The Gist

Special D Events has a long history of successfully serving foundation clients. In this case, one of the largest private foundations in the world convened its board of directors and senior leaders for a series of meetings and tours over a four-day period in Detroit. Special D Events served as the foundation’s logistics partner in Detroit, providing full-service destination management support.

Objectives

Collaborate with the client to design and execute a strategic series of events that would meet the foundation’s objectives and, at the same time, successfully engage and satisfy this group of 40 well-traveled attendees.

Solutions

After doing a deep dive into the organization’s culture, Special D Events recommended a wide variety of venues and special events for consideration. Program visits took priority, of course, so off all site activities were scheduled accordingly. We conducted numerous site visits with the client’s internal planning team to ensure the venues supported the foundation’s objectives for the visit. Our team was responsible for the look and feel of the events, entertainment, food/beverage, décor, audio/visual, participant gifts, etc.  We also served as the liaison with the host hotel. In addition, Special D Events coordinated all ground transportation including to/from the airport as well as to/from the various off site events, arranging private transfers as needed.

Using our considerable experience with the foundation community as well as our knowledge of Detroit, we made sure the event was a valuable experience for all stakeholders.

Image credits: Brett Mountain Photography