Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal

Your Best Event: 66 Tips for Better Events in 2013

Our fall issue is out, with the cover story Your Best Event, offering 66 ways to improve your meetings and events in 2013. Here are just some of the topics we cover and the tips we provide:

Event Design: It's not just about making things pretty, but understanding truly what the client needs.

Food & Beverage: Small plates, food trucks, healthy choices and more.

Floral: Use succulents, as they work in all types of weather and last a long time!

Social Media: There's a lot more that goes into it than meets the eye.

Venue Selection: Picking a venue that's right for your event, and not the other way around, is key.

Theming: Everything from food to decor matches and creates a seamless feel.

Invitations: Hand-drawn invitations give off a very special feel.

Sound & Lighting: This is not the place to scrimp!

Speakers: Long keynotes are out. Short speeches that play into the event's goals are in.

Event Branding: You can do it, and still be stylish and subtle.

Event decor: Graffiti walls, inflatable furniture and more!

Entertainment: It can, and should, be about more than just hiring a band.

Event Marketing: You don't have to do it all yourself. Find your champions and have them help you.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Go ahead and read the story and come back and tell us your thoughts: what did we miss, what did we get right, what are you looking forward to in 2013?

-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

Taking a Theme to the Next Level, Comic Book Style

Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure of helping many companies launch and promote their annual United Way campaigns. But for Deluxe’s 2012 campaign, we did more than launch a campaign, we launched a new universe of comic book super heroes.

Deluxe’s theme for this year’s campaign – The Power of We, or POW! – sparked the idea of honoring and celebrating all the super heroes at Deluxe who have made past campaigns so successful. Using this year’s objectives, we identified three types of super heroes:

Change Agent – a team member who gives money to the United Way.

Minute Man – a team member who gives their time to United Way agencies.

The Eventurer – a team member who organizes or attends fundraising events for the United Way.

And what better way to introduce these super heroes than through an original comic book? This approach seemed particularly apt, given that Deluxe knows a thing or two about custom printing, as they have state-of-the-art printing plants across the country.

Thus was born Issue One of The Power of We, a full-color comic book given to every team member at Deluxe to help introduce and promote this year’s United Way campaign.

In the comic book, the employee super heroes -- led by Deluxe’s CEO (whose alter ego is the hockey-playing Captain D) and campaign co-chairs and Senior VPs (aka The Power Play) – go head-to-head with their arch-enemy, In-Action. The story introduces all the characters and then pits them against their enemy at Captain D’s secret hideaway, The Rink.

In true comic book fashion, the story ends with a cliffhanger, but also includes a QR code that directs the reader to a website where they can see the nail-biting conclusion as the story comes to life in a live-action video.

This comic book/video hybrid helped get the message to all 6,000 employees in a fun and memorable fashion and has proved to be such a hit that plans are already underway for a sequel that will kick off next year’s United Way campaign. This sequel will include new heroes and a brand new, yet-to-be-named villain (who made a sneaky cameo appearance in this year’s video).

Step aside Dark Knight -- sounds like Deluxe has got all the elements for another blockbuster hit next year!

-- Amy Oriani
Martin Bastian

Storytelling: The Bare Essentials

Seems like you can’t swing a cat these days without hearing about the importance of storytelling—in videos, in events and just in general. Well, we’re no exception to that train of thought and I would like to share an example of an event we did where storytelling really worked its magic.

Martin Bastian has had the good fortune of partnering with Children’s Cancer Research Fund for more than 12 years. During that time, we’ve told their story in a variety of ways at their annual Dawn of a Dream gala. But for the most recent event, we took a little bit of a different approach, with spectacular results.

For the 2011 event, we stripped everything away and simply focused on the core: the stories that make up Children’s Cancer Research Fund. No cute themes, no over-the-top decor, no re-lyriced songs—just real-life stories told in compelling ways. The goal was that each attendee would retain a nugget so the next morning they could go up to a neighbor and say, “Children’s Cancer Research Fund is really doing some amazing work! Listen to this story I heard last night at Dawn of a Dream...”

