Archive for the ‘Event Design’ Category

Zumba, Zombies and Infectiously Fun Events by @KristiCasey

Monday, May 20th, 2013

If I had to pick a responsible party, I’d blame Zumba and the Zombie Run. Because both of those things have forever changed what I’m willing to accept as a meeting designer, speaker and attendee.

The Importance of Making Meetings Fun

Catching up on business reading last November, I stumbled upon an article about the worldwide exercise and business empire Zumba. By focusing on three words — freeing, electrifying, joy — they built an enthusiastic, hip-shaking army of brand evangelists and consumers.

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Create Picture Perfect Moments at Your Events

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

InstagramOver the course of the past few years, we’ve seen an evolution in the way that our event attendees capture their experience. From Instagram to Pinterest to other social media tools, the attendees at our events have become more socially savvy and that has greatly contributed to how we capture information. In the past, we would hire a photographer and videographer and count on them to capture the events and images. But, that no longer needs to be the case. Of course, I always recommend working with your standard photographer and videographer, but it has become clear to me that a) those vendors need to be more social-savvy themselves; and b) there is also a huge opportunity to leverage the sharing nature of your attendees.

Take a look at your event from A-Z. From when an attendee walks in the door until they leave. What are they seeing that attracts them? After attending many events over the past few years, I realize that people will take pictures of anything. They will take pictures of your event regardless of how it looks, but you can be smart about the design of your event to facilitate better sharing. Rather than just let people take pictures of the name of the building where the event is being held, jazz it up and put your brand on it, too. Make it something that people want to take a picture of and, more importantly, want to share.

Read more on Cvent…

When Planners Assume, ______ by @JennG_

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013

Harlem Shake I don’t need to finish that phrase. You’re probably already filling in the blank with your own negative scenarios. When planners assume, wires get crossed. Things fall through the cracks. We can all relate to the feeling when something doesn’t turn out like we thought it would. When you’re consumed by the events industry, it’s hard to remember that everyone in your industry or circle is not really everyone.

When you are surrounded by your team, it’s easy to assume:

  1. Everyone has heard of your event. It’s hard to believe, but there are people who don’t know what the “Harlem Shake” is, let alone know about your event.
  2. Everyone loves your event. It’s hard not to think your event is great. It’s a collection of your ideas.
  3. Everyone who likes your event will come. They may have told you in person how great your event is, liked you on Facebook or tweeted about you, but factors including time and money can still keep your most loyal fans away. Every choice someone makes to attend means they are sacrificing something else.

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How to Beat the Winter Blues – Part 1 by @penthouseLord

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

Winter Blues - Call Lord Jason Scott for a Fire and Ice PartyAs the winter settles into London I am being asked more then ever about how to throw a party that can scare away the winter blues, so here we go BUT as always I look forward to hearing what your ideas are.

If you are having an event at your home or at a venue these ideas should help create the right mood and magic. I often advise my clients to rent out private rooms from restaurants. These restaurants often offer an economical alternative to jazzing up your event with just a few party essentials that come standard like furniture and a commercial kitchen. Central and Co, a lovely little restaurant in London’s Soho district, is one of those gems in the London restaurant scene that radiates charm ( ask about the space under the restaurant http://centralandco.com/private-hire). In order to create the sleek, modern affair I often use standard concepts, lets call it *Premierpartyparaphernalia ( Trademark pending). Surfaces of mirrors and anything blue and see through make a perfect marriage of form and function for winter celebrations as they create the illusion of even more action and energy ( think about it, as you literally see more people throughout the room) but at the same time, the combination of clear and reflective materials instantly make the room feel more open and create a theme of fire and ice. So we need to create ice-like surfaces and we can use blue fabrics for this while spicy, flavorful tapas, and hot latin music will raise the pulse and temperature of the room.

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Customization is Key, but Where Do You Stop? by @KristiCasey

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013

CustomizationAccording to the recent PCMA Convening Leaders convention and MPI Business Barometer, customizing your attendee’s experience is a trend you can’t ignore. But if you have thousands of attendees, how can you possibly create 1,000 different experiences? After all, budgets are just now starting to grow. You’re lucky to be able to afford a social media monitor, much less have the money to creating two or more versions of everything.

So let’s take a look at some big-ticket issues and examine the simplest way you can customize your event to address them. Below I’ve addressed the to-do items involved if you want to implement the simplest solutions. If you’ve got those licked, I include how you can go the extra mile.

