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Not a newsflash: the economy is (still) in the tank. Projections for 2010 meetings suggest things will be worse before they get better. And as an event designer that initially doesn't sound very fun! With budgets slashed, clients keep coming with the desire to do the same or more for less. They want (or internal bosses are demanding) they demonstrate good value for their spend. And yet, more and more it seems the word "value" is being swapped for "cheap price".
While I could write for several paragraphs on the multitude of meanings of the word value, I want not to bore anyone who has given me the precious time to read this post. So instead we will just focus in one idea: "cheap price". And here is my thought: "cheap price" does not equal "good value" though you may find "good value" at a "cheap price".
It is not that I am advocating that vendors don't help their clients out in this time of need. Absolutely the opposite. Being a good vendor is about being a good partner, and as a good business partner we work very hard to understand the clients need and create solutions which deliver to those needs, as well as those limitations. Times are tough all around, and working together to create cost-effective solutions is always the way to go. That said, vendors shouldn't discount just to discount and grab up an extra piece of business. Doing so is short-sighted and steals away any real "value" the vendor's brand had. Good service and great ideas will always be valued and paid for. And in the creative solutions, cost reductions can be found, as long as the players in the project have clearly identified what they value in the first place.
The mistake I so often see is folks wanting to do what they have always done for a better price. But step back for a second. Ask instead "what value do we want to get out of what we are doing." So many events happen "because they always have" without real interest invested in the "why are we doing this project and what do we hope to achieve from it." To get "good value" you have to know what you "value" in the first place. What are the reasons and objectives for the meeting. Knowing these, does there have to be a general session? Does anyone really want name entertainment on opening night? Would the event be better with less people, but higher level discussions? Is our education track working? Is the networking earning us any business? The answer to any one of these questions (and the ones you have) may be Yes or No and both answers are right, provided it is a "value" to your situation.
Once you have identified these items which the organization or the attendees at the event value, you can set in on making good investment decisions with how to best spend the budget for the greatest return. It is not about checking the boxes, but spending money where it will reap the best benefit and foregoing or cutting back what you don't value. For the event planner: articulating the budget conversation in terms of organizational values provides leverage for you to articulate why you made the decor or entertainment or food choices you did (because our (clients/attendees/executives) value or don't value these items). It allows you to design your event to your needs-good value and therefore return-rather than design to tradition.
And one more note on the decor: "Right" is always best, but "nothing" looks better than "cheap". For example: if you are struggling to come up with a cheaper solution for a centerpiece, remember the right size/scale centerpiece for your 72" table will always look best. But if you can't afford it, no centerpiece will always play better in the arena of "perception" than that $25 version which is too small for the table. Choose wisely, because declining perception value, in the minds of your client, your attendees, your boss or the company executive is not a scale you ever want to be [measured] on.
What does Value mean to you? If you are a Twitter Fan: Join the conversation at #eventprofs, Tuesday July 21 at 9 pm EST. How to Join a Twitter Chat
Now here is a great green product solution for your next meeting or event. At the end of the National Tweetup hosted in Minneapolis tonight, planners distributed coasters made from recycled Target bags (the night's event sponsor).
These coasters were created by zerOwbags - a company which takes waste plastics, "uncycles" them into "Plabric", according to their website. Whether you are in need of a conference bag or unique gift I loved how they took waste plastic bags from Target, stiched them into reusable coasters and, as this was for the National Tweetup event, stiched "Tweet" symbols into the product. There were @ coasters, # and RT versions. How fun for a branded event message with a mission. Check out www.zerobags.com to learn more.
It seems clear. The future of events is in the direction of facilitated attendees experience. As a myriad of Social Media tools in hand with explosions in cell phone technology allows for engagement among attendees at any meeting and conference, I have been struck by a curious idea. Will we reach a point when attendees will be free to choose their own experience for a given learning objective? That is to say, will organizations be willing to create a portfolio of events all with the same objective?
For example: Lets say your organization wants employees to learn about Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical Business Practices. Based on that learning objective, the event team create a series of learning modules for attendees to choose from. An experiential learner: head to China for a week to visit the factor where widgets are made. A tech-learner: a Web 2.0 environment lets attendees engage in an experience with colleagues from around the globe. A thought leader: Attend the executive summit over the weekend where small group interactive learning is the rule of thumb.
