Transforming Conferences & Meetings into Memorable Experiences through Creative Destination Management Services
More than conference planners, at Ampa Events, we are the doers. Ampa’s approach to destination management and conference planning has it foundation in our scene shop, equipment and technical work. On this foundation, over 25 years, with a natural, ingrained service oriented approach to each client, our team evolved and learned conference planning from the ground up – back of house to front of house. Ampa planners/designers – with in house equipment, fabrication and creativity – manage total conference solutions. But, if you just need help with a few parts, we are collaborating with current conference infrastructure. At Ampa, the combination of knowledgeable, experienced planners with our years of technical work, design and fabrication services helps achieve program goals in an efficient manner.
Listening to clients is the first step in planning a great national conference, trade show market place, general session, sales meeting, awards dinner, gala fundraiser, or excursion. Client information and goals create a color pallet from which we masterfully design, paint, sculpt, build, plan and manage solutions.
With a solid understanding of goals, Ampa conference planners develop timelines, start negotiations and manage the details as the calendar progresses towards the conference. Step by step, information is managed and converted into production solutions, room nights, Menus, VIP receptions, networking lounges, branding, signs and creative solutions to achieve goals.
Hire Ampa Events to plan and manage the entire conference or plug us in to support current efforts in a collaborative manner. Listening and engaging with clients provides the insight for a tailored list of management and production services.
What Destination Management & Conference Services Can You Expect from Ampa Events?
Special Events
Do you like playing air hockey? How about Mrs. Pac-Man? Flip up your collar, gel your hair and enjoy a 1980s theme opening night arcade gaming suite. What a great meet and greet event! Have a sponsored coffee break decked out with branded colors and messages for the sponsor. A “Recharge Lounge” will recover your phone battery but also give attendees a casual space to interact. Special events add flavor to conferences, keep the content fresh and help move the overall program along successfully.
Networking Events
Ampa Events helps tell stories and bring messages to life. Ampa’s production managers help clients achieve their goals and leave lasting impressions on their guests by creating impactful, strategic designs that capture attention. Enhance a networking event by telling a story, with interactive games, playful elements that encourage guests to mingle, and entertainers that are spot on and event specific.
Themed Events & Decorations
Entertainment & Speakers
Simply put, when you want the best, Ampa will book it. How about Sting as the headliner for your opening night mixer? A past president, diplomat, or state representative as a speaker? Throw in dueling pianos and shout out your favorite song while shooting pool with coworkers. Entertainment takes all forms. Let’s have fun thinking out of the box.
Our conference planners will manager terms of contracts for the selections of speakers, entertainment, theater packages, museum tickets, and a variety of activities. The right entertainment and inspirational speaker will enhance the conference experience.
Local Experience: Excursions and Tours
Leave the planning of your day activities to Ampa Events! Our Event Designers are your go to source for daytime cruises, cultural & historic landmark tours, vineyard luncheons, cooking classes and so many more fun ideas. For attendee breaks during the day or taking guests and family members of attendees on an adventure, Ampa Events makes each excursion memorable.
Dinner at a Museum: An offsite event creates opportunities for interaction. From arranging bus travel to party rentals in Washington, DC, part of the fun is getting there and upon arrival, catering and beverage menus can be design for with local or seasonal flavors as part of the experience.
Day Trip/Beak Out Session: Adjourn the meeting to a local winery for a culinary experience and breakout rooms nestled in the mountains or countryside.
Dining Experience
Enjoy the local flavor with a dining excursion. Provide attendees with a variety of local chef options. Sharing a dining experience creates lasting bonds and memories while fostering team rapport.
Wrap up the evening back at the hotel with a unique lounge and continued interaction. A robust roster of events helps control the conference schedule and encourages attendees to turn in at a reasonable hour to be fresh for the next day of meetings.
Golf Outings
Seasoned planners will manage all the details down to the types of beverages and snacks. Course selection, check in, tee time, leaderboards, sponsorship opportunities, event rentals, menu development and clubhouse receptions – a quick round or a full day excursion, all programs are customized for each client.
