Doris Holloway, HSBC's assistant vice president for group public affairs, began her event planning career when she was playing the piano at a Manhattan Savings Bank branch, and her managers noticed her natural ability to communicate with the public. Twenty years and three banks later, she has planned everything from board meetings, to big employee incentive affairs, to customer appreciation events.
How do you keep your annual employee incentive events exciting when many of the same people attend year after year?
We always have a theme, which is sent out early in the year and [employees] have a chance to build upon it. It has ranged from a masquerade theme, to the Olympics, to a magic theme. The branches actually create their own signage and participate in their own way. I can’t believe how excited they get—it’s amazing.
What about board meetings?
In 2002 we did a very large and exciting event for the international HSBC board of directors here in New York City that was one of my biggest challenges. I’ve run incentive trip programs, but this was like an incentive trip in reverse because they came to me. We took them on a bus tour of Harlem, then did a tour of the U.N. and had lunch there. They had a meeting at the New York Stock Exchange, where they got to ring the opening bell. In the evening on the last night, we went to Times Square Studios. HSBC has a sign in the middle of Times Square, and you can go into a little photo booth that’s set up in the visitor’s center at 42nd Street and have your picture taken, and within five minutes your picture is superimposed onto the sign. When they looked up and saw their faces [from the reception in Times Square Studio], they said, “Can we run it again? I want to see it again.” They were really excited.
What are some of the customer events you’ve planned?
This year we had an event at Carnegie Hall with the Buffalo Philharmonic. We brought planeloads of people down [from upstate New York] to attend the event, and a number of clients went on a boat ride the night before on the Bateaux. In the past, we’ve invited customers to Alice Tully Hall for the National Orchestra of Canada with Pinchas Zuckerman. [In 2004] I did one really fun event with [Canadian golf champion] Mike Weir at the Hudson National Golf Club; the clients were so appreciative of that one.
How do you keep a diverse crowd of people happy? What kinds of activities do you plan?
We just merged with Household International 18 months ago, and one of their traditions is whenever the executives gather, instead of golfing or something, they all do community work. Last time, they planted a community garden. They’ve built Habitat for Humanity houses. It certainly solves the problem of who doesn’t like golf and who does. Describe some of your other events. We have a Diwali Indian New Year party, we have the Chinese New Year party for customers, we have a huge celebration for Black History Month. The bank is very committed to diversity. We have nine [diversity] committees, and all these different groups host events.
What’s the best event-related piece of advice you’ve ever received?
You must forget your mistakes, because if you center on them, you can’t possibly grow.
—Suzanne Ito
Posted 03.30.05
This story originally appeard in the February/March 2005 issue of the BiZBash Event Style Reporter.
How do you keep your annual employee incentive events exciting when many of the same people attend year after year?
We always have a theme, which is sent out early in the year and [employees] have a chance to build upon it. It has ranged from a masquerade theme, to the Olympics, to a magic theme. The branches actually create their own signage and participate in their own way. I can’t believe how excited they get—it’s amazing.
What about board meetings?
In 2002 we did a very large and exciting event for the international HSBC board of directors here in New York City that was one of my biggest challenges. I’ve run incentive trip programs, but this was like an incentive trip in reverse because they came to me. We took them on a bus tour of Harlem, then did a tour of the U.N. and had lunch there. They had a meeting at the New York Stock Exchange, where they got to ring the opening bell. In the evening on the last night, we went to Times Square Studios. HSBC has a sign in the middle of Times Square, and you can go into a little photo booth that’s set up in the visitor’s center at 42nd Street and have your picture taken, and within five minutes your picture is superimposed onto the sign. When they looked up and saw their faces [from the reception in Times Square Studio], they said, “Can we run it again? I want to see it again.” They were really excited.
What are some of the customer events you’ve planned?
This year we had an event at Carnegie Hall with the Buffalo Philharmonic. We brought planeloads of people down [from upstate New York] to attend the event, and a number of clients went on a boat ride the night before on the Bateaux. In the past, we’ve invited customers to Alice Tully Hall for the National Orchestra of Canada with Pinchas Zuckerman. [In 2004] I did one really fun event with [Canadian golf champion] Mike Weir at the Hudson National Golf Club; the clients were so appreciative of that one.
How do you keep a diverse crowd of people happy? What kinds of activities do you plan?
We just merged with Household International 18 months ago, and one of their traditions is whenever the executives gather, instead of golfing or something, they all do community work. Last time, they planted a community garden. They’ve built Habitat for Humanity houses. It certainly solves the problem of who doesn’t like golf and who does. Describe some of your other events. We have a Diwali Indian New Year party, we have the Chinese New Year party for customers, we have a huge celebration for Black History Month. The bank is very committed to diversity. We have nine [diversity] committees, and all these different groups host events.
What’s the best event-related piece of advice you’ve ever received?
You must forget your mistakes, because if you center on them, you can’t possibly grow.
—Suzanne Ito
Posted 03.30.05
This story originally appeard in the February/March 2005 issue of the BiZBash Event Style Reporter.
