Event Recap: UC Irvine Hospital Grand Opening

Greetings Everyone,

We're now fully recuperated from one crazy week of events down in the OC, where we executed all of UC Irvine Medical Center's Grand Opening events for their new University Hospital, including their Employee Open House, Donor Reception and Dedication Ceremony. The event was a huge success, even with those nasty Santa Ana's dancing around us! We are so proud of the final results - the Hospital CEO even told us it was their "best event yet" - and at the same time sad to see yet another project come and go...

Here are the event details:

Client: UC Irvine Medical Center

Event(s): New University Hospital Grand Opening – Employee Open House, High-Level Donor Reception and Dedication Celebration

Location: UC Irvine Medical Campus & University Hospital, 101 The City Drive South, Orange, CA 92868

Date of events(s): Thursday, January 29th (Open House) & Friday, January 30th, 2009 (Donor Reception & Dedication)

Guest Counts:
o Open House: 800 guests
o Donor Reception: 150 guests
o Dedication Ceremony: 400 guests

Event Goals:
o Celebrate Grand Opening of new, improved hospital
o Unveil new hospital branding and tagline: Discover, Teach, Heal
o Gain Recognition within business & university community for state-of-the-art facility
o Recognize Donors and Employees who helped see the project through
o Allow all guests to see a sneak peek of the new facility (through guided tours)

Event Themes: “Opening Doors to Advanced Medicine”, “A New Hospital, A New Era”

Highlighted Event Features:
o A historic photo wall lined the guest entranceway, showcasing old hospital photos dating back to 1904 and highlighting the progression into the new era of healthcare.
o Created open-air ceremony stage area with blue carpet and hedge-lined perimeter for a first-class view of the hospital’s innovative architecture
o Incorporated hospital’s new tagline “Discover, Teach, Heal” into 3 food buffets:
§ Discovery Buffet featured exotic ingredients like Octupus, Sturgeon and Quinoa Chard Pilaf
§ Teach Buffet included made-to-order sushi with sushi preparation tips handed out by the chefs § Heal Buffet incorporated items with healing power, including figs, avocado and fresh seafood
o Incorporated citrus into the décor using lemons and oranges to indicate a “fresh start”, represent Orange County and utilize UCI’s colors of gold and blue
o Conducted professional guided tours of the facility highlighting innovative and progressive techniques such as the DaVinci Robot Surgical System

Well, it's on to the next big event!

Thanks for stopping by,

Stephanie