UNLIMITED EVENTS GROUP: Engineering the Experience

Covid-19 hit the South African events industry exceptionally hard, with the sector effectively switched off almost overnight and kept under varying capacity restrictions for almost two years. The economic effect was brutal: not simply a bad trading year for an events company, but destruction of the normal market for its services, damaged supplier and freelancer ecosystems, and surviving firms forced to rebuild when gatherings returned. For a company built around bringing people together, there could scarcely have been a more existential threat than Covid-19.

“There was a 19-month span where we simply were not allowed to work,” explains Unlimited Events Group (UEG) Managing Director Garth Bianchi, “and it became impossible to sustain overheads that companies like us had. It is important to remember that ours was the hardest hit industry in the country – it resulted in about 95% of the companies that do what we do being eliminated.”

However, for UEG it entailed what Bianchi terms a “rebirth”, seeing it emerge as one of the industry’s few survivors. “It completely took off once restrictions were lifted,” says Bianchi, “and in a completely different light to before. We worked extremely hard on the core question of how we wanted to position this business moving forward, and it worked: we have had incredible, record-breaking years since Covid. 

“Pre-Covid we simply did a variety of functions and events; now, we use our experience to fill the historic gap between what a company wants and what is, truly, deliverable. Many of the top companies in the country contract us because they know that we can deliver on their expectations. In essence,” Bianchi states, “we meet the growing demand across South Africa for a fully integrated, turnkey event solution, supplying all the essential elements needed to produce exceptional events.”

FUTURE-FACING

Bianchi’s broader focus is on strengthening the Group’s standing as a complete event solutions provider not only in South Africa but across the African continent, and this future-facing approach extends into heavy investments in technology and artificial intelligence, as UEG looks to sharpen both its internal operations and the way events are conceived and delivered. “Our primary concern is how we will continue to make the business increasingly technology-based,” he summarises.

“We are working collaboratively to establish how we can best roll out and deploy AI as a key element of our industry, including the provision of quotes almost immediately upon request. This is particularly well suited to the hire aspect of the business, which is often required to fulfil client briefs or needs with exceptionally short turnaround times, and we will be able to respond in even more timely and efficient fashion.

“In general, we are actively seeking to use technology to help make the experience better for everyone – staff and customers alike,” Bianchi adds. “AI also helps us to more effectively use things like mood-boards to plan directly against our own stock and generate look and feels for the consumer alongside our creative teams to not only expedite that process, but to tailor it specifically to UEG and its wares.” 

Rollout of these features and developments is imminent, Bianchi states, and he expects it to be yet another differentiator for UEG against the remaining competition. “Even now, our focus on true, high-end, quality obviously keeps us at the top, as well as our speed of delivery and turnaround. There aren’t too many companies out there in Southern Africa that can compete with the transformations of which we are capable in the times in which we can achieve them. It further means that the client does not need to pay to hire two different venues, and can make a huge saving as a result, because we can so quickly make the same venue into something entirely different.”     

Bianchi points to a recent AI Information and Learning Day, hosted by pharmaceutical giant Bayer, as particularly illustrative of UEG’s unique ability to create a practical event setup designed to support learning, engagement and product display. UEG provided entrance styling, defined booth spaces, draping, AV screens, seating and layout support, with the result an exhibition-style environment offering each vendor a clear space to present, without the need of a heavy custom build.

“This is where smart event design makes a difference,” Bianchi assesses. “Draping helps divide the room. AV supports communication. Seating encourages engagement. Product display areas give structure to the experience. For corporate learning days, supplier showcases, internal activations and vendor-led events, the space needs to do more than look ready. It needs to work for the people using it.

“Logistics are also key,” he underlines. “Everything is designed around efficiency. With our systems we can offload into and set up a massive venue in 35-40 minutes; our competitors cannot get near that sort of time. It brings down staffing costs and shortens breakdown times, as well.”

Rather than viewing AI as a replacement for human creativity at the heart of the industry, UEG sees emerging technology as another tool through which it can work faster, plan more intelligently and develop increasingly ambitious experiences for clients. For UEG, this is another expression of the philosophy that shaped its post-pandemic rebirth: retaining the experience, infrastructure and relationships accumulated over almost three decades while remaining willing to rethink how the business operates.

“This will be our best ever year, and another record year for the company,” Bianchi concludes. “The past has given us experience, and taught us to appreciate certain things, but we don’t look back; our eyes are firmly fixed on the future and moving forward with this incredible team that we are blessed to have.”