Hors d’oeuvres are those delicious little bite-sized foods that play a large role in events, yet they can be one of the hardest elements to plan for.
Not to be confused with appetizers which are served as a first course at the table, hors d’oeuvres are finger foods served before a meal or as a standalone at a reception. These small bites are great for guests to enjoy while socializing and exploring.
Much time and consideration goes in to determining how much to order and how many types to serve. Follow these great tips to help make your event a success:
Attendees
- Young individuals eat more than an older crowd
- Guests eat more at a casual than formal event
Timing
- Guests eat more in the first 90 minutes
- After 2 hours consumption picks up again, especially if the hors d’oeuvres are replacing dinner
Number of pieces per guest
- 5-7 before a light meal
- 3-4 before a full meal
- 10-12 for a 2 hour party
- 20 if they are replacing dinner
Number of different types of hors d’oeuvres
- 25 guests: a variety of 5-6
- 25-50: a variety of 9-10
- >50: 10 or more different varieties
Caterers are a great resource to turn to in determining the appropriate serving standards for your hors d’oeuvres. If you question their recommendations and numbers, don’t be afraid to discuss it with them