Coloring Outside the Lines

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In my Fuel for Thought column in the February/March issue of Event Solutions magazine which is out this week, I talk about how, as children, coloring outside the lines allows us to grow by testing boundaries. Even as adults we do well with some parameters when creating something from nothing. But what happens when there are no lines in that coloring book as is the case with an empty area in need of total infrastructure to support an event?

This was an example of full-blown event architecture created by Professional Event Solutions (no relation to the magazine) in San Diego and I’m happy to have more space, stepping outside the “lines,” or parameters, of a magazine page, to explore it here. Angela Verdenacci, event manager and one of the company’s partners, was in charge of a major undertaking for a 100-person fundraiser for the San Diego Symphony.

To create an entrance to the event that looked like the home, Verdenacci and her team began a month out framing a hallway attached to the event site. To this, drywall, recessed lighting, paint and furnishings were added. Then, instead of a tent, they created a 20-foot-high roof system so chandeliers could raise and lower on cue. Instead of a floor they installed Plexiglas over the pool and lighted it. Instead of sidewalls, they built a tree of 3,500 18-inch white paper flowers made by the New Children’s Museum, one of the host’s favorite charities. The look was so breathtaking the client kept it up another week and used it for his birthday celebration.

Note the photo at the top of the post …this is what the event site looked like before…

Build-out began one month before. Instead of a tent, a 20-foot-high frame was erected to support the chandeliers that would raise and lower via remote control.

Across the pool, Professional Event Solutions installed steel beams (above) and in it a series of 7-inch aluminum beams that were then lighted by LEDs so when viewed through the Plexiglas, the beams looked like stripes (below).

To make it appear as if guests were entering the completed event site through the home, a hallway was built.

The hallway after…complete with recessed lighting, chandelier, artwork and furnishings.

THE FLOWERS

More than 3,500 white, paper flowers were created by volunteers at the New Children’s Museum. Rheana Coon of White Lotus Productions was brought in to assist with the installation at the event. Later the flowers were installed again within the museum.

THE END RESULT

Dramatic lighting for both events was designed by Kevin Lambert from Viejas Entertainment and Production and kept the look changing. Clear acrylic chairs and illuminated tables were from kool. Party Rentals. “We bought the tables,” Verdenacci says. “Then changed out the lights in them so we could control them with dimmers. We had a subfloor and ran the power under that. There were also fans under the subfloor to keep the Plexiglas from fogging up, which it can do when put over a pool.”

According to Verdenacci, the client loved the look so much that he kept everything up for his birthday celebration two weeks later, adding only a few extra tables to the environment. Tabula rasa – two words that sound beautiful until you have to face what they really mean — a blank slate — as Verdenacci and her team did with this event.

Photos by Justin Hulse, Hulse Photography.

 

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Six Things That Make A Champion

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Valentino RossiIt’s a competitive world and never more so than now. This season is busy with media awards, football playoffs and presidential elections. And, in the special events industry, it’s time for the Event Solutions Spotlights, the International Caterers Association’s CATIEs and Event Marketer’s Ex Awards. Competition is part of us. And while it’s true that it’s not just about winning, but how you play the game, it’s equally true that there are some people who just ARE natural champions. I thought it a good time to revisit this post I wrote about one of the world’s best motorcycle racers –Valentino Rossi. He has the attitude of a champion yet also knows how to play the game and have fun in the process.

 “To finish first, you have to first finish.”

– Barry Sheene, British former World Champion Grand Prix Motorcycle road racer

What is it about sports and competition that fire up our passions and teach us so much about ourselves? Perhaps it’s the fact that we are watching people who are gifted, passionate and, as Sheene says, are driven to see the race through to the end, whatever the outcome.

Sheene was a true champion but a little before my time. In the past decade the sport has been dominated by Valentino Rossi. With eight Grand Prix championships to his name he is the most successful and celebrated motorcycle racer of all time. After watching him, I’ve formed some opinions on why he is such a champion.

JOY. While other racers approach the track serious and stiff, Rossi does so with joy and a sense of humor. While he is a ruthless competitor and is there to win, it’s not about winning at any cost. There is no cutting corners. No unethical moves. Just beautiful racing. It’s about the process, not the goal. He does what he loves. He does it well.

