Journal · Conferences
Running a multi-nation conference inside a working public garden
Delegations on a fixed schedule, protocol seating, and a build that had to happen around opening hours. What we learnt at Gardens by the Bay.
In 2023 we produced a multi-nation maritime security conference and its evening reception at Gardens by the Bay. A conference floor would have been simpler. The client wanted delegates to remember Singapore, and Singapore, to most of them, is that skyline and those trees. So the garden it was. Here is what we learnt.
The garden does not close for you
Gardens by the Bay is a public park with a timetable. Our build had to happen after the last visitor left and be struck before the first one arrived, which meant an overnight install crew, a technical rehearsal at two in the morning, and a strike plan measured in minutes. Every truck movement was scheduled against the gate. This is the single largest difference between a public venue and a hotel, and it is a planning problem rather than a budget one.
Protocol is a floor plan
With delegations from a dozen countries, seating is not a design decision. Precedence, national arrangements, who cannot sit facing whom, which delegation arrives last and therefore sits nearest the door. We drew the plenary seating six times with the client's protocol officer, and the reception seating four more. The lesson: get the protocol officer into the first meeting, not the fifth.
Arrivals are the event
Delegations arrive in convoys on a fixed schedule with security attached. Each needs a marshalled drop-off, a holding room, a walk to the seat that does not cross another delegation's walk, and a return path afterwards. We built the arrivals plan first and the programme around it, and on the day the conference started on time because the cars did.
The weather is a decision, not a risk
An outdoor reception in Singapore has a wet-weather plan or it does not exist. Ours was a full duplicate under cover, dressed and lit, with a decision point ninety minutes before doors. It did not rain. The duplicate cost around 12% of the reception budget and was, in our view, the best money spent.
What we would do again
The venue, without hesitation. The overnight build, because it worked. The protocol officer in the first meeting. A single point of contact for every agency involved, which was us, so that the client's team could host rather than coordinate.
The case is on the work page. The price guide has what a conference of this size costs in Singapore, including the line for protocol, which we quote only once we know who is coming.
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