When a major insurance company wanted to learn how to increase its team synergy, Cirque du Soleil, through its innovative SPARK Sessions training and development program, shared lessons learned from the high level of synergy involved in producing its 21 shows, eight of which are staged in Vegas. Factoring in the number of departments, show nights, stage cues and other quotients, SPARK creator James “Jay” Guilford figures that it takes “1.5 million moments of synergy” to create the Cirque magic each year.
Las Vegas itself is a stage for boundless synergistic possibilities and combinations. Here are some bright choices for sparking and activating the agenda in the destination that mixes fun with business like no place on Earth.
Unforgettable Memories
The spin lasts just 16 minutes, but a nighttime “City Lights” tour of the Strip and back with Sundance Helicopters dazzles from start to finish. Founded in 1985, the company operates from a private terminal at McCarran International Airport across from Mandalay Bay.
Offering at least 15 day and nighttime tours of varying lengths, including the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam, Sundance specializes in combining helicopter tours with customized experiences for groups. These include 007, Austin Powers and other themed events at the terminal, champagne dinners on the floor of the Grand Canyon, Colorado River rafting adventures and more. Several programs include luxury stretch limo service. The growing fleet of 25 helicopters are the elite of the industry—and if you are lucky, Hollywood hunk Lorenzo Lamas is among the pilots.
Introduced in 1929 at the Oasis Cafe on Fremont Street, neon signs electrified the Vegas scene through the 1980s. Today, the vogue is LED and digital signage, but along with Glitter Gulch icons along and around Fremont Street, the Neon Museum vitally preserves some 150 of these alluring works of art.
With its visitors center housed in the relocated Space Age-era La Concha Motel, the boneyard’s wonderland of memories includes a vintage Caesars Palace frieze and yesteryear classics such as the Stardust, Sahara and Golden Nugget. Tours, docent-led only, tell the compelling stories behind the signs, such as the Moulin Rouge and its role in desegregation. Private event spaces include La Concha, the 3,500-square-foot outdoor North Gallery, and smaller Neon Boneyard Park.
Illuminating in its own way is the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Created by Larry Ruvo of Southern Wine and Spirits of Nevada (the city’s leading supplier) in memory of his Alzheimer’s-stricken father Lou, this outpatient facility is among the world’s preeminent research centers for Alzheimer’s, dementia and other brain disorders.
Helping fund this vital work, which presently includes NFL concussion studies, are all proceeds (after expenses) from events staged at the connected Keep Memory Alive Event Center. Designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, the venue, an undulating stainless steel wave with 199 windows, offers a spectacular canvas for events of up to 450 seated or 700 standing.
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Outside, the breezeway and garden can accommodate events of up to 1,500 people. One of the hottest tickets in town is the Center’s annual Power of Love gala, which featured Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday as part of its 20th anniversary celebration last month.
Chow Time
Leave it to Las Vegas to include revolutionary nightclub space and top-class mixology in the new 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena. Curving around the top level of the bowl-shaped venue, the 18,000-square-foot Hyde Lounge includes two triangulated platforms overhanging the arena seating below.
Hosting up to 800 people or divisible by three for smaller gatherings, the sophisticated space from hospitality operator SBE (also behind Hyde Bellagio and Double Barrel Roadhouse at the nearby Monte Carlo, and Hyde Lounge at Staples Center in Los Angeles), the venue can be utilized for events during and after concerts and other programs at the arena. Among the premium experiences: four bars serving innovative craft cocktails from renowned mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim.
As one of the world’s culinary capitals, Las Vegas offers a dizzying array of dining and drinking options. Helping make sense of it all is local restaurant insider Donald Contursi, whose Lip Smacking Foodie Tours, launched last year, takes visitors on walking discoveries of some of the city’s hottest dining spots. “Savors of the Strip,” for example, is a three-hour VIP sampling of signature dishes at five acclaimed restaurants inside ARIA and other top resorts. Other programs include the “Downtown Lip Smacking Tour,” with stops including the celebrated Carson Kitchen from recently departed, much loved chef Kerry Simon, casual “Afternoon Culinary Tours,” and options for private and customized outings.
Offering close to 40 different F&B concepts under one roof, The Venetian and The Palazzo exemplify the abundance and diversity of the Las Vegas culinary scene. No less than six celebrity chefs are here, including Wolfgang Puck, who sparked the celebrity chef wave in Vegas in 1991, and Thomas Keller of Napa Valley’s iconic French Laundry, the only American-born chef to earn multiple three-star Michelin recognition.
Another signature space is LAVO at The Palazzo. Created by the team behind the resort’s renowned TAO Asian Bistro and TAO Nightclub & TAO Beach, the venue incorporates upscale Italian dining with the upstairs LAVO Casino Club. With its steampunk-inspired decor, this seductive haunt functions both as private event space and private casino, complete with DJ and dancing.
In 1968, Michael Chow opened his first Mr Chow restaurant in London’s Knightsbridge district, then one of the world’s most fashionable destinations. In 2015, with five other openings in between, including Beverly Hills and New York City, he arrived in Las Vegas.
Accessed via private elevators, the luminous white space, on the second level of Caesars Palace overlooking the fabled Garden of the Gods Oasis, seats 250 guests, buyouts and private space included. Suspended from the ceiling, The Moon is a 26-foot kinetic sculpture that changes shape every 20 minutes, adding a Kubrick-esque spaceship effect enhanced by the white-clad waiters. Mr Chow’s signature Peking duck, carved tableside, is among the highlights of his famed Beijing cuisine menu, served family-style for sharing.
