Challenge
After a very successful first year with Founders Forum in 2018, we were brought onto Founders Forum 2019 as their official event partner to again support the communications and events team on the biggest of their worldwide events. This included design, production, project management and operations for all three events over the two days: the Gala Dinner, main day conference and conference after-hours party. This year Founders Forum wanted a fresh take on the event design, experimenting with different shades of colours, textures, shapes, signage pieces and overall flow, as well as more support on the overall event logistics, enabling the team to focus on their primary roles.
Solution
“Working with Marble LDN is always a real pleasure. Since 2017, Marble is a vital instrument in the production of FF’s flagship event in London. We need to entertain the busiest people that have seen it all, and so the bar gets higher year after year. Marble LDN helps (and succeeds!) to reinvent the event with new designs in-line with the company’s values within a reasonable timeline. The team at Marble LDN are efficient and always ready for a challenge. Their can-do attitude is a real help when there are many other things going-on. The communication with Marble LDN is one of the key assets that makes them the best event company to work with!”
Jesse Peterkin, Head of Events, Founders Forum
Result
Each year, Founders Forum Gala dinner is hosted in an iconic exclusive London venue. Previous locations include the BBC Studios, Kensington Palace, Painted Hall, Windsor Castle and the home of the American ambassador, Winfield House. After searching for the perfect venue, the team settled on the remarkable Lambeth Palace, a hidden oasis in the heart of London. The exclusivity of this venue fit within the Founders Forum brand perfectly, as each event must be personally approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The opening reception was held within the grand rooms of the palace, which included the personal library of the Archbishop. For the 500 persons gala dinner venue, Marble LDN designed and built a clear span structure on the palace lawns so that guests could enjoy the view of such a historic landmark. The structure was decorated with a custom built colourful LED ceiling lighting installation, modelled on the Founders Forum hexagon. For the first time at a Founders Forum event, over 80% of the guests opted for a specially curated vegan and sustainably sourced dinner.
While the Gala Dinner was in a full swing at Lambeth Palace, the rest of the Marble team were building the next event overnight in Hertfordshire. The main Forum took place the following day, where Marble were tasked with building on the success of last years conference at the Grove hotel; by redesigning the event and expanding it into the beautiful hotel gardens. We designed and manufactured four weather-proof inflatable transparent domes for the outdoor breakout session talks (big enough for 35-75 guests), each of which were branded and owned by a Founders Forum Partner; Facebook, HSBC, Knotel and Bain & Company. We also created a white inflatable, 16 metre hexagon shaped structure for the Innovation Hub which showcased demos of the latest innovations in technology, many of which have never been seen before. The weather was typically British and wet, but this didn’t dampen the excitement amongst the guests, the breakout sessions in the garden were all full and the Innovation Hub was heaving.
This new outdoor area at the Forum allowed us to increase both Founders Forum and partners’ branding for 2019. In addition, we were able to create new event features such as the AI Art Auction Wall in the foyer which displayed 10 pieces of artwork curated by Verisart. Guests could bid for these AI generated pieces through their Founders Forum App.
The exclusive guestlist included some of the world leading Founders, CEOs, investors and rising start-ups representing the global tech ecosystem. Attendees had the opportunity to network in a “Meet the CEO/Chair” session, view demos of the latest technology in the Innovation Hub, or listen to an inspiring panel discussion from one of 147 speakers, including appearances from Nick Clegg and Fidji Simo (Facebook), Lord Tony Hall (BBC) and filmmaker and Project Everyone founder Richard Curtis. Founders Forum London counts Bain & Company, HSBC, Google, Facebook, Alvarium, Henkel, British Airways, Knotel, Financial Times, Pictet, Dentsu Aegis, Osborne Clarke, WSGR, Sky, Softbank, Lakestar, Havas Health & You, London Stock Exchange, Elite, Globant, NetJets, TalkTalk, Smaato, Dassault Systèmes, Milltown Partners, Oracle, McLaren, Next47 and TPG as its event partners.
The Walled Garden at the venue played host to the last part of the event; Founders Forum After Hours. The path to the outdoor location was lit with colourful LED arches and fibre optic lights adorned the surrounding trees. Marble Music artists and DJs provided the entertainment, while guests were left to mingle within the stretch tent with a custom built Marble bar and delicious street food style catering.