d'events showcases logistical expertise at literary festival

The inaugural Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature (EAIFL) opened on Thursday 26 February and recorded 17,000 people attending over the three day event lining up to see some or the world's most renowned authors including Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Frank McCourt, Jung Chang.

The challenges for the project required coordinating travel and attendance requirements for 65 authors from more than 20 countries, scheduling nearly 50 different hour-long speaker sessions in five different rooms, managing 150 book signings, audio visual and teleconference set up with live dual Arabic to English translation, the coordination and transportation for authors evening events, and manning the green room.

The d'Events team worked closely throughout with the Festival's organising committee, title sponsor Emirates Airline along with staff from Dubai Festival Centre, the InterContinental Hotel and Magrudy's.

Running alongside the literary sessions d'events were responsible for managing the UAE's first-ever Fringe Festival. Four areas within the Festival City Mall and its boardwalk featured nearly 900 performers from 40 of Dubai's schools and community groups in a jam-packed programme of shows celebrating literature and the written and spoken word.

"This was the first time that Dubai had coordinated a cultural event of this scale with over 1,000 people participating. The expectations to deliver were extremely high, with a huge amount of pressure to ensure all participants and attendees were happy,"

said Lucy d'Abo, Director of d'Events.

The success of the event brought together the community of Dubai, proving that there is an appetite for cultural events in the UAE.

'The growth of cultural events and festivals in recent years can partly be attributed to the increasing need to stimulate the community. It becomes crucial for the city to expand its use of cultural events as a means of supporting education and family activities. We are proud to have been working with the EAIFL Committee and Magrudy's on this project and in bringing to Dubai such a fantastic cultural event,' added d'Abo.

Isobel Abulhoul, Director, Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, said: "Putting on the first ever literary festival in the region, as well as the first ever fringe festival to run alongside, was a huge undertaking. We found the d'events team rose to every challenge, and there were many, and became part of our team too. Their professionalism, their dedication to get the job done, and their sense of humour (a definite must!) impressed me throughout. The smoothness of operations on all fronts was a testament to their skills on managing an event of this size."

Other large scale events organised by d'events include the annual Hotel Show exhibition conference and gala dinner together with the annual Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge.