With the unofficial end of summer now behind us (that would be Labor Day), event professionals are looking to the fall—a traditionally busy time—to see how the economic recovery will help the industry rebound from what has so far been a pretty slow year. We asked a group of local planners and vendors what they have in the works for the coming months. Here are some highlights.
"There's an energy that hasn't been around for the first part of the year. We're seeing a resurgence in certain distinct areas. Fashion and retail are both big right now, real estate is spending a lot of money, and product lunches are seeing significant growth in the share of business. Institutional things are finally back as well, with museums and hospitals. We have things planned with both Mount Sinai and MoMA, and where some of those events had been put on hold for the first half of the year, they're all back with a regular schedule of events now."
—Joan Steinberg, Sonnier & Castle
"One of our biggest efforts for the fall starts in the second week of October, when we're doing the New York City Wine & Food Festival. We'll be doing security for the entire festival, beginning with Rachel Ray's Burger Bash in Brooklyn. The whole series will see several thousand people, so it will be pretty security heavy. Once we get into November and December, Disney's new movie, The Princess and the Frog, will be screening at the Ziegfeld, and we'll be providing protection for an interactive experience tied into the movie at Roseland for two weeks."
—Mike Zimet, owner, Mike Zimet Enterprises, Event Security
"Where I was telling people earlier in the year that this was like trying to sell cake during the French revolution, now we're finding the opposite. August really picked things up for us. I have a couple of hedge fund clients who are throwing elaborate birthday parties, and I have a major project where they're spending over $100 a piece on invitations. We've been working until at least 9 p.m. every night in preparation for Fashion Week and running Saturday shifts. And now that the recession is over, everyone is really focused on marketing, and a large portion of our business has been updating branding, press kits, and collateral material. This fall will be our busiest—not our highest grossing, but our busiest."
—Steve Paster, president, Alpine Creative Group
"I've got an 85th anniversary dinner for about 500 people for Commonweal, which is a Catholic magazine. They'll be honoring Tim Shriver for all of his work with the Special Olympics, and both the Shriver and the Kennedy families will be there. They haven't had an event in five years, and you would not think in this economy that a very small Catholic magazine would be doing a very big event, but because of the times, it's particularly important for someone like that to stay on the radar."
—Ny Whitaker, president, Events by Ny
"Our season really kicks in again when our high-end social and corporate clients start throwing their fall events. Right now, we're working on an oil company's conferences in Chicago and fall teambuilding activities for several local clients. Companies are realizing right now that teambuilding and employee events are really great for business. People want to spend more time with each other, vent, and just have a good time. Where these types of events also used to have a definite end time, we're now seeing them go into overtime. Employees don't want anything over the top, they just want to hang out with an open bar and see that their company appreciates them."
—Michael Cerbelli, president of special events, Total Entertainment
"We're producing the Perez Hilton concert tour, which kicks off in Atlanta on September 10 and goes through October 3, when it finishes in Los Angeles. And for Fashion Week and the [MTV] VMAs, we're bringing out Byron and Tracey from their salon in L.A. to run a styling lounge at the Metropolitan Home and Showtime show house from September 10 through 13. Later in the fall, after we bring our media lounge to Austin City Limits, we'll be producing Adam Levine's Halloween party."
—Bruce Starr, talent and branding maestro, BMF Media Group
"For us, we're really busy. It's a lot of out-of-state jobs right now, but we have our two big fall events in New York coming up. Towards the end of October, we start setting up for the ING Marathon, and once we break down those 5,100 seats, we move them uptown to get ready for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade viewing area. We set that up the night before Thanksgiving with about 70 or 80 staffers covering Midtown, and even though they've changed the parade route a bit this year, we'll have 13,600 seats set up. Coming up this week we have a few fashion shows, and we'll be working on the New Island Festival on Governor's Island."
—Tami Lacertosa, rental sales consultant, Seating Solutions
"One of my big clients, the McGraw-Hill Companies, they're moving forward with their annual awards and dinner on September 29, and they're expecting to have more attendees than in the past. I also have law firms that are moving forward with client entertainment this fall and doubling their client lists for holiday parties. And a couple of nonprofits we're working with this year that last year had decided not to do benefits, are going ahead with their galas. People are still being very budget conscious, and they're making sure there's added value for what they're paying for, but they are moving forward. Things are coming back more than I would have expected if you'd asked me in the spring."
—Carolyn Bakula, Bakula Design
