How to bring alive the geographic diversity of multilocation practice for a large national consulting company? That was the challenge thrown our way—a tall order, but we were up to it! We all had to put our famed GMS creativity hats on and start imagining what each urban area where the company has a foothold stood for. Mandated by the conference theme “together,” and armed with graphic design and CAD drawings, we set off to transform Geraghty, a blank event space in Chicago, into an urban oasis of food and festive imagery representing some vibrant US cities. From Chicago to Texas, from Seattle to New York, from San Francisco to Minneapolis, and from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, there was no shortage of metaphoric representation of each geographic area.
Food is what unite us all! From Chicago’s famed deep-dish pizza to Seattle’s celebrated java, from New York’s legendary corned beef to LA’s delightful fish tacos food was everywhere aplenty. Some were downing Texas smoked briskets while sipping on Napa’s premium wines. In another corner, some found themselves in Pittsburgh admiring pierogi while other were plainly appreciating Minnesota’s wild rice risotto. The food was the best tool we found to bring together such a dynamic group of professionals in admiration of their firm’s geographic and practice diversity. There was no shortage of food replication nor city scenes to cure any nostalgia some participants may have felt during the weeklong proceedings. With a unifying theme like “Together,” the young and active crowd danced the night away to the versatile music of the Rod Tuffcurls & The Bench Press to wee hours—but miraculously, they were all attentive next morning for their closing ceremonies.
Event Décor & Technical Production by Kehoe Designs
Challenged with such enormous tasks as creating a lasting theme for what turned out to be 15th year anniversary of the firm’s founding, we had to reach to symbols. Crystal is the symbol of 15th anniversary and the weeklong celebrations shined in every turn like a symbolically brilliant crystal. As our client plays a pivotal role in transforming many companies’ businesses, we too tried to bring together the firm’s disperse operations under one brilliantly decorated roof with pomp and circumstance—as a symbol of natural unity.