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Tips & Strategies

Q&AS WITH SMART EVENT STRATEGISTS

Susan Puff Prepares for Santé Wine Festival's 10th Anniversary

Hot Docs' Chris McDonald Gears Up for Festival's 15th Anniversary

National Home Show Manager Christine Nattrass Listens (and Responds) to Attendees

The C.R.F.A.'s Marriage of Trade Shows
 

USEFUL KNOWLEDGE

Lessons Learned From Planning Pageants

Working Around Contract Caterers

Lessons Learned From Producing Large Music Festivals

How to Choose an Auctioneer

Lessons Learned From Planning Rodeos 
 

SPECIAL REPORT: BUILDING BUZZ ONLINE

Video Makes the Marketing Star

Building Buzz With Videos: Richard Branson's Daredevil Stunt

Building Buzz With Videos: Yamaha's Trade Show Demo

Building Buzz With Videos: The Simpsons Kwik-E-Marts

Building Buzz With Videos: How to Go Viral

Of Course, Not All YouTube Exposure Is Good Exposure
 
 

MY FAVORITE VENDORS

   05.08.08 2:24 PM

Hugo Boss Canada Relies on McNabb Roick Events
Dawn Bellini
Dawn Bellini
As the director of marketing and public relations for Hugo Boss Canada, Dawn Bellini handles all advertisement components, editorial loan-outs to editors, and the planning of all of the company's events. Bellini has been with Hugo Boss since 1994 and plans roughly seven large events a year, such as the annual Boss Benefit, held in a private home for 400.

Production: "I cannot live without McNabb Roick Events. Jeff Roick is like my right hand when it comes to events. We work with him on everything—coordinating the rentals, staffing, decor, the DJ, and catering. Every event we work on he has a hand in, and he’s on the Boss Benefit committee. He even hosted my baby shower last year, he’s that close."

Sound, Lighting, Staging: "Through Jeff, we came to work with Westbury National Show Systems. When we do our fashion show for Boss Benefits, they set up the runway. They also do big concerts, so they already have the tech riders, which is what the artist requires to perform, like a certain type of piano, soundboard, and microphone. They are able to anticipate what the performer will need." READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Hugo Boss Canada, Hugo Boss

Q & A

   05.01.08 9:15 AM

Susan Puff Prepares for Santé Wine Festival's 10th Anniversary
Santé festival manager Susan Puff
Santé festival manager Susan Puff
Photo: BizBash
When the Santé Toronto International Wine Festival began, in 1998, it was a small event showcasing a handful of wineries. Next week the festival marks a milestone anniversary—10 years—with six days of seminars, dinners, tastings, and activities featuring 375 wines from 74 wineries around the world. Festival manager Susan Puff, who's been with the event since its second year, is eagerly anticipating the kickoff on May 5, the finale on May 10, and all the events in between. We asked her about how she's preparing.

Santé gets under way next week. What are you working on now?
This is the part of the festival where you’re just making sure that everything is coming together, that it’s all in place ... that the wine is here and the events are happening and the chefs know what recipes they’re cooking. It’s a massive level of crossing your t's and dotting your i’s.

Where does the planning process start for an event like Santé?
Each year we try to offer a balance between the events that are always a favourite for returning customers, and then we always try to create new events to add to that template. If you’re coming to the festival and you’re new to the festival, you’re going to love it. And if you’re one of our dedicated returning guests, you’re going to be able to pick your favourite and also be interested by something new that we didn’t have last year. I think when you have an annual festival or event of any sort, it’s crucial to make sure that you’re always keeping it kind of fresh and adding something new each year. There’s a great team at Santé, and each year we sit down—actually, before this year’s Santé even happens, we’re already planning for next year’s Santé—and start working on it. READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Santé Toronto International Wine Festival

NEWS

   04.30.08 12:38 PM

One X One Gala Expands to Calgary and San Francisco
The 2007 One X One gala
The 2007 One X One gala
Photo: BizBash
The One X One fund-raising gala—known in Toronto for its celebrity guest list and host Matt Damon—will debut in Calgary on June 14 and in San Francisco in the fall, the charity's founder, Joelle Berdugo Adler, announced Monday. Damon's longtime friend Ben Affleck will host the festivities in Calgary (he talked about his upcoming gig to The Globe and Mail) at the Commonwealth Hall and Conference Centre, where three Canadians will be honoured for their work with disadvantaged children. Damon will return as host for the fourth annual Toronto One X One gala on September 8 at a to-be-determined venue.   —Erin Letson


