Debra Morris is the president of Eventsful Inc., an event planning firm that plans approximately 150 events a year for clients including the Rubin Museum of Art, iVillage, and Investor Relations magazine. "For me, venue selection is really a matchmaking process. I always consider it like setting someone up on a blind date. You want to make sure there's the right chemistry, that the physical attraction is going to be there, and that the right energy and sophistication is going to be there. The venue should always translate to the guests the exact representation of what the corporation sets as its image. I need to know what [the company's] goal is; what do they want to achieve? If they want to communicate that they've had a great year and show off, that's one thing. If they want to communicate that they're having a horrible year and get people together and get energy going, it's a whole other idea. The second most important criteria is really budget. I hate getting people excited about a venue that they may not be able to afford. I always suggest that we should never look at more than five locations: I like between three and five. It's like shopping for a black dress: After you try the fifth one on, they all start to look alike. But I always suggest they see at least two so they have a point of comparison."
Michael Dare is the director of consumer promotions and event marketing for USA Network/NBC Universal, and plans events including a promotion for the tennis U.S. Open, as well as premiere events and promotions for new USA shows. "In general, the majority of our guests, clients, and press will be arriving from uptown and Midtown locations. The chances that they will travel below Houston Street are slim. First, we're looking at the location as it relates to the viability of people actually showing up. Secondly, we're also looking at flexibility of the space. In other words, do we have creative license once we find a space to go in and create the look we're after? Or are we limited by the venue itself because changes aren't allowed? It's not uncommon to go into a space and find built-in furniture and walls on which nothing can be adhered. I'm always looking at how we can make the venue and the space unique so it's a memorable experience and people will remember the event as a USA Network-branded event—not just, 'Oh, they took over a restaurant and served up sea bass.'"
Michelle Dapolito, the manager of sales and promotions for NYTimes.com, plans approximately 15 client appreciation events across the country each year for the Web site's sales team. "The largest [factor] I consider is if it's on brand with NYTimes.com. The New York Times Company has a particular brand that we've had for 100-plus years, and NYTimes.com follows that brand very closely. During the Tribeca Film Festival, which we sponsored, we did a cocktail party at the Bubble Lounge. That venue has a very elegant atmosphere, and everyone knows it as being very special and somewhat of a landmark in the neighborhood. [We look at] cost-effectiveness. At many places we've done multiple events, and that allows us to negotiate a little harder with them, and the New York Times brand carries a lot of weight too. The ability for our [account executives] and guests to network and move around is also important. We don't want a location that's too restrictive in terms of movement and flow around the room. And I look for a good brand behind the name: It's recognized, it's known, it's not some fly-by-night new establishment. It's got to be an establishment that's been there a while, that people recognize but that it's a treat to go to."
Lisa Wainer plans fund-raising and donor recognition events as the director of special events for the YMCA of Greater New York. "Because nonprofits need to save money, they go back to the same venues year after year, because they have relationships and they can get better deals that way. But you have to think about the spirit of the event. You have to consider who the honorees are, the kind of people who are going to be involved. Sometimes finding a venue that doesn't need any [extra services] is really helpful to a nonprofit because you don't have to do a lot with lighting or with flowers. The venue has its own ambience, which was really what ended up making our decision this year [to take our event to Cipriani 42nd Street]. And we're going to stick with [Cipriani] for two years in a row. We decided to spend more money for that reason. We wanted something that would give more prestige to the event and to the organization; we wanted people to know when they walked in that it was something important."
Christen Faustmann is an event marketing manager for Comedy Central and MTV Networks, and has planned such events as the Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson in Los Angeles, and internal meetings for executives. "We do offsite meetings for Larry Divney, who's the head of MTV Networks ad sales. He wants to take his salespeople offsite, have meetings, and go to a fantastic dinner. We have to think, He goes everywhere, he gets invited everywhere—we have to look for a place that he may have not heard of yet. But it has to be group-friendly, it has to have perfect service and perfect food. We have to think about the sensibility of the brand. If you put Comedy Central at a place that's too slick for us, it's cool, but is it us? Does it have that regular-guy feel? Do we throw a party at Jean Georges, or maybe something like Bar Americain, which just opened up with Bobby Flay, who appeals to our target audience and mirrors our corporate group? The worst thing you can do is throw a party and then one of your executives walks in and says, 'This place doesn't feel like us.'"
Jennifer Talbott is the senior vice president at public relations firm Loving & Company, and plans 20 events a year for clients including Hickey Freeman and Marshall Field's. "You have to know what else is going on and where other parties are happening when you're choosing your venue. During Fashion Week, if you're doing a party or a fashion show, not only are you taking into consideration how big the venue is, what the venue looks like, and whether it fits the brand image, but you also have to consider where everybody else is showing [their collections] and where other events are happening that evening or that week. Say you have a show at 9 PM and someone's showing at 8 PM. You want to make sure you show someplace that's convenient for the editors and the buyers to both shows—you don't want to inconvenience anybody."
Leane Romeo is president of the Overland Entertainment Company, a full-service event management and production firm that has produced events for the James Beard Foundation, Diageo, and Condé Nast. "One strategy is to go around and explore vacant spaces—a pier or a warehouse or a floor in a building. Certainly there are a lot of loft spaces that exist, but finding the ones off the beaten path that aren't established event spaces is the challenge. Sometimes we'll walk around different neighborhoods—if a client really wants to be strictly in Midtown, for example. We walk around and look for spaces that haven't [been used for events] yet. Sometimes we've gone into car dealerships on 11th Avenue and asked if it's possible to do a large party there, where they move the cars out and then you can go in and redesign. And then you're in a new location that nobody's been in before, because often that's really important [to guests]."
Peter Henderson is the director of special events at Thirteen/WNET New York, where he plans events for the PR, marketing, and development departments. "Everything we do ultimately gets back to not only promoting our content but also solidifying our relationships with our members and supporters. We'll try to marry a venue to program content. This year, we may be doing something for an American Masters program on Frank Gehry, so we're looking to do that one at the Guggenheim because there are parallels with Frank Lloyd Wright and architecture. Or if we're doing something on Jackie Onassis, maybe we'll do it in the Met's Temple of Dendur, because she was instrumental in getting it brought over to the United States. What we're not doing that some of the other networks would be doing is looking for places that are kind of fun, hip, chic, because after all, we're PBS, and we're not fun, hip, or chic. But I like that. It's exhausting to be fun, hip, and chic all the time, you know?"
—Jennifer Hoppe
Posted 10.03.05
