Over the last five years, the Honda Canada Manufacturing Holiday Party has grown to be the "can't miss" event of the year, doubling in attendance since 2014. This is in no small part due to the full production by the bb Blanc Team. The event is held each year at the International centre in Mississauga with a new theme. The theme for 2018 was "Let it Snow".

THE GOAL

Like any event, the Honda Holiday event starts with a goal (well, a few). The client goal: to celebrate the success of the business and the hard work that the associates of the Honda of Canada Manufacturing plants in Alliston, ON have done throughout the year. The event is meant to give back by creating a memorable night where the associates can enjoy delicious food and beverages, amazing entertainment, creative audiovisual elements and to let loose and dance the night away. After producing this event for multiple years, bb Blanc sets their own goals to help the client reach their ultimate goal. That is to out-do themselves each year. To do it bigger and better and this year we wanted to bring AV technology and entertainment together in harmony to tell a story throughout the evening.

THE CHALLENGES

• This year's set design required some heavy rigging. 70 points, 164 led panels, 240 lighting fixtures, multiple projection screens all in a venue with relatively low ceiling heights and weight restrictions.
• Timing was critical. Five days of set-up, ensuring all vendors were on time and ready to go by showtime.
• Time played a factor throughout the entire event. To effectively tell a story, the entertainment and AV cues had to sync perfectly.

HOW WE DID IT

The initial design was ambitious for the space. Taking the weight restrictions into account the main stage rigging needed to be adjusted over the planning process. The rig was also supported with ground support to take a load off the ceiling points giving us the perfect (and safe) solution.

The bb Blanc team planned every last detail to ensure a timely setup, building in time for any inevitable delays that happen in live events making sure that everything was ready to go before doors opened.  working closely and openly with all vendors was a key component to this.

To ensure that all cues were met for audio, lighting, video, etc, the entire evening was programmed using time-coding. What is usually reserved for the annual light show we do at the event, the time coding was extended to support the entire event to sync up the AV and entertainment to tell the story of "let it snow".

THE OUTCOME:

This event is unique because it goes through many stages over the course of the evening.  What starts off as a corporate gala evolves to a theatrical performance, then to a rock concert (with a surprise appearance by Suzy McNeil), to a fully produced EDM festival vibe.  The stage set, which included amazing visuals with larger than life LED video technology and substantial lighting created a look and feel similar to an EDM concert.