How an elegant reception for 475 moved locations—and was still a huge success—with just nine days’ notice PHOTO: ANGLE MEDIA by Laura Bickle EVENT PORTFOLIO Trading Places A signature event of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery’s Annual Meeting is the President’s Reception, held on the final night. This year, when the conference came to Toronto, they hired TK Events and had a very specific goal. “The objective was to create a beautiful experience to thank the attendees and close out the conference. There wasn’t a focus on major activations, they just really wanted great food and great drinks in a really elevated environment,” says Epiphany Bourque, account director, TK Events. With that in mind, they chose the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). They settled on a Northern Lights theme as a nod to the fact that the conference comes to Canada every six years. They drew inspiration specifically from an image that featured the Northern Lights over a village that appeared to be lit by yellow candlelight. With the theme settled, the team was happily working toward the event when, six weeks out, AGO staff went on strike. Since private events could still take place, the team took a wait- and-see attitude until, with nine days left, the decision was made to move to another venue to avoid any disruption that might occur. “We spent Saturday and Sunday with the client, sourcing venues. All the venues provided estimates so quickly. It was amazing,” recalls Bourque. In the end, they choose the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) because, she says, “they can offer a very similar experience to the AGO in terms of that elevated kind of gallery experience.” However, since the AGO has internal suppliers, they had to find a new caterer (Daniel et Daniel) and AV team (National Show Systems). “I had three different catering proposals come in before Monday.” And, of course, the floor plan had to be re-imagined. “The ROM just jumped in, like true professionals. They know their venue. It was amazing to work with all FOOD & BEV The client shared that “a pain point in the previous years was there was never enough food and there were food lineups,” says Bourque. “So we created a menu with a heavy focus on passed items throughout (including eight different hors d’oeurves and five small plates), and we had five food stations.” Along with regular bar service, Bar Chef created signature drinks such as the President’s Signature Cock- tail (a molecular interpreta- tion of a Kir Royale), Toasted Old Fashioned and a cocktail canape (Spherified Aviation). of our vendors.” Thankfully, the Northern Lights theme translated well in the new space. “We brought in the blues and greens and purples in the lighting and the AV and accentuated with candles.” That’s 800 battery-operated candles to be exact, including 500 to illuminate a candlelight jazz quartet concert at the back of the hall. “From a logistics perspective, it helped the flow of the attendees to kind of move through the space and have something to experience at the back. So we didn’t bottleneck at the front.” While Bourque was concerned the blue and green velvet seating they had sourced for the AGO would feel too small, clustering them together assuaged those fears. A quartet played througout the evening. Guests were greeted by cocktails and a harpist. 48 | Ignitemag.ca | Summer 2024