RELATED TOPICS Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, One X One

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

   04.29.08 11:05 AM

Lessons Learned From Planning Pageants
Contestants at a Universal Royalty pageant
Contestants at a Universal Royalty pageant
Photo: Courtesy of Universal Royalty Beauty Pagent
It’s not all glitter and gold lamé for the pros who coordinate beauty pageants. While the contestants have their hearts set on a sash or a tiara, these multitasking planners are juggling anxious competitors (and parents), bus time lines, and sometimes even buckets, if a gown-drenching downpour threatens to wreck the big day.

Don’t get lost in translation. “You’re dealing with girls from all over the world, and there are cultural and language barriers,” says Lark-Marie Anton, director of marketing and PR for the New York-based Miss Universe Organization. “For instance, if you’re trying to explain to someone from a Latin culture that they have to be on the bus by 6 o’clock, 6 might mean 6:30 to them. It might mean come at your leisure.”

Be willing to tweak convention. “The girls were so eager to be shown in a different light,” says Dave Brunetti, executive producer of Miss New York, a franchise of the Miss America organization. “This year, I added a sequence where they had to wear work clothes, weekend wear, or other everyday garb. It was terrific watching them step out of the conception they had of themselves as pageant girls. They wound up in jeans, blouses, real clothes. One gal came in a hooded sweatshirt and workout pants, and it made such an impact because it perfectly represented her personality.” READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Miss Universe, Miss America, International Mr. Gay, Miss Hawaiian Tropic, Universal Royalty

MY FAVORITE VENDORS

   04.24.08 9:48 AM

Canadian Opera Prefers Floral Studio, Catering by Davids'
Sarah Jarvis
Sarah Jarvis
Photo: Courtesy of Eyecontact Photography
Special events manager Sarah Jarvis is responsible for organizing and executing all fund-raising events for the Canadian Opera Company, the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America. The three major annual events she plans are the C.O.C. Fine Wine Auction, the Opera Golf Classic, and Operanation, a fund-raiser for young professionals. Next year, a gala is being added to the lineup. Jarvis has been with the C.O.C. since 2004.

Photography: "Mark Ridout from Eyecontact Photography really understands events and is completely personable and noninvasive with people attending. He has a fantastic memory for faces—he knows the Toronto social scene and knows who to cover."

Catering: "Catering by Davids’ is completely reliable, very inventive, and will do anything to ensure the success of an event. The food is always fantastic regardless of your budget. We used them for Operanation last year, and I really enjoyed their amaretto cheesecake lollipops." READ MORE

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

   04.15.08 12:07 PM

Working Around Contract Caterers
Illustration: Fernanda Cohen for BizBash
There are great caterers, and then there are those whose style could be most kindly be described as “high school cafeteria.” And when the latter is ensconced as the in-house caterer at an otherwise to-die-for location, what’s an event producer to do?

“Unfortunately, you can’t turn cooks into quality chefs overnight,” says Loretta Lowe, a San Francisco-based meeting and event planner. “Once I handled an event at a venue that was used to doing budget weddings, [with] prefrozen appetizers and the like.” Their idea of upgrading the menu, she says, was adding toothpicks to a cheese-cube platter. “The most hilarious bit was when they proudly told me they were serving ‘green bean almondine,’ which consisted of canned green beans and a bag of presliced almonds, which they mixed together and then boiled.”

Obviously, caterers are rarely this off the mark, but great spaces often have contract vendors that you might not book if you had the choice. Maybe they don’t specialize in the cuisine that coordinates with your vision of the event, or maybe they’re just not quite up to the level of cooking that you—and your guests—are expecting. READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Nielsen, Mercedes

Q & A

   04.11.08 3:23 PM

Hot Docs' Chris McDonald Gears Up for Festival's 15th Anniversary
Chris McDonald
Chris McDonald
Photo: Courtesy of Hot Docs
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival has grown steadily since its debut in Toronto 15 years ago, drawing some 80,000 people to screenings last year. In addition, the Toronto Documentary Forum—a series of industry conferences, market events, and networking opportunities—attracts delegates from around the world to the annual festival. Chris McDonald, executive director of Hot Docs, says he's enjoying some down time before the 2008 festivities start on Thursday. "It's actually a bit quieter for me now than it has been in months," he said. "Last week and this week is quite nice because we're at the point in our evolution where we have a large team—we've got over 100 people working for us at this time of year—so there's a good infrastructure in place." Hot Docs runs April 17 to 27.

The festival is a week away. What are you working on?
We're still busy recruiting the 250 volunteers we'll need over the course of the 11 days. We're finalizing last-minute travel plans for the filmmakers who are coming in from around the world. All of the special events—there are over a dozen receptions and parties that we organize ourselves—we're putting the finishing touches on those. There are over 170 films that we're screening, so we're getting copies of prints and other data from around the world, which is a major undertaking. The box office is open and extremely busy, as are [industry] pass sales because we will have approximately 2,000 registered delegates—broadcasters, distributors, filmmakers, producers—at the festival beyond the public audience. The schedule is locked, and the program guide, which details all the films, is back from the printer, so a lot of work has been completed. READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

MY FAVORITE VENDORS

   04.11.08 10:56 AM

AIDS Committee of Toronto Turns to Tall Poppy
Jasmine Taulla
Jasmine Taulla
AIDS Committee of Toronto special events manager Jasmine Taulla is responsible for executing three major annual events, including Snap, a photographic fund-raiser featuring a live auction of curated art, a silent auction, and a photo competition; AIDS Walk for Life, a walk through the city that circles back to a community block party with a beer garden; and Fashion Cares, a gala event that includes a dinner, live entertainment, and a fashion show. Taulla has been with the AIDS Committee for just over a year, and moved to Toronto 15 months ago from Melbourne, Australia. She has worked as an event planner for six years.

Graphic Design: “Tall Poppy does Web design, advertising, and graphic design. They did our Web site for Snap. Laura, Adrienne, and the team are great: highly motivated, innovative, easy to work with, and the results are beyond expectations. Their creative work is eye-catching, and we get a lot of press as a result of their work. We’ll have a picture that we want to use—this year we had a photo of Pamela Anderson wrapped in a Canadian flag—and they took that and came up with three designs, and we chose which one we liked.” READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS AIDS Committee of Toronto

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

   04.11.08 10:30 AM

Building Buzz With Videos: IMG's Fashion Week Series
A model getting primped in one of IMG's behind-the-scenes Fashion Week videos.
A model getting primped in one of IMG's behind-the-scenes Fashion Week videos.
Photo: Courtesy of IMG Fashion
This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.

Not every successful online video is made by event attendees with handheld cameras. Marketers who realize the potential of Web video for enhancing an event experience are also producing professional, high-quality videos to complement their events.

In 2007, IMG Fashion launched a YouTube channel to display videos from Fashion Week events throughout the world. Each video is a one- to four-minute clip focused on a specific runway show, collection, or after-party, featuring interviews with designers and celebrity attendees. Produced and edited by IMG and Smashbox Studios, the videos capture both the glamour of the runway shows and the frenetic energy behind the scenes. READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, IMG, IMG Fashion, Fashion Week, Imitation of Christ, American Express

NEWS

   04.09.08 1:19 PM

Of Course, Not All YouTube Exposure Is Good Exposure
The moment before the fall
The moment before the fall
Photo: Courtesy of beck64
Speaking of YouTube videos of events (as we have been this week), today Gawker posted a clip from a fashion show in Charleston, South Carolina, showing a woman falling on a runway, and then falling through the runway. According to a Web site called LiveLeak (what you'll find if you Google "Charleston Fashion Week falling"), the fallen woman is the owner of local boutique K. Morgan, who missed the runthrough of the show—when she would have learned the middle of the catwalk was sheer fabric intended to let light shine through the floor. There seem to be myriad lessons to be learned here. (Possibly among them: Go to the runthrough! Don't make a floor from fabric!) We'll let you take from this what you will. READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, Gawker
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