The Society of Incentive & Travel Executives' (SITE) Foundation annual Invitational is not only a fund-raiser for the not-for-profit research arm of SITE, it's also a three-day whirl of golf, good times, and networking for incentive travel professionals and the corporate decision makers whose business they seek. The 2005 event, at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, was also an opportunity to show off to peers and prospective clients for Christopher Bielski, director of sales and marketing for the Doral, and Lynn J. Griffith, president of Welcome Florida Inc., who planned the event with Lisa Cherry-Perks of the performance management consulting firm the Opus Group. The opportunity was particularly good because this year's invitational attracted 300 attendees, more than twice as many as in 2004.
For the welcoming reception, Welcome Florida transformed the Doral spa pool area into a Mediterranean marketplace. A magician dressed as a street vendor circulated on the grounds, where the production company had erected stucco stalls, each with a seven-foot trestle table in front for serving food. Fishnets, brooms, barrels, and plants were suspended from the stalls, and baskets of flowers and fruit were arranged on the tables. Drinks were served from eight-foot trestle tables mounted on wooden wine barrels and topped with a trellis canopy draped in fabric. Strings of lights hung from iron posts, with additional lighting cast by candle lanterns and spotlights mounted on towers. Parrots perched in a palm tree behind one of the stalls while a Florida panther sat below. (Ngala, a private game reserve in Naples, supplied the animals.) In three separate areas, a jazz trio, Latin duo, and solo steel pan player performed. The food, prepared by Marriott hotels of South Florida, included curried chicken and papaya salad served in half a coconut shell by the Doral and Alaskan crab cakes on a bed of sprinkled paprika with chipotle dill aioli from the South Beach Marriott.
For the closing gala, Welcome Florida dressed the Doral's grand ballroom in blue, with a crushed blue runner and blue velvet ropes leading to the entrance. The perimeter of the room was wrapped with tall white pipe and drape panels in white and blue, and lit with soft blue gels. Three-foot-wide blue acrylic lamps hung from the ceiling, framed by white and blue panels pulled into swags. Tall palm trees made of blue fabric lined the walls beside illuminated silver planter boxes, living feather palms, and silver-draped urns filled with flowers. The dinner tables were draped in navy blue velvet cloth, and the chairs were covered in royal blue satin with a blue satin sash. The napkins were blue satin as well. For the centerpieces, square light boxes draped in blue fabric emitted a blue glow, casting a blue tint on white calla lilies arranged in glass vases. The Doral catered dinner, serving spinach ricotta gnocchi, warm halibut cheek, crusted tenderloin beef, and flourless chocolate torte.
Even the entertainment had a touch of the blues as the World Classic Rockers—featuring musicians who have played with Janis Joplin, Santana, and Journey, among others—performed blues-tinged roots rock. The Rockers used a stage built by Doral's in-house audiovisual company, Presentation Services Audio Visual, in front of three large video screens.
—Celeste Fraser Delgado
Photos: Christie's Photographic Studios
For the welcoming reception, Welcome Florida transformed the Doral spa pool area into a Mediterranean marketplace. A magician dressed as a street vendor circulated on the grounds, where the production company had erected stucco stalls, each with a seven-foot trestle table in front for serving food. Fishnets, brooms, barrels, and plants were suspended from the stalls, and baskets of flowers and fruit were arranged on the tables. Drinks were served from eight-foot trestle tables mounted on wooden wine barrels and topped with a trellis canopy draped in fabric. Strings of lights hung from iron posts, with additional lighting cast by candle lanterns and spotlights mounted on towers. Parrots perched in a palm tree behind one of the stalls while a Florida panther sat below. (Ngala, a private game reserve in Naples, supplied the animals.) In three separate areas, a jazz trio, Latin duo, and solo steel pan player performed. The food, prepared by Marriott hotels of South Florida, included curried chicken and papaya salad served in half a coconut shell by the Doral and Alaskan crab cakes on a bed of sprinkled paprika with chipotle dill aioli from the South Beach Marriott.
For the closing gala, Welcome Florida dressed the Doral's grand ballroom in blue, with a crushed blue runner and blue velvet ropes leading to the entrance. The perimeter of the room was wrapped with tall white pipe and drape panels in white and blue, and lit with soft blue gels. Three-foot-wide blue acrylic lamps hung from the ceiling, framed by white and blue panels pulled into swags. Tall palm trees made of blue fabric lined the walls beside illuminated silver planter boxes, living feather palms, and silver-draped urns filled with flowers. The dinner tables were draped in navy blue velvet cloth, and the chairs were covered in royal blue satin with a blue satin sash. The napkins were blue satin as well. For the centerpieces, square light boxes draped in blue fabric emitted a blue glow, casting a blue tint on white calla lilies arranged in glass vases. The Doral catered dinner, serving spinach ricotta gnocchi, warm halibut cheek, crusted tenderloin beef, and flourless chocolate torte.
Even the entertainment had a touch of the blues as the World Classic Rockers—featuring musicians who have played with Janis Joplin, Santana, and Journey, among others—performed blues-tinged roots rock. The Rockers used a stage built by Doral's in-house audiovisual company, Presentation Services Audio Visual, in front of three large video screens.
—Celeste Fraser Delgado
Photos: Christie's Photographic Studios
A large arrangement of birds-of-paradise and ginger flowers floated in the pool in front of a stucco market stall at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa during the SITE Foundation Invitational.
The Doral served curried chicken and papaya salad in half a coconut shell at the welcome reception.
Welcome Florida swathed the Doral's grand ballroom in blue velvet, satin, and light.
The World Classic Rockers played blues-tinged roots rock at the closing gala.