As a side note, there would appear to be value in this idea for cross-organizational learning opportunities. Consider it: the top organizations in the world create learning modules which attendees can pay to attend for continuing education. As an employer, dollars are dedicated for key talent development and those can be spent for a week at Google Camp or as a flavor creator for Ben and Jerry's. For the sponsors of the such learning programs, return is reaped from increased brand affinity and fresh ideas from outside the organization. For the individual learner, the are able to take a Liberal Arts approach to their life-long development choosing the experiences which are best suited to their development needs. Yes, this may be the Disney-ification of education - but for experience based learners is that a bad thing?Thanks to @jaysmet for engaging with me on this converstation.
This Friday, BeEvents is privileged to be a participant in the 2009 Trend Wedding - a $150,000 Wedding Giveaway to one lucky couple in Minnesota. This year's event is taking place at the swanky Chambers Hotels in DT Minneapolis.
It will be an incredible event. I can't giveaway the secrets yet, but the Invitation alone should tell you. Like any great invite - this one sets the stage for the Trends and Ideas which will be shared at the wedding: a deconstruction, metal, printed acrylic, soft tones of yellow, purple, blue and barely mint!This invite is the creation of the Wedding Guys and the work of A Milestone Paper Company. Check back soon for photos to see what happened at Trend Wedding 2009.
This blog post continues a series of lessons from the field for a new event business. See: Lessons from the Field: Be Open for Business; Lessons from the Field: Focus on Great Strategy; Lessons from the Field: Become an Expert, not a Jack; Lessons from the Field: Find Yourself a Great TeamLesson 5: Know that you will never get it all done. I am a guy who has always worked in small companies. There was a thrill for me in the ability to wear multiple hats in an organization and contribute to the work being done. While, when you go into business with yourself – that experience is taken to the extreme. Every hat is your hat and quickly I had to learn that I just would not get everything done. That the client might have to be called back tomorrow. That the website would take another week or month. That there is no way I can keep up with my tweets, let alone blog! (Ghost writers anyone, I am hiring!) The illusion that leaving the comforts of a 9-5 job is that you will have freedom over your schedule is somewhat true – you do have control of your schedule, but your job is now 24/7 and at a client’s whim your plans will regularly change. The challenge is to find a schedule and rules that work for you (and it you have employees, for them as well). Limiting distractions is critical in keeping focused when you answer to yourself. Because when you are the boss, it is much easier to take long lunch, sleep in or grab drinks early than it was when someone was watching you!
This blog post continues a series of lessons from the field as a new event business. See: Lessons from the Field: Be Open for Business; Lessons from the Field: Focus on Great Strategy; Lessons from the Field: Become an Expert, not a Jack
Lesson 4: Find yourself a Great Team.In my last blog I spoke about become an Expert and not trying to be a Jack-of-all-trades. As an Event Expert surround yourself with other Experts who fill in your weaknesses. This could be as employees or independent contractors, or even more simply as fellow vendors with whom you work. Building a great team of colleagues will support and promote your business as your develop and grow. They will be the partners who make you look good and vice versa. So the task is to surround yourself with great people – for me that means creative, curious, at-their-best, innovative service providers who demonstrate that willingness to think and the appetite to try new things.
And you may just find a funny thing will happen. If you know yourself, remain open to possibilities and deliver great service, your team will do the sales work for you. Indeed, I have yet to really need to sell myself. Through diligent networking locally and internationally, by attending and speaking at conferences, by entering and winning awards, by being an actively engaged member in industry organizations - like ISES, the absolute best spend of money I have ever made – I have developed a great community of colleagues who have kept me in business. By delivering what I promise and offering something unique, one of my biggest surprises has been that the variety of individuals and vendors who I have enjoyed working with on projects continue to bring me along with them to the next one, reinforcing our teamwork and building bigger and better events every time.
This blog post continues a series of lessons from the field for a new event business. See: Lessons from the Field: Be Open for Business; Lessons from the Field: Focus on Great Strategy
Lesson 3: Become the Expert, not a Jack.
What’s the saying – “to thine own self be true!” This is inherent in the beginning of any business. Before you can provide great service and be open for business you must know yourself – who and what you want your company to be. I launched BeEvents in 2007 with a furious desire to constantly having ideas and fostering live conversations. What I love about the event business is that we create the platform on which a facilitated dialogue occurs. And it is the strategy and design of that platform which can guide the conversation and engage participants into interaction with one another. Despite and alongside the huge advances of technology, human beings are social creatures and that need for in-person interaction will never go away nor not be of value. Yet looking out on the landscape of the industry, I did not see many who were fostering a strategic conversation about the value of and design for events. And so I set out to do that – to focus on the strategic power of people to come together, be present and share an experience. In saying this out loud, I picked what I was passionate about and defined a brand for myself which I now have the pleasure of maintaining, refining and living up to. And I have also defined what my company is not.
This, to me is the definition of being an expert. Experts know what they have to offer and also who and what they are not. By contrast, Jack-of-all-trade types try to offer everything. To be all to their clients. Particularly in a tough economy when the budgets are slim and the margins slimmer, the desire to be a Jack gets stronger. But it is Jacks who do the biggest disservice to the industry as a whole. Because no one can ever be everything to a client, and deliver everything excellently. There is compromise in diversity. That is not to say that sometimes you have to do things outside your expertise or deliver services because the budget to bring in other experts is not there. But on the whole, focusing on being an Expert, defining your brand for what it is and what it is not, and sticking too that will reap rewards in the long run.
This blog post continues a series of lessons from the field for a new event business. See: Lessons from the Field: Be Open for Business
Lesson 2: Focus on Great Service.Being in the event business means you are in the people business. Whether it is your employees, your clients, or their guests, it is always our job to be hospitable. While there are many definitions of great service, my mantra is that our business is not to only give clients what they ask for nor tell them what they need, but to be their guide to what they want. Yes, clients want and need to be listened too. Yes, often clients need to be told what they should do - we as event professionals are the experts after all. But beyond that, being the expert is not about spewing your vision or verbatim taking theirs, but instead being the guide who can facilitate what they say with what you know to eventually give them what they want, even if they cannot articulate that.
To do that ego cannot be a player in the game. There is no room in service providing for superiority, passivity, or the demeaning of anyone on the team or project. In ego’s place, find confidence in a sense of creative curiosity stemming from a constant willingness to think and an appetite to try. I firmly believe that the ROI of events is located in retention of the created experience by those who participate, and those memories are derived by implementing creativity and innovation. And the you can only be creative and innovate if you constantly foster a willingness to think and an appetite to try in the delivery of great service for your client.
Tomorrow is my one-year anniversary. It’s a year ago tomorrow that I took a leap from a steady job as an internal event producer/creative director and started working full time for myself at BeEvents. It is not that I intended to be an entrepreneur, and, believe me, there was never a scarier decision I have had to make than to leap. But I have never felt a greater sense of freedom as I did on that day.
Starting a business is an adventure, with all the emotional baggage that entails and little of the action of Hollywood. As I reflect on the year behind me, along the way, I have learned many things that as a creative I never wanted to know – how to drive, or more importantly back-up a box truck, the limitations of rig points never being where you want them, the value of a great union crew chief, taxes – you get the point. But along the way I think I have discover a few small truths, lessons about being in business, which may serve as guide posts in a tough economy for anyone thinking about heading out on their own or as a reminder for the many before me who have taken the leap. Over time I will continue to share these lessons as I continue on this journey of self-employment.
Lesson #1 Be Open to Business.
As I said, I never intended to start my own company. I was working a great job but had nowhere to grow. Inside the organization I couldn’t find the mental space to determine what I wanted next nor was I able to find the right job opening available for what I needed. With a project in the works that could pay the rent, I made the decision to go on my own, for now.
The great thing about starting a company at the start of a recession is that you never knew business could have been better – any business is great. I left my corporate job assuming I would spend some time freelancing as event planner. To my surprise, people kept calling to hire me as a designer, a different role that I have greatly enjoyed. And the opportunities that have come to me as a designer have greatly surpassed what I would have been offered as a planner. But only because I was open to that possibility. Over the last year, I have come to realize that being open for business is more than just having a business card, a phone, email and website. It is about being open to the possibility of what you can do, not just what you think you will be doing. But within that realm of possibility, success, I have found, comes from focusing in on what is right for you to do, not just every little project that comes your way.
