AGCO is the original “farm to table” company, manufacturing the heavy agriculture equipment large-scale farmers use to cultivate fields and raise crops. Since the company releases new tractors, combines, hay tools, sprayers, and more each year, AGCO gathers its dealers for training and certification on new equipment. Knowing equipment capabilities is essential to effective selling, AGCO decided to increase dealers’ exposure to equipment and move the entire event outdoors. They had already selected the site, a farm in Hesston, Kansas, an hour out of Wichita, which was able to accommodate the event’s large footprint, which included heavy machinery and 20 tents. Dealers would spend their day at the site, train and eat meals in tents, and then get bussed back to their hotel for dinner and an evening program.

 

Although AGCO was training just 200 dealers, the event was logistically complex. During week one, Right On Pointe was tasked with loading in all the equipment, setting up tents and A/V, and helping AGCO employees prepare for training sessions. During the final two weeks of the event, AGCO and Right On Pointe hosted two different groups of dealers, moving them between tents to attend 16 different educational sessions. The Right On Pointe team implemented best practices for hosting an outdoor event including innovative cooling solutions, securing TVs that could be used outside for visual presentations, and tent and signage placement to enhance people flow. Right On Pointe also assembled a production team with expertise in creating safe ride and drive environments, installing outdoor electricity and sanitation, and securing valuable equipment.

 

The Right On Pointe team arrived on site for setup on a Monday, only to realize the site wouldn’t work. Days of heavy rain had saturated the fields, making AGCO’s vision of training on its equipment at the farm an impossibility. The team moved swiftly to find a new location, the Hartman Arena in Wichita, Kansas, which had ample outdoor space with gravel lots. They also created a contingency plan of moving the entire event to a nearby university if a threatened tornado were to strike. Planning started over, permits were secured on the fly, and everything was figured out in just 24 hours. Despite all the weather-related changes, the AGCO training event came in under-budget. The new site’s rental cost was minimal, so most of the work to change the venue was handled by Right On Pointe and its production team. The AGCO Training Experience was a complex event with unexpected crises, but because the management of event services was outsourced to experts, the overall experience was exceptional.