30 September 2010

Arsenal FC recently opened the new Woolwich Suite and held a launch party on the 23^rd September. The event was co-sponsored by its partners Aztec Event Services and Delaware North Companies, providing technical services and catering respectively.

Renowned for being one of the most efficient and well run football clubs in the world, Arsenal FC has worked very carefully to develop its conferencing facilities throughout the Emirates Stadium. This has been done in such a way as to complement its football offering without compromising either, and the newly developed Woolwich suite reflects this sympathetic approach.

Refurbishment work began at the end of the last season, took the entire summer to complete and opened just in time for this season. The Woolwich Suite is the Emirates' largest room, consisting of the WM Club and a reception/lounge area called The Foundry. The WM Club is a multifunctional 500-capacity restaurant/conference hall that offers clients incredibly flexible space. The new suite is sophisticated and upscale, combining traditional and modern elements; the theme revolves around past and present successes of the club, and in particular its legendary managers Herbert Chapman and Arsène Wenger.

Following a reception in the stylish lounge area, guests were presented with the revamped suite. As the stadium’s on site audiovisual production company since the stadium opened in 2006, Aztec provided all the AV and production services for the event. The set up included a large stage with a huge video wall made up entirely of Christie MicroTiles™, providing a fantastic backdrop to the new lounge.

Arsenal’s Marketing Director, Angus Kinnear, welcomed all the visitors, gave a short presentation, and then introduced a stunning 5-minute video showcasing the club's history and its legacy. This included footage from Arsenal’s video archives and walked the audience through the history of the Foundry, the WM club, the Woolwich Suite and Arsenal Football Club itself. The video was created and edited by Aztec’s creative arm, Aztec Digital.

Demonstrating the flexibility of the space, a smaller area adjacent to the Woolwich Suite was set up with theatre style seating, screen, lectern and top table. Although this section was left open for the launch, it could have been closed off to create an intimate seminar setting for up to 100 people. Here again Aztec demonstrated great creativity using a set up consisting of a lectern and a top table with Christie MicroTiles™ built in to display the speakers’ names and sponsors’ logos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the presentations, the guests were invited to take a tour of the stadium with legends Charlie George and Sammy Nelson.