Event International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) 2009
Venue Venetian Macau
Attendees 8,000
Date June 11-13





The brief
The IIFA awards are the Indian film industry’s biggest annual event. The four-day event is held in a different city each year in order to celebrate and promote Indian cinema to an expanding global audience.

Challenges
The destination is usually chosen one year in advance, but this year organisers received just three months notice. “Over the past nine years, IIFA has taken place in a city, where multiple hotels, venues and resources were used to stage the event,” says Gene Capuano, executive director of conventions and exhibitions at the Venetian. “This year the Venetian was solely responsible for doing what entire cities have done.”

The property worked closely with the official event organiser, Wizcraft International Entertainment, and set up special teams across each involved department to coordinate preparation.

The awards night after party was to be held for 2,000 people on the hotel’s pool deck, but unfavourable weather meant organisers had to decide whether or not to move it indoors to the ballroom, which they eventually did.

Execution
The event began with a welcome from Zaia stars on IIFA’s signature Green Carpet, followed by a show for 1,500 guests and an after party in Café Deco. Day two included a fashion show in the Venetian ballroom for 2,000 guests and an after party in St. Mark’s Square.

The awards night is the highlight of the programme and attracted 8,000 people to the Cotai Arena, followed by an after party held in the Venetian ballroom. A number of business forums, press conferences, and breakout sessions also took place in the junior ballrooms.

IIFA VIPs occupied 50 of the hotel’s largest suites, and were provided with individual 24-hour butler service and a special 24-hour hotline. Another highlight was the four major arrival events, which saw Venetian staff welcoming VIPs and celebrities. “There were singing gondoliers and applauding staff lining the pathway through the resort,” says Sabbad Joseph, president of Wizcraft. “This was a very welcoming sight each day.”

Comment
“The facilities at the Venetian are best-in-class,” says Joseph. “The staff, technical resources, quality cuisine and feeling that anything is possible within this ‘city’ made IIFA 2009 a great success. It was fantastic to interact with the local film industry, and the creation of a collaborative environment has begun in earnest.

“The combined organisational team of Wizcraft and Venetian represented more than 50 countries. It very quickly became one team and this truly captured the global aims of IIFA.”