Good Show!

Detrot Venue Spotlight #1: 250° of Riverfront at 42° North

Ok, readers, it is shameful how long it has been since I’ve blogged.  I am embarrassed just reading the date on my last post.  I have no good excuse, so let’s just get on with it.  There is SO MUCH to write about and I am absurdly behind.

This is the initial post in a series of Detroit venues that deserve the spotlight.  It’s the start of the 2011 fall and holiday event planning season, and many companies are committing to host their events in Detroit.  Whether in a hotel or a non-traditional space, the city has unique, beautiful, and historical spaces appropriate for events of all sizes, corporate cultures, and budgets. 

First up is one of my favorites, 42° North at the Detroit Marriott.  With 250° of riverfront view, modern interior décor, built-in buffet and rooftop patio, 42° North is the ideal location for groups of 50 to 150 attendees.  In warmer months, the rooftop patio, complete with tables and chairs, allows guests to be outdoors and enjoy the only riverfront rooftop venue in the city.  

 
 
The existing furnishings include rectangle high tops with barstools and bench seating that is moveable and can be arranged in any configuration.  From a designer’s perspective, it means that little or no rentals are needed to convert this space from a restaurant to a fabulous event – saving my clients money.

 

 
The management and food & beverage staff are friendly and committed to outstanding customer service.  The newly updated menu offers a wide variety of traditional and ethnic foods for a meal of heavy appetizers, plated dinners, or create your own buffet.  Bartenders have created specialty drinks for my past events and the presentation is beautiful.  One of the best things about this venue is that the permanent buffet is located in an alcove behind the bar, so there is no impact to the main event space.  A dance floor is available at no additional charge and the sound system is ample for background music or speeches.  A DJ or small band can be accommodated and there is ample power in the space for audio/visual needs without renting a generator. Several parking options are available from the adjacent garages or hotel valet, and along with the event space, clients can secure a group room rate for their event attendees.

If this space interests you, I would be happy to introduce you to the Marriott’s Director of Sales & Catering or meet you at the space for a walk-through and discuss your specific event needs.  This is one of my favorite places in the city to work, so let's book your event before all the good dates are taken.

Bruder-Houseal Wedding at The H Hotel in Midland

I am shocked that it has been two months since I posted!  Where has the time gone?  I'm playing catch-up on my November posting, so here goes....        

In November, we had the honor and pleasure of designing and producing the wedding festivities of Julie Bruder and Steve Houseal at The H Hotel in Midland, Michigan.  Julie could not have chosen a better color scheme for this room and the November 1st occasion. 

Julie and Steve enjoy the outdoors and wanted to incorporate as many natural elements as possible into their reception decor while still creating an understated elegance.  I worked alongside the amazing designers at Gerych's to provide Julie with a look appropriate for a morning wedding.  The room was full of light with an airy, elegant feel. 

The Cappuccino Man provided smoothies and gourmet coffees for guests as they entered the foyer and The H food and beverage was simply divine.  Julie also provided a children's area for both infant/toddlers and school-aged children so their parents could enjoy the festivities as well.  The children's room included a face painter, movies and crafts.

Julie, it was a pleasure working with you to create this look.  Best wishes to you and Steve for many happy years together.

Corsi-Leon Wedding & Reception for 700 at Rock Financial Showplace

Congratulations Abe and Angela!  What a wedding!

I met Angela Corsi, Miss Michigan 2006, when I hired a group of intelligent, beautiful, energetic, and gracious young women from the Miss Michigan pageant to work a corporate event in January of 2008.  Eight months later, I, along with my mom and trusted stage manager, Kathy Story, had the privilege of serving as coordinators for Angela and Abe's wedding.  They exchanged vows in a beautiful, traditional ceremony at St. Mary's Orthodox Church in Livonia.  The florals, provided by Christopher's Flowers from Port Huron, were stunning for both the wedding and the reception.

When I met Abe a few weeks before the wedding, he had some specific ideas about what he wanted for the reception.  He had video taped his proposal and wanted it played it back at the reception just before he and Angela entered the room as husband and wife.  Brilliant.  Even the emcee was teary-eyed.  

The balance of the their two cultures, Italian and Syrian, included all the attendees in the festivities.   The dancing started on the front steps of the church with Folklore Music by Abeer Asmaro and Michael Ibrahim.  The party continued at the reception held at Rock Financial Showplace's Diamond Center with Two for the Road providing both DJ service and live performance of Italian standards, wedding favorites, and some good ol' Motown to get everyone up and dancing.  Hors d'oeuvres were a mix of homemade Italian and Syrian cuisines and were a delight to taste.  Dinner was abundant and served family style by the Diamond Center's banquet staff.  Their beautiful and delicious wedding cake was made by Elite Sweets.   After dinner, Emad Batayeh & Band took over with lively Arabic music keeping the crowd going strong until after midnight.

It was an evening to remember for Abe and Angela and all their guests.  The photography crew at Arising Images and the videography crew from Epic Motion were professional, a pleasure with whom to work, and real troopers to last the whole day through.  Their artistry in capturing and preserving Abe and Angela's wedding day is spectacular and I would not only recommend them, but be thrilled to work with them again.  I guess this is why they were each voted as a WDIV "Best of" in 2008.  Nice work, team.

At day's end, the event was a great success and I am confident Abe, Angela and their families will look back with broad smiles for many years to come.  It was my pleasure to be a part of it all and to help  their day run smoothly so they could savor every moment worry-free.

The Longaberger Bee: A Cost-Effective Convention Done Right!

First, I should let you all in on my secret, which shouldn't be a secret at all:  my avocation is being a Longaberger Independent Sales Consultant.  For those of you who don't know, The Longaberger Company is, "the best damned basket company on the planet".  You can see their products on my avocation website:  www.longaberger.com/angelastory-krug.  Skilled American artisans weave these durable heirloom baskets in America each day and create beautiful solutions for your home that help with organization, decorating, and entertaining.  I recently got to meet the folks that make the baskets I use in my home every day.  Visit my website.  I'm sure you'll love them too!

Second, let me say it is a rare happening for me to attend a conference without producing it.  Nevertheless, last week I attended the Longaberger Bee for the first time.  I was pleasantly surprised ok, REALLY surprised, at the level of executive participation in roles that are definitely not in their job description and the number of home office employees who participated in whole-hearted fun and foolishness to the delight of a packed arena of home consultants from across the country.  Normally, a convention for a company the size of Longaberger uses a professional "spokesmodel" or "emcee", but Longaberger used their own staff for extensive general sessions and they were amazing!  Many corporations hire high-priced headline entertainment to drive home their message and entertain the attendees.  Instead, Longaberger spoofed a well-known comedian using one of their own executives and he was marvelous!  I don't know if the scripting was done in-house or if a professional writer was used, but either way, the production was outstanding.  Additionally, they knew where to spend production dollars to get the most bang for their buck.  When we were celebrating, it was raining confetti, when they introduced Christmas products, it was snowing.  The staging, lighting, and visual effects were well done.  The only "outside" entertainment was a dance group that supported the "Bee Boys", yet another group of employees who provide hilarious and quality entertainment, and live musicians to support all the stage activity and to get the crowd pumped before a session began.   

With some industries feeling the strain of a tightening economy, my "real" job as the owner of a meeting and event production company has seen a slow down in recent months.  Some clients are canceling annual events in an effort to save money, but they don't realize that their employees and customers need those events in order to stay dedicated and excited about their respective products and services.  I left the Longaberger Bee with a renewed sense of purpose about my avocation.  The baskets I sell keep American workers employed.  I'm going to set higher goals, work to achieve them, and make more money for my family as well as for The Longaberger Company.

Companies who are cutting back on conferences and events can take a page from Longaberger's playbook.  It pays to keep your employees, sales force and customers energized!  While an undertaking like the Longaberger Bee is not a low-cost production, I am confident the company realized a great savings using a good writer, good producer, good production and an in-house team of actors and performers who made the most of the company's convention budget.  Kudos to The Longaberger Company for keeping us excited about your product! 

What is your company doing to keep customers and employees engaged?  The Longaberger Bee is proof that cost-effective production can be done right and still have a mighty impact.  Call us.  Let us create a cost-effective meeting or event to energize your customers, keep your employees loyal, and get your sales back on track!  www.eventsourcepro.com    

Temperature, temperature, temperature.

