Group Managing Director Andrew Ross and Regional Manager Heidi Baury of Chaos Theory have faced many challenges in their careers. But none have been quite like holding an outdoor event on a mountain 3,500 feet above sea level where the only way to transport their equipment and supplies was by cable car.
The event was Skift Meetings’ inaugural Megatrends Cape Town conference, sponsored by Millat Group, the mountain was none other than Table Mountain, and it took a strong team and a Hail Mary from the weather gods to pull it off.
The two-hour gathering for 150 senior-level executives from Africa’s travel, hospitality, and tech sectors, which took place in January, was a first in several ways. It was the first time that Skift, which hosts forums around the world, had ever held an event in Africa. It was the first time that Chaos Theory, which is known for its experiential and immersive events, had ever done an event on Table Mountain. And it was the first time that Table Mountain, typically used as an exclusive venue for small cocktail parties and weddings, had ever hosted a meeting of this size and complexity.
Precision Planning Required
Attendees were told to report to the host hotel, the Hyatt Regency, at 6 a.m., to be transported to Table Mountain. “I was genuinely concerned about that, but in all of our communications we were very clear,” said Gianna Greco, director, event operations at Skift, on planning her first “sunrise event”. “It turned out that everybody was on time and people were very eager.”
The two-hour agenda included four curated activities once people arrived at the top of the mountain, including sunrise yoga, a guided nature walk, a South African gourmet culinary experience, and a virtual reality experience. This was followed by an hour-long educational program from 8-9 a.m., which included a presentation of Skift’s Megatrends research, speakers from Air France-KLM and Goldman Sachs South Africa, and a discussion between Hamza Farooqui, CEO and Founder of Millat Group and Rafat Ali, CEO and Founder of Skift.
Greco says the experiences played a big role in the high attendance rate and keeping people on time. Because the cable cars for the general public don’t start operating until 8 a.m., the group had the entire area to themselves for the first hour, which lent a level of exclusivity to the event.
Plans B and C
Weather is always a concern for outdoor events — but even more so when they are at the top of Table Mountain, which can get four times more rain than the city of Cape Town below.
There was a 0% chance of rain forecasted for three days on either side of the event, but that morning at 4 o’clock on the top of the mountain, it rained. “Not excessively, not show-stoppingly, but it was certainly inconvenient,” said Ross.
His team was prepared for far worse. “We actually had a Plan B and a Plan C. We had an entirely separate indoor venue lined up, Nasdak, on the 26th floor of the Media24 Center, so they would have had the same 360-degree views of Cape Town and the harbor.”
They had also secured staging, décor, and furniture, and planned to use their crew to simulate some of the experiences on the mountain. Everyone had been trained for their potential new roles.
In the case of adverse weather, they were ready to change to Plan B two days before. Plan C revolved around a late start, rather than a complete washout.
Monster Production
But unexpected weather was just the first issue. Getting all the equipment up the mountain by cable car, and then not being able to load in when they were supposed to, created more challenges.In addition to the 150 guests, there was a crew of about the same size. “It was a monster production. We had a dedicated resource just planning cable car movements,” Ross said.
The venue was used to stanchioning off certain areas and hosting small events of 30-40 people with cocktail tables, but had never done an event like this with a stage, LED screens, and all the backstage AV equipment. Because of park rules, the production team was not allowed to bring generators, so had to rely on a series of 59 plugs at the restaurant at the top.
“I think because they’ve done events, they felt that they knew they knew what they were doing. But as the monster grew, I think they suddenly realized this was next-level,” said Baury.
Looking back, Ross says, the impressive and beautiful Table Mountain was the focal point, not any fancy sets. “Because of the rain, it was literally like you were up in the clouds when everybody got up there. You couldn’t have asked for a better venue at the end of the day.
“We’ve been putting events together for 20 years. So when we get excited about something, you know that it’s not just the run-of-the-mill. This was very special.”
