Brendan Hurley is the senior vice president of marketing and communications for the Goodwill of Greater Washington, a charitable organization that collects donated clothing and provides employment services to the disadvantaged. He is currently planning the annual “Fashion of Goodwill,” a Paris-themed runway show and benefit at the French Embassy in September. Hurley previously worked at Clear Channel Radio, where he coordinated marketing events for the station.

Catering: “Geppetto Catering in Riverdale, Maryland. They are not a mass production house, so you generally deal directly with the principal, Josh Carin. He is not just a great caterer, but he is also very philanthropic—which says a lot about his character."

Decor: “A Vista Events has always done a good job for us. Hargrove is another good company. At Hargrove’s warehouse, you feel like you’re backstage at Disney World—it’s amazing. However, if money is a real concern, A Vista is a little more reasonably priced.” READ MORE

Goodwill of Greater Washington

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

04.29.08 11:05 AM

Lessons Learned From Planning Pageants

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

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

MY FAVORITE VENDORS

04.24.08 1:38 PM

Capital Area Food Bank Turns to A Vista Events

Jana Richardson

Jana Richardson is the special events manager for the Capital Area Food Bank, the largest nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in the D.C. metro area. The food bank distributes 20 million pounds of food annually, and Richardson produces roughly 15 of the organization's larger food drives annually. She also produces the annual Blue Jeans Ball, its biggest fund-raising event. Richardson has been with the Food Bank for two years, before which she was an event manager for Hecht’s, a division of the May Department Stores Company.

Venue: “We’ve held the Blue Jeans Ball at the Marriott Wardman Park for the past four years. They have really accommodated us as the event continues to grow. We have about 30 restaurants that participate, [and] Marriott is so generous to allow us to bring restaurants into their hotel, because many hotels do not allow outside chefs or restaurants to serve as the main caterer of the event. This year was nice because we were able to use [the Marriott's] new Stone's Throw Restaurant and chef John Payne as part of the restaurant and chef lineup.” READ MORE

Capital Area Food Bank, Blue Jeans Ball

Q & A

04.15.08 4:39 PM

GEP's Lauren Beegal Prepares for Pope's 46,000-Person Mass

Lauren Beegal
Photo: Courtesy of GEP Washington

Pope Benedict XVI is on his way to Washington, sending local and national newspapers, news channels, and blogs into a flurry of coverage anticipating his every move. Arriving today, the pope will be traveling in a 30-person entourage, and the Archdiocese of Washington estimates his three-day visit will cost Catholic donors $3 million, according to The New York Times.

Lauren Beegal, operations manager of destination management and event planning company GEP Washington, signed on in the fall to pull together the 46,000-person Mass to be held on Thursday. With just a few days left, Beegal talked to us via email about memorizing traffic patterns and coping with a new venue.

Pope Benedict XVI’s public Mass is just days away. What are you working on now?
Right now, we are in the final round of planning meetings with everyone involved in Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, from security and production teams to church and city officials. We are running through every possible scenario and taking care of all the last-minute details. READ MORE

Pope Benedict XVI

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

Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Nielsen, Mercedes

MY FAVORITE VENDORS

04.11.08 11:09 AM

The Heritage Foundation Turns to Nouveau Fleur

Emily Sankot Kayrish

Emily Sankot Kayrish is the assistant director of special events for the Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit public policy research institution based on Capitol Hill. Kayrish is responsible for planning donor-related and policy-based events across the country, ranging from luncheons and receptions to multiday conferences and conventions. She handles roughly 85 events a year. In her five years at the foundation she has coordinated speakers ranging from President Bush and Condoleezza Rice to the cast and creators of Fox’s 24.

Venues: "I have worked with dozens of great venues around the country, but in Washington, D.C., my hands-down favorite venue is the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. I have done roughly 20 events there in my time at Heritage, and it is always a wonderful experience. The entire Reagan Center team is great, from Leslie Atkinson in the sales department to my event manager, Courtney Coyle, to Alex Morillo, who is the greatest banquet captain on the planet. They go above and beyond to ensure that every detail is taken care of. One year my keynote speaker was in a wheelchair, and to ensure that we got him into the appropriate handicapped parking spot in the garage, my event manager spent an hour walking up and down the parking garage to write up directions and a map to guide him to the right location." READ MORE

Heritage Foundation

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.
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

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
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

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, Gawker

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

04.09.08 10:50 AM

Building Buzz With Videos: How to Go Viral

This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.

1. Make It Snappy
A video is not likely to get noticed if it’s more than a few minutes long. “It needs to grab you right away, because people are more likely to share it if they watch it all the way through to the end,” says author David Meerman Scott. If you have too much material, the best bet is a series. “Instead of posting a 10-minute video, post five two-minute videos,” Scott says.

