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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 New L.A. Marathon Creative Director Peter Abraham Is Overseeing the Race's Shift From Winter to Spring Virginia Gold Cup's Katie Snyder Adds Sponsor Categories for New Revenue Streams World Wildlife Fund's Tara Wood Asks Canada to Turn Off the Lights Jennifer Üner Overseeing Calendar for More-Diffuse-Than-Ever L.A. Fashion Week Mike Berry Finds New Ways to Collaborate With Sponsors and Cut Costs at the Kentucky Derby Festival Daytona 500 Organizers Slash Ticket Prices, Anticipate Fewer Spectators Red Bull's Jeff Regis Is Building a Nine-Story Snowboard Jump in Downtown Manhattan   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 Who's a Great Corporate Event Videographer? How to Score Hard-to-Get Tickets How to Buy Event Insurance 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   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 Talking to Ted: Carla Ruben Says Get Creative With Rentals, Coconut Tapioca Speaker Series With Huffington and Rove Not Necessarily Better Than the Ballet How to Launch a $7,000 Suit Shop On Inauguration Night, Purple Ball Had Color But Lacked Authenticity, and American Music Balls Were a Bust Texas Black Tie & Boots Ball Had Winking Cowgirls, Giant Rooms Why I'm Going to Washington for the Inauguration Ideas for the New Age     TED KRUCKEL    11.20.09 5:25 PM Masked Raconteurs Tell Tales at Moth Ball, and I Have a Blast The Moth Ball at Capitale Photo: Flash Rosenberg FROM NEW YORK Early in his remarks at the Moth Ball, host Garrison Keillor told the guests that he had recently suffered a stroke. The room fell quiet. He went on to say that his was a mild stroke, “the best kind to have.” Then he admitted that telling New Yorkers about it had a surprise benefit. “In the world of New York City conversationalists, it’s like having a handicapped parking permit.” Rather than being interrupted within 10 seconds, as is our city’s norm, he said, leading with the stroke news gave him a “fighting chance” to last, say, “20 to 30 seconds.” It was his way of congratulating the 12-year-old organization on its surprising success in the city that “doesn’t sleep and certainly doesn’t listen.” The Moth is a not-for-profit group that holds story “slams” for anyone with a story to tell, now also in three other cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit). People line up around the corner, sometimes waiting for an hour to pay and listen to (mostly) amateur storytellers. Hundreds of people at dozens and dozens of events, each with a different one-word theme—who knew? MORE >> RELATED TOPICS The Moth TED KRUCKEL    11.06.09 4:33 PM Gossip Girls in Chanel at Four Seasons and David Rockwell's High-Tech Taste on Paper Plates Chanel's Fete d'Hiver at the Four Seasons Restaurant to benefit The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Photo: Bill Farrell-Patrick McMullan FROM NEW YORK There are so many reasons why I’ve never seen an episode of Gossip Girl. For starters, I’m not really sure what channel is the CW, and besides, doesn’t CW make you think of country music? By the time New York magazine was calling Gossip Girl “Best. Show. Ever.” I decided I was too late to the party. Couldn’t I just hold my breath for a few years till it faded away? How stupid. Because as with the last cult hit show in the New York area, The Sopranos, Gossip Girl’s far-flung cast is relentless in pursuit of publicity and as a result, I see one or two of them at every single party I go to, and it is always a big deal, despite the fact that they all seem so tiny in person. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Chanel, David Rockwell, New York Magazine TED KRUCKEL    10.14.09 12:33 PM Food Network's Festival Stretches Its Scope (and My Belt) Guy Fieri, up to his usual theatrical antics, at the New York City Wine & Food Festival Photo: Courtesy of the New York City Wine & Food Festival FROM NEW YORK If there is one thing that really struck me about the second annual Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival, sponsored by Food & Wine and Travel & Leisure, it was the sheer size and diversity of it all. Last week, I wrote about the plethora of food festivals happening this month in New York, most of which have no problem filling kitchens, dining rooms, stores, and other venues with paying, eager eaters. Yet at the same time, the industry’s oldest and most prestigious magazine, Gourmet, up and folded, and downtown, perennially top-rated Chanterelle closed its doors. But at the New York City Wine & Food Festival this past weekend, it was as if those closings happened on an altogether different planet. The four-day affair kicked off with “Celebration,” a V.I.P. event on Thursday at the Food Network studio. There were so many celebrity chefs that festival founder Lee Schrager found himself in trouble when, during his speech, he began thanking present network personalities Alton Brown, Guy Fieri, and Sandra Lee, and suddenly a bunch of others started shouting out their own names. Lee wisely widened his thanks to “everyone at the Food Network, including the security guard, who five years later still doesn’t recognize me.” MORE >> RELATED TOPICS New York City Wine & Food Festival TED KRUCKEL    10.06.09 4:59 PM As Gourmet Bites the Dust, October Is Food Month in New York Jacques Pépin at New York magazine's Culinary Experience Photo: Larry Busacca FROM NEW YORK It’s getting hot in here and the pressure is mounting. I’m in the kitchen with Jacques Pépin and about 20 students who are racing against the clock to complete their stuffed ballotines of chicken. Pépin is perspiring and working furiously as he goes from one student to the next, showing each the main steps that he demonstrated twice onscreen already. It is 4:15 on a Saturday afternoon at the French Culinary Institute, and I’m sitting in on a New York magazine-sponsored deluxe weekend of instructional cooking, the New York Culinary Experience, with some of the world’s leading chefs. In addition to Monsieur Pépin, fellow F.C.I. deans André Soltner (formerly of Lutèce) and Alain Sailhac (formerly of the 21 Club) are sauntering around the room, assisted by six sous chefs, by my count. In two days, the announcement that Gourmet is closing will shock this community, but today we are all blissfully enjoying Food Month. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS New York Magazine, Gourmet magazine, Bon Appétit, French Culinary Institute TED KRUCKEL    09.30.09 9:00 AM Rules for the Recovery I enjoyed Tina Brown’s Daily Beast post about the death of Robert Isabell, “Farewell to the King of Parties” (July 12), up until the end, when she did the obligatory linking of his passing to the end of the proverbial big party. “Our revels now are ended!” her piece ends (without Shakespeare’s attribution, by the way). Maybe it’s a result of having sat in that Vanity Fair top seat; from there everything else is downhill. Remember Graydon Carter after 9/11,  eclaring “the end of the age of irony”? Now he can be found most nights monkeying around the Monkey Bar, his second high-priced and low-access bôite, and, well, isn’t that just a little bit ironic? MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Tina Brown, Robert Isabell Q & A    09.22.09 12:47 PM 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 EVENT INTELLIGENCE    09.15.09 1:21 PM Event Security: The Twitter Effect The Black Eyed Peas at a tweeted party Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Texting, blogging, and online social networking have already made it a breeze for guests to send out tips to their friends and readers on scoring access to private parties. Now, with the increasing popularity of Twitter, the volume of recipients is growing exponentially and the details are leaking in real time. Crashers, gawkers, and paparazzi have instant access to more information than they’ve ever had before—on an easy-to-search platform—and security professionals and planners agree that 140 characters are more than enough to cause some trouble. Barry Meyerson, president of Manhattan-based security firm Meyerson Associates Inc., first noticed Twitter’s impact during New York Fashion Week in September 2008. As celebrities and partygoers shared details online, queues outside venues got longer, and throngs of paparazzi seemed thicker. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Twitter, Security, Secuity Leaks, Black Eyed Peas, Fashion Week TED KRUCKEL    09.11.09 7:57 PM I'm Flabbergasted By Fashion's Fabulous Night Out, Despite My Torn Plastic Bag Anna Wintour and Michael Kors bravely faced the masses at the Macy's Queens Center. Photo: Julienne Schaer FROM NEW YORK My editors, and no doubt you readers, will be glad to know that I am going to skip the obligatory themed intro and get right into the meat of Fashion’s Night Out, the shopping bonanza organized for the night of September 10 by Vogue, NYC & Company, and the Council of Fashion Designers of America to get people out in stores and buying again. MORE >> TED KRUCKEL    09.02.09 4:17 PM Where the Wild Things Are, Part II: At the "Too Popular" Surf Lodge, in the Axe Lounge, and on Booze Buses Lilybugs to the rescue! Photo: Eli Gormezano FROM NEW YORK It’s a long drive to Montauk from the “regular” Hamptons, but the Clam Bar in Napeague makes the perfect pit stop for tuna “bits” and BlackBerrying. I was on my way to see the hotspot Surf Lodge and wanted to check in with the general manager, who had nicely emailed and called me confirming my property tour, when I hit a publicity roadblock by the name of Shelby Meade of Fresh and Clean Media. It had taken us a week to get anyone from the place to even return a message, so I wasn’t surprised by the reverse logic of getting the PR people active after the appointment was booked. See, they are very busy at the Surf Lodge. Opened last year by the same team behind Cain Luxe nightclub in the city, the place was filled to the rafters every weekend with Montauk hipsters and press-hungry celebrities like Molly Sims and Michelle Trachtenberg. This year, I thought the heat had cooled enough to risk a visit, but I was wrong. MORE >> TED KRUCKEL    08.27.09 8:00 AM Where the Wild Things Are: In the Hamptons, Spending $600 on Rosé Networking at Day & Night, Southampton's new all-day drink 'n' dance party Photo: Steven B. Ekerovich/Courtesy of Day & Night FROM NEW YORK Just as we civilians were getting comfortable with the knowledge that our planet, our solar system, our galaxy was just a speck of dust on an elephant’s ear in a giant jungle, word came that there were (possibly) other vast hidden dimensions, whole universes slicing through ours; imperceivable but nonetheless real and equally incalculable in size and complexity. Well, I for one was not surprised, because I have always sensed that there were whole other strange new worlds among us, invisible but to the trained eye. In fact, I kept hearing about one right under my nose, here in the Hamptons; a world where the recession didn’t exist, where excess was still en vogue (if no longer in the pages of Vogue) and where $595 rehoboams of Bertaud Belieu Côtes de Provence rosé can’t be iced fast enough. 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