When HerbaLife prepared to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2005, the company wanted to host two one-of-a-kind events to honor its top distributors and salespeople. The global company, which produces weight-management, nutritional supplement, and personal care products, was meeting in Atlanta, so it turned to local destination management company Atlanta Arrangements Inc. (AAI), to create two events that would celebrate the company, its milestone anniversary, and the destination, while inspiring and honoring attendees. Not only was each event to be spectacular, but they were to be held concurrently. The meeting, held in April 2005, included 35,000 Herbalife Independent Distributors from all over the world. AAI was responsible for engineering two distinct events for the most successful distributors in the crowd. "We were to host an elegant seated dinner for 1,000 of the company's top distributors," said Susan Henderson, AAI president. "And as the dinner wound up, we were to host another exclusive party for the top 6,000 distributors. That meant two totally different setups, one white-glove seated dinner and one standup event with lots of entertainment." Because the guests that earned the opportunity to come to the dinner were also invited to the after-party, AAI needed a location that would allow for two different events within close proximity to each other. Henderson settled on Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. "It's a unique venue right in the center of the city," she said. "And because it has a north park and a south park, it was easily divided into two distinct areas. It's also a very celebratory place, with the Olympic rings and the silver light towers." While the logistics were "extremely challenging," said Henderson, and there were surprises, AAI was able to pull off both events successfully. An Elegant Dinner The dinner for Herbalife's best of the best was to be held outdoors at Centennial Olympic Park, with 1,000 people seated around the Fountain of the Rings. Twenty-four hours before the event, Henderson was notified that the number of attendees had just increased to 1,850. "We really had to fly into action," Henderson said. "We had to have more tables, linens, staff, food, everything. There had never even been a seated dinner for 1,000 people there before, and suddenly we were making it 1,850. But the purpose was to reward and recognize distributors who had achieved a certain level of sales, and it was great that so many reached the goal at the last minute." In order to prepare for the last-minute changes, AAI had to rely on a number of trusted vendors. "We're fortunate because we've been in Atlanta for many years and we have lots of great suppliers," Henderson said. "We just called them up and said bring everything you can get on the truck. We had suppliers going to the wholesale floral market at the last minute on Friday. Our suppliers came through for us. And the guests would never have known that there had been a mad scramble." Guests were greeted by "dancing divas" in ethereal white costumes, moving to the sounds of live jazz music. Champagne service was followed by a three-course dinner served at tables surrounding the park's Olympic Ring Fountain. Decorations for the dinner were reminiscent of the company's silver anniversary theme - platinum satin tablecloths, white calla lilies and hydrangeas, and silver chivari chairs. As the meal ended, guests were treated to a special fountain concert. A Lively Celebration As the dinner wound down, the party at the north end of Centennial Park was just getting started. Because party attendees hailed from all over the world, AAI worked to make it a truly global event. "We divided the park into different areas representing different parts of the world," Henderson said. "People felt like they were going around the world as they moved around the party." For instance, the Asia/Pacific Rim area included martial arts, origami, and calligraphy demonstrations and Shiatsu chair massages. The Greater Europe area featured an Austin Powers show complete with an Austin Powers look-alike and dancers in go-go cages. And the Americas area included both a salsa band and an American party band. "The people could enjoy their own food and entertainment, or they could be adventurous and try those of other parts of the world," Henderson said. One of the most popular activities of the evening was party hat decorating. "We weren't sure if adults would enjoy making their own party hats, but people went absolutely crazy over it," Henderson said. "We provided shells of hats with almost any kind of decoration you can think of that people could put on it. So out of 6,000 people, about half were walking around wearing wild and crazy hats covered with seashells, animals, fish, all kinds of things. They had a ball doing that." n