After reading my last posting, Musings of an Event Designer..., I thought I should expand on some of these ideas. As a reader, I know what you are thinking: That is all well and good theoretically, but my event still needs design! For your benefit, I will offer these continued musings:
Spotting Trends: This task is easier than most people think. It simply requires the ability to pay attention and be tuned in. If you want to know what culture is doing or what color is popular – turn on TV and watch the ads. You know which ones stand out, and pay attention to their choices of style, language, colors, shapes, fonts for text. These companies spend ba-gillions to sell products so piggyback on the research and focus groups they have paid for to generate your ideas. Want to know what color is in this season – you could look to the red carpet, but it is easier to follow the red bulls-eye; into Target that is. Walk up and down the aisles, particularly home furnishings, seasonal, and notice what is on the end caps. Target has a remarkable ability to be on trend within six months for retail, a time line that gives you as an event planner at least a year to work with. Continue your search through other stores in the mall – Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Abercrombie & Fitch, or the Apple Store. Target great brands that understand who they are. Think Google, Disney, or again, Apple. In hospitably, W Hotels articulate this better than any in my opinion, and the rest of the Starwood properties rate up there too. And never skip over culture magazine and industry publications: BisBash, Event Design Magazine, Event Solutions Magazine, Special Events Magazine.
But often trend is more nuanced and detailed. While these examples will make you aware of general trends, focus in on the attendees of your group – what is the demographic and what do they like to do. Take the opportunity to experience and understand the lifestyle of your guests and simulate those experiences in your event. Remember always to aim high – guests are savvy and smart and there is nothing worse than an event that generalizes its design, packaging a theme or décor and “talks down” to them.
Thoughts on Theme: I apologize to everyone I will offend with this, but any packaged theme I have ever been offered, experienced or seen has been nothing more than a glamorized prom. Props have their place, but most “Themes” use and abuse them to their clients’ and guests’ dismay.
Event design cannot be packaged and resold because every event is unique. But if I have to make one generalization, I will say this: Personalize it. The trend in design as in culture is toward AUTHENTIC, PERSONALIZED EXPEREIENCES. People do not want Casino Night or Hawaii at their event as defined for so many year in the traditional prop sense so many of us are familiar with. That does not mean guest don’t enjoy casino games or tropical drinks and/or foods – but there is nothing authentic about plastic leis and giant fuzzy dice. Similarly, there is nothing personalized about the Tiki Hut with fake umbrella and plastic lanterns serving margaritas or the white lounge furniture in the VIP lounge. Integrate messaging into the décor through linens and lighting. Target entertainment towards not only the taste of your guests but also the purpose of the event. Enliven the experience with authentic details. The future of good event design is towards a nuanced, in depth understanding of your guests so that you provide design and décor that allows the guests to create their own adventure throughout the offered event experience.
Understand Your Boundaries: All events are bound with limitations – time of day, demographic of the guests, or the seemingly always challenging budget. Understand these boundaries and use them to your advantage when designing your events. Consider venue shape and space, or the events time of day. Think about what your attendees like, don’t like, and could like if given the opportunity. Hidden in these limitations are jewels to innovate upon as your design your experience. Remember innovation is hardly big and dramatic, but more often involves simple half-turns on a familiar idea or experience. Doing little things, slightly differently – mixing the shape or sizes of tables, serving food on a different shaped plate or family style rather than plated or buffet, or even switching the order of the program and dinner – will keep your guests comfortable while offering up something new.
Last but not least, remember this: Design is not décor, and décor is only one aspect of design. Good design is holistic in its approach. It is about articulating an idea throughout the event experience, not only in your tabletop décor but in the food, the lighting, the invitation and the gift bag. The more integrated, consistent, and, on the whole, simply your idea, the more memorable the event will be for your guest. It is a fine art-defining design-and guests are intuitively intelligent. They know when something is off, but more importantly they know when all the elements are working together. And in those moments great event experiences are created.
All right, you have an event coming up. You have your bases covered: Venue (check). Food and beverage (check). The invitations will hit the printer (or the inbox) next week. The phone calls to entertainment are in. Production companies are responding to the RFP. All that is left to do is figure out the details of design: the flowers, linens, and those crazy centerpieces your budget has you doing yourself. But what are you going to do? Pick a theme? Arabian Nights? Tropical Island? VEGAS (baby!)? Something generic but colorful? That trendy lounge furniture you saw in the industry magazine spread or at the last industry association event?
STOP! You have already gone too far, too fast and are about to cross the line near dangerous ground of bad event design.Now I don’t mean bad design in that it will look bad or not work out or that the theme you choose won’t leave your guests with a general good feeling. But this column is about event design, and while I have the ability to voice my opinion out loud, I feel an obligation to share my vivid passion about the transformative power of great events that are the result of thoughtful and strategic decisions.
