7 Rules for Choosing a Hotel

Call me silly or too demanding, but in the age of everyone-has-a-voice, I choose to write this post to share my seven rules for taking a client to, or staying at a given hotel. As a corporate planner in a past life, event designer now and a regular conference attendee, these are the things that drive me bonkers! The hotel sales or catering manager or conference planner would be wise to pay attention: if I am (or any other guest is) on property and these seven things are missing, my perceived experience of the venue or the conference will be less high than it probably ought to be:

Rule 1: When you inquisitively inquire through your online room reservation process to learn that I like high floors, extra pillows and being as far away from the elevator as possible with my room, don't put me on 2, across from the elevator doors with one pillow.

Rule 2: If I cannot get a A) Cheeseburger, B) Fries, and C) Strawberry Milkshake after 10:30 PM - I am going somewhere else.

Rule 3: Take every planner (and vendor) through the back of house on a site visit. It is way more helpful to know up front that to get to the dock, you need to make 3 sharp lefts, go through a smaller-than-average, single door and walk 927 yards than to figure that out when the lounge furniture can't make the corner to get into the freight elevator.

Rule 4: Not everyone drinks coffee. Put soda and water into every coffee break. Yes, even at 10 AM.

Rule 5: Desk, Chair, Lamp, Internet Connection: Must mean this is a workstation in my room. So why are the only free outlets in the bathroom? (Subsequent points: the chair should be tall enough to comfortably work at the desk, not just a decorative accessory. Put in more than one extra outlet at the desk - Really, I need at least 3. And stop it with the glass top desks or the really well finished wood. No mouse ever works on these. Give me a mouse pad or a surface that functions - because the amenities price list is too small a surface to use as a substitute.)

Rule 6: Now I know as a planner that hotel room blocks are booked months and years in advance of the conference, meeting or event. And I know that clients can and do pay big attrition rates on the rooms that don't fill up. But stop telling me that you negotiated a great rate at the conference hotel when a 30 second search on Google shows me (attendee) that the rate at every hotel in the neighborhood is $50-$100-$200 less expensive. Re-negotiate the rate.

Rule 7: Internet is not a marketing ploy. Low/Mid-range business hotels promote regularly the free internet offered in their $89-$129 rooms. So why is it $12.99+ (++) in my $200+ (++) hotel room. It is no longer a relevant bargaining tool for only the big conferences. Internet should be free. Period.

Rule 7.1: Internet should be free. Period. In all meeting and event space and rooms, general access to Internet should be provided for all attendees, presenters and conference organizers.

Garage Sale Anyone?

Event Peeps: the time has come. Get rid of the stuff. All that stuff on your shelves. The great pieces which go out every weekend. And those pieces which go out every once and a while. And the deal you got on those 40 whatchamawhosits which you have never used. It is time to get rid of the stuff, because for the events of tomorrow - the stuff doesn't matter.

Ok, so maybe you don't have to trash or sell your stuff to stay in the event business (though in the last two year, I am sure some professionals thought about it and other downsized at least a little). But I am not promoting a more economical version of your business. I am writing this note to promote your people, because for the events of tomorrow, people are what count.

As I have continued to create new projects for clients across the country, I have come into a strong appreciation for the value of trustworthy event partners. As a designer there is nothing better to have than a great lighting designer who supports your vision. As a producer, your technical director is invaluable. But people have known this for years and everyone knows relationships are how this business functions. But as the dust settles on the shake up we are emerging from, the importance of those relationships I think are going to become more and more important. The new normal for events require that we open our eyes and look up from our sketch pads to see who else is working-creating-producing-designing in the field. To do that well, means that we all must become better at building teams and discovering the people who can be true partners for the sake of the project. Clients want us to collaborate to create better projects than any one person or company can do on their own. And the companies that win are the companies learn to market and sell their best assets: their talented staff.

Let me try to explain this with an example - and I think audio visuals provide the perfect example. When I travel with a show, I want to have production crew who I know, who I trust, and who I know have the best interests of my client and our project front of mind. The typical model for hiring and working with an audio visual company is that you hire the talent, you book the stuff on their shelves. And if you are headed out of town, you will truck that stuff along with you. But here is the problem: almost always, that "stuff" is anywhere my client is headed. Why waste energy and dollars shipping equipment across country when that equipment already resides at your destination. But that trusted production crew is not at your destination. The stuff in the production companies truck has no value but the people have tremendous value.

I know this is counter to how most of these companies make money - but we live in a new world and those models are tired. I want the people - I don't need the stuff. And the companies who are able to figure out how to rent out their qualified staff with or without the stuff from the shelves are, in my opinion, the companies who will keep creating innovative events.

And if per chance, you are thinking about selling some stuff: try usedeventstuff.com. A very cool event recycling concept!

Hitting the Blog-o-sphere

We have been busy being published elsewhere lately. I wish I could say that is the reason we have been slow to blog ourselves...you know coming up with fresh design content for a bi-monthly column in an international magazine... writing insightful posts for other vastly-more-popular-than-our blogs... but the truth is we have just been busy. But don't worry. There is a tall stack of post-its and scratch pieces of paper with blog posts to be piled high next to my laptop. Just a matter of time...

In the meantime - check out our featured images from photographer Noah Wolf's blog post on a corporate event for the brand new Target Field he recently shot for us as well as the latest guest blog installment of DesignDawgs, featuring yours truly.

It is a whole new world.

The theme of my life in the last week has been busy.
(i.e. I still haven't learned how to keep up on blogging. Anyone who knows, please tweet me.)

The real theme of the last week of my life has been a very real realization just how much the world has changed. And how not everyone yet knows it. Despite the vast popularity of MadMen (and my love of it), that world is over. The general session is a dying model. (or should be). Meeting and event content can no longer be only projected on screen and stated on stage if you want anyone to CARE. It must be reinforced. It must be experienced. It must be made real. Because no longer can we advertise brands and communicate organizational messages by shouting at people. AND live/virtual/hybrid events are not the new billboard for that purpose. We have to invite a two-way dialogue, encourage participation allow for the building of trust and empower great ideas to be community-driven, bubbling-up from the crowd, not pushed out from the executive speech writer.

But that is a big way of saying what I think is so brilliantly summed up in a European Microsoft Commercial. While the commercial specifically addresses advertising, remember, events require the same new set of rules for our whole new world. Enjoy.

Event Education. What is it all about? Part 2

Sit for 5 minutes with any idea and you are certain to come up with more to say. Hence a part two to my last blog post. I wanted to spend a bit more time on bullet 5 from the last post: Events can be content for education/there is education in the experience.

This appears to me so obvious, it strikes me as surprising that experiential learning at event conferences tends to be a foreign idea. There is this tremendous rivalry between the "social" events and the "education" sessions, but I have never understood why the two have been put at odds, other than to say that there is a track record of "social" events produced as parties, not as educational tools. But I find it truly unfair as a paying attendee (and recently a producer of one of these events) to be short-changed by conferences panning off these events as purely social exercises. Without fail at each conference event I can point to lessons and learning (important caveat) I have made. I can count on one hand the number of meaningful educational class sessions I have attended in the past six years.

Ask me and I will tell you that part of the problem is that the showcasing and award events at conferences do not know what purpose they really serve (or are not open to serving as a formal educational opportunity, though they inevitably always serve as passive education). While I am certain people will disagree with me, the role of an event at an event industry conference HAS to be bigger than networking and celebratory. These experiences should represent the best of what the business can do - displaying the process or professionally producing an event, emerging technologies, ideas, strategies and practices in delivering event experiences. They must be more than pretty parties. They must have goals and stick to them; they should take calculated risks and be OK falling forward when some don't pan out and others succeed.

If I ran a conference, I would love to attend this class: The day after the big showcase event or awards ceremony, the event team which worked on the event sits on a panel with a strong facilitator to discuss with the audience the process and design of the event, what was successful, and what challenges were faced and how were they overcome. This is NOT a class opportunity for the event team to brag, but requires extreme vulnerability on the teams part to host this live "actors studio" type discussion on the creation and execution of an event experienced by the audience. The audience can pose questions and help examine the choices that made that experience in 360 degree fashion. Now that would be a fun class.

Event Education. What is it all about?

I am home from my second event conference of the year and after a successful week of networking, attending great events and teaching (however successfully) classes, I find myself reflecting again on a perpetual question-argument-debate at every conference. Just what is event education supposed to be about?

At each conference this year I was fairly disappointing with the turnout in the education sessions. Feel free to blame the speaker (me) or the timing (last day, early). Here I was, about to teach a class, in a massive room with, in one case, (ugh), convention theater seating, and in the second case, (ugh), classroom tables for rows set-up and the always to be expected one participant per row

First, my soap box: Come on people! We are in the event business - we have to do a better job at designing breakout and general session spaces to be conductive of learning. Why do we insist on putting so many barriers in the way of interactivity: a podium on a riser (for 20 people, really.) Classroom tables. Uncomfortable theater seating, where I have to put two chairs in-between myself and the next person because A) I don't fit in the chair with no gap between myself and my neighbor and B) because I am lugging around this big conference bag of materials. While "comfortable" and expected, these items act as barriers between a speaker and the audience. And if you believe, like me, that education more about facilitated dialogue among the crowd and less about what I the speaker know, then these set-up really just get in the way. (And don't ask me about the screen which was set back at an angle such that 1/3 of the room couldn't see it!)

But to the bigger question. Staging conference education is a lot like staging an event. In any given audience you will have someone enthralled with what you do, someone bored silly with what you do, someone who is passing time, but the content will sink in later, and someone distracted by the latest disaster/news being reported 140 characters at a time over their mobile device. It is a vast audience with so many specific ideas and needs it will make your head spin. The repetitive issues seem always to be the same: Content is too junior! Content is too senior. Content is lacking all together.

So what is the deal? Here are my rules:

1. People want content. (period.) Celebrity status means nothing anymore and doesn't cut it to fill an hour. Sexy titles may win selection, but often are empty...and more and more crowds will walk out of classes in which nothing is being said. Audiences want solutions (to their issues) and ideas.

2. Let the audience provide your content. Who knows what they want better than the audience. So let them talk. Whether they enjoy participation or not, the most successful solution to education is a facilitated conversation among the audience by a great facilitator because the audience is smart. And we can not forget that they are smart.

As a session speaker I have taken this one specifically to heart and open my sessions with the following:

"This class is a conversation. I want to hear from you. I want to know if you agree with me or think I am full of it. Yes, I have things to say and have prepared a presentation, but I am just fine throwing that out of the window to discuss what you want to talk about. Because this class is about you (the audience) not about me. Your education is in your hands, so tell me what you want to hear."

3. Aim high with course work and provide challenging content. Again your audience is smart - so stop talking down to them. Engage them where they are at with a discussion that they want to have. But don't forget a track for the newby's. But be cautious. There is often a belief to make education experienced based, but I think education should be comfort based. Newby doesn't mean beginners or young people and Expert or MASTER doesn't mean old or experienced. Rather, each should speak to those who feel more or less confident on a given topic.

4. Look beyond the borders of your industry. There is so much knowledge and learning that can happen by linking relative outsiders to the industry for dialogue. You have to invest in good education content, not rely on free volunteers. Or your audience will stop attending.

5. We are in the experience business. So why is education presented in classrooms. Get out. Walk around. Sit comfortably. Engage in the environments around you and in the event experiences around you. Every one of these conferences stages events, and yet the integration of those experiences into the educational track is not to be found. Turn those events into more purposeful parties: make them learning opportunities.

Re-Blogging some great Props!

Wow! It is amazing how kind people can be when you present them with an idea to think about. As Executive Producer for the 2010 Spotlight/CATIE Awards, I have had the distinct pleasure to interact with some brilliant people. To see they share a respect for the ideas we tried is in a word, tremendous. So to steal from Twitter, (and because it gives better content than I can produce) I am going to "RB" - ReBlog - some of the interesting posts I have had written about me in recent weeks.

From the special events blog ready2spark.com author Lara McCulloch-Carter:

Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know corporate event producer, Ryan Hanson of BeEvents. Ryan is in 2 words an Event Provocateur. Convention irks him…instead, I do believe he spends his sleeping and waking hours trying to determine how to redefine events and our roles within them.

Last week I attended one of Ryan’s events in Las Vegas. He produced the Spotlight/CATIE Awards…and he lived up to his reputation. Gone was the stage – instead, the entertainers wove their way throughout the crowd and, as a result, we were intertwined in the entertainment. Gone were the table rounds – and the feelings of stodginess went with them. Gone was the traditional ‘In Memoriam‘ – it was replaced with all of the themes, trends and concepts that have died a horrible death over the years (i.e. client budgets).

I have a lot of respect for people who are not afraid to take calculated risks and are willing to wag their finger in the face of convention. This is why I asked Ryan Hanson if he’d be interested in a short interview…Read the rest here.

From Ruth Moyte of Red Dandelion Creative:

...I’ve been to a lot of awards shows and I hear a lot of complaints about the quality of presentation and what we as an industry should be doing in the production of our awards shows. This year, someone has risen to the challenge. I admire his entrepreneurial spirit. The willingness to take risks and have a vision for something different. I’m speaking of Ryan Hanson of BeEvents. He’s an inspiration to me. He’s an inspiration to the industry as he forges the way for what is surely to come.

When I spoke with Ryan Hanson, Producer of this year’s show, I became even more impressed with his insight, talent and positive attitude. Ryan shared with me his vision for the Award show. “My big push is to do the basics really well: can people see, can they get a drink, get food, have a seat? Does the show move along? I really wanted to underplay the build-up of the show – use non-traditional channels for communicating the messages, and not promise the biggest bang around ... I would much rather have people come with questions and leave pleasantly surprised and happy by the experience, than fall short of big pre-set expectations. That is more true to our business today with real clients, and that is the kind of awards program we should be showing – one without a stage, one where an industry embraces its collective identity and abilities, and celebrates itself among itself.” Creative? You bet. Risky? Yep. Admirable? Most certainly.

It’s a well thought out vision and one that I’m hopeful our industry will respond to. Things are a changing and if you’re not adapting you’re going to get left behind. The state of the industry is changing. We need to change with it, and I’m excited to see someone that is willing to try something different to see if it will work. Some will probably love it. Some may dislike it. Some may not even get it. But, I hope that everyone will see the potential in it.

I look forward to seeing just how it all plays out…either way, I’ll be cheering Ryan’s attempt (and hopefully a successful one) to mix it up and show some new potential to our industry at large.

Hats off, Ryan. You have one big fan cheering for your success!

Read the full post here.

This Event Provocateur is riding high today! ;o)

CrowdCampaign 3: You Pick the Drinks!

Time for our third campaign and this one has to be a favorite. It is Cocktail Time!

What is a party without the drinks!? But what to order? View the video of one of the Mandarin Oriental’s bartender shaking and stirring five classic libations. The top options will be passed during the 2010 Spotlight/CATIE Awards.

Awards Show Cocktails from Spotlight & CATIES on Vimeo.

CrowdCampaign 2: You Pick Dessert!

We are back at it. Having successfully Crowdsourced our design inspiration for the 2010 Event Solutions Spotlight & ICA CATIES Awards, we are on to campaign #2: Dessert.

Whoever said dessert should be eaten first, was right. But mom said “not until after dinner!” So, in accordance with mom rules, you will have to wait until after dinner to find out which mini-versions of the three desserts presented by Executive Pastry Chef, Gianni Santin, of the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas, will be served to patrons as they leave the 2010 Spotlight/CATIE Awards.

Watch the video then please choose 1 of the 3 decadent dessert choices!

Awards Show Cocktails from Spotlight & CATIES on Vimeo.

Want to vote? Check out our CrowdCampaign site. Campaign #3 for cocktails comes around on Wednesday!

Have your say in our Design Inspiration!

As executive producer for the 2010 Spotlight/CATIE Awards, it was critical to me to be able to provide opportunities to work with Social Media technology and to outstretch a hand to the greater event community by trying new thing and crazy ideas. One of those crazy ideas is to let our audience have their say in aspects of the event. The Spotlight/CATIE awards recognize excellence in the event industry and Catered Arts. We are the event experts, so why should these experts get to have some input into the experience they want to have!

Well with big thanks to Clinton Bonner (@clintonbon) and the crew over at the Social Collective has turned there tool CrowdCampaign.com into our crowdsourcing solution.

Starting now through March 5, we will put forth three elements of the event for popular vote: tabletop Decor, Desert, and Drinks.

With three ideas presented by the talented crew at MGM MIRAGE Events under the leadership of King Dahl (@kingdahl) and with the help of three very cool linens from Wildflower Linens we present three ideas on tabletop for the Awards event March 8, 2010 at the incredible Mandarin Oriental.

Photos by: Kelly McKeon

Style #1 The Nido Glass - “Beautiful Hand-blown glass vase with intertwined dwarf callas perched on a Tiffany Sunset Fortuny Crushed Linen”

Style #2 The Milano - “Gilded Vase filled with Cymbidiums, Imported Roses, and Callas nestled on Iridescent Taffeta topped with a Chiffon Velvet Blue Topaz overlay”

Style #3 Cascading Callas - Custom designed, multi-tiered, Lucite stand specifically crafted to hold small, delectable treats brought out by waitstaff. This piece proudly stands atop a Golden Paillette Overlay”

To vote for your favorite, visit: http://escs10awards.crowdcampaign.com/

Get Your 2010 Spotlight/CATIE Awards Badge

This year's Spotlight/CATIE Awards for Event Solutions Magazine and the International Catering Association have gone viral. As we continue to experiment with new ways to engage social media into tour awards program we are excited to release the following badges for attendees and for finalists to proudly wear on their websites, blogs, Facebook Pages, Twitter Pages, email signatures and your other social media profiles.

Simply right click the image you want to use and save it to your desktop. Upload it to the site.

Floorsquare Anyone?

I have been playing on Foursquare for the last two months and I admit it is a fun concept: being able to geo-position yourself, check-in, insta-tweet where you are, find others there all while competing with your friends to rack up points, earn Mayor-ships, and unlock badges (though I wish someone would tell me how to unlock those darn badges!). And lets not forget - there are some fantastic deals on Foursquare: free food and drink when you show up at your local establishment and show them that you have checked in or are the mayor. You bet I've saved $10 or $20 bucks off the bill! (And you bet it makes me go back.)

But I am much more excited about what I foresee as the event-take on this technology: Floorsquare! The next great innovation for the Tradeshow Business. (And trademarked by BeEvents, right now.)

Think about it - attendees download a customized version of the application for your conference or tradeshow event and are able to check-in at various points throughout the room. As show producers, secret badges, special prizes and unique add-on experiences could be built into the floorplan. Add in and RFID chip and attendees can find one another, connect, and connect with vendors. Why let someone scan your badge or name tag and waiting for a vendor to send you information. Why not let that information be selected by the customer to access when they return home and log into your personalized Floorsquare homepage.

But it is more interesting to think how vendors could have a field-day with the technology as they try to woo and connect with customers - through special offers, badges, rewards, and freebies. At a time when sponsorship in general is old, boring and down, whoever can capitalize on this sort of interactive sponsorship could rake in the funding to cover the cost of implementation and then some.

I am sure there needs to be advances in the ability of mobile devices to geo-locate within a confined space. Then there is the lack in service at most convention centers in the country (they still believe they can charge ridiculously for access/mobile companies have not seen the value in investing in the repeaters necessary for the concrete masses that are most convention centers.) And sure this is an idea most likely rolled-out by some uber-fantastic show like the annual Consumer Electronic Show. But the concept is so simple, easy to adapt, conceptually, easy to understand, and I think would be just a LOT of Fun.

My Next Great Crowdsourcing Experiment

I was sharing dinner the other day with a fantastic colleague and leader in the events and tradeshow industry and we spent the evening discussing a new product venture he is excited to be launching. Without getting too specific in this moment, leave it to say that the subject of the launch is an over-time proven product re-polished and ready to roll-out around the country. The problem is - big surprise - the tight economy is making it nearly impossible to get the funding to get the product on its feet and out the door.

There is little doubt that the downside to the economic slide of 08-09 is a massive constriction of the tunnel of funding accessible by small business entrepreneurs who have a passion for their creations and want to build success. But without the ability to gain cash or credit holds these creative seeds in a semi-permanent germination process, prohibited from growing into vibrant successes, unless discovered by accident or supported by some "angle" investor. Banks have not been a good way for my friend to go (and don't even get me started on credit!) Even for well established companies with demonstrated success, it has surprised me at the apparent lack of innovation, creation, and perfecting of products by suppliers for me to take to clients for events. Unless I pay for custom builds, I am stuck re-renting the same goods again and again... And I (if anyone) is someone who needs to be inspired! (i.e. I custom build a lot!).

The conversation got me thinking. Perhaps this individuals issue lives in the fact that his proposition is not falling on the right ears. As an every-day-increasing-fan of my social media networks and a new experimentor in the proposition of crowdsourcing, it struck me to try a little experiment. What is we posed this "new product in search of investor" to the great masses to try and generator a solution or find the perfect match? Could crowdsourcing be the perfect way to get this product off the ground? Well, I will give it a try.

Granted of course to be successful we have to find first a community (I have some) of correct potential listeners (I have to figure out). But if anything I hope this experiment will teach me more about the power of crowdsourcing and help hone my skills at building a social network of solution drivers!

So here goes:

I have posted this blog and will now tweet it to the world. (hopefully they will retweet it too).

If you are an investor who likes promising new ideas, brands, approaches and products with a proven track record and you have some or any interest in the event or tradeshow business, respond to this post (or email info@beeventsdesign.com) and I will contact you with more information.

OR

If you know someone who likes to invest in promising new ideas, approaches and products related to the event and tradeshow business, pass the message on.

Who knows if I can lend a hand and help my colleague out. I am excited to see if this experiment works - to see how wide a net we might be able to cast in my next great attempt at crowdsourcing. Results of the experiment to hopefully be posted soon.

Are you going to The Spotlight/Catie Awards at the Catersource Show?

It is official: BeEvents has been tapped to design and executive produce the 2010 Spotlight/Catie Awards for the 2010 Event Solutions/Catersource in Las Vegas, March 8, 2010. Beyond an honor, BeEvents is excited to put together an incredible team of sponsors and partners to deliver an awards event which celebrates the work of all of the incredible finalists and showcases new ideas every event professional can use.

Most exciting, this year's event will be hosted at the spectacular new Mandarin Oriental Hotel and the Opening Night Party at Eve the Nightclub in the new City Center.

As is the case with events across the country, Social Media will have a role in this year's event. In the coming weeks we will be crowd-sourcing input on various aspects of the event, allowing guests to have their say and contribute to making this years Gala a complete success. The hashtag #escs10 is being used to communicate updates engage participation and announce the winners online all night long!

We need some help! Are you Social Media savvy and attending the conference? If so, we are giving away 4 individual tickets to the 2010 Spotlight Awards Gala/Opening Night Las Vegas party to bloggers, video bloggers and tweeters who will come and help share the event with the greater event community. We will let you in on secrets and get you backstage so you can communicate the scoop to all those following along.

To get your Social Media Pass to the Gala:

1. Email info@beeventsdesign.com with the subject: I wanna blog at the Awards!
- include all the pertinent info: your name, company, email address, blog, twitter handle, and how you would be able to help us spread the word about the event!

2. If you haven't already, make sure you are registered to attend the Event Solutions/Catersource Conference in Las Vegas, March 8-11, 2010.

We are looking for four distinct voices, so only one ticket per company/person. We will contact reach out to our 4 winners with further instructions and distribute your Social Media Pass!

Bubbles on the Surface

My conceptual mind is a tinkering away today. The analogy is not yet right, but the question is firm and good:

Will the "Community" surpass the "Event" as the thing? So that events are simply bubbles on the surface of things?

I was re-reading an article this by @samueljsmith in the e-book Social Media for Events by @ready2spark and two specific points leaped off the page at me:

"Attendees will expect to connect with other delegates before, during, and after the event." & "New Events will emerge from online communities."

I am a strong believer in both of these statements (as well as the other 8 great points Samuel makes in the article) and have for a while been articulating the change in the event atmosphere and the understanding of event design and event education. But today a new thought happened! Forever, I have thought about events as "the event" - it is that which we prepare for, which attendees get excited about. The Event has always been the thing. And communities occurred as a result of the event; that is to say that people would meet at a conference or event and then stay in touch as new contacts in a Rolodex-version-of-community. But with a changing understanding of how adult learning occurs, more and more focus has been placed on conversation before, during and after the event. The explosive growth of Social Media continues to demonstrate that the power of the community to shape dialogue and make change is vast.

So what if the Community is really the thing, and not the event? What happens if we re-envision events as momentarily emergences from the conversations within a community that occur over the course of time. What if we consider first the community and its dialogues as the primary experience and like the warming lava inside lamp, at given periods of time portions of the population become excited and bubble up into gatherings on a certain topic, around a specific discussion, or for a special need of the community. As the accomplish their task, they fall back into the community and the conversation continues.

Perhaps a lava-lamp is not the best visual image here, but it gets at the point. Or maybe it is more like that plasma light I used to love to play with as a kid - lots of particles (=people) flying around inside a defined space (=community) in and amongst low pressure gases which makes them excited and visibly functional (=brand, organization, conversation, interest) and act on the sphere by touching your finger to the outside (=action of putting on an event) you cause some of those electrons to get hyper excited and come together to form potent streams of lights.

ReClaiming (and ReDefining) my job as a Designer

I hate the response:

"What do you do"
"I'm an event designer"
"Oh, so you make parties pretty."

No. I am a Designer. I am not a decorator. Yes, I do create, design and provide decor for events, but that is only one small component of the responsibilities our clients task and trust us with as the designer of their meeting or event.

And yet as an industry and community, we do not necessarily celebrate the role or work of the designer the way we celebrate the decor at an event. So many times we offer awards and print in magazines beautiful pictures of stunning events without ever thinking about or asking how that event came to be; without examining the design process which did (or did not) make that beautiful event successful. And yet it is in the process of the art of design, not in the product of that design that the reality of our contributions lives.

Now note! In NO WAY is this a value judgment about the role of a designer or the work of event decorators. There is not a value judgment to be made. Both are required, but one is much better understood (and exposed) and the other is not. So I am making it my job to change that.

I have been reading the fine blog, The Business of Being Creative by @seanlow for the last eight months and his graceful words have motivated me to put a stake in the ground. Sean discusses the art of the creative business as being something each artist must define for themselves and stick to, as their art is their contribution, their art is their value. And how true. The gift we bring is an understanding of the process of creating an event. We understand the role of strategy and the important need for everyone to conceptualize the purpose of their projects, identify their audience and articulate the message of their brand or organization or of the individual celebrating. Only after this significant thoughtful energy has been spent can one really create a successful event which actually functions to serve a purpose.

It is these purpose-driven events which by design grow brands, change behavior, commemorate the past, the present or the future and create cause for celebration through the articulation of a defined set of values shared in a live, virtual or hybrid experience. It is not that these events are not "pretty" - but they are first purposeful. They are beautiful creations because they know why they exist, not because we put a bunch of beautiful things together. They are events which tell great stories - because that is our art, as true storytellers on the stage of the lived experience.

There will always be pretty events. But we don't make these. Because we are designers. And it is through our design that we make events matter.

A New Event Mantra

I am contemplating a change to the language of my website. My current motivation is as follows:

The nature of events is changing. Amid changing values and demographics the ideas of community and interaction are increasingly valuable. Organizations around the world are realizing experience of ‘the Brand’ no longer exists as a term of reverence, but is increasingly being devised in terms of user relationships with products. In a world in which everyone has an opinion and technology has given a platform to each voice, smart companies are listening. Events continue to emerge from the marketing mix as an ever-better way to generate user experiences and build brand loyalty.

The question is how to most effectively use meetings and events to do this. The answer lies in strategic event design. Great companies build identity and brand affinity through authentic experiences, one person at a time. Further, these event experiences have to be rooted in the strategic messages of the company – be it a launch of a new product or the communication of core values – and created to drive the dialogue of an audience, as a vehicle specifically tailored to their needs.

Building these purpose-driven event products is what BeEvents does.

Who agrees?

You bet crowdsourcing has a place at your next event.

Social media is all about community building. But what do you do when you have a problem and want to get input from that community? Well, you crowdsource!

Crowdsource! What is that? Crowdsourcing is taking a problem which you would normally solve within your company or your team and pushing it out, or outsourcing it, to a large community of unknown or known people seeking their solutions and contributions to accomplish the task or solve the problem.

What does this have to do with events? Well maybe everything. Many of the daily tasks or challenges - Say "Where are we going to have this year's conference?" can be outsourced to a knowledgeable community of event professionals or destinations who can offer input and provide solutions.

But I like crowdsourcing for another reason: it offers the possibility of empowering your attendees to help define and design their experience at your event. Imagine it: you can crowd source various elements of the event to your attendees and let them vote or have input or even make suggestions for what they want to experience. What entertainment do you want to see? Ask the audience. What food will you serve for the gala's main course? Ask the audience. Do you want to take a boat tour or head to a karaoke bar? Ask the audience.