So the theme became simply “Stories that....”, and we completed that sentence over the course of the event with words like “Inspire,” “Engage,” and “Compel.” Those words were introduced in the invitation, which featured black and white images (of survivors, a family who lost a son, researchers), along with their stories, designed like a storybook.

Design Trend: Terrariums

I attended a meeting recently where the floral designer La Petite Fleur used natural materials within glass containers to create a beautiful vintage look. Some of the pieces reminded me of terrariums, and I started pondering about how this botanical styling could be deconstructed and used for a variety of event décor pieces.

Terrariums were very popular in the Victorian era, but now the décor world has rediscovered this design. In essence, a terrarium is an enclosed miniature landscape that invites the viewer to look more closely at the natural details.

Terrariums are relatively simple to construct. Build your pieces using moss, rock, driftwood and a variety of specific plants and ferns. For event purposes, an open terrarium is a better choice, as closed terrariums may produce condensation inside the container. A variety of glass pieces can work as temporary terrariums -- bubble bowls, shallow glass bowls, bell jars and apothecary jars are all good choices. For centerpieces, place smaller pieces together in groups of three to create a centerpiece. Elevate each at different heights. Or, utilize one large terrarium in the center of your table. (Tip: It should be a minimum of 12 inches in diameter to fit a 60-inch round table.)

Terrariums can be creatively branded as well. For example, place a miniature billboard on the top of a moss covered “hill” inside your container. Be careful to keep the size of the branding proportionate to the scene you have created.  

For information on how to build a terrarium, go to the Terrariums site.

--Shereé Bockenek
Apres Party and Tent Rental

Welcome New Blog Contributors!

We have some exciting news on the blog today. We're opening up our blog to some new contributors! We've thought about adding guest bloggers for awhile (especially since our sister pub Minnesota Monthly does it so well), and after a gentle nudge from and some brainstorming with our friend Geri Wolf, we decided to see it through this summer.

We came up with several names of people who do just what you do, and do it well. People who could provide advice and wisdom on trends, mistakes, industry workings and all-around meeting planning. We narrowed the list down and have five great people/companies who will blog for us once a month. Starting tomorrow! We'll possibly add more contributors in the coming weeks as we gain our footing and as we hear from you about what you'd like to read.

So without further ado, meet our Meetings blog contributors:

Shereé Bochenek is the creative director at Aprés Party and Tent Rental. We first worked with Shereé when we launched our Design Showcase feature in our Spring 2009 issue and she put together an awesome set up for our photo shoot. Shereé knows event decor and will blog about everything from trends like "farm chic" and the latest advances in dance floors.

Vice President of Production and Creative Services at Martin Bastian, Amy Oriani has her hand in nearly every project that comes through the doors at the Minneapolis-based event production company. She'll write about topics like video, speakers, entertainment and the importance of telling a story through your event. See our profile on Martin Bastian for even more information.

We just featured Amy-Marie Lemanski in our Summer issue because she's been a part of our local meeting planning industry for many years. As a senior-level planner, as well as an instructor at Century College, Amy-Marie will offer tips and advice on everything from outdoor events to branding.

With hotels, restaurants and catering under its umbrella, the team at Morrissey Hospitality Companies (MHC) can speak to several topics in hospitality. Look for different MHC voices each month, discussing issues like utilizing private event space at restaurants and hiring employees who are truly hospitable.

Most local event professionals know photographer Noah Wolf. He's a member of ISES and has been in the industry for more than a decade. We'll use Noah's posts as a way to showcase not only his photography skills, plus tips and advice, but to highlight the different, local events he shoots. (We just featured Noah in our Summer issue, too.)

Come back tomorrow for Shereé's post on terrariums and keep an eye out for more contributor posts in the coming weeks.

Anything you specifically want to learn more about? Let us know and I'll get our bloggers on it!

-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor