Event Amway China Leadership Seminar
Venues Multiple venues across Sydney including Sydney Harbour Bridge
Organiser Business Events Sydney and Big Stick Adventures
Delegates 8,500
Date January 13-31
 

The brief 
Amway China wanted to plan a unique teambuilding event for its top-performing sales distributors as part of its annual reward programme that would also incorporate a leadership seminar. It was the second time Amway China had chosen Sydney for its incentive and leadership seminar destination so it wanted events company, Big Stick Adventures, to deliver something special that its delegates had not experienced before.
 
Challenges
The logistics of moving 8,500 people around was a significant challenge for organisers who decided to send the group in four waves. Due to Chinese New Year celebrations the last group was considerably smaller than the first three.
 
Big Stick Adventures pitched the idea of the Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk as something that has never been done before for such a large corporate group. Booking the bridge for four days proved a challenge, but after several meetings with government agencies the company was able to book two lanes across the bridge.
 
The organiser put together a Community Communication Strategy to ensure locals weren’t affected by the walk as it was the first time Australia’s iconic bridge was booked for an exclusive corporate event.
 
Execution
Twelve months of planning went into the event to ensure activities ran smoothly.Each group spent five days in Sydney where they attended a leadership seminar at Acer Arena in Sydney Olympic Park, a gala dinner at the Dome in the Sydney Showgrounds, a Sydney city tour, the Harbour Bridge Walk and a Hunter Valley wine region experience.
 
As part of the walk each delegate donated US$20 to the Technical Aid to the Disabled (TADNSW) programme, Freedom on Wheels, which was handed over to TADNSW in the bridge walk event’s closing ceremony. The money raised provided 250 modified bicycles to disabled children around the state.
 
Big Stick Adventures’ director, Brett Hollis says the walk proved to be the highlight of the event. “We knew it was successful when the staff survey came back with a satisfaction rate of 97 per cent, the highest rating ever,” he says.
 
The Hunter Valley also hosted the delegates for an afternoon of teambuilding exercises. “Wine tasting is such a western leisure activity and we thought it would impress our guests from China,” says vice-president of Amway, China, Martin Liou. “The programme we had planned made for a wonderful afternoon for all of them.”
 
Comment
“The local support from Business Events Sydney was always a guarantee of success,” says Liou. “They helped us not only in the venue selection, hotel negotiation and programme arrangement, but they were also a liaison point between Amway and our many partners and government agencies.”