Operations portfolio · 2023 – 2025
Angelo
Abi Ghanem
Event Operations Manager
I plan and run the operations behind high-profile events in Saudi Arabia, from the first site visit to the last truck out.
- Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand PrixJeddah · 2023
- Riyadh Fashion WeekRiyadh · 2025
- UN Tourism 26th General AssemblyRiyadh · 2025
- NEOM Beach GamesNEOM · 2023 & 2024
What I do
I take ownership of the operational scope and build the plan the wider team works from.
Access control, security, crowd flow, cleaning, transport and FF&E. Each scope is planned phase by phase and written into a masterbook that suppliers and stakeholders work from, and I stay on the ground through delivery to handle what the plan couldn't anticipate.
- Venue operations
- Access control & accreditation
- Crowd flow & queuing
- Security coordination
- VIP & protocol
- Transport & traffic
- FF&E & logistics
- Workforce planning
- Supplier management
- Build-up · live · dismantle
Selected work
Twelve events, three years, one market.
- Nov 2025Ramliyah Al Uqair Beach GamesCase studyHead of OperationsDelta Sports · Dammam
- Oct – Nov 2025UN Tourism 26th General AssemblyCase studyFF&E & Logistics ManagerBlink Experience · Riyadh
- Aug – Oct 2025Riyadh Fashion WeekCase studyOperations ManagerSRMGX · Riyadh
- Apr – May 2025AFC Champions League EliteSite ManagerBlink Experience · Jeddah
- Jan – Feb 2025Sports for All ExpositionSite ManagerBlink Experience · Riyadh
- Sep – Nov 2024NEOM Beach GamesCase studyProduction SupervisorBlink Experience · NEOM
- Sep 2023 – Mar 2024VIP Transport: UNESCO, Formula E, E1, F1 2024Case studyVIP Transport ManagerMotus One · Jeddah & Riyadh
- Sep – Dec 2023NEOM Beach GamesCase studyProduction SupervisorBlink Experience · NEOM
- Jan – Apr 2023Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand PrixCase studyVenue Operations ManagerTalent Blueprint for SMC · Jeddah
Case study 01
Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023
My role
Venue Operations Manager for the Marina & Promenade, the circuit's public zone of fan activations, restaurants, F&B and the marina walk. Reported to the Marina & Promenade Manager.
The challenge
The Marina car parks couldn't absorb race-weekend demand, and permit holders kept arriving at the wrong ones, with race day on Sunday carrying the highest risk.
What I did
Worked with the transport contractor, Motus One, to redeploy checkpoints, reinforce them with extra marshals and add signage at key decision points before the approach roads.
Result
On race day, permit holders reached their assigned car parks and guest and vehicle flows stayed within their designated zones. The operations masterbook I built from scratch was adopted by the SMC event director as the reference format for other departments.
From the masterbook
A 24-hour operation, planned shift by shift.
Parking flows, concert crowd routes, marshal deployment by shift and a daily run sheet from 4am waste removal to 3am restaurant close.
Case study 02
Riyadh Fashion Week 2025
My role
Operations Manager leading Ops Planning & Execution, one of four function heads, with two zone managers reporting to me. The week opened with Vivienne Westwood and closed with Stella McCartney.
The challenge
At the first venue, one gate served as both entrance and exit. When show one ended, guests for show two were already lined up at the same gate, and the two crowds collided.
What I did
I redesigned the audience flow in real time: sourced tensa barriers on site, built a holding queue, and split security into two teams, one clearing the outgoing audience and one holding the incoming queue, released in a single wave once the venue was empty.
Result
The changeover worked from the next show and ran for the rest of the week. I wrote the 264-page operations masterbook the operations team and suppliers worked from, and was re-engaged to lead operations planning for 2026, with separate runway entries and exits designed in (edition postponed).
One problem, fixed twice
Live on the night. Then designed out of the plan.
2025: the changeover I built on site. 2026: the next edition's runway flow, with separate entrance and exit so the collision can't happen.
From the masterbook
Planned on paper. Delivered on the runway.
Guest, crew and model flows and the opening gala plan from the masterbook, next to the week itself.
Case study 03
UN Tourism 26th General Assembly
My role
FF&E & Logistics Manager, reporting to the Creative Manager and leading a team of two. My scope ran from the 360-line FF&E plan and a typed system for every table (A–T) and chair (1–22) to overnight changeovers and dismantle.
The challenge
On the final night, Prince Sultan Hall had to go from plenary back to Executive Council. The custom desks for it, with only five spares, had been drilled for cable routing without FF&E sign-off, and in the Council layout the damage would face delegates and cameras.
What I did
I pulled undamaged desks from the far end of the venue and organised around 100 supplier crew to carry them by hand, so nothing was damaged in loading. The team rebuilt the hall overnight.
Result
Prince Sultan Hall was reset overnight and ready for the 125th Executive Council, the closing session. The FF&E operation for the first UN Tourism General Assembly in the GCC ran on the plan and 94-page furniture masterbook I developed.
Plan, then built
Four layouts in five days, rebuilt overnight.
Prince Sultan Hall in the furniture masterbook, and as delegates saw it. Across 7–11 November the hall moved between committee, Executive Council and General Assembly plenary setups, each changeover starting around midnight.
From the FF&E plan
Every table and chair, typed.