STRATEGY. A champion isn’t always first out of the gate. There have been races where Rossi comes up from the rear to finish first. Often, he takes time to establish his own rhythm or to see what lines other riders are taking before beginning to pass them. Why is this important? Because we are never the same from day to day.

KNOWLEDGE. When he’s interviewed after each race, Rossi can give a detailed account of what happened and why at every turn during the 20-plus laps. It’s no surprise his nickname is “the doctor.” How many of us can look back at just one week of our lives and analyze it with such precision that we are constantly learning and using that knowledge like building blocks?

MINDSET. It’s not just about equipment. Rossi made history when he moved from Honda with whom he had won so many championships, to Yamaha. At the time, Yamaha was not a proven winning manufacturer but Rossi won the next two championships riding a new bike and working with a new team. A champion is confident in that his or her own personal force that allows them to make it happen no matter the odds, or the engine.

HARD WORK. In his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell cites a study of elite performers that reveals they had studied or practiced their craft for 10,000 hours or more by the time they were in their twenties. ”The research suggests that once a musician had enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, people at the top don’t just work harder or even much harder, than everyone else. They work much, much harder.”

valentino RossiFINISHING. In 2006 Rossi didn’t win the championship. He lost by five points. In 2007, he didn’t win again. That year, it seemed like no amount of joy, knowledge or hard work would help. There was one race that he ran flawlessly and yet, with finish line in sight, his bike died. All he could do was shake his head. He had done everything in his power and still he didn’t finish that race, or that season, as a champion.

Champions have skill, of course, but what sets them apart is tenacity. From the moment the race begins, they believe they will win. And it doesn’t come and go, this belief. It’s there all the time. A true champion, Rossi didn’t retire or join the world of auto racing which was clamoring for him when he lost. Instead, he came back for another season and went on to win his ninth GP title.

To finish first you have to first finish. And that can’t happen if you aren’t in the race.

* * *

Speaking of races, there are still a lot of great champions in this one — the Event Solutions Spotlight Awards. Voting closes January 31. Click on the logo to view the finalists and cast your vote.

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Embracing the Bump in the Road

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This article can be found in my Fuel for Thought column in the December 2011/January 2012 issue of Event Solutions magazine.

Fueled By: Disruption

By Liese Gardner

Disruption is the client who now has 500 guests instead of 250 or the budget that gets slashed two weeks before the event. Disruption is something not to fear but to thank. It keeps you strong, agile, and creative. It’s why we love to see Tom Colicchio throw a curveball at the Top Chef contestants mid-race.

We know disruption makes “good TV” but it also makes “good life” as it did for Steve Jobs. “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” he said. “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

Granted, for Jobs, his hand was forced. It’s hard to embrace the bump in the road when the highway is smooth. But even if it is, the excitement of reinventing one’s self and beliefs is powerful. It shakes off complacency and allows us to see and feel the world anew.

Starting from the Beginning

Take for instance, the case of the head master of Riverdale Country School in New York. Domenic Randolph is often called a disruptor for ideas he’s introduced to the curriculum having to do with issues deeper than the ABCs. Like Jobs’ rethinking, Randolph’s takes place at a beginner level ““ students. Tests, he contends, miss a serious part of what it means to be a successful human — character. He asks questions relevant not just for educators, but anyone trying to lead a thoughtful life. Can character ““ grit, curiosity, determination, zest, ethics — be taught?

Character is something that you, as people not just as event professionals, are judged on every day by your clients, your team, your peers and yourself. Every generation of event professionals (today millenials, Xers and Boomers are hashing it out in the workplace) has its own idea of character and that means new and ongoing discussions about work ethics, passion, economic needs, success, and yes, sometimes failure.

And I say “event professionals” but perhaps we can take the Jobsian approach and use the term “event beginners.” The lightness of beginning again disrupts old habits and allows us to relearn who we are, revive curiosity, rethink failure, and most important, reinvent it all into success.

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Photo by Stephen Wilkes. Tape Installation by Stephen Doyle

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Honoring Every Day Triumphs

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Triumph. It’s not a word we hear or use much today. It’s often relegated to epic times when courage, strength and spirit 
won over evil and darkness. Or it is used to describe people who overcome huge physical and mental odds to produce great works
of art and science.