All of these suggestions and a hundred others which might be asked or polled amongst an audience of attendees put the event planner in a unique position. By soliciting input from your guests you excite them, energize them prior to the event. You enable the opportunity to open dialogue prior to the event and at the event ABOUT THE EVENT which is becoming increasingly critical as brands and organizations compete for valuable time of their guests. Giving up ownerships increases the likelihood of success because you have gotten direct, measurable input for those who matter most, the attendees.

But lets take it one step further. For the embattled incentive trip, crowdsourcing solutions that allow the audience to help choose the destination and define the experience creates a whole new motivator for sales teams. If they are able to define the experience of their dreams which they will receive upon the successful completion of goals or sales would only increase their drive to meet those goals. Crowdsourcing could be your corporation's best incentive in driving success, motivating behavioral change and redefining the incentive rewards program to help meet your business objectives.

Inspiration: Target Golden Globes Commercial

Alright! Who caught the new Target Commercials tonight during the Golden Globes! They were fantastic works of art created by Catalyst Studios and showcasing the talent of Moses Pendelton's MOMIX Dancers.

My inspiration: Origami is back. The fantastic use of shape combined with the natural product like paper will make for great Event Decor for some upcoming projects!

I am going to kill the General Session!

BeEvents was selected by @ready2spark expert Lara McCulloch-Carter to participate in an e-book featuring seven Social Media experts sharing their thoughts on how Social Media will effect the future of meetings and events.

Included here is an expert from our chapter. The book is available for free from Ready2Spark's website.

I am on a mission to single-handedly destroy the ‘General Session’.

Ok, ok so I will not exactly be able to eradicate General Sessions from meetings all on my own. And, yes, General Session will still go on at meetings for years and decades to come. Just as breakout sessions and auxiliary events will continue to happen, because regardless of the immense growth and wealth of resources technology continues to churn out to help us meet better, accomplish more (or at least be busier), human beings are fundamentally social creatures and will always seek out opportunities to get together. The “live” event will never die. It is just going to change.

At BeEvents, we believe whole-heartedly in the notion that the purpose of event design is to facilitate the conversation. The growth in our industry is a reversal of the planning the process from task-driven planning to strategy-driven planning. It is not about finding the right color linen, booking the right entertainment, or figuring out the perfect way to process registrations and distribute gifts. And at the same time is it exactly about picking the right color linen, great entertainment and facilitating a smooth registration process. But the difference lies in knowing and understanding why you are doing it.

Far to often the planning process is thought of as:

Step 1: We’re Having a Meeting
Step 2: Need to pick a Location and Theme
Step 3: Complete all the to-do lists, checklists, master task sheets, forms, contracts,
vendors, obligations, negotiations, arbitrations, and many other …tions, until we collapse
post event with a stack of evaluations that really tell us nothing, hopefully a cold meal
which was left in the warmer, maybe a pat on the back from our boss or the corporate
executive and tomorrow we get up and do it all again.

But how often is Step 1 preempted with the question of “Why are we meeting in the first place?“ It is a question of great functional importance as budgets and staff have been cut and new technologies and virtual solutions present themselves as “cost-saving” measures. We need to question why in order to best understand what it is we are trying to accomplish (and, by default, what it is we are therefore seeking to measure to evaluate the event, its success and ROI). It is not that the logistical duties of effectively planning and producing a meeting and event are not relevant – they are critical. But first we must understand what the purpose of the project is in order to do those tasks effectively.

This is why strategy matters. The ability of an organization or an event team to effectively articulate its value proposition alongside it brand and goals and objectives, with without doubt simply produce better meetings and events. It is this organization that understands how to mix the virtual experience with the live experience in order to create learning and behavioral change (is that not the function of the meeting or incentive program, to educate and change behavior). It is this group who understands that the best spend of an event budget is on the items that most directly will create the experience necessary to meet the learning objectives. This group knows that the color of the carpet or the linens does not matter in and of itself because it is pretty or because it is ugly. They matter instead because they are contributors to effect-iveness of the audience’s experience.

The meaning is in the message and the message is communicated in the experience. The lesson of Social Media is that it creates offers environment in which communities of people can engage in conversation. Meetings and events are intended to do the same, with a bit of shaping, of course. And when all the elements are working together, the ability of the audience to engage in dialogue and create thoughts, ideas, and learnings multiplies. In this environment you tap into the natural expertise of everyone in the room – their experiences and their networks - expertise and ideas that hopefully track back to the office post event. That is why we have to get rid of the expert speaker and get rid of the stage and start the conversation among those in the room.

Thought for Today

People are Value Seekers. Overtime, value has come to mean very different things. While we live in a society in which “Value” seems to have been redefined as “best price” there is change in the ‘Social’ air. Amongst the new commodity of information readily available on the web…Value will re-emerge in terms of Expertise. And those who provide valuable expertise will be the ones who are listened to.

BeInspired

Editor's Note: This article is a shortened post of the January 2010 Design Column in Event Solutions Magazine, pages 48-49.

N-E-W-Y-E-A-R spells Relief! Or so go the hopes and exaltation of many event designers and producers this year. I don’t know about you, but 2009 needed to be done. At best, the year was a mixed bag. And at worst a lot of twiddling of thumbs as clients remained unsure and indecisive. Or my new favorite: the reinforcement of the increasingly bad behavior of contracting and delivering projects with days or less notice. But all that (hopefully) is remains in 2009.

