Glasgow University College of Arts Ball 2023 – Case Study
Fall down the rabbit hole as we talk you through how Glasgow University’s “Wonderland” Ball came to be!
Panoptic Events worked with the Glasgow University Literature Association – GULA – to assist in planning their annual ball for the students of the College of Arts. The College of Arts is one of the largest faculties at the University of Glasgow and thus Panoptic had to plan for around 700 students! Panoptic Events worked with GULA to source the venue for this event, choosing the Doubletree by Hilton in Glasgow, which boasts the largest ballroom in Glasgow so there was plenty of room to dance the night away!
The theme of this year’s College of Arts Ball was Wonderland and Panoptic worked with the society on the branding and design of the event. Our marketing team worked to create a cohesive and trendy public brand for the event that would appeal to students and we worked to carry this aesthetic through to the night of the event. We helped create a hype around the event which saw half of the tickets sell out for the event within two hours of release and kept up the excitement over the societies social media channels leading up to the event!
On the night of the event, guests were welcomed into a champagne reception before they were led to the main ballroom which was covered in roses, ivy and beautiful heart shaped balloons – all stylish nods to the wonderland theme. The ballroom was also outfitted with black starlight curtains so the entire room glittered. Guests entered from the foyer into the ballroom through doors draped with rose and ivy garlands into the twinkling ballroom to create a sense of “going through the rabbit hole” into wonderland. Guests were sat at their tables, which we had arranged to evoke the feeling of a tea party and decorated with nods to the Alice in Wonderland theme by covering the tables with bespoke heart shaped confetti made from playing cards and pages of the book along with miniature tea sets, and of course, more roses. Guests then enjoyed a luxury 3 course meal before being treated to a live ceilidh band and a fantastic DJ who ensured no one wanted to leave wonderland! Throughout the night, guests were also given access to a social media savvy photobooth that sent the pictures of the guests straight to their phones. Panoptic worked with GULA on this to ensure that both the start screen for the photobooth and the frame on the pictures it took matched the branding for the event.
Panoptic took charge of full production design for the event and personally oversaw the setup of this aspect on the day! We were tasked with sourcing all AV elements for the night, including the PA system and the lighting rig. Additionally we also sourced the DJ for this event.
After everyone had danced the night away into the early morning it was time to go home. While the venue was situated conveniently next to Glasgow’s West End, where the majority of Glasgow University students live, Panoptic still organsised accommodation for those who wished or needed it, securing accommodation within the venue at a discounted rate for all attendees!
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