JEDDAH, 17 February 2005 — Planned to the last detail, the build up to the Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF) has 48 hours to go. On Tuesday, the gigantic audiovisual screen was erected and much of the staging manhandled into position. Outside, the newly erected dining marquee was lined and carpeted ready to receive the tables and decorations.
In the main hall, walls of aluminum-framed black boxes towered over rows of pallets laden with cables and connections in advance of the audiovisual buildup and testing. Technicians pored over their laptops and checked the safe arrival of the hundreds of anonymous looking electronics-filled boxes that will power the hugely complicated “intelligent” lighting and presentations.
The custom made cradles designed to take the 500kg chandeliers arrived ready for the delicate job of removing them from the ceiling and wheeling them to safe storage. At over SR200,000 each, there is no room for mistakes.
When the cradles arrived, built to order by a local fabricator, there was no room for maneuver either. Ordered to precise specifications, the cradle was delivered one and a half centimeters too big to go through the biggest of the access doors to the hall.
Stoicism is a quality all exhibition floor managers armor themselves with. “We’ll get round it,” said Kieran Hughes, the Hilton Hotel’s chief engineer.
“There’s no denying it is a nuisance though.” The deadlines are tight, because to install the complex electronics and projectors, the chandeliers have to be safely removed.
Late Tuesday night, the entrance door was “adjusted” for the cradle to slide through and receive the chandeliers. “No sense panicking,” said Hughes. “It’s about getting the job done. We’ll sort out the ‘whys and wherefores’ later.”
Early yesterday morning, the chandeliers were hooked up to a block and tackle and, with the help of a laser guide, the cradle positioned dead center beneath. One man lowered the enormous lead crystal fitting precisely into the center of the cradle. Hughes was visibly relieved. “I couldn’t be happy until the locking bar was on and the fitting secure,” he said. “And they said it couldn’t be done!”
While some things are attributable to human error, some are simply unforeseeable. A chain snapping during the lifting into place of one of the generators being installed to supply continuous power to the event was not. Six tons of expensive generator set dropped to the ground and there were anxious moments for some time until the machine fired up. However, to make sure that the power is continuous, the generator will be replaced.
In the adjacent corridors, preparations were under way for catering to the thousands of guests and delegates who will throng the hall in just over 48 hours. Temporary tables lined rooms and corridors and teams of industrious Filipino women cleaned and polished glasses and tableware to glittering perfection, stacking crates lined in crisp white linen with the gleaming cutlery and glass.
A feeling of deadline fills the air and a sense of purpose pervades the scores of staff going about their tasks.
So far, any problems have been relatively minor and the build up though noticeably more tense, is back exactly on schedule.