Layout:
Home > The company's 75th anniversary party

The company's 75th anniversary party

May 30th, 2006 at 08:16 pm

ok. I have to blog about this because this was not AN event, this was THE event...the company is based in ES, but, flies to 35 cities in 19 countries...they flew people in from all the stations...not only employees (manager or higher hierarchy), but also media people from all 19 countries, as well!...Revenue management people said that 70% of the flights were carrying at least 20 people traveling on space-confirmed passes that day!...

Well, I received my invitation and I thought...maybe someone made a mistake...but, later in the week there was an email confirmation, so...I had decided to splurge and have my hair done...but, work committments kept me at the office until 6:15pm! (the invitation was for 7pm!)...so I had to forget about it and just rush home to change!...I went for the LBD approach, because the invitation said: FORMAL...so, I didn't want to be overdressed...but I also didn't want to be UNDERdressed, either!...I put on some makeup...it was sooo funny...Ale kept looking at me and, just before I left, she said: "Mom, you look....I love you!" and came to hug me...I guess she wanted to see if I was still the same mommy...(answer to that is YES!)...

I got my invitation out and noticed there was no indication of which ballroom the event would take place in...only the hotel...and I thought: hmm, how are we supposed to know where to go?? Oh, well, I'll ask at the hotel...

About a block from the hotel (it's on top of a hill) I realized WHY there was no room name...they had red, blue and yellow (the company colors) spotlights lighting the sky....((just follow the batsignal!))...

I had also decided that I was NOT going to leave my car outside and traipse uphill in my heels and nice dress, so I had decided to use the valet parking....I had my $2 ready...so I left the car with the valet...and was given a voucher that said: paid for! woo-hoo!..they even paid for the valet parking for any attendees that chose to use it!! (I imagine they told very few people about it, though!)...

As we went in, they had the photographer to take pictures...we were kept waiting in the hall until about 7:30 or 7:45...just mingling and commenting...and then, they asked people to walk down the corridor to the main room...the owners of the company were there and also the 4 Senior vice-presidents...so we got to shake hands/ kiss hello as we went in...((I kept feeling someone was going to courtsey to them! LOL!))

As we went down the corridor, we could see the "smoke" of the dry ice and, they had some girls dressed up as macaws (the company's mascot)...it was a very fancy tulle thing...you could tell they were supposed to be macaws because of the beak-like hats on their heads...it was very Las Vegas-like dress...

As we came into the room, we heard the swwwwoooooshhhh of an airplane taking off...and, as you came in, lots of pictures of airplanes taking off being projected on giant screens across the room ...they also had acrobats hanging from the ceiling!...it was VERY impressive!...and more dry ice "smoke", of course...

They had ice statues of planes on EVERY table...and a souvenir on EVERY place...a glass cube with the 75 Anniversary logo sketched inside...very tasty...very pretty....very heavy!! ((LOL!...someone mentioned this was NOT the thing to have around during an argument with your spouse!))...

There were also little menues on the table: ((markio, here's the menu!))
Salmon napoleon with asparagus, lemon sherbet, meat in wine/mushroom sauce, sauteed shrimp, potatos and vegetable napoleon...everything was yummy!...but, let's continue with the party!!

They started off with a video of the owner's son (in his 20's, very handsome boy!) saying what the company means to him and how much he admires his father ...then the owner read his speech (difficult, as he hadn't been told about the video beforehand, so it was a total surprise, and a very emotional moment for him!)...the President of ES also made a speech...and then they called to the stage a man that is a curator for the Smithsonian, who wrote a book about latin american airlines, and included a chapter on the company...THEN they called the grand-niece of the original founder (he was from New Zealand) ...

THEN they played a video highlighting the history of the company...where it started and were it is hoped it will get...they ended with: "if someday there are shuttles from Central America to the moon, we hope to be the ones operating them..." swoooshhh of space shuttle taking off .....

and the doors swung wide open and in comes a batucada group (10 people, drums only!...each drum playing a slighly different rythm, but in harmony)...you could see people wanted to get up and dance...but, I guess we were all too dressed up to give in! LOL!...good thing, too, as right after the batucada group, in came a group of dancers dressed in traditional costumes from different countries and paraded around the room, as if it were a carnival... in front of every small group of dancers came a girl with a banner with the name of the country being represented and a picture of a macaw (think the presentation of the countries at the Olympics)...then the batucada stopped and the first group of dancers -representing ES - danced a bit of traditional dances....there were 19 short dances in total!...very nice, very energetic!...(of course it was the same 20 people getting changed into different costumes, but, still!) in the end, all 20 dancers came to the floor and danced a couple of verses of "Pero si son latinos..." (there's some that mentioned the names of Latin American countries, they chose the ones that mention the ones we fly to) and the dancers even brought some people to dance from the closest tables...

After that, they presented the new campaign, which will be based around cultural diversity, will start officially in June 5th...

After that, they brought dinner (this was around 11:30pm!)...and a jazz band played all through the dinner...

Part of the room was curtained off and, at 12:00, we could see light coming from behid it...we thought it might be a cake or something...but, it wasn't...it was a band (Orquesta San Vicente, quite known here)...playing Happy birthday...after that, the dancing was to start!...this is when I had to leave, it was already 12:30!!...they tell me it went on until 3:00am!

As I was leaving, I saw the pictures on the table...also a special magazine and postage stamps...I took my picture, a copy of the magazine and 2 postage stamps envelopes!!...I went outside and requested my car...end of the night for me!

As we say here: they threw the house out the window on this event!

5 Responses to “The company's 75th anniversary party”

  1. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1149023306

    My goodness! What a show!

  2. markio26 Says:
    1149032415

    how wonderful and what a nice surprise... i love a new adventure... i want to go to something like that too.... boo! hoo!! congrats....

  3. boomeyers Says:
    1149032478

    Wow! Not many companies can afford to do that any more. They are all laying people off instead. Glad you enjoyed your evening! (And it was free!!)

  4. LuckyRobin Says:
    1149051773

    This sounds like a marevelous experience, one of those real once in a lifetime things. I'm glad you had a good time.

  5. miclason Says:
    1149091975

    well...we've had layoffs, too... airlines had made all their calculations based on $43-$45/ oil barrel!!...ouch!...so, some departments have had cuts (accounting, purchasing - they automated most of the functions, or centrallized them at other stations)...while others (customer service, maintenance, sales, marketing and even my own dept, which is strategic development) have grown...

    the joke around the table was: Oh, now we see where the X% savings our department found went!....or...Oh, now we know why Mr. K (owner) had requested an additional $X just for the 2nd quarter...(the people at my table were from depts that have access to those numbers...our dept does and, once a month we hold an internal meeting...so we are all privvy to info not generally known at levels below director...and, so, my boss always says: I hear any of this outside, and learn any of you leaked it, I'll kill you personally after HR fires you! -LOL!)..that's why ours is one of the few depts that is paperless (our papers originate from other depts or from stuff we have to send to other depts!) -- I don't want to know how many documents the OTHER depts have to handle!! (if I have about 65,000 docs on my desk! Wink )
    I understand the reasons for the party, though...in part, is to give the "survivors" a feeling of confidence that the company is stronger now (it IS) and, also, this is getting A LOT of media attention!...how can you afford to pass on an opportunity like that...(76th anniversary is impressive, but definetely not as easy to remember as 75th!)

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]