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Q & A Archive 09.22.09 11:47 AM How the F.B.I.'s Anne Beagan Works to Keep Large Public Events Safe Anne C. Beagan Photo: Courtesy of the F.B.I. FROM NEW YORK From securing intimate events with the president aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid to maintaining order and security for millions during the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop, Anne C. Beagan has seen—and done—a lot in her 13 years as special events coordinator and special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Beagan coordinates the bureau's presence at large public functions while serving as a liaison to local law enforcement, event planners, and vendors. She spoke with us about how she ensures these high-profile events run smoothly and safely. Of all the annual events you oversee, which one is the most difficult? I would have to say the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration. The sheer number of people and mass media coverage create a much more challenging job for me—I wouldn’t say it’s more challenging, it just requires much more planning and overall coordination. It takes a good six to nine months of preparation, but [the event itself] is seamless. All the parties know our roles, and we all know each other. We do it so much we’re always ready to transition into the next event because of the simple fact that we’re always doing large events here. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS F.B.I., New Year's Eve, Republican National Convention, Democratic National Convention 08.06.09 9:00 AM Pedro Pablo Peña Brings Dancers From Around the World to Miami for 17-Day Ballet Festival Pedro Pablo Peña FROM MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA Each September more than 11,000 dancers, critics, and fans, gather for 17 days of events in the International Ballet Festival of Miami. In the past 13 years, founder and artistic director Pedro Pablo Peña has created what is billed as “the most successful ballet event in the United States” in a city not known for its artistic endeavors. He spoke with us about his vision for the festival, its future, and importance to Miami and the ballet community. What is your primary goal for the festival? This year it's the same as every year, which is to continue with this festival so that people know the importance of dance in the world. The principal function is for people to know what the new dances are, who are the new stars, and what the new style for the different ballets is going to be for the upcoming season. This is the only dance festival in the classical style in the city. It’s the only opportunity during the year for the audience to see the dancers, choreography, companies, styles, and the techniques. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS International Ballet Festival of Miami 07.30.09 10:00 AM David Bednar Tries to Measure the Fun While Hosting a Million People at Canadian National Exhibition The C.N.E.'s David Bednar Photo: Courtesy of the Canadian National Exhibition FROM TORONTO Every year, more than one million people mark the end of summer with a trip to the Canadian National Exhibition, which begins August 21 this year and runs through Labour Day at Exhibition Place. There are close to 5,000 people on hand to run the 18-day event, which includes everything from midway rides to the Canadian International Air Show, a horse show, a food building with close to 100 vendors, and several shopping pavilions. In his 12 years as general manager of the fair—commonly referred to as the C.N.E. or simply the Ex—David Bednar has learned that despite best laid plans, the sheer size of the event means something is sure to go wrong. What is your primary goal for this year's C.N.E.? Community celebration. We used to sell the future, and the future is now on Google and other places. You don't go to an exhibition anymore to find out what's new, and it's taken a long time for people to get their heads around that one. That's been a change in terms of exhibitions everywhere, especially large ones. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Canadian National Exhibition 07.23.09 9:57 AM Jim Beam's Kelly Doss Works With Kid Rock to Promote New Whiskey Onstage brand activation on Kid Rock's Rock and Rebels tour Photo: Courtesy of Red Stag by Jim Beam As senior director of bourbon and whiskeys at Beam Global Spirits and Wine Inc., Kelly Doss is responsible for growing the beverages' brand awareness in the U.S. This summer, Doss is overseeing the launch of Red Stag by Jim Beam, a new, cherry-flavored whiskey that hit shelves in June and is being promoted through Kid Rock's 25-city Rock and Rebels tour—and benefiting Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization that provides services for troops and their families. Shortly after the product's launch, we spoke to Doss about the strategic alliance between the charity, the musician, and the liquor.  What is Jim Beam's involvement with Operation Homefront? How is Kid Rock involved? Last year, Jim Beam donated approximately $250,000 to Operation Homefront through corporate donations, local market events, and support from distributors and retailers. This summer, 50 cents from every Kid Rock ticket sold will be donated to Operation Homefront to fund emergency aid, moving assistance, computer programs, and care packages in local chapters. And we give a number of the V.I.P. tickets that Kid Rock and his team provided us directly to soldiers that are returning home—we're trying to give them and their families a very positive experience as they work to resettle after duty. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Jim Beam, Kid Rock, Operation Homefront 07.16.09 8:00 AM Microsoft's Rosalind Murphy Targets New Clients With Female-Focused Events Rosalind Murphy FROM NEW YORK As executive engagement manager at Microsoft’s New York office, Rosalind Murphy is something of a social liaison between her account managers and the Fortune 500 clientele they serve. She produces activities and meetings to develop brand relationships, with guest lists often limited to C.I.O.s and other I.T. executives—not surprising in the tech sector. But Microsoft desires to deepen its business ties, and part of Murphy’s job is to increase her company’s contacts within its client base. Used to working with male-dominated technology departments, Murphy expanded her brand’s network with a series of quarterly events just for women. In the two years since she introduced the Women’s Executive Forum, she has already established it as a popular event series, buoyed diversity at other Microsoft functions, and increased contacts within clients such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Sony. What sparked Microsoft’s push to seek out more female clients? We just wanted to reach out to women. The staff at Microsoft is about 75 percent male, and one of the things we found in our accounts was that when you get to the customer base, the chief information officers are also typically men. We wanted to develop other executives, so we made this a push to find people beyond the normal I.T. roles in different areas like marketing and finance. We wanted to seek out the developing female executives, women who might be in director or vice president roles now but are up-and-coming in our client base. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Sony 07.09.09 7:00 AM Orange County Super Fair's Steven Beazley on Adding a Week and a $2.5 Million Exhibit to the Event O.C. Fair & Event Center president and C.E.O. Steven Beazley Photo: Courtesy of O.C. Fair & Event Center FROM LOS ANGELES Steven Beazley, president and C.E.O. of the O.C. Fair & Event Center, began his 33-year career with the fair organization at 12 years old, as a sweeper at the end of the daily parade. In the decade since he's worked for the organization full time, he's overseen the O.C. Super Fair's ascent from 34th to 13th largest fair in North America, with an expected 2009 attendance of 1.1 million. This year's fair runs from July 10 through August 9—a week longer than in the past year. It will also include a new big-scale exhibit and 3-D movie called Al's Brain in conjunction with Weird Al Yankovic. Why add a week to the fair? We always look at our attendance numbers. The philosophy we work under is that everybody wants to be where everybody else is unless everybody’s there. The only way to take some pressure off crowds and decrease lines was to add some dates. It’s very difficult for a general-admission event to be called sold out. But the quality of experience goes down beyond a certain point. When a line gets 15 people long, you know something’s got to be done about that. That sounds like a good problem to have. It’s a problem based on our successes. We’re very happy to be grappling with things like that. The county is still growing by about 1.5 percent a year. We need to be mindful to accommodate that growth by giving people good experiences at the fair and keep them coming back. We're always focusing on growing at the same rate as the county. The key to [our significant growth] is listening to the community and really meeting the needs of what their interests are. What do they want to see? When you’re really listening is when you start attracting the most people. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Orange County Fair & Event Center, Orange County Super Fair, Ralphs, Weird Al Yankovic 07.02.09 10:26 AM Monster's Phil Cavanagh on Taking Things In-House and Managing the Crowds at Career Fairs Monster's Keep America Working Tour Photo: Courtesy of Monster.com FROM NEW YORK The demand for jobs has been particularly high in 2009, and to accommodate the need, online job placement service Monster.com decided to revamp its touring career fair by producing it in-house and making 140 stops in the U.S. alone throughout the year. Monster Worldwide Inc. senior director of global events Phil Cavanagh oversees all of the company’s corporate events and trade shows and worked with his team to launch Keep America Working. He spoke with us about what Monster did to make the tour's rigorous schedule go smoothly and how career fairs seem particularly rewarding in this economic climate. How is the Keep America Working Tour different than previous Monster.com job fairs? Our old model was a straightforward career fair. Job seekers would come in, present resumes to recruiters and then leave. It used to be managed through a third party, but this time we decided to do it all in-house by our global events team. We looked at people's needs this year, and we found that they're really just looking for information and a sense of empowerment. So we created the event with three components. It does have the recruiting area where employers interact with the job seekers, but we've added a theater presentation that has our career experts telling people how to stand out in the market and a kiosk area that shows attendees how to use the different career tools on Monster.com. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Monster.com 06.25.09 11:56 AM Home Depot's Shannon Gerber Is Streamlining—and Saving Money on—Small Meetings Planned by Admins Shannon Gerber is director of events management for Home Depot’s Atlanta headquarters. With the company since 2002, she was initially hired to oversee enterprise-wide events such as the annual managers’ and shareholders’ meetings. Over the years, though, she realized smaller meetings were falling through the cracks when her team would be called to do damage control for contracts or commitments negotiated by administrative staff or other non-pros. In late 2007, Home Depot rolled out a pilot program, EventsTHD, to capture and manage smaller meetings and events. A year in the making, EventsTHD was rolled out companywide in February 2008.  