But rarely do we think of it in terms of living life every day. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to find an instance that I’d point
to as hands-in-the-air, head-thrown-back-in-astonishment-triumphant moment. But maybe that’s just it. Maybe it’s not about just
one moment.

The more complex life gets, the more I think that there are triumphs every day to be celebrated as such. And the largest
obstacle we triumph over every day is our own humanity.

These are the times we overcome pressure with grace, forgiveness and patience. When we solve problems with positive energy. When we give of our time and creativity freely to one another. When we bring people together. When we create something that educates, entertains and elevates.

I know what you are thinking. We recognize these achievements, but how can we celebrate them as “acts” of triumph when they flow from one moment to the next without much distinction? There isn’t a definite action to recognize with a photo, a statue or an award.

Perhaps the best way to be triumphant is not to be looking for an outside verification of it. Every moment we choose the high road, we triumph. Every time we see what is positive in what we or others do and act on it, we triumph. Every time we get to the end of the day and think, that was a good day and hope that tomorrow is even better, we have triumphed.

Triumph ““ a word not to be taken lightly “¦ or left dusty on the shelf with yesterday’s achievements.

 

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A Created Life

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Naturally, this time of year has us thinking of family and what they have given us. My grandmother, for instance, left me with many fond memories, a recipe for a killer lemon meringue pie, her scrapbook and a mystery. The book is a full account of her life in photos, complete with a last chapter. On the final page of the book she had pasted a photo of her 87-year-old self wearing a flowery bright green sundress. Under the photo she had written the words, C’est Moi, Vraiment! And herein lies the mystery.

Did her final statement mean that she was surprised to see herself as an old woman — as in: is this really me? Or, did it mean that this was really her — thinning gray hair, wrinkles and all.  Either way, the fact that she wrote that inscription, in French no less, is intriguing, revealing, very endearing and an exclamation of individualism.

We all fear becoming a face in the crowd so we strive to be more. But with age comes acceptance. We get comfortable and stop making excuses. We’d like to think of our lives as a movie that is full of climactic moments. But in reality, it’s a series of small moments, not grand statements.

During my years of interviewing event designers and producers I always ask them what keeps them passionate about their challenging profession. They almost always say it’s that moment when guests walk into the room. While I know that’s part of it, I think there is more to that answer.

I believe that like anything else, it’s the connections made with others along the way, solving a tricky design problem, that first step into a refrigerator filled with flowers, the allure of a crate of juicy red strawberries, or the beauty of a jumble of ribbons on the floor during setup.

These are the small moments when everything is ripe with potential. Once guests walk into an event the creation is finished.

Perhaps that is what my grandmother meant to say when she sat down to pasted that photo in her scrapbook and write those words. Her event was her life, a creation she had finished. She was ready for the next phase.

As I live my creation, every day I ask for knowledge and that I receive it when I’m ready. I’m thankful for my talents and for being able to use them. I ask for new challenges, but I ask for peace of mind to accept myself as I am. I try to enjoy life’s small pleasures as well as its big dramas to reach my potential and to fill my own scrapbook.

My hope is that at the end of my created life I will also be able to look the world straight in the face and say: it’s me … really!

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Exhale

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By Liese Gardner

Lately I’ve been holding my breath thinking that if I just don’t breathe I can make it through whatever is challenging me at the moment – a new venture, a tough yoga pose, a difficult home repair job. It seems with every day there comes a new hurdle.

But of course, as any yoga teacher will tell you — you have to BREATHE into the challenge. Step into it and face it.

I’m reminded of that even more with the words and example that Steve Jobs left us — death is the best invention of life. With that thought in mind, I completely exhaled and realized that any risk, any challenge in life is nothing compared to that final transition.

It is a change agent; a freeing thought.

The extraordinary thing about his passing was the collective exhale we experienced as we realized that the majority of our day-to-day fears are trivial and self manufactured.

Together we take a deep breath of freshness in. Then slowly exhale all our old worries and fears out. Repeat.

***

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Table by A Joy Wallace Catering Design & Production Team, Miami, Florida

Buddha by Living Art

Chairs and Linen by Nuage Design

Photo Roy Llera

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Fueled By: Brilliance

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By Liese Gardner

Note: This was written for the October/November edition of Event Solutions and my new column there, Fuel for Thought. Continue to the end to see what I’m doing in the pages of Event Solutions!


Brilliance is … A great marketing campaign, a beautifully designed event, a well placed move on the chess board of business.

Brilliance is … Expression through design. The upcoming holiday season promises a respite from a difficult year. It’s the time we celebrate our resiliency, hope and humanity with light and love. It’s the time that we wrap our arms around uncertainty, excited for a New Year, while at the same time paying homage to tradition and those who came before. Holiday design reflects these emotions. As you weave the sparkle of hope and promise from table to tree, make it brilliant.

 

And as far as design durng the rest of the year, it’s a lot like life. It’s not about taking the first answer but always digging for deeper meaning. It’s about seeing things from a new perspective. For instance, does floral design have to be in the center of the table, or even on the table? At the Emmys Governor’s Ball in Los Angeles this year, produced by Sequoia Productions, Kevin Lee from LA Premier took the simple calla lily, framed it and hung it from above. It’s a great reminder that the only thing we can control in life is our perception and when we shift it, brilliance happens, personally and professionally.

Brilliance is … Ideas. Some people use coffee to wake up. Others get their morning jolt from the daily blog of marketing guru Seth Godin who was interviewed by Event Solutions editor Ann Turner in Getting Personal this month. At about 10 lines each, Godin’s posts are always a fast, intriguing read. To him we, as businesspeople, are at the end of a very long day; there is no time for messing around with sentiment. If it has to be said, he says it. He literally rips the Band-Aid off of preconceived notions. It’s a hurt that feels so good and millions look forward to it each day.

Brilliance is … Bold Moves. When such inspirational people as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates say they believe in hiring brilliance, it’s not to be taken lightly. Certainly the management of Event Solutions is a good example of how to take this philosophy to heart. They have assembled their brilliant team of tomorrow and I’m happy to be part of their strategy of bold moves.

I am thrilled to be working with Event Solutions as Editorial Director and general consultant, influencing both the magazine and the show. My goal is to make a positive change that will elevate the events industry!

While change is brilliant and exciting, we all know it takes a lot of work to make a difference. Certainly hard work is nothing any of us in this industry fear. You have faced tough times and survived, yet this is not the time to nurse the wounds of yesterday, to make excuses or look the other way hoping someone else will bail us out. It’s time to get down to work, to inspire one another and, quite simply to be brilliant.

There is not a moment to waste.

__________________________________

 

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Photos:

By Nadine Froger Photography

Sequoia Productions, LA Premier, Patina Catering, Images By Lighting, AirDD,

 

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Finding Opportunity in 126 Square Feet

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By Liese Gardner

“I’m not an innovator or creator,” admits John Homrighausen, a Houston event professional. “I’m an improver and a nudger. I’m always scanning for the next tweak.” His most recent tweak to his Houston catering and event companies, Americana Catering and J-BAR-H, is transforming 126-square feet of space at the front of his kitchen into a bakery that pops up on weekends. Which might be a little odd because, among the other things he says he is not, is a baker.

But when given the option in this economy to roll over or make rolls, this self-professed Texan barbecue man chose the latter. “I ask other business people all the time, ‘What do you have available to you that is just sitting there? What can you do with it?’”

He might not be a baker, but thanks to the passions that drive him Homrighausen is raising not only dough but customer loyalty and awareness.

“As a small business owner during this recession,” he says, “I’m not going to just sit here and die. I’ll try anything!” Anything, that is, that remains true to his passion. “I have a weird dedication to authentic Texas food,” he says. So he started Ranch Bakery with a regional anchor product. “I kept seeing all these donut shops, but they aren’t authentic to Texas. Kolaches are a regional specialty of sweet, soft dough wrapped around sausage. I worked hard to make the fillings I offer unique and superlative.”

But just a few great recipes does not a success make these days. So Homrighausen, a true believer in the power of social media, applied all he knew to Ranch Bakery. He didn’t even name the company until he secured its web site domain. “Then I went straight to Facebook and Twitter to open accounts and began promoting it on Google, Yahoo, Bing and Yelp,” he says. He’s used Facebook to crowd source names for his newest menu items – giant Ding Dongs. It garnered a lot of humorous names that amused his Facebook brethren, but also brought hundreds of hits to his web site.

And he always posts on Facebook to announce what’s in the oven for the weekend (so far the bakery is only open on the weekends). Each time he posts, the orders for his kolaches, pie fries (pie crust rolled in apple pie flavoring and served with salted caramel sauce), hand pies and bourbon caramel popcorn come rolling in. “At this point I’m getting 70 percent of my bakery business from Facebook friends who are driving a long way and are spending an average of $40. Compare this to the average of $11 that local drop-ins and drive-bys spend.” After being open for only five weekends, the bakery has not lost a dime, and last weekend, just turned a profit.

Ranch Bakery on Facebook

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Just Say Yes!

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Yesterday a friend told me a story of how her bike was stolen and that she needed a new one but that she was broke. I happened to have a mountain bike in the garage. I don’t use it anymore, favoring my more comfortable Townie beach cruiser these days. I told her she could have the mountain bike for free.

This is a good bike. It has 21 speeds, quick release wheels and is in virtually new condition save for the cobwebs and deflated tires that come with sitting idle for a few months in a hot garage.

Perhaps it is human nature not to trust the simple, easy answer when it’s presented. Or perhaps it’s that something that is free holds no perceived value. Whichever it is in this case, she had myriad objections, none of which were “Gee, I’d really like something other than a mountain bike.” That would have been honest and I get that. But her comments ran along the lines of: the seat is too low. It can be raised. The handlebars are too low. They too can be raised. The tires are flat. Here is a pump. We can pump them up. I can’t take it now. Come back later. On and on this went. Ultimately, she left without the bike and I was left shaking my head.

It made me wonder what roadblocks to happiness and success we put up without even knowing we are doing it. What opportunities are we missing because of them?

I love the phrase, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” If opportunity presents itself for something we want, are we ready? And how prepared do we really have to be? Maybe sometimes it’s just a case of being open to possibility. And then, perhaps instead of saying no first, we just say yes. Such a small word, yet it comes with such big baggage. But it also comes with big rewards when opportunity and chance meet with someone who is ready.

 

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Marketing: Applying A Fresh Coat of Fun

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By Liese Gardner

Although the tools may change, marketing has always been about telling a story in an effective, engaging and memorable manner. This has never been truer than today when we have so many outlets available to do so. As always, the goal is creating an emotional connection whether you are branding yourself or, say, a can of paint.

In the New York Times — Sue Kim, color trend and forecast specialist at Valspar.Naming color to create an emotional connection. Photo by Peter Hoffman for the Times

As I was preparing material to this effect for a seminar I’m giving at the end of the month, the New York Times published an article that directly related to what I wanted to say to attendees. The subject was the recent marketing efforts of leading paint manufacturers to use the names of paint colors (or rather, NOT use anything resembling a paint color) to create an emotional experience for the buyer.

As the writer, Katharine Seelye states: “In a redoubled effort to capture consumers’ attention in this sputtering economic recovery, some paint companies are hoping to distinguish their brands with names that tell a story, summon a memory or evoke an emotion — even a dark one — as long as they result in a sale.”

“Dead Salmon” in the kitchen

And in the hall, “Hey There!”

In lieu of such uninspiring names as Apricot 1 or Apricot 2, Valspar has created a shade of brown that is called Weekend in the Country. Sherwyn Williams has a color called Synergy, Ace Paint has come out with a pale yellow called Hey There and Benjamin Moore now offers the home designer some Old World Romance. And the English paint company, Farrow and Ball, has introduced a taupe called Dead Salmon. For the record, their marketing director explained “dead” as meaning “matte” in Britain and said customers on both sides of the pond had responded well to it as something fun.

But while they have fun with the names, these leading paint companies take it seriously. Valspar for one has created a series of vignettes for their colorists that encourage story telling and they conduct mind-stretching experiences to get their creative juices flowing.

The article didn’t give any sales figures to say whether the new approach was working but it certainly caught the attention of the media and has re-energized the brands. And honestly, determining ROI from this type of merchandising would be hard to determine. These days, there is no quick road to success for customer engagement.

The main lesson to take from this is that it’s always a good idea to update your brand, story and marketing with a fresh, new coat of fun.

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