Food & Beverage and Catering Selections Onsite & Offsite
Catering, of course, is a major part of any event! Food and beverage selections must be well thought out for breakfast, lunch, dinners, and meeting breaks, meet and greet receptions, VIP dinners, offsite group dinners, and for those attendees with food restrictions. Ampa’s planners work with hotel chefs and off site caterers to deliver menus for all occasions.
Team Building
Nothing brings conference attendees together more so than competitive activities and team building experiences. Scavenger hunts, fundraising and charitable activities, add flavor to the conference. For charitable events or volunteerism, Ampa Events designs and manages impactful programs that leave a lasting impression.
Community Service
Giving back to the community. Charitable work. More and more, spending time with coworkers who are in the field “helping a neighbor…” is a preferred approach to refresh a business conference. Create memories in the host community.
Registration & Hospitality Desks
Where do I go? What do I do? An easy to use and informative registration process is the answer. Hospitality representatives and a courteous registration or information desk will set the stage for a successful conference providing valuable information, timely updates and a central location to ask questions. Guests will check in, collect information, schedules, swag bags and then move forward to their first activity!
The options for registration and hospitality desks are limitless. Advance planning tailors a program to fit each organization. From a fully branded kiosk brandishing signs and information clearly pointing attendees to the right direction to on call conference planners, our goal is helping attendees comfortably move through the conference.
Transportation and Meet & Greet
Transportation starts with the arrival of guests and does not end until the last event is executed and guests are returned to the airport. Ampa arranges for shuttles to and from venues with standard buses or fun horse drawn carriages. Enjoy the conference while we tend to the details providing comprehensive travel arrangements and friendly meet and greet customer service.
Invitations, Save-the-Date, Communications
Custom designed invitations can set the tone and theme of the conference. How about a spy themed attaché with fun swag and pre-conference hints of what is to come?
Ampa Events employs creative people including graphic artists, scenic painters and interior designers who apply their creative skills to all aspects of events including spectacular invitations! General services include electronic invitation and RSVP services with information management and assessment. For post event wrap up, consider thoughtful thank you notes and acknowledgement to participants and VIP.
Gifts & Amenities
Swag bags? A surprise gift in your hotel room? Thoughtful gifts show you care and create goodwill as the conference begins. Ampa creatively selects unique amenities and stuffs goody bags with surprise and local flavor for attendees! We love to be the bearer of gifts!
Vendor and Venue Negotiations
Not sure where to start? The list can be long…. housing, conference centers, off-site events, party rentals, entertainment, audio visual and more. What’s included? Do I have bargaining power with the size of our conference? Ampa seeks fair and equitable contract arrangements that work within the budget and provide the best possible outcome. Advance work lays the foundation for conference success.
Trade Show Market Place
At Ampa Events, bringing together buyers and sellers or decision makers and suppliers is an important function that can be enhanced with many creative touch points. Trade Shows can be a great source of revenue for organizations. We like to get involved early in the planning to design for sponsorship opportunities. Enhancing the experience of both attendees and exhibitors through creative signage, entranceways, lounge environments, will keep everyone coming back for more year after year.
Sponsorship Opportunities - Recharge Lounge
Every break, a hospitality room, registration signage, every meal and outing are via programs for sponsors to gain exposure. Imagine attendees being greeted by a Kelly Green Lounge – the logo color of a sponsor – with piping hot coffee and refreshments as they walk out of the general session for a 3pm break. A recharge lounge with caffeine and phone chargers can become an iconic nicety appreciated by attendees and the sponsor.
What about high profile events? Would a top sponsor be interested in an off site event at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum? Or, do you think several sponsors would prefer to sponsor parts such as bars, dessert, or entertainment? With in-house production services, Ampa will support each sponsor with recognition through custom signs and program announcements among other benefits. Working well in advance of the conference, we will design complete programs and then approach sponsors for their support on the behalf of the organization.
Virtual & Hybrid Meetings
Part live event and part streaming? We’ve been doing this for years. Engagement is key. We stream to all channels and operate with more robust data management and internet connectivity. Content development, orchestration of live components for maximum entertainment value and creative ideas to capture the at home attendees, are developed to create captivating broadcast events from one location or multiple sites.
