The Orange County Museum of Art's \"The Birth of Cool\" exhibit.
Photo: Carla Rhea Photography
Whether it’s a C.E.O. or hundreds of attendees coming to L.A., guests always appreciate a little local hospitality. Here are ways to thank people for coming, entertain them, or simply help them get oriented.
For Mattel’s third annual Leading Edge Seminar meeting held in December at the toy manufacturer’s El Segundo offices, senior manager of meeting and planning services Kelly Johnsen welcomed 45 of the company’s vice presidents from three states and five countries. After a day of back-to-back seminars, Johnsen took the group to Orange County, where she arranged for stays at the St. Regis Hotel and booked the Orange County Museum of Art so that guests could peruse its “The Birth of Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury” exhibit in private. “Most of our attendees don’t have the time to take a trip down south when they are in our corporate office for business, so this is a nice getaway for them, as well as a productive meeting,” she says. As a memento, Johnsen left a 300-page book about the exhibit in each guest’s hotel room.At the Sundance Film Festival in January, E! Entertainment Television’s executive director of special events and promotions, Wendy Schellinger, left not one, but three gift bags strategically placed alongside useful event information like itineraries in guests’ rooms. “We use these gifts first and foremost to make the guests feel that their arrival was anticipated and welcomed,” Schellinger says. Upon arriving, festivalgoers found a “stay out of the minibar” tote bag stuffed with snacks and beverages, plus a toiletry kit in the bathroom containing Kiehl’s and Bumble and Bumble products, and peppermint foot lotion and socks from Bliss. On the final night of the festival, guests received a “hangover survival” bag with aspirin, water, Krispy Creme doughnuts, and the next day’s paper.
Toyota Motor Sales’ meeting and event specialist Cheryl Lancaster organized a trip in May for Toyota car dealers from around the country to Napa Valley’s spa resort Auberge du Soleil in conjunction with the car company’s annual President’s Award event. “I definitely give a welcome gift that highlights the local area where I am doing a program or event,” says Lancaster. For the Napa trip, she gave each guest a bottle of the resort’s signature wine, as well as a copy of Spectacular Wines of Napa Valley. “We chose the book because it represented the many wineries in the area that our group would visit during the program, and we chose the wine to highlight the magnificent property we had selected,” Lancaster says.
For Mattel’s third annual Leading Edge Seminar meeting held in December at the toy manufacturer’s El Segundo offices, senior manager of meeting and planning services Kelly Johnsen welcomed 45 of the company’s vice presidents from three states and five countries. After a day of back-to-back seminars, Johnsen took the group to Orange County, where she arranged for stays at the St. Regis Hotel and booked the Orange County Museum of Art so that guests could peruse its “The Birth of Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury” exhibit in private. “Most of our attendees don’t have the time to take a trip down south when they are in our corporate office for business, so this is a nice getaway for them, as well as a productive meeting,” she says. As a memento, Johnsen left a 300-page book about the exhibit in each guest’s hotel room.At the Sundance Film Festival in January, E! Entertainment Television’s executive director of special events and promotions, Wendy Schellinger, left not one, but three gift bags strategically placed alongside useful event information like itineraries in guests’ rooms. “We use these gifts first and foremost to make the guests feel that their arrival was anticipated and welcomed,” Schellinger says. Upon arriving, festivalgoers found a “stay out of the minibar” tote bag stuffed with snacks and beverages, plus a toiletry kit in the bathroom containing Kiehl’s and Bumble and Bumble products, and peppermint foot lotion and socks from Bliss. On the final night of the festival, guests received a “hangover survival” bag with aspirin, water, Krispy Creme doughnuts, and the next day’s paper.
Toyota Motor Sales’ meeting and event specialist Cheryl Lancaster organized a trip in May for Toyota car dealers from around the country to Napa Valley’s spa resort Auberge du Soleil in conjunction with the car company’s annual President’s Award event. “I definitely give a welcome gift that highlights the local area where I am doing a program or event,” says Lancaster. For the Napa trip, she gave each guest a bottle of the resort’s signature wine, as well as a copy of Spectacular Wines of Napa Valley. “We chose the book because it represented the many wineries in the area that our group would visit during the program, and we chose the wine to highlight the magnificent property we had selected,” Lancaster says.