2. Quality Is Not Always King
Spend five minutes browsing YouTube and you’ll see that authenticity trumps professionalism, and unpolished, uncut videos are more popular than slick, corporate-produced advertisements. “We’re at an unusual time in history in that people trust the rough-around-the edges take more than the polished, professional effort,” says Roxanne Darling of BarefeetStudios.com. “Because we’ve all been sold, you trust someone who is on site, just went to the event, and has a fresh take.”
READ MORE

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

04.09.08 10:30 AM

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

A shot of one of the Kwik-E-Marts.
Photo: Courtesy of JOSHLEWIS

This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.

In a joint marketing promotion to publicize the 2007 release of The Simpsons Movie, 20th Century Fox transformed 12 North American 7-Eleven stores into Kwik-E-Marts, inspired by the parody convenience store frequented by Homer Simpson in the fictional town of Springfield.

Because of the tie-in to The Simpsons, a long-running show with a fervent fan base, the marketing event had particular resonance online. Fan forums and blogs were abuzz with news about where the makeshift Kwik-E-Marts would be. When the stores debuted in towns from Bladensburg, Maryland, to Burbank, California, excited fans at each location walked through with handheld cameras and posted their videos online. As a result, a marketing promotion that might have attracted only curious passersby instead reached a worldwide audience of tens of thousands. READ MORE

Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, The Simpsons, 20th Century Fox, 7-Eleven

MORE NEWS

Search Our Venue Directory

HOME \| NEW YORK \| LOS ANGELES \| WASHINGTON \| FLORIDA \| TORONTO \| CHICAGO
Washington Suppliers \| Washington Venues \| Washington Event Coverage \| Washington Trends & Ideas \| Washington Tips & Strategies \| Washington RSS
Calendar \| Jobs \| Privacy \| Disclaimer \| Help \| Contact Us \| Press \| National RSS
BizBash Media, 1350 I Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202.684.8743 Fax: 202.408.1231 © BizBash Media Inc.

Tips & Strategies

PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT...

Stealing Ideas: An Industry Epidemic?

How Corporate Event Jobs Are Changing

5 Ways Venue Contracts Are Changing

How Congress Is Influencing Menus

How Online Leaks Are Complicating Security

Q&AS WITH SMART EVENT STRATEGISTS

GEP's Lauren Beegal Prepares for Pope's 46,000-Person Mass

Occasions' Eric Michael Readies Americana Theme for Corcoran Ball

Cherry Blossom Festival Planner Prepares for Quick Changes and New Traffic Solutions

G.M.'s Bryan Nesbitt Gears Up for Detroit Fashion (and Car) Show

SPECIAL REPORT: SELLING SPONSORSHIPS

Selling Sponsorships: How to Craft a Perfect Pitch

5 Tips for Working With Sponsorship Salespeople

Roundtable: How Sponsors Choose Events

Ask an Expert: Which Sponsors Are Spending Now

GUEST EXPERTS

Roundtable: Finding Vendors Out of Town

Roundtable: Negotiating

Roundtable: Menu Tastings

Roundtable: Event Photography

Roundtable: How Do You Choose a Venue?

Roundtable: Hiring a DJ

USEFUL KNOWLEDGE

How to Choose an Auctioneer

How to Score Hard-to-Get Reservations

How to Work With DMCs*

How to Book Big-Name Bands

How to Wrangle Celebrities

How to Control Large Crowds

How to Measure ROI

How to Score Hard-to-Get Tickets

How to Buy Event Insurance

SMART ADVICE

3 Tips for Landing Your Next Job

15 Ways to Go Green—and What They Cost

5 Tips for Staging Speeches

5 Tips From Nonprofits for Cutting Costs

5 Tips for Planning a Menu

10 Tips for Cutting Costs

5 Tips for Site Inspections

PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

It Happened to Me: A Blabbermouth Auctioneer

It Happened to Me: Falling Lighting Equipment

Bridging a Language Barrier

Quick Tip: Keeping Uninvited Guests Out

It Happened to Me: A Last-Minute Venue Change

FROM COLUMNIST TED KRUCKEL

Sick of Parties? Ted Is, Too

Ted's Take on Tents

Red Carpet Crimes and Misdemeanors

Ted's Tips for Dealing With Global Warming

Ted's Take on Global Warming

Tics of the Trade

Lost in Translation

MY FAVORITE VENDORS

Goodwill of Greater Washington Counts on Showcall

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

Lessons Learned From Planning Pageants

MY FAVORITE VENDORS

Capital Area Food Bank Turns to A Vista Events

Q & A

GEP's Lauren Beegal Prepares for Pope's 46,000-Person Mass

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

Working Around Contract Caterers

MY FAVORITE VENDORS

The Heritage Foundation Turns to Nouveau Fleur

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

Building Buzz With Videos: IMG's Fashion Week Series

NEWS

Of Course, Not All YouTube Exposure Is Good Exposure

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

Building Buzz With Videos: How to Go Viral

EVENT INTELLIGENCE

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