For the past four years I've attended a swing dance convention a the Town & Country Resort in San Diego. Appropriately called SwingDiego, it attracts dancers from all over the world: Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North and South America (dancers from Brazil dominated the competitions this year) for workshops, competitions and social dancing - quite literally - all night long.
The "happiness problem" of an event that keeps growing in popularity is that eventually you run into space issues. If you already have a great relationship with your hotel, sometimes you have to get a little creative. This year - in anticipation of hitting the 2000 mark in attendance - the organizers took a bit of a chance moving from the elegant 17,500 square foot Golden Ballroom to the hotel's 41,000 exhibition hall.
When I heard about the change I was a little concerned about the set up:
How were they going to accommodate a big enough dance floor amongst all those pillars?
The event directors came up with their own design for the exhibit-hall-turned-ballroom, maximizing the available space between the pillars for dance floor, and arranging seating at tables and on risers on three sides. Pipe and drape blocked off the fourth wall. A stage with the event logo projected as a gobo became the focal point, framed by two of the pillars (attractively lit with coloured lights) and on either side there were screens for closed-circuit coverage of the dance competitions.
Unionized hotel employees were responsible for rigging, but beyond that the organizers were at liberty to use whatever venders they wished. They went with the hotel's in-house provider for A/V, with a customized set up directing music more towards the dancer floor - and the dancers - and less at the audience.
Brilliantly designed for great dancing - all night long!!!
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