Great event design is not pricey, but purposeful. It is planned. It is strategized from the very beginning. It is not about picking this theme or that or jumping on the latest trend be it LED or lounge – both of which are established and old news.
How does one strategize event design? By asking the relevant and important questions necessary for successful event production. The movement of marketing is to the message and events must follow suit, coming to understand the significance of purpose, of place and audience. Design is the articulation of purpose; it is, at its best, a cohesive experience of each element of the event working in tandem and performing in harmony. Great event design requires the designer to understand the function of the event and expectations of its guests. It incorporates the message of the event to communicate with event guests. It understands its purpose and uses that guideline to create and innovate, to surprise and delight.
Ok, I will admit it: I am a Vegas virgin. So this trip for the 2009 Event Solutions/Catersource Conference will be my first adventure in the glistening city of big bright lights. It strikes me as funny that Vegas is one of those places you feel you inherently know, even without being there, thanks to a multitude of television shows an movies shot on location. The Bellagio fountains, the Casino floor, the Luxor hotel: all somewhat "iconic" images in my mind I should be sure to recognize right? The question becomes will the illusion of television be as good as the illusion of reality.
Off the plane at 11:04 PM and what is the first thing I see: slot machines. The wait for bags in the airport is an exercise in realizing just how BIG this place wants you to think that it is. Billboards tout top talent (or those who were once talent, but now have a show in Vegas). Jumbo trons blast entertainment options. And yet, there is something dated about these advertisements, there style and deliver hint at an inauthenticity. But what in Vegas is authentic, other than perhaps your experience of it. Is the city anything more than a vehicle to create whatever you want in? Just don't look behind the curtain?
My cabbie takes me on a ride (which how 10 minutes cost me $35...) on the highway past the strip. And there it is: the bright lights, the beaming building screaming for my attention. Despite their enormity, they look smaller than I had hoped. But more so, there is a lacking vibrancy to this place. Maybe it is the lack of business in this economy at this moment - but the lights, the signs, the buildings themselves seem of a decade ago. Plaster casts trying to be exactly what they are not: real.
So now I wait for a burger which should arrive by 1:00 AM I am promised. The walls of my room are paper thin, cause I can hear the conversations clearly of my neighbors next door. The Las Vegas Hilton in my first impression lacks a luster I was hoping for. Again, for the third time tonight my environment feels dated. Only two hours here and I feel disillusioned already. Like my last trip to Disney World, when I hoped on the "It's a Small World" ride. Then again there was something nostalgic about that ride. And Vegas feels nostalgic too. But can something be nostalgic the first time around?
As I prepare for a presentation at Event Solutions Conference next week in Las Vegas, I find myself thinking about how to bring life to my usually dull topic of ROI. What is it that makes a good speaker? A great presentation? Well I received a less in that today thanks to my friends at Martin Bastian Productions, who hosted a speaker's showcase at the W Minneapolis-The Foshay. Peter Sheahan, an Australian mate - thinker and (I would say philosopher at heart) gave the most thrilling 45 minute "presentation" I have seen in a long time. And he did it on the topic of Generation Y (in the workplace, more or less).
And why was this presentation absolutely brilliant? Because he didn't tell me what I thought I knew. He didn't share conventional wisdom. Instead, I as audience member was presented with a man who simply was completely passionate (and well versed and curious and uniquely interested) in his topic, or more appropriately in the idea of having a conversation about that topic. Sure some of my favorite tricks were inside the talk in order to bridge the initial gap at the start of any presentation when the speaker alone on stage under spotlight must address an assuming audience - the sharing of personal stories, the humorous connections with appropriate self-deprecation (what a terrible word, how about self-humanization) as a vehicle in which to share one's story and provide the bit of truth which gets a group of people thinking - but not 5 minutes in, I think the room was sold. And precisely because this man was so authentic on stage (and in and amongst the crowd). The sheer power of his energy and passion to converse and facilitate the constant, silent thought generating in the minds of an audience throughout the room was fantastic to watch. He wasn't trying to be flawless or even get you to agree with him - he was fully engaged in the sharing of knowledge for the audience to self-generate the implications, realities, shift of opinions or even to shift the entire presentation based on an answer. I wasn't given a speech or a presentation. I was invited into a dialogue. And that was incredibly refreshing and I only wish I was still inside it. If this is the future of where meetings and events are headed (and it is - I honestly believe there is a way to re-envision the "meeting" to take the best of what learner generated content is on the web and merge it with the powerful thing which happens when people sit down in a room together) I am more than excited.