With a new year off and running, its time again to be inspired. But where can you find inspiration for your new project or an old one in desperate need of rejuvenation? Here are a few tricks which get my creative juices going.

Go Shopping: for everything except what is on the store shelves that is. Retailers spend mucho dollars each year, forecasting trends and implementing colors and styles that will trickle down in 1-3 years to the event world. But beyond the commercial goods, look closely at the way retailers display their goods. Creating places for customers to pause or various focal points to draw customers through large spaces is what retail store designers are good at. And they employ many of the same strategies event designers can to accomplish the same goal. So look close next time you walk into Target or Crate & Barrel or your favorite store. The next great trend in buffet displays may turn out to be little more than an innovation on a sweater rack.

Don’t want to leave your house? Turn on the TV ...and watch the commercials. Same thing goes – watch closely and you will see trend colors, styles, motifs, and patterns emerge before your very eyes. Television programs can contribute to, particularly those which tap into the current cultural emotion. There is a reason the television show Mad Men is so popular. In our uncertain economic climate, the emotional trend is towards authentic experiences that remind us and re-inspire us about the simple good things in life. Classic, formal style has returned, but with a modern twist.

Go Swatching! Now I know clients give me a funny look every time I suggest we hit the hardware store, but truth be told, the paint section of your local hardware giant or hometown store is one of the best places to play with color. Grab a handful of those over-sized color chips in colors that strike you or your clients as favorites or inspirational. Having the big color chips makes it easy to mix and match and find a palette that suits your needs. Use this to build a style or color board incorporating favorite element and decorative items and before you know it your design will start to emerge.
Read more about using color from the impeccable Sasha Souza.

Branch Out: One of my favorite new inspiration ideas is that of branching. It is a version of brainstorming where you take an object and describe every detail of it, eventually using those details as the base of your design. So lets say you have a client who loves watermelon. You can use the watermelon as your inspiration. First list all of its qualities: red, green, white, seeds, black, round, oval, heavy, large, wet, sweet, etc. Perhaps consider the things that come to mind when you think of watermelon: summer, sun, outdoors, grilled foods, holiday, etc. Use those ideas and elements to create your event: your color palette may include variegated shades of greens and melon red. Flowers may be large, heavy and round in shape but with a sweet summery scent. Perhaps oval dishware. This is not about literally doing an event that has watermelons as centerpieces and looks like a watermelon! It is about being inspired by the essence of the watermelon to create your design.
Learn more about branching from The Wedding Guys Blog.

Now it's your turn. Where do you find Inspiration??

Let's go 3-D!

So it's New Years weekend and like millions of other individuals I headed to the theater to catch the new Avatar movie. Blowing (too much money) on tickets and (way too much money) on snacks, I looked down at my ticket and noticed we were watching the flick in...3-D!

"Oh great" I joked with my fellow movie goer. "I can't wait to put on my silly paper glasses of red and blue" Boy was I wrong.

The glasses we received were not of the cheese I remember, but thick black plastic with "plain" lenses. And once the movie began, the screen literally came to life. To see creatures and images leap forward off the screen to me in my seat was a revelation. And I said to myself what any self-respecting event designer would: When can I do this.

Imagine it: 3-D would bring wonders to event design. Attend an event, don some funky glasses and experience video projected images come to dimensional reality right in front of your eyes. It adds completely new layers to conceptual design. Not only are their real props, but 3-D video props and environmental features popping off the screen This would be the personalization of experience. Integrate augmented reality and interactive 3-D video and you the guests would choose your own experience.

Now who is to say this would be functional? The level of sophistication and planning to craft an experience that was not Disney-fied as a "walk-through" expereince but could exist over-time would be extensive. Still I love the thought of the challenge. So techies tell me: how soon before I can play with the third dimension?

(The movie was a visual splendor by the way. Not my favorite script of the year, and for the reason though I am sure it will be offered the Oscar, I can think of better choices, but COMPLETELY worth seeing for the visuals. This is the stuff of a chocolate factory: pure imagination. It also tells me hyper-color is on its way back in. See the movie and then tell me if you don't agree.)

We need your VOTE!

We have some exciting news! BeEvents' creative producer, Ryan Hanson has been selected a finalist for the 2010 Event Solutions Spotlight Award for Designer of the Year... It is a true honor and we are up against some great competition (as well as colleagues and friend)... But now it is in your hands (and all the hands of the people you know...and they know... and they know!)

We need you to take 2 minutes and VOTE by January 31, 2010. You can vote once from any email address (and they only collect your email address to verify that you vote only once.)

Go to: http://www.event-solutions.com/spotlight/vote/ Enter your email address and VOTE for Ryan Hanson, BeEvents for Designer of the Year. You can vote just for us or you can explore and vote in the other categories as well.

But WE NEED YOUR VOTE(S)!!!! (And then pass along to your colleagues and friends)