Unicity went ahead with Thailand and reaped rewards of a massive rise in attendance
Thailand’s political turmoil last year did not stop Utah-based multi-level marketing company Unicity to choose Bangkok for the second time as host of its 2014 global convention.
Christopher Kim, president of Asia-Pacific for Unicity International, said Unicity chose Thailand because the country is the third-largest market for the company after the US and South Korea. Thai hospitality, along with top-class MICE services, was also a major pull.
While the first Unicity convention in Bangkok in 2010 – also held at Impact Muang Thong Thani – drew 30,000 delegates, the 2014 edition saw a 67 per cent spike in attendance.
Despite the expansive exhibition space of over 60,000m2 at Impact Challenger Halls 1-3, accommodating some 50,000 independent distributors of Unity from across the world for a four-day event required a vast amount of advanced logistical and operational planning.
From the outset, the Bangkok-based Korean organising team, I-Hanaro, had been regularly coordinating with Impact’s sales department to secure effective operations since the contract was signed in February 2014.
Furthermore, meetings between the two parties were regularly held three months before the event date and the organiser visited Impact every other week for discussions.
Internal announcements were widely made across the various departments at Impact a few months before the actual day regarding timing and traffic plan.
Besides using the two indoor parking spaces with 5,000 parking lots, Impact also utilised AKTIV Square – a vast outdoor area of 19,000m2 suitable for outdoor events and concerts – as an additional parking space.
During the event, local traffic control units were stationed around the venue, while real-time traffic conditions were reported directly to Bangkok’s traffic radio station. Visitors were also provided with shuttle bus service to the venue and back to the city.
A welcome reception for 750 top-ranking members of Unicity was held on the first evening, followed by an exclusive cocktail party cum country meeting the following day. Seminars and product launches took place over the next two convention days.
According to Kittiwath Jangwang, spokesperson for Impact, the Jupiter function rooms were transformed into an exclusive lounge for VIPs before their speeches on stage. Challenger Hall 1 was used as the presentation stage, Hall 2 was arranged in theatre-style setting, while Hall 3 was utilised as the exhibition area to showcase Unicity’s latest products.
The sheer number of delegates also posed a challenge during mealtimes for the restaurants at Impact. Royal Jubilee Ballroom, Thailand’s largest column-free ballroom at 3,500m2, was transformed into a food court while Jupiter rooms 1-16 were filled with concession stands to serve a wide selection of menus including Thai, Oriental, European and grab-and-go meals to cater for the massive turnout.
But, it was still not enough. “We knew it right away that we were going to need to do something about it,” shared Kittiwath.
“We decided to open up two brand-new banquet halls with a usable space of over 5,800m2 inside Impact Forum, to resolve the problem so that people could buy food and sit inside the halls instead of travelling outside the venue to look for (food).”
Upon the successful conclusion of the convention, Krisada Kaewthong, event supervisor at Unicity, remarked: “We are very impressed with Impact’s first-class services and truly appreciate the warm hospitality of the international exhibition and convention sales managers.”
Event: 2014 Unicity Global Convention
Organiser: I-Hanaro
Date: October 15-18, 2014
Venue: Impact Challenger
No of attendees: 50,000
Challenges
Enabling smooth traffic, meals and convention for a mega event involving international delegates numbering in tens of thousands
