Client: ADNEC (Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre) Event: Make It in the Emirates 2026 Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE My Role: Project Coordinator Project Type: End-to-End Event Technology Suite — Registration Portal, Access Control App & Badging Portal Timeline: 2025–2026 Event Date: May 2026 Team: Development, QA, and Design teams Tools Used: Jira | Confluence | MS Project | Power BI | Google Sheets Methodology: Agile / Scrum
ADNEC required a comprehensive event technology suite for Make It in the Emirates 2026 — one of the UAE's most significant industrial and manufacturing exhibitions — covering three critical systems: a registration portal, an access control application, and a badging portal.
The key challenges were: → Building three interconnected systems — registration, access control, and badging — that needed to work seamlessly together → Managing a complex backend integration across all three platforms → Planning for a projected attendee volume with no indication of the surge that would follow → Ensuring zero downtime across all three systems during live event execution → Coordinating across development, QA, and design teams simultaneously → Delivering within a strict deadline tied to a fixed international event date
→ Orchestrated end-to-end SDLC coordination across three parallel workstreams — registration portal, access control app, and badging portal — simultaneously → Facilitated all Scrum ceremonies — Daily Standups, Sprint Planning, Sprint Reviews, and Retrospectives — across development, QA, and design teams → Maintained a comprehensive RAID log to proactively track all risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies across all three systems → Built and managed a unified delivery roadmap covering all three platforms with phased milestones and integration checkpoints → Coordinated backend integration testing between the registration portal, access control app, and badging system to ensure seamless data flow → Managed structured stakeholder communication with ADNEC leadership throughout all project phases → Conducted UAT coordination across all three modules — ensuring every system was tested against real-world event scenarios before go-live → Maintained real-time MIS reports and Power BI dashboards for executive leadership visibility throughout delivery → Managed all change requests through a formal change management process — assessing impact on all three systems before approval
Challenge 1 — Unexpected Surge of 195,000+ Attendees Due to the geopolitical situation in the region, an unprecedented number of visitors attended Make It in the Emirates 2026 — far exceeding original projections. This created an extreme last-minute pressure on all three systems — registration, access control, and badging — which were not initially planned for this scale.
How I solved it: I immediately convened an emergency sprint with the development and QA teams, rapidly assessed the impact on each system, prioritised critical fixes and capacity adjustments, and coordinated round-the-clock support to ensure all three platforms remained stable throughout the surge. Every escalation was managed swiftly, every issue was resolved in real time, and the systems held throughout the entire event without a single critical failure.
Challenge 2 — Three Interconnected Systems Running Simultaneously Managing three separate but interconnected platforms — registration, access control, and badging — meant that a failure in one could cascade into the others. I maintained a unified integration risk tracker within the RAID log, scheduled cross-system integration testing early, and established clear escalation protocols for each platform.
Challenge 3 — Last-Minute Pressure During Live Event With 195,000+ attendees arriving and systems under unexpected load, real-time decision making became critical. I acted as the central coordination point between the development team, QA, design, and the client — ensuring every issue was triaged, prioritised, and resolved with zero impact on the attendee experience.
✅ Successfully served 195,000+ attendees across registration, access control, and badging systems ✅ Zero critical system failures during live event — all three platforms remained fully operational ✅ Last-minute surge managed successfully with real-time issue resolution and zero escalations reaching the client ✅ 100% on-time delivery — all three systems live on event date ✅ CEO-level satisfaction — client leadership personally acknowledged the team's performance ✅ All escalations resolved in real time during live execution ✅ Seamless backend integration achieved across all three platforms throughout the event ✅ One of the most complex and high-pressure deliveries completed successfully in May 2026
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Key Achievement: Delivered a three-platform event technology suite — registration portal, access control app, and badging portal — for 195,000+ attendees at Make It in the Emirates 2026. Successfully managed an unexpected last-minute surge caused by geopolitical factors, resolving all escalations in real time with zero critical failures and full CEO-level satisfaction.
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→ No matter how well you plan, live events can throw the unexpected at you — having a strong RAID log and escalation framework means you're always ready to respond → Managing three interconnected systems requires unified risk tracking — a failure in one affects all → Real-time decision making under pressure is a core PM skill — clear prioritisation and calm communication are everything during a crisis → CEO-level satisfaction comes from how you handle the unexpected, not just how well things go when everything is smooth → Cross-team coordination during a live crisis requires a single point of contact — the PM is that person → Always plan for scale beyond your projections — build headroom into your systems and your timelines