Peter if you find this, I want to talk more. But not right now. I have work to do before next Wednesday...
Social Networking has found a host of new sites to call home – websites that is. But whether you have a profile on Facebook or are building your connections on Linked-In, the downside to online networking is that your connections require connectivity! So here is a novel idea: instead of inviting new contacts to My Space, consider hosting them at your actual space. Around your table perhaps…
Spice up your next night-in by inviting a group of people who only have YOU in common. Host a dinner party for guests who do not know each other but you think should. They could be the five most interesting people you know, or 10 friends each from a different time of your life. Sure enough you are bound to mix a bunch of people who could grow to be great connections for each other. As host, you simply provide the venue in which these natural connections can take place over cocktails and cuisine. And as your evening progresses, the conversation is sure to be fascinating. Social networking in person; what a crazy concept!
Fast Tip: Looking to jump start the conversation at your next dinner party? Try Party Topics (www.tabletopics.com). Available as coasters, napkins or place cards, Party Topics offer 12 starter questions sure to get the conversation going.
Event ROI is fictitious.
Whoa! Back up. Before anyone shouts back, let me explain. My theory is based on the following premises I have observed:
1. Special Events are essentially facilitated human interaction.
2. The problem with people is that you cannot control all the variables.
3. (Excluding sales-based projects and annual meetings), many events are one-offs. With no prior baseline to measure against, how do you concretely document the return.
4. Great Events prove that often 2+2=5 (that is the result of all the pieces (value of the experience) is greater than the individual pieces (price) themselves).
5. Events are ultimately chasing an intangible: memory retention of the experience.
Now some readers of this will want to argue that every meeting and event is sales driving for any organization and we can argue that. Others will articulate that every good event is rooted in brand strategy, business objectives and/or messaging which I agree with, but we are not talking about a Return on Objective, we are discussing Return on Investment. And its NOT just semantics. If you hit the APEX dictionary, the definition for Event ROI is a tradeshow one: Value (most likely financial) returned for an investment made. Events for the most part, represent costs not returns to organizations.
So can we give up the ROI debate? Absolutely not. The question it seems comes down to how we define that word 'value'. As event professionals, it is critical that we create strategies which design meetings & events for a return; and those energies should be split between creating value for the company and for all event attendees. We must frame up the experience at the event to facilitate the conversations we want to happen and allow room for attendees to create their own dialogues. Before we try to measure our events, we need to define what return we are trying to provide and then create both our strategies and measurements tools to document the value we just defined. Which means that there is no one equation for measuring the ROI of an event, but a multitude of possibilities.
And finally we have to be OK with what we hear back through our measurement models. As much as events are facilitated human interactions, they evolve as the audience becomes more refined and the product experience more defined. We must accept criticism which states that we missed the mark, and address it the same way we accept the positive feedback. As a good friend and colleague, Cheryl Kranz of CEK Events, recently shared with me, our focus should not be on moving the "good" evaluation folks up to "great" but creating value opportunities so all respondents respond to a great experience - even if that experience is wholly unique to every individual attendee. And that event will have a perfect ROI.
Had to share a COOL product my friend Lara from Toronto found. Check out FLOGOS - Floating Logos for your next event: http://tinyurl.com/a475yl
Reminds me of a product I used for a pair of events last March. Doing an 1940's B&W Hollywood-type themed award party in which Bubbles were a theme and trend, I came across a product, which when used in an ordinary bubble machine, and under a black-light, the bubble glow blue or gold. Very cool effect. Very slippery effect (be careful.)(Thanks to Coppersmith Photography for this image)And for a final thought on bubbles, I can't get over a Target find from Halloween. Trend in home decor is a bubble machine cross-bred with a bubbler. i.e. it blows bubbles filled with smoke (so white bubbles) and when they POP! poofs of smoke. Very cool effect. Not on a large scale - but I could imagine how fun they would be big-scale! So any Special Effects creators out there...contact us, we need to talk about this.
Not a newsflash: the economy is (still) in the tank. Projections for 2010 meetings suggest things will be worse before they get better. And as an event designer that initially doesn't sound very fun! With budgets slashed, clients keep coming with the desire to do the same or more for less. They want (or internal bosses are demanding) they demonstrate good value for their spend. And yet, more and more it seems the word "value" is being swapped for "cheap price".
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