Audio Visual Production Management
The many moving parts of a conference requires trained technicians, production managers and conference planners. A big element of production services is the unique designs on stage and throughout the conference. Ampa’s experience with traditional theatrical design and scene shop fabrication, bring a more holistic program to clients.
Branding & Stage Design
Brand with corporate images through the conference and brand with the messages and goals of the conference. Branding takes many forms. The value of a branded stage set and signage throughout the conference can not be understated. At every turn, Ampa can drive your messages and tell stories. For educational or sales training conferences, repeating the message reinforces the learning experience.
Entrance arches, registration kiosks, directional signs, informational columns, messages in lights are all tools in our toolbox to help drive messages.
Floor Plan Designs
Floor plans are a great organizational tool to visualize the event order. Designers dream big on your behalf and then help explain the program with these helpful diagrams.Case Study - What not to do:
An Engineering Firm With A Training Meeting In Philly
Preliminary calls and assessment went well. Much like all training conferences, the client needed a program that included a general session, breakout rooms, opening night events, excursions, closing awards dinner, various executive meetings and business meals, and local travel. Arrival travel and hotel rooms were managed by the client’s travel company. Ampa Events quoted all services from airport to hotel and back to the airport.
After determining a complete list of service, we proceeded to discovery, walking the client through their itinerary discussing the daily activities, wish lists and made suggestions in an interactive manner to help the client consider new and different options.
Opening night stood out. Young engineers arriving on a Thursday night in downtown Philly with tons of nightlife to choose from was a red flag for us, especially with training sessions starting at 9am with a keynote breakfast outlining new systems the company was launching.
Play was the answer to safeguarding the morning schedule – an opening night event for arrival night with arcade games, roaming entertainment, music, food and beverages paired to one of several themes options requested by the cleint: 80’s, Hippy 60’s and tropical. We suggested an alternative – Philly Street Fest with a variety of food truck prop food action stations which we coordinated with the chefs menu recommendations. The party included a market place feel with market lights, Philadelphia landmarks, a Philly cheesesteak food truck – of course – music, interactive stations, pool tables and a variety of games that would appeal to the 20-30 something engineer demographic.
Unfortunately, as a cost savings, this event was cut. No company sponsored event was planned for opening night but for a brief registration period. The young engineers, as young people do, all decided to go out on the town!
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were invested to bring together the entire team for all important training. In post event review, we were informed that only 25% of the conference attendees made it to breakfast, a bit more than 50% made it to the second hour of the general session. “By noon, many were still holding their heads… you were right…”
Ampa focuses on itinerary planning that appeals to the demographic and will facilitate success in all environments. Special Events are more than fun times, they are strategic investments use to deliver total success.</span
F.A.Q
We gladly plan any type of event. Everything from your dream wedding with hundreds of guests to corporate/Not-for Profit meetings and everything in between.
This really depends on the event type and level of involvement and realizing your expectations. In order to allow everyone to get just the service they need, we do not charge flat rates for any type of event.
An event planner’s primary goal and responsibility is to help you stay focused and organized. We’re here to help you stay on track, refer you to reputable vendors, supply a wealth of resources, and negotiate on your behalf and carry out your vision.
We will be there to make your dreams a reality and help you figure out what your options are. Unlike other larger planning services, we will give you one on one service and will be there to ensure a successful event.
Ampa Events proudly serves the following areas, including but not limited to:
Virginia: Richmond, Charlottesville, Williamsburg, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Reston, Chantilly, Rosslyn, Falls Church, Vienna, Manassas, Prince William County, Dumfries, Middleburg
Washington D.C.
Maryland: Baltimore, Annapolis, Silver Springs, Bethesda, Rockville, Chevy Chase, Kensington, Gaithersburg, Fredrick
Philadelphia
New Jersey: Cherry Hill, SONJ, Souther New Jersey
North Carolina: Charlottesville, Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Outer Banks
Touring: As a touring production service company, Ampa Events will travel to you: Coast to Coast in the 48 continental states of the USA.