Sage Summit Night At The Museum: Bus Boarding 101

Concerned about how you’re going to get to the Sage Summit Night At The Museum event on Tuesday July 13, 2011?

Me neither – but seeing as Sage needs to move 4,000 people from the Gaylord National to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum they’ve devised an innovative and unique method to shuttle people.

The idea? Wait for it ….

Board alphabetically by company name (Sage Employees and Partners can board at any time).

Special thanks to the 80 member Sage committee who worked seven months, sat through 15 WebEx conference calls, had 3 on-site meetings and 2 focus groups in order to devise this procedure.

Full details below.

What’s worse than standing in line for a convention shuttle bus? How about standing in line with 3,000 other people for the same shuttle! Re-living this past experience has either have you laughing or crying – or running for the taxi line. We get it! On Wednesday, July 13th, Sage is hosting an exclusive “Night at the Museum” for its conference attendees.

In the span of 1-hour, an orchestrated mass move will effectively transfer 3,000 persons from the Gaylord Hotel to the National Air & Space Museum. How? The failsafe, old-fashioned way of course: By alphabet! Starting at 6:55 p.m., Sage customers will board and depart the Gaylord at a rate of 400 persons every 10 minutes. Alpha boarding by firm name in leiu of last name allows those from the same firm to board together rather than splitting them apart.

Communicating the boarding schedule is the key and will be done by print, signs, live announcements, social media, text messaging and by human directional. The trade show will be open throughout the boarding period so customers, partners and exhibitors can continue to network until it’s their turn to board.

Speaking of networking, Sage business partners and Sage employees are exempt from the alpha boarding timelines. They may board at any time they choose so they can accompany their customer for this spectacular evening. It would be naïve to think this plan will eliminate lines and frustration but we’re certainly doing what we can to streamline.

Sit back and view a reminder of the fun that bus rides can provide ..