I gave every table a letter and every chair a number. Each line of the plan then read the same way: room, session, item, type, placement, quantity. Suppliers, the venue team and my crew worked from the same codes, so a changeover at midnight came down to reading a sheet.
One line of the plan
- Room
- Prince Sultan Hall
- Session
- Programme and Budget Committee
- Item
- Table
- Type
- A Circular table · 1.3 × 0.6m
- Placement
- Centre, on the floor
- Quantity
- 50
Tables · extract
| A | Circular table | 53 |
| B | Desk with edge | 314 |
| C | Presidential desk | 21 |
| R | Trestle table | 95 |
+ 16 more types · 771 in total
Chairs & sofas · extract
| 1 | Swivel chair | 1,105 |
| 2 | Fixed grandstand chair | 550 |
| 3 | Presidential chair | 30 |
| 6 | Translator chair | 46 |
+ 18 more types · 2,714 in total
Case study 04
VIP Transport · Motus One
My role
VIP Transport Manager across four events: French-speaking point of contact for the UNESCO Director-General, media and premium shuttles at Formula E, airport arrivals at E1, and VIP buggy operations on the F1 Promenade.
The challenge
Three of the four projects came to me late: after planning had started at UNESCO, three days before live at Formula E, and just before arrivals at E1. Each time the plan, team and fleet had to be ready by the first guest.
What I did
At Formula E, planned the hub in three days, then commissioned 100 SUVs and trained supervisors, marshals and drivers. At E1, secured Ministry of Sport approval for a staging area at the arrivals door when police were fining staged cars. At UNESCO, built a live dispatch channel for every driver. At F1, separated pedestrians and buggies across the Promenade bridges.
Result
Every E1 airport transfer ran on time and Formula E transport ran without delays. At UNESCO, the operation also received direct positive feedback from senior diplomatic guests.
On the ground
Trained, briefed, dispatched.
From the UNESCO VIP fleet to the Formula E hub: marshal training, live movement tracking, driver briefings, dot plans and night load zones.
Case study 05
NEOM Beach Games
My role
Production Supervisor. In 2023, the Super League Triathlon site, then the Mountain Camp. In 2024, front-of-house production for half of the Mountain Village, host of the NEOM IFSC Masters and the Titan Desert start and finish.
The challenge
A competition-grade 15m speed wall and a bouldering wall for an IFSC-sanctioned event, built in the middle of the desert, with every truck, tool and permit coming in from outside.
What I did
Before the installer arrived, I coordinated flatbed deliveries of steel and materials from the warehouse, then staged and sequenced them on site so the French specialist installer, EP, could start the foundations straight away. Through the build I was their single point of contact for labour, trucks, machinery, tools, permits and access.
Result
Both walls were built, used in competition and dismantled in 2023. I was one of two 2023 team members re-engaged for 2024, splitting the Mountain Village with a fellow supervisor. The NEOM IFSC Masters ran 11–13 November 2024.
From the ground up
From flatbeds to finals.
The triathlon site and Mountain Camp in 2023, then the 2024 build: structure, bouldering wall from build to competition, and the team on the IFSC stage.
Case study 06
Ramliyah Al Uqair Beach Games
My role
Head of Operations. Earlier roles were centred on specific operational functions: a venue zone, a transport fleet, FF&E. Here, my responsibility extended across the wider operation. I wrote the operations masterbook covering all ten scopes, issued the supplier scopes of work, and was the operations link to the four federations.
More delivery · 2025
Sites built, handed over, restored.
Two more 2025 projects, both as Site Manager: site builds from first delivery to handover.
Accredited on site
On the ground, not on the guest list.
Official accreditation from four of the events in this portfolio, each issued by the organiser with my role on it.
How I work
One plan, written down, run on the ground.
Every project follows the same sequence, whatever the scope. The masterbook is the centre of it: one document every supplier, stakeholder and supervisor works from.
- 01Site visit & scopeWalk the venue, map entrances, exits and flows, and list every operational scope.
- 02MasterbookDot plans, zone maps, flows and run sheets for every scope, in one reference document.
- 03BOQ & suppliersQuantities by scope and phase taken from the plan, then a clear scope of work and deliverables for each supplier.
- 04Briefings & trainingSupervisors, marshals and staff briefed and trained on their positions before go-live.
- 05Build-up · live · dismantleOn site through every phase, running to the plan and handling the live changes it couldn't anticipate.
- 06ReportIncidents and lessons documented, and carried into the next edition's plan.
FF&E plan · extract
| Room | Item | Type | Qty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Sultan Hall | Table | A | 50 |
| Prince Sultan Hall | Chair | 1 | 30 |
| Prince Sultan Hall | Presidential chair | 3 | 10 |
| Prince Sultan Hall | Table | B | 30 |
| Prince Sultan Hall | Chair | 1 | 57 |
| Prince Sultan Hall | Chair | 2 | 70 |
| Prince Sultan Hall | Chair | 2 | 150 |
| Prince Sultan Hall | Translator chair | 5 | 28 |
| Omsiat 1 | Table | B | 22 |
Available for freelance operations
Let's build the operation behind your next event.
- angelo.abi.ghanem01@gmail.com
- Phone
- +961 3 196 644
- linkedin.com/in/angelo-abi-ghanem-9a6954216
Angelo Abi Ghanem · Event Operations Manager