Siemens Medical Solutions

In Brief

Grass Shack coordinated and managed a high-powered sequence of employee and customer events for the worldwide launch of Siemens Medical Solutions’ new product in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Challenge

Siemens Medical Solutions CT division, headquartered in Germany, was launching a new product worldwide. For its Bay Area debut, Siemens decided to showcase the product at Stanford’s annual Radiology Symposium in San Francisco. For maximum impact, Siemens wanted ahigh-powered build up to the Symposium consisting of:

• a series of meetings to inform, motivate and provide a forum for product feedback for internal sales staff
• a briefing with top clients
• a high profile event presenting the product to press and public

Siemens selected Grass Shack to manage the entire chain of events.

Grass Shack Solution

Working closely with Siemens Germany, Grass Shack made recommendations on local venues and handled negotiations for bookings. Grass Shack coordinated all logistical aspects of the events which ran as follows:

• Sales meetings – Grass Shack coordinated five separate meetings in different locations with varying numbers of guests, including audio visual, meals and entertainment. One sales meeting was held on a Hornblower yacht in San Francisco Bay. Grass Shack arranged to have participants picked up in cable cars and taken on a mini-tour of the city before depositing them at the yacht. Following the day’s meetings, the guests were ferried to Sausalito for dinner and entertainment. Afterwards guests were bussed back to San Francisco across the Golden Gate bridge energized for the week ahead.
• Top client briefing – Grass Shack arranged a business presentation at the top of the Westin St. Francis hotel in the prestigious Alexandra room for 30 of Siemens’ top clients and then had guests whisked to the prestigious Farallon restaurant to a private room for an elegant dinner.
• Stanford Radiology Symposium Tradeshow – Grass Shack stepped in at the last minute to create a booth for Siemens. Working together, Siemens and Grass Shack developed an attention-grabbing display which featured an x-ray tube with blinking invitations to Siemens’ launch bash. The booth attracted lots of attention amongst participants, one of whom was heard to say “I can’t wait to see the launch event!”
• Launch bash – Grass Shack developed a theme and designed a logo in cooperation with Siemens for a “Night of Bright Light.” The evening started with a grand reception in the Rotunda at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts followed by a premiere event at the Exploratorium: the museum of science, art and human perception. Grass Shack managed lighting and audio visual support for speeches given by the President of Siemens Medical Solutions and the head of the Stanford Radiology Symposium. Some 400 guests strolled along a type of “science walk” which highlighted the new product and its capabilities through plasma screens and kiosks. This gave Siemens’ Sales Executives the opportunity to interact easily with attendees and to answer questions on the spot. The centerpiece of the event was an exact replica ice sculpture of the launch product, the Somatom Sensation 64. Entertainment was plentiful with live musical performances on one stage and a performance by former Cirque de Soleil acrobats and contortionists on another. As guests left, they were given information packets and a leather notebook embossed with the “Night of Bright Light” logo. Grass Shack produced a video DVD of the event which was sent to all attendees as a souvenir and marketing follow up for the evening.

Results

All of the events ran smoothly and to schedule. Feedback from the event was fantastic and Grass Shack was hired for another prominent Siemens event. “Grass Shack did a great job planning and managing Siemens Medical Solutions’ product launch event and sales meetings. We were very impressed with their staff’s ideas, abilities and professionalism. We look forward to working with them at our next event.” Eberhard ten Weges, Communications Manager, Siemens Medical Solutions, Computed Tomography, Forchheim, Germany.

About Grass Shack

Grass Shack Events & Media is a full service corporate meeting production company.  Offices located in San Francisco Bay Area, Hawaii and New York. Grass Shack works with a broad network of specialists across the country to provide the best possible resources and ensure optimum staffing for every project. For more information call 510.595.6921.

MySQL

Challenge

This year’s LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in Boston featured several prominent keynote speakers including the CEO of MySQL’s, Marten Mickos. MySQL’s Director of Corporate Communications selected Grass Shack to develop Mickos’ presentation based on our proven track record of providing innovative and appealing presentations for senior executives.

Grass Shack Solution

Working with the CEO, Grass Shack designed and developed a theme for the keynote and created visual support in just over two weeks.

Results

“Grass Shack Events & Media provided just what we needed for our keynote address. Their team was professional, creative, and very flexible.” – Steven Curry, Director, Corporate Communications MySQL

About Grass Shack

Grass Shack Events & Media has offices located in San Francisco Bay Area, Hawaii and New York. Grass Shack works with a broad network of specialists across the country to provide the best possible resources and ensure optimum staffing for every project. For more information call 510.595.6921.