Insider Events – 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge Overseas

100th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge Overseas Event
April 9, 2017
Canadian Memorial of Vimy, Givenchy-en-Gohelle, France 

Organizing team

The client’s organizing team and support included more than 100 people. Below is the event’s subcontracted group only.

Maria Montesinos, Event Manager and Project Lead
Marie-Claude Bureau, CMP, Event Coordinator, Site Logistics
Desmond Lomas, CMP, Event Coordinator, Site Logistics
Patricia Pearson, CMP, Event Manager – Accommodations, Transportation and Meals (ATM)
Kathryn Cyr, Event Coordinator – ATM
Greg Muir, Event Coordinator – ATM
Claudia Deschamps, Event Coordinator – Delegation
Willy Squires, Event Coordinator – Delegation 

Number of Attendees: 22,000 people. The broadcast rating for English Canada was more than 1.1 million viewers. Video views from March 20 to April 12 reached almost 8.6 million.

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Target audience

The target audience was all Canadians from coast to coast to coast, in addition to citizens from France, Belgium, England, New Zealand and South Africa.

Main objective

The main objective of the event was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge, while highlighting Canadian values and what Canada’s contribution meant to the nation.

World class event

The project’s motto was “Not SALY (Same As Last Year)”, so the emphasis was on creating a new format that didn’t duplicate the 90th commemoration or other signature events.

The sheer size of the event and the massive volume of people attending with personal ties and deep emotions, dictated that we go above and beyond to deliver a world class event watched by millions of people.

We worked collaboratively with a production company to deliver a multidisciplinary, artistic representation through programming, poetry, dramatic arts, music, choreography, visual arts, and cinematography.

Biggest obstacles

After the initial client meeting, we had only six months to prepare and deliver the commemoration. Some of the tasks included: working with French suppliers to build custom-design structures; organizing local permits; sourcing local crews; liaising with government and local officials on security; and working in a remote location where the grounds are considered sacred and still somewhat volatile due to potential unexploded ammunition.

Innovation

New this year was a higher level of security, as well as transportation and parking challenges for 22,000 attendees. Putting 22,000 public attendees through security screening and transporting them to a remote site required some creative thinking. Electrical power for security screening had to be borrowed from private homes at multiple locations and parking lots were created in areas where none existed before. Although it took quite a bit of time to get everyone to and from the site, no one was turned away and no security issues arose.

Biggest triumph

An outdoor event of this scale with so many working components has considerable potential to go off the rails quickly. We were proud to meet the unique demands of all the involved parties to ensure a successful event. Simply put, from a logistical point of view, everything went exactly as planned. That was a huge win for us, given the importance of this event for veterans, Veteran Affairs Canada and Canadians.

Article written by Maria Montesinos and Patricia Pearson, CanPlan Event & Conference Services

 Article compiled by Jill Garner, Sheraton Ottawa Hotel

Article edited by Melanie Hudson, National Association of Federal Retirees