When it comes to booking meetings in Singapore, the group’s Waterfront Conference Centre at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel offers 5,980m2 of space, making it the second largest hotel-based venue; and the inventory of the five hotels – M Hotel, Copthorne King’s Hotel, Copthorne Orchid Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront and Orchard Hotel – adds up to 2,380 rooms, ranging from three-star to five-star.
“We’ve got Singapore covered” is the group’s tagline, and according to M&C director of corporate communications, Ms Rita Goh, the Singapore Tourism Board has started to publicise the Waterfront Conference Centre as the Lion City’s next new meeting space.
“The centre is ideal for conferences and regular shuttles link up the hotels,” she added.
The centre’s three levels of 28 state-of-the art function rooms are uniquely designed to provide maximum exposure to natural light and most of the rooms overlook the historic Singapore River.
The 850m2 Grand Ballroom can be divided into two smaller rooms, the 430m2 Waterfront Ballroom into three smaller rooms, similarly the 298m2 Riverfront Ballroom and the 265m2 Galleria Ballroom.
Six conference rooms and 11 multifunction rooms provide additional options for smaller groups. And The Promenade on the river offers an al fresco setting for functions and receptions.
On the night of December 3 last year, M&C had the opportunity to showcase the centre and the talents of the people working for the group.
A committee for A Roaring Great Time was set up. It had nearly three months to plan and execute the event. Several rounds of meetings and brainstorming involved the chef of the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and his team, the group’s director of f&b and I-vents – event organisers who co-ordinated the audiovisual, the lights and put the entertainment together.
The MICE team also played talent-spotter and hired the Wicked Aura Batu Cadat, a band of drummers, who provided the pulsating, rhythmic beat and the clarion call to party, and party hard, that evening.
Local girl band CC Crush, bar-top dancers, a tequila mama and vodka chick, together with waiters, cooks and back-of-house staff from the five hotels made up the cast for the night.
Ms Goh added: “Charles and Ivy (Toh-Tan, group director of sales – corporate) went looking for the colourful pink, light blue and yellow t-shirts and hats for the staff and the transport guides.
“It also involved the team getting down to choosing the music, trolley buses over traditional coaches, the shot glasses specially ordered from Germany to serve the frozen champagne on the ride and which our guests could take home.
“The experience started the minute the guests boarded the trolley buses. The frozen champagne was the ice breaker and the fun and party chit chat from the transport guides got the guests excited about the cool and chill-out party they were going to.”
When they arrived at The Promenade, 88 sales, front office and back-of-house staff from the five hotels clapped and welcomed the VIPs.
Ms Goh said: “People came up and told us they felt really important, like VIPs. That night, we wanted to set the tone and let everyone know that M&C can pull off a quality event.”
The meticulous planning and military-like execution required a PowerPoint presentation to the associates a week before and a day before the event.
“While we had to put in a lot into the detail, we also wanted to put in the fun element and we all had to have a good laugh doing it,” she added.
The aim of A Roaring Great Time was to showcase modern Singapore and not what everybody expects – bar-top dancing, contrasted with a traditional welcome.
“Our aim was to progressively raise the expectations of our guests and when one of them came up to me to say: “You really know how to throw a party”, we knew we did it.
“In a lot of event planning, attention is given to service, the decorations, the food. But the people who prepared the party, those behind the scenes, are forgotten. We did not want to forget them and we got the emcee to acknowledge them…the chefs who came up with the idea that they should wear themed hats, which they created with spray paint, and the rest.”
The event as it turned out also became the training ground for the hotels’student trainees.
The energising drummers, the chill-out saxophonist, the ice-carvings and the food showcasing the signature Penang cuisine from Copthorne King’s Hotel, western and dessert from Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Japanese from M Hotel, local from Copthorne Orchid Hotel and Hong Kong hawker food from Orchard Hotel.
But the piece de resistance was certainly the Riverfront Ballroom, which was closed up until dessert time. Designated the dessert room and where the coffee aficionado could get a fix and a strong kick, the room set the stage, literally and figuratively for the hot girl band, who managed to get the audience up to shake their bon-bons.
It was a party with a difference because the hosts let the experience speak for itself and dispensed with speeches and hard selling.
“We wanted to keep an element of surprise and for our guests just to experience an outstanding event,” Ms Goh pointed out. “Our goal was to show each and every guest a roaring great time.”
Needless to say the 250 guests who attended the event – co-hosted by BTN Asia-Pacific sister publication, IMA, and M&C – had just that.
Event planners interested to replicate the event should look at a budget of between S$95,000 (US$55,490) and S$100,000, inclusive of the entertainment.
According to Ms Goh, M&C’s event management services can be exported. “We are creative enough to find replacements for the drummers, for example, and find entertainers among local talent and personalities, of course keeping in mind the cost issue.
“So what we are saying is we are flexible. In the service industry, we have to tailor what we can offer and do to our client’s needs; act as consultant.”
So what M&C has created is a one-stop shop for event planners from booking rooms and meeting space, to event management, to billing all under one roof.