What was the impetus to put the plan in place? For me, it was being a part of so many different organizations, like Meetings Competitive Advantage Forum and the National Business Travel Association Groups and Meetings Committee. It’s learning from people around you. We recognized that there was a need to centralize the process, which would provide greater cost savings. It was just finding the time to focus on it and make it a priority. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Home Depot 06.18.09 3:00 PM SwimShow Director Brings on New PR Firm, Trims Show Length to Cut Costs SwimShow executive director Judy Stein Photo: Courtesy of Swimwear Association of Florida FROM MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA The Swimwear Association of Florida’s annual SwimShow is the largest swimwear trade show in the country, with more than 2,500 lines represented. Originally encompassing 100,000 square feet of exhibit space at the Miami International Merchandise Mart when it was founded, the show moved to the Miami Beach Convention Center in 2004 and now has more than 250,000 square feet of exhibit space for its 27th annual show, which is scheduled to take place July 18 through July 21. Along with returning labels such as Max Mara, Diana von Furstenberg, and Billabong, multiple new European labels will use the show to launch in the United States. SwimShow executive director Judy Stein spoke with us about the grassroots marketing efforts that have helped her continue to grow the trade show, despite economic setbacks. How do you promote the show to potential exhibitors and attendees? Our direct mail, advertising, and marketing campaigns assure them that this is one-stop shopping. There’s no way at a regional market that they’ll be able to see the caliber and variety of lines that are at the show, so if they’re in the swimwear industry, this is the trade show they need to come to. We’re constantly pounding the pavement to make sure we bring in the resources that we feel our retailers want, which is based on word of mouth and what we read about in publications. Having a new [exhibitor] come on board is something that’s exciting to us—we know the retailer will be excited as well. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Swimwear Association of Florida, Max Mara, Diana Von Furstenburg, Billabong, City of Miami Beach, Greater Miami Beach Convention and Visitors' Bureau 06.11.09 9:26 AM Anik Gagnon Leverages L'Oréal's Luminato and Fashion Week Sponsorships to Reach Consumers L'Oréal Paris communications director Anik Gagnon Photo: Benedicte Brocard FROM TORONTO L’Oréal Canada has been involved with the Toronto art festival Luminato for three years. As the festival's presenting sponsor, the company—which includes the Garnier, Giorgio Armani, Maybelline, and L'Oréal Paris brands—has coordinated initiatives each year, bringing on Giorgio Armani for the festival's opening night party and installing a L'Oréal Paris makeup tent at Yonge-Dundas Square. Anik Gagnon, communications director for L'Oréal Paris, spoke to us about how she uses initiatives like the makeup tent to reinforce brand identity. What was it about last year’s experience that made you decide to participate in Luminato again this year? L'Oréal Paris did a tent at Yonge-Dundas last year, and we're doing exactly the same thing this year. Our brand strategy is to really align ourselves with fashion and to show the expertise of our beauty experts. Our vision with that tent was to take everything we do with Fashion Week and with Project Runway Canada and bring that backstage feel to the street. Last year we conducted 6,500 makeovers [over three days]; the success was so great that we decided to do it again. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS L'Oréal, Luminato Toronto Festival of Arts + Creativity, LG Fashion Week, Project Runway Canada MORE NEWS Search for Suppliers Activities/Experiences Catering/Food Services Decor/Design/Flowers Entertainment Event Planning & Marketing/Meeting Planning/PR Event Production/Audiovisual Services Gifts/Premiums/Awards Industry Resources Invitations/Name Tags Photography/Videography Planning Tools/Software Rentals/Props Security/Fire Services/Insurance Signage/Banners/Printing Special Effects Staffing Trade Show Services Transportation/Parking Services Search for Venues By Type All Types Activity Venues Ballrooms (All Venues) Banquet Halls Bars/Clubs/Lounges Boats/Yachts Casinos Conference Centers, Convention Centers & Auditoriums Entertainment Venues/Performance Spaces Golf Courses/Clubs Hotels Independent Event Spaces Lofts/Photo Studios/Raw Spaces Mansions/Houses Movie Studios/Sound Stages Museums/Cultural Spaces Outdoor Spaces Private Clubs Quick Trips Religious Spaces Resorts Restaurants Retail Venues Spas/Relaxation Places Stadiums/Arenas Terraces/Roofs/Gardens (All Venues) By Neighborhood/Location All Neighborhoods West Town Andersonville Bronzeville Bucktown Chinatown Garfield Park Gold Coast Greektown Humboldt Park Hyde Park Lakeview Lincoln Park Lincoln Square Little Italy Logan Square Loop Magnificent Mile Old Town Pilsen Printer's Row Ravenswood River East River North River West Roscoe Village Rogers Park South Loop Streeterville Ukrainian Village Uptown West Loop Wicker Park Wrigleyville Evanston Lombard Naperville Oak Brook Oak Park Rosemont Schaumburg St. Charles Other Areas Show Only New Venues Search Our Venue Directory RECENTLY VIEWED Stories Candy, Ice Cream, and Rachel Maddow Accent MSNBC's Radio and TV Correspondents' Dinner After-Party N.H.L. 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