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CiEvents, last week performed an incredible feat in the face of a natural disaster, rescuing and relocating Mortgage Choice’s entire annual professional development conference for more than 500 delegates - that had been one year in the planning - in just 48 hours. 

Just three days out from the start of the Fiji-based conference, with delegates and their partners flying in from across Australia , some already in Fiji with their families and others en-route, severe hurricane warnings threatened to overthrow the entire event. 

At such a late stage, Mortgage Choice were concerned that the only option would be to cancel their most important annual franchise learning and development event.  However, CiEvents assured Managing Director Paul Lahiff that it would be able to turn the entire event around, host it in Sydney , relocate all 500 delegates to Sydney and find suitable accommodation – and all within the space of 48 hours.

Drawing on its teams in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, CiEvents made over 530 phone calls to source a new venue, re-arrange every flight booking, rebook accommodation and transfers and coordinate the evacuation of delegates already in Fiji on three Consulate arranged flights. 

The results: the conference commenced as planned on the Wednesday through to the Friday, with the same speakers as originally booked, the guests were accommodated in two quality hotels and transferred to the conference and home, and on top of this the CiEvents team organised three dinners and three after-parties from scratch. 

Gayee McGrath, General Manager, CiEvents, said, “The whole CiEvents team was committed to working together to ensure Mortgage Choice’s conference was able to go ahead. Through determination, a drive to succeed and years of experience in event management and logistics, we were able to preserve all of the client’s original objectives and keep the show on the road.”    

Mortgage Choice Managing Director Paul Lahiff had nothing but praise for the CiEvents team, “CiEvents performed outstandingly throughout the transition process and went beyond our expectations to deliver a top notch conference. We were highly impressed with their professional, determined and caring attitude, and have received a substantial amount of positive feedback from our franchise network and staff.
Mortgage Choice is thoroughly grateful for the meticulous work of CiEvents and take our hats off to all of the team!”

 CiEvents is a leading event management company specialising in corporate event and conference planning, production and project event management. With a network of offices around the world, including Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane , London , Shanghai and Auckland , CiEvents is quickly expanding its global footprint.