Autodesk University 2019 in Las Vegas attracted almost 12,800 attendees during its event in November. Attendees included Autodesk customers and partners from the architecture, engineering and construction industry; the product design and manufacturing industry; the media and entertainment industry; and the software development industry.

To cap off its annual user conference, Autodesk took over The LINQ Promenade for a final party, drawing more than 50 percent of attendees.

“Every year, we work with a destination management company, Fudale Destination Management, to help design and manage the party,” says Rachel Reader, marketing event specialist for Autodesk University North America. “At their suggestion, we incorporated holograms and laser graphics into the event to bring the Autodesk brand to life at the party. These new design elements looked amazing at The LINQ Promenade.”

The LINQ Promenade is an outdoor dining, entertainment and retail plaza, all set in a 200,000-square-foot area. It features the 550-foot-tall High Roller observation wheel, Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas and Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club.

The LINQ Promenade is an outdoor dining, entertainment and retail plaza, all set in a 200,000-square-foot area. It features the 550-foot-tall High Roller observation wheel, Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas and Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club.

“I’ve spent over five years in my current role, and this is the third time I’ve overseen a complete buyout of LINQ Promenade,” says Vikki Kydd, director of catering and convention services for Caesars Entertainment. “It doesn’t happen often, but it’s something we’re able to offer to large groups who want to break out of the ballroom.”

Reader says Autodesk’s destination management company worked closely with Caesars Entertainment to make sure the event operations all ran smoothly.

“Caesars Entertainment was a great partner, providing the security for the space and food and beverage for the central areas of the event, like the Promenade valet area, and in other Caesars Entertainment venues, such as the High Roller, Wheelhouse and Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club,” she says.

Perfect for Groups

The LINQ Promenade provides several spaces perfect for group events and outings.

Take Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas, for example. This 80,000-square-foot venue offers 32 bowling lanes, a 3,000-guest capacity for live events and the famous Blue Ribbon restaurant.

Since opening in 2014, the venue has been named “Best Music Venue” three years in a row by Las Vegas Weekly and honored as “Best Music Booking” by Vegas Seven magazine. It is available for customizable events and corporate buyouts.

Since opening in 2014, the venue has been named “Best Music Venue” three years in a row by Las Vegas Weekly and honored as “Best Music Booking” by Vegas Seven magazine. It is available for customizable events and corporate buyouts.

Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club is across from Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas and features shows curated by comedian, writer and Emmy Award-winning TV host Jimmy Kimmel. The club is reminiscent of classic Vegas, where Kimmel grew up. Guests can expect late-night shows, surprise guests and high-end casual food and beverage. The two-level, 8,000-square-foot venue seats up to 300 guests, who can watch anyone from up-and-coming comedians to those who are more well-known. The club is available for group events.

Also located in The LINQ Promenade is ameriCAN Beer and Cocktails. The menu offers approximately 70 types of beer from 50 states along with historically named drinks like The Teddy Roosevelt. Guests can play patio games like beer pong, Connect 4, cornhole and Jenga or watch sports on 20 high-def TVs throughout the venue. Visitors are also encouraged to bring their own food while they enjoy all the canned beer selections.

Other things to do and places to visit in The LINQ Promenade include the ICEBAR, O’Sheas Pub Las Vegas and VR Adventures.

The LINQ Promenade will offer direct access to the 550,000-square-foot CAESARS FORUM conference center when it opens in March 2020. Trade journalists attending Autodesk’s event got an early look at the building.

Flexible and Efficient

Reader says Autodesk appreciates Caesars Entertainment’s efficiency and its commitment to ensure they received all the answers they needed as they worked with eight separate venues at The LINQ Promenade.

“We truly praise the catering and sales team for their efforts to meet our budgets as well as our expectations for brand, food and beverage and design,” she says.

Kydd says Caesars Entertainment’s role is to work with the dining and entertainment options at The LINQ Promenade.

“Our team has the flexibility to coordinate with those venues under one contract and one food and beverage minimum for the client,” she says. “At this event, we utilized Brooklyn Bowl and FLY LINQ, both representing fun options to enhance the overall meeting experience.”

FLY LINQ is a zipline on the Las Vegas Strip, where up to 10 side-by-side riders can travel 1,080 feet above The LINQ Promenade. Participants can fly seated, backwards or like a superhero.

Since The LINQ Promenade features an open-air stretch where, typically, a lot of people are walking around at one time, Kydd says, the Caesars Entertainment operations team worked with the security team and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to make it accessible to an event of this size, and to provide a unique experience for the Autodesk event attendees.

“Caesars Entertainment implemented a new bag policy limiting the size of bags that were allowed into the party this year,” Reader says. “Since this was not a policy in previous years, we were concerned that many attendees would bring bags that wouldn’t be allowed into the party.”

However, Autodesk added a bag check so that people who brought large bags would have a place to store them during the party and would not have to return their bags to their hotel rooms. In the end, Reader says, the bag check worked well.

One of the things Kydd learned while working on this event that will help with future events involves crowd control.

“Buying out the LINQ Promenade for an event means we must find a way to divert the general public from the area,” she says. “In this case, traffic flowed through the Flamingo. That coordination was a complete success and something to draw from moving forward.”

In the end, all of the party elements came together well, Reader says, and the attendees had a great time.

“Autodesk develops products that help our customers imagine, design and make amazing things and experiences that play a part in millions of people’s lives every day,” she says. “It’s truly inspiring to be a part of that.”

Hearing that the client is happy with the overall outcome makes it a fulfilling experience, from Kydd’s perspective.

“I’m proud of everyone who had a hand in making it a success,” she says.