Event Design Series - Part 6: Good, Bad, and Ugly

Our final installment in the Event Design Series on the Portland Event Planner blog. Continuing our discussion of event design (and please, make it a discussion by commenting)...

More about our Event Design Series here at Part 1, and where the questions came from

Part 6: Case Studies: Of all the designs and/or event decor you've come up with, what has been the most successful and why? ...And what was the biggest 'bust'?

I'm not going to post any client pictures as that would probably be a shock to the client that I thought their design was "a bust". I will tell you that my weakness is sometimes being TOO accommodating to the client's wishes.

In this example, I had a client who told me she cared absolutely nothing for decor and just wanted to make sure that the chairs in the room didn't squeak against the floor. She had attended an event in the same venue for a fundraiser, and was horrified at the constant squeaking and grating noise the venue's wooden chairs made against the bare concrete floor.

Obliging as always, I agreed to rent some very basic (and in my opinion, unattractive) hotel banquet chairs with little rubber tips on the chair legs. This way, my dear client would not have to endure that squeaking sound.

However, the rest of the event decor was compelling - she worked with a wonderful florist, we printed individual menus, and her guests received an adorable favor; one per place setting. Those details, coupled with the wonderful catering and simple, chic linens she had chosen meant that her choice of chair, which I had gone along with, was glaringly out of sync with the rest of the clean, classic decor. Looking back, I wish I had just suggested we purchase soft-felt furniture sliders and offered to attach them to all 800 chair legs. It would only have taken a few hours, the venue probably would have loved it, and the overall look would have been much more appealing. (Of course, this is all in my head - not a single guest, nor the bride, said anything about the ugly chairs!)

As far as a successful design? Again it seems that it came from taking a client's wish and running with it wholly. In this event, the only direction my client gave was that she wanted "a big red party". Working with Portland Art Museum, Vibrant Table, Royce's Prop Shop, and Geranium Lake, we did just that. It is still one of my favorite designs of all time.

Photos: Robert McNary for Melissa Jill Photography

What are your thoughts about successful design -- what constitutes a blowout or a bust? Any great event design stories to tell? Please share in the comments below.

You might also like to look back at the previous parts of this series:
Part 1- It's an Event Design Series on The Portland Event Planner Blog!
Part 2 - Event Design Trends
Part 3 - Sustainable Event Design
Part 4 - Event Budget and Design
Part 5 - Event Theme and Design

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Event Design Series: Day 4 - Budget

Continuing our discussion of event design (and please, make it a discussion by commenting)...

More about our Event Design Series here at Day 1, and where the questions came from

Day 4: Budget: What tips do you have for a client that has a very small budget but wants a big impact?

Inexpensive table centerpiece of glitter paper, shadowbox frame, and candles
Materials available at most craft stores for around $15USD. Design concept by EJP Events.

I will try not to write a novel here, although it's very tempting. Budget is always a concern, even for so-called "big budget" events - no one wants waste or to go over. Here are a few thoughts:

1. Manage your and your guests' expectations. Remember that your target budget needs to reflect real life. For example, whatever your target event budget is, take about half of that for food and drinks and set your style/formality level from there. So a $30/per person event has a roughly $15/per person meal (including drinks and service!), so keep it casual!

2. Focus your efforts. If there's no budget for an item like decor or party favors, remove it from the program rather than trying to do it halfway. If you design what you do have carefully, attendees often won't notice what you didn't include.

2. Cut your guest list. The number one element that affects the budget is the scale. Each additional guest means an additional chair, spot a table, place setting, invitation, print suite, meal or food, drinks, and rental items. Also - carefully manage your invitations and RSVPs so you don't purchase for guests who don't show up. You will get fewer guests than you expect more often than not.

3. If you are doing any event functions in-house or DIY in order to save money, start early. There's nothing more morale-killing at an organization than giving a job like registration/nametags, decor, or setup to your employees (or, in the case of a wedding/social event, to your relatives and friends) and leaving things until the last minute. Your hoped-for "big impact" will wither and die as people sense the stress of your DIY staff or volunteers.

4. Choose a venue wisely. For example, if there's no budget for decor, avoid sites with little built-in appeal that cry out for flowers or lighting. And if a speaker is an important component of the event, look for a venue with a great sound system included in the rental (and test it!).

5. Support "lean" events with customer service. If you are having to cut back on food or decor, chances are these are less noticeable if your guests are treated well and with personal service from the time they register to the time the exit the event.

