A revamped digital experience designed to drive significant revenue growth
The GCCC is one of the busiest convention centers in North America. Located in the midst of a vibrant entertainment district, it offers 373,000 square feet of exhibition space, 114,000 square feet of ballroom space and 75 meeting rooms. Each year GCCC hosts nearly 300 events covering tradeshows, conferences, exhibitions and sports and entertainment.
But the GCCC is more than just an event space. It’s a sustainability innovator, with a first-of-its kind, vertical indoor Smartfarm producing nearly 5,000 pounds of vegetables and herbs annually, to be used on-site for guest food preparation. It’s a nexus for Columbus visitors, with skybridge connections to five city hotels. It hosts the largest contemporary collection of Franklin Country art, including an interactive signature piece titled As We Are. And it’s a destination spot for Columbus residents and visitors alike, offering dining and shopping experiences as well as places to sit, relax and chat.
In 2017, the GCCC completed a major expansion and renovation of the venue. While connectivity is a core element of GCCC’s conference and exhibition offerings, connectivity is a core element and the existing network was at end-of life. While connectivity is a core element of GCCC’s conference and exhibition offerings, nearly every post-event survey highlighted concerns about the quality of the network. The network lacked the flexibility to tailor pricing to meet the diverse needs of exhibitors, limiting its ability to fully capitalize on revenue opportunities.
Legends Global had to act fast, so they engaged their technology partner, Boldyn, to develop an innovative solution that would take over the Wi-Fi network, upgrade it to meet customer expectations, and create new revenue growth opportunities for the venue.
Challenges & solutions
GCCC welcomes an enormous variety of visitors and events, from casual shoppers to major technology and games-industry conferences. Its Wi-Fi network has to meet the needs of all of these customer communities, at a price point that delivers excellent value for every user while maximizing revenue-generation opportunities for the venue and its owners. Specific project challenges encountered included:
Time-constrained upgrade window
The network takeover and upgrade had to be completed without disrupting GCCC’s busy event calendar or impacting the digital experience for guests. The incumbent provider’s contract was set to end immediately after the final event of the year, leaving just a four-day window for Boldyn to take over and reconfigure the network before the next show.
To meet this tight deadline, Boldyn’s team worked continuously during the venue’s brief closure. Within these four days, they took control of the existing network infrastructure, installed new routers, fully reconfigured the network, and began active monitoring and management via the Boldyn Network Operations Center (NOC).
This critical four-day transition period included New Year’s Eve and was marked by extreme cold and heavy snowfall.
The solution
Boldyn worked with Legends Global to execute a carefully-planned upgrade and cut-over that respected the existing event schedule and dovetailed with the incumbent provider’s contract end.
The dedicated team worked over the festive season, despite the challenging weather conditions, to ensure the network was ready in time for the next planned event. As part of this proactive approach, Boldyn ensured that safety-critical connectivity was maintained at two additional key locations during this vital window.
The network takeover was completed seamlessly in two days and the upgrade in under 3 weeks. Throughout, Boldyn stayed in close contact with the GCCC and stakeholders, fostering a strong, trust-based partnership.
Despite the challenging conditions, Boldyn went beyond the original scope by extending network connectivity to two additional locations, including a parking lot, ensuring seamless service across the expanded footprint.
Diverse end-customers
The GCCC Wi-Fi network needed to be powerful and fast, but also highly adaptable to support a wide range of user demands - from casual web browsing to real-time video streaming and immersive technology demonstrations.
Some events were hybrid in nature, with breakout sessions held at nearby city hotels in addition to the main conference at the GCCC.
To support this level of performance and justify a tiered pricing model, the network had to deliver exceptional reliability, speed, and coverage - ensuring every user, regardless of location or activity, had a premium digital experience.
The solution
Boldyn upgraded the network to Wi-Fi 6E, delivering high-speed, high-capacity connectivity purpose-built for high-density environments. The number of access points was more than doubled, from 110 to 250, ensuring robust coverage and performance throughout the facility.
The new network is fully customizable, allowing for tiered service offerings that align with the varying needs of users - from casual browsing to data-intensive applications and it can comfortably support large volumes of concurrent users across all levels of data usage.
Event organizers benefit from seamless connectivity in meeting rooms and exhibit halls, while guests enjoy free Wi-Fi for light online activities, enhancing their overall experience without compromising performance.
Supporting revenue growth
Boldyn partnered with Legends Global to maximize revenue opportunities for both Legends Global and the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, owner of the GCCC.
Show management was seeking greater value from their connectivity services, but Legends Global had limited pricing flexibility with the previous provider, resulting in missed revenue potential. Boldyn’s upgraded solution enabled tailored connectivity offerings, designed to meet the specific needs of show managers, exhibitors and attendees.
To ensure smooth delivery and support for exhibitors and show management, Boldyn provided a knowledgeable on-site team, available to assist with setup, troubleshooting, and real-time service adjustments to enhance both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
The solution
Boldyn worked with Legends Global to define a menu of connectivity options and value-added services, aligned to the needs of different types of customers.
For example, show management can now book services that enable them to create live internet broadcasts, send videos via email for promotion and marketing, or set up customized internet access for attendees.
Boldyn’s dedicated on-site team includes the Convention Support Services Manager who provides day-to-day operational management and acts as the supervisor of Boldyn personnel and subcontractors on site. They work with the Wireless Engineer(s) and Cable Technicians(s) to support day-to-day operations and to support wireless connectivity orders. With the Convention Support Specialist providing support for Converged Network Services orders and configurations.