Issue: Accommodating dietary restrictions and allergies.

Simple fix: Collect data about special needs at registration. Label buffet items so ingredients are obvious. Educating banqueting staff about what’s in the food they’re serving. Making accommodations on the menu.

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Top 5 LKE Blogs of 2012

Friday, December 28th, 2012

Deborah Pannell

9 Things a Luxury Cruise Taught Me About Event Planning by @ProjectMaven

By: Deborah Pannell
Last November, I was invited to go on my first cruise – an experience in luxury that I will never forget. If you’ve never been on a cruise, then imagine a Las Vegas resort hotel… on water. As a guest on the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, I was treated to what seemed like endless food, entertainment, and leisure time options. I also received a concentrated lesson in the art of hospitality and yes, a few insights about event planning.

Spring Flower Garden Event Design by @DreamersJoy

By: Sarah DeJesus
Sarah De Jesus on her Event Design: The idea and concept for this table design was inspired by the spring season, my crochet flowers (which I had been assembling mainly as cupcake toppers) and my desire to incorporate the use of Pantone’s Honeysuckle Pink as the main color and the use of yellow, light pink and green as a spring color scheme to compliment it. The decor is focused around the flowers which were arranged in galvanized socker planter pots, flower metal plant stakes used to hold the dessert labels and the use of clay pots as the cake stand to give it a unique yet casual, garden and spring feel.

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My Big Fat Predictions for 2013 by @KristiCasey

Monday, December 17th, 2012

Yesterday, I was catching up with a friend who plans international events and she asked me, “What are you excited about right now? What do you think the big trends will be?”

Lucky for her, I am in the midst of cool-hunting for our 2013 PYM Annual, so I’ve been ruminating about those very things since August.

There’s a million things I could have told her (and you). But for this column, I’ll boil all of of my thoughts on the topic down to two big ideas.

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Why the Recession Was a Great Thing for the Events Industry

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

What planner doesn’t love the opportunity to create an event with glitter and fame and unlimited budgets? It’s incredibly fun. So when the economy fell and budgets shrunk, planners started wondering if we were ever going to recover. Where will people get the money to hire us? What will happen to our clients that were once guaranteed to come back year after year and yet don’t answer our calls now? Or, worse yet, want the same events for 1/2 the price. It was a dark time in the events industry.

But I think there was a silver lining. All these shrinking budgets actually allowed us to become better at what we do.

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LKE’s Top 3 Event Planning Blogs

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

I love when I stumble on a blog that inspires, educates and makes me laugh. Though there is a ton of content available on the world wide web, most of it is garbage. Regurgitated, old and uninspired. So when I find the exact opposite in a blog, I become devoted. Today, I wanted to share the top 3 blogs I visit because I know they always have great content. If you follow them, I’m sure you will love them as well! Of course, I follow many other blogs and I’d love to learn about more so if you know of a great blog targeted at the events industry, please leave it in the comments section below!

MidCourse Corrections
Every time I read this blog, I find something I can implement into my events or business. Jeff Hurt and Dave Lutz write consistently amazing content that will inspire you to do better for your event attendees. Covering topics from presentation design to meeting formats, this is a great read every. single. time.

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When Disaster Strikes: Deciding on When to Hold ‘em, and When to Fold ‘em

Monday, November 5th, 2012

As many of you know, last week, hurricane Sandy hit the east coast with a vengeance. Thankfully, many forecasters gave us several days warning so that we could prepare, but I don’t think any of us saw the full devastation that she would deliver. Here in New York, I am writing this as I am still without power eight days later. I’m sure you have heard all of the drama with the canceling of the New York City Marathon. At first, organizers decided to host the event and then after an outcry, they decided to cancel. While not on the same scale, the organizers of the marathon and I were having very similar conversations. This week, we are scheduled to host our PlannerTech event on Wednesday, November 7.

Ever since the hurricane, we have had many conversations about whether or not it was appropriate, or even possible, to host our event this week. In the end, we have made the decision to move forward with hosting this event. Today, I thought it would be helpful for me to share a behind-the-scenes look at what we considered before making this decision. I think it would be helpful for anyone else who might face a crisis situation and need to make a similar decision, but I would also love to hear from any of you who have experience with this. I’m sure we can all learn a lot from each other. Here are the three steps you need to take when assessing whether or not you should host or cancel an event.
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