Have a tip on event budgets you'd like to share? Please leave a comment below!

Trying out Postable - online mailing list organizer

Social media is so great. If you follow me on any of the services I use, you know that I'm a lover. I also love the ease of use that goes with connecting over email, FaceTime, and texting...all the wonderful technologies we have.

However. HOWEVER. I miss the fun of getting letters, of finding a gorgeous envelope peeking out from amid the magazines and business mail. I know - we have to conserve resources. And postal mail should be saved for special occasions. Still, I've resolved in 2013 to be more personal in my communications, because I realize that is what speaks to me as a user of social media, as a consumer, and as a person. Part of that will be to send more letters.

Strangely enough, it's hard to keep track of everyone's address. I remember having a black leather address book, with tiny alphabet tabs down the side, edged in gold. Those days are gone. Excel isn't really cutting it for me, not with the multiple groups and interests I have as an event planner. So I'm trying out Postable, and I would love for you to connect with me there. Who knows - perhaps you'll get something fun in the mail from me soon.

Oh, a bonus - Postable is also great for your bride and groom clients to collect addresses in order to send wedding invitations. I imagine it could also be opened on a tablet like iPad and used at an event to facilitate signups or registrations. Enjoy!

Event Design Series: Day 2 - Trends

Continuing our discussion of event design (and please, make it a discussion by commenting)...


More about our Event Design Series here at Day 1, and where the questions came from

Day 2: Trends: What are some new trends in event design and how can an event planner keep current? What new color combinations are requested by clients? What are the most popular themes for parties, galas, and corporate events? What themes are overused?

New Trends (2012-2013): The idea of un-themes is big. "Unconferences" with informal agenda-setting sessions and crowdplanning such as WordCamp are influencing the way even traditional corporate and sales events are being planned.  Rapid-fire presentation events such as Pecha-Kucha nights, Ignite, TED and TEDx talks; and storytelling events such The Moth, Backfence, and Portland Storytelling Theater have become wildly popular.

Photo by Kirby Urner via Flickr

These events' success show that in either a corporate or social setting, attendees want to create the agenda, tell their own story, or have an upfront, personal connection to others' stories. I'm seeing this reflected in the continued use of performance in special events, whether it's having dancers from the bride's culture during a wedding; or using a speaker with an incredible story to uplift and motivate a corporate event audience.

Photo: Craig Strong.

How can I stay current on trends? I think it's more important for event planners to be creators of new designs, not necessarily followers of trends. At the same time "there is nothing new under the sun" - or is there? I love pop culture from every corner of the globe, and that keeps me on my toes. Online resources are always popping up with something fresh and inspiring all the time. Just a year ago, nobody was using Pinterest, now it's everywhere. Tumblr seems to be under the radar for mainstream use, but is widely used by fashion brands and designers. Anyone can easily create a Tumblr blog (a mini-blogging platform) to follow and curate their own favorite content from around the web in a mini-blog format. I have several Tumblrs and my main one for event and design inspiration is here. Travel is the best for seeing firsthand what is hot in other places, and then you can bring that back to your home base and reinterpret it.

New color combinations: Fashion and retail are always pushing color in new directions, and of course there are always the color gods at Pantone. The good old-fashioned color wheel never hurt anyone. Right now I'm really loving multicolored event palettes. Take a look at online storefront Hello Holiday to see what I mean. Multicolor doesn't have to mean garish or childish. You can have smaller swaths of multicolor paired up with a neutral like grey to keep the look balanced.

Photo by Aubrey Trinnaman for Anthology Magazine

Popular and most overused themes? The panel found straight-up "time era" themes to be the most overused. A Fifties sock-hop for example, feels dated right now, not retro in a fun way. But if you want to do an era event, change it up by focusing on something a very narrow topic from that time - maybe one celebrity - and go from there. Call me crazy, but when I think of the 50s I think of Che Guevara. Or  Marilyn Monroe. Social events are still using vintage and shabby-chic looks; bold and preppy graphics and stripes are still big.


Hope you've found "Day 2" of our Event Design Series helpful. For background on this series, go here. As always, I appreciate your comments!

Event Planner Tech Tip of the Day: Reading PDFs in iBooks

For us in the event planning world who use iPhone, iPad, and iOS (which seems to be the majority), we are always looking for that cool new shortcut or hack that will make life easier. While not splashy, using iBooks to read PDFs that are emailed is one that I have found to be a huge time-saver.