Have you ever been to a meeting where the room is so cold your teeth are chattering louder than the speaker's voice?  Or worse yet, you want to fan yourself with the meeting materials because the room is so hot?  How much do you remember about those meetings other than the temperature?  There are many elements that comprise a successful meeting or event, but with even if every other element is amazing and perfectly executed, temperature can ruin the entire function. 

I recently served as the wedding attendant for a bride who is a colleague and had planned her wedding down to the last detail.  My job was simply to execute her plans on her wedding day.  The wedding went off without a hitch and the reception room was gorgeous.  During the wedding itself, my team was busy setting up the reception.  We commented on the temperature, requested several times that the room be cooled down, and even kept the velour drapes covering the windows along both sides of the room drawn until just before guest arrival.  We started our set up around 2pm and reception was not until 6pm.  There was more than adequate time to cool that room down to 68 degrees or less before 300 people entered the room and temperature began to rise.   However, the facility seemed uninterested in accommodating our requests.  Since I had not signed the contract, I didn't have the authority to insist that the room be at 68 degrees, but one would think that a facility of this caliber would do everything possible to accommodate a guest who had spent a significant amount of money at their facility. 

The end result was a hot venue, sweating guests, a wedding reception that probably didn't last as long as it should have because of room temperature, and a bride and groom who want their money for the room and the hours of open bar that no one used refunded.  The facility will have to negotiate with the bride and groom and will have tales of a bad guest experience spread like wild fire all because they were unwilling to turn up the air during a June wedding.  Guests may eventually forget, but the bride and groom will always remember how their reception was negatively impacted by room temperature.  How ridiculous.

Likewise, a corporation can spend thousands of dollars on a great speaker, a wonderful business theatre environment, the costs of travel, accommodations, food and beverage, and lost productivity of each attendee and still not have a successful meeting.  If the room temperature impedes or in some cases supersedes the speaker's message, it is valuable training and communication dollars down the drain.  Again, the impact of a speaker's message is composed of many factors, but one that is key and easily controlled (especially in an indoor environment) is temperature.

What should the room temperature be?  I thought you'd never ask.  I generally request a room to be set at 68 degrees upon guest arrival.  Perhaps in some instances for social functions with ladies in sun dresses, inch it up to 70 degrees, but never more than that.  Put the temperature request in writing in the facility contract or banquet event order (BEO).  The lower temperature will even out once guest enter the room and will make for a comfortable and receptive audience.

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Hello Meeting & Event World!

Happy Independence Day!  Welcome to my first ever blog.  The name Good Show! derives from way back in my Disney days, as a recent college graduate learning the ropes of customer service, event psychology and live show production.  When something was done right, it was called, "good show".  Conversely, when something was not done right, you guessed it, it was called "bad show".

This blog seeks to compile all that is good about meeting and event planning and production.  I'll write about any topic that is relevant.  As a meeting and event producer, I strive to make all my shows "good shows".  I attend many shows that I produce and many shows that I don't.  Often times I am not in complete control of all elements of a meeting or event and I have to force myself not to shout out "what were you thinking when you planned this?!?"  Now, instead of shouting, I can blog, and the best part is, I own the company so my boss can't fire me!  Click here to learn more about my company, Event Source Productions.

Writing my observations and expert opinions is new medium for me.  I haven’t expressed my thoughts on paper since my “dear diary” days.  I usually just tell people what I think.  At least in a blog, I can edit as I editorialize.  You’ll thank me, I’m sure, and feedback is highly encouraged.  Email me at angela@eventsourcepro.com.

The topics on this blog will focus on the meeting and event industry, so if you are an industry professional, internal corporate planner, thinking about a career in the meeting and event industry, or just like to read about it, this blog is for you.  Our industry is rapidly growing and changing.  If there is a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. 

Here are some topics I am considering:

• Why and when should I hire a professional meeting or event planner?
• RFPs: Exposing intellectual property
• Let’s not waste time: Discussing the budget up front
• Imperative elements of a successful meeting or event.
• Planning vs. Producing

These first few subjects should get the blog juices flowing and bring about many more interesting issues to discuss.  My hope is that this blog will help to improve our industry standard practices and help clients better understand and respect our craft.  Check back often.  I will try to tackle topics in a timely manner (say that 5 times fast), schedule permitting.  I hope you’ll learn something you can use, teach me something I can use, or at least find a camaraderie where we can share triumphs, air frustrations, find solutions and improve an industry we all love.

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