel welcome, regardless of their role in or service to the company.

Results
While the Meeting itself was a resounding success, Sullivan Group displayed a high degree of flexibility, adaptability and attention to detail throughout this highly demanding but highly gratifying event.