Let's say someone emails you a PDF that is important, but you want to read later. The other day, I received the Splendid Insights Global Study Wedding Report (thank you Liene!). It is 41 pages of wedding marketing goodness that I do not have time to read in one sitting, unfortunately. I also am a compulsive inbox-cleaner, so I can't leave something like that in my inbox.

Enter iBooks, the Kindle alternative for iOS. The thing is, it's not just for books, it reads PDFs as well and organizes them elegantly on a nice little bookshelf.

To put your PDFs in iBooks, first tap once on the PDF attachment to make sure it is fully downloaded. Then simply press and hold down down on the attachment in your email. A pop up menu will ask you if you want to "Quick Look", "Open in iBooks", or "Open In...". Select "Open in iBooks". It's that simple!

Now your PDF is on the bookshelf ready to read when you are on the train, waiting for your table in the restaurant, or whenever. You can also use this method to save any PDF - such as event plans, event timelines, or diagrams. No more clunky clipboards at the event, just put your phone or iPad in a handy spot!

Find this hint helpful? Know any other quick event tech tips? Please leave a comment below. And if you did find it helpful, please feel free to share or pin.

Event Planning, Wedding Planning, and High School Job Shadows

At this time of year, I also get a lot of calls from high schoolers desiring job shadows. I think this is a great idea and can be a worthwhile experience for the student, but for a busy planner it can almost be overwhelming to try and convey the concept of who we are and what we do in a one-day experience, which is what a lot of students are asking for. I even have schools asking for a one-hour job shadow. Unfortunately, it would take ten times the amount of hours to prepare a useful curriculum, than what the student and I would actually spend together, based on what schools and students are asking.  So I usually decline.

One thing that I think would make high school job shadows more appealing to event planners would be if, rather than a one-hour or one-day event, students would treat their job shadow just as importantly as a varsity sport or other extracurricular activity such as Debate, Math Club, etc., and plan on signing up for at least a 90-day experience, perhaps with four to ten hours per week spent on working for their job mentor.  This way, both the student and the mentor can benefit from the experience.  And event planners would be more likely to accept more students.

A look back at The Photo Playdate

Back in January '08, I attended the Oregon Association of Bridal Consultants' retreat for Consultants. It was a great, intimate get-together for about 20 of Portland's leading event and wedding coordinators, and I enjoyed hanging out with the likes of Cherie Ronning of Uncommon Invites, Molli Barss of Soiree, Colette Livermore of Simply Elegant Events, Alesia Zorn of Alesia Zorn Calligraphy, Andrea Hoyt of August Veils, and many more!

What was so great about the event is that we rented out a house in NE Portland and had two in-depth days of training, discussing, and cross-pollination of ideas. Rarely do we as consultants get to work together, and certainly outside the industry there's a perception that we are all "competitors". Nothing could have been further from our minds as we shared ideas and sat around the table or the floor, eating and drinking and also making paper flowers for the February ABC luncheon.

So what does this have to do with The Photo Playdate? Well, it hit me as I looked around the room and realized so many of us have children (quite a few of us with tots under 5), and a theme kept recurring in the conversation about "me time" -- as in, not enough of it. Also, not enough time to do all those lovely, crafty things that we are doing for our clients, like make greeting cards, and take photos of our families and ourselves.

I resolved that day to create an event for myself, for all of us at the retreat, and any other area event planners and professionals who felt like they were in the same boat: The Photo Playdate. It had several objectives: to create a day for much-needed me-time; to bring event planners together with photographers that they might not know; and to provide an opportunity for planners to have family portraits or headshots taken just in time for the holidays and the new year.

I was amazed at the response to the event and all the positive feedback I received when I went around with the idea. A brand-new hotel, The Nines, immediately jumped on board (Thanks Morgan!) and provided the facility. In no time at all we had photographers, makeup artists, hair stylists, a Japanese foot spa, and even a childcare provider to provide a kids' play area.

The event was held on November 16 and was a great success. I've posted some of the gorgeous family photos and headshots at my other, bride-targeted blog and you can view that post here.

Big thank yous to everyone who participated, starting with the photographers:
Impression Arts
Evrim Icoz
Valls Photographic
Jasmine Photography

As well as the sponsors who provided the pampering and family-friendly fun!:
Event Cosmetics
Creative Childcare Solutions
Ashiyu Foot Spas

We will definitely be holding this event again in 2009. Please contact me if you'd like to be a part.

Interesting poll over at party-wedding.info

Check it here.