When every room tells a different story: the Annual Marketing Conference at Crowne Plaza Costa da Caparica
Some events are organised. And some events are built, piece by piece, from the first idea to the last detail, through a creative process that begins weeks before any guest arrives. In 2024, Venuesin was responsible for producing the Annual Marketing Conference of a retail company, an event that brought together participants from over 15 countries, based at the Crowne Plaza Costa da Caparica with an unforgettable opening evening at Lisbon’s Estufa Fria.
This was not an execution project. It was a creation project, with a creative vision that expressed itself in every room, every piece of furniture and every production detail.
Estufa Fria as the stage for the opening dinner and cocktail challenge
The conference began before it began, with an opening dinner at Lisbon’s Estufa Fria, one of the most singular spaces in the Portuguese capital, with bamboo vaulted ceilings, a collection of exotic plants and a filtered light that transforms any setting into a cinematic scene. For participants arriving from over fifteen countries, this was the first signal that Portugal was not just another stopover destination.
But Estufa Fria was not only the backdrop for the dinner. It was also the stage for a cocktail challenge that brought participants together as teams in a way that was completely different from anything a conventional icebreaker could offer. Divided into groups, the international guests competed to create their own cocktails, guided by specialist bartenders, in a dynamic that combined creativity, healthy competition and product discovery, all within one of Lisbon’s most iconic spaces. It was a team building moment that made full use of the unique atmosphere of Estufa Fria and created shared memories before the conference itself had even begun.
Crowne Plaza Costa da Caparica: the main venue
With the opening dinner at Estufa Fria setting the tone for the experience, the main conference programme took place at the Crowne Plaza Costa da Caparica, a hotel with the conditions to host an international event of this scale, with multiple rooms, integrated accommodation and an environment that combined professionalism with proximity to the ocean.
But what set this project apart from any conventional conference was the way each space in the hotel was transformed. Venuesin did not decorate rooms. It created worlds.
The creative process and 3D visualisation: from concept to venue
Before any supplier was contacted, the project went through a full creative concept phase. The Venuesin team developed the experience proposal for each space, defining the visual narrative, the identity of each room and the coherence between the different moments of the programme.
That concept was then translated into photorealistic 3D renderings of each space, developed against the actual dimensions and characteristics of the chosen venue. This approach is fundamental to the concept presentation process: by visualising each room with photorealistic precision before any production decision is made, ambiguities are eliminated, approvals are accelerated and the creative vision is guaranteed to arrive intact at execution.
The 3D renders covered every space in the event: the entrance corridor of the innovation room, with an immersive installation of coloured balls suspended on wires that created a sensory experience tunnel before participants even reached the room itself; the innovation room, with modular furniture and a ring lighting system that allowed real-time colour changes; the main room, with a slatted wood backdrop, semicircular stage and large-format screens; and the tasting stations, each with its own entirely distinct visual identity and furniture. The comparison between the 3D renders and the implemented reality, visible in this project’s materials, is in itself a demonstration of the precision with which the concept was executed.
Three rooms, three identities, one thread
The most distinctive decision of the entire production was the creation of a different concept for each conference room, with furniture designed and produced from scratch according to the content each space would host. There was not a single generic rental piece in any of the rooms. Every piece was conceived, produced and installed specifically for this event.
In the innovation room, the experience began before you even walked in. The access corridor was transformed into an immersive installation with hundreds of coloured balls suspended on wires from floor to ceiling, creating a discovery tunnel that prepared participants for the disruptive environment inside. Within the room itself, the modular furniture was designed with a colour-changing system, following the energy and dynamic of a space dedicated to trends, technology and new ideas. Ring lighting suspended from the ceiling reinforced the feeling of movement and transformation. Colour was not decoration, it was language, visually reinforcing the message that innovation is by nature changeable and adaptable.
In the ecology room, all furniture was produced entirely in cork, a material with a deep Portuguese identity and an undeniable symbol of sustainability. No other material could have communicated with the same clarity the values that space was meant to convey.
In the main room, the backdrop was built in slatted wood, with a semicircular stage that placed speakers at the centre of attention and large-format screens that guaranteed visibility from every point in the room. Together they created an atmosphere of warmth, solidity and presence that framed the most important moments of the programme, the keynote presentations, the leadership moments, the strategic content that sets the tone for the entire conference.
The three spaces had distinct identities but shared a deliberate common thread: the use of natural materials, the reduction of environmental impact to a minimum and the coherence between the message of each room and the materials that composed it. For a retail company addressing marketing teams from over fifteen countries, this consistency between form and content was itself a statement of values.
The drinks tasting at the hotel: eight bartenders, an editorial experience
The new drinks tasting took place at the Crowne Plaza, with an operation specifically built for this event. A team of over eight specialist bartenders was distributed across different stations, each with its own entirely distinct visual identity and furniture, designed from scratch around the product it was presenting. One station featured coloured umbrellas suspended from the ceiling, another played with tiles and Mediterranean references, another created a fully immersive environment around the featured product, with furniture in vibrant tones and large-format graphic elements.
Each bartender had the task of presenting and contextualising the products that participants were discovering, transforming what could have been a simple bar service into an editorial experience moment, where each drink had a story, each station had its own aesthetic and the level of execution matched the professional context of everyone in the room.
Coordinating a team of this size, with distinct products at simultaneous stations, required a briefing and rehearsal process in the days before the event, ensuring that all bartenders knew the products, understood the concept and operated at the same level of service regardless of their station.
Graphic production from scratch and total visual coherence
Graphic production followed the same build-from-scratch logic, from the welcome signage at the hotel entrance, to the materials in each room, to the visual identity of programme moments and the graphic elements distributed throughout the event. Everything was designed and produced specifically for this conference, in coordination with the visual language of each space, ensuring that creative coherence was maintained from the first to the last moment of the programme.
Accommodation, transfers and international logistics
Bringing together participants from over 15 countries for a single event requires a logistical operation that begins long before the first day. Venuesin coordinated accommodation for all international participants, managing a rooming list that crossed arrivals from multiple countries, time zones and distinct requirements.
Transfers were coordinated across every moment of the programme, including the journey between the hotel and Estufa Fria for the opening dinner, ensuring that no group waited or arrived in a block at a moment that would break the rhythm of the welcome. At an international conference, the experience begins the moment the participant leaves the airport, not the moment they enter the room.
What this project represents
This event is one of the most complete examples of what Venuesin does when operating at its highest level of production. From the creative process to 3D visualisation developed against the real venue, from thematic furniture made to measure for each room to graphic production built from scratch, from the cocktail challenge at Estufa Fria to the drinks tasting at the hotel, from transfers to the accommodation of participants from fifteen countries, every piece was conceived, coordinated and executed with a coherent vision from beginning to end.
With a thread of sustainability running through every production decision, this was also an event that demonstrated that creative ambition and environmental responsibility are not contradictory objectives, when well integrated, they are the same thing.
Planning a conference or international event in Portugal?
If your event brings together participants from several countries and demands a level of creative production that goes beyond the conventional, Venuesin has the experience, the creative team and the right partners to make it happen. Contact us for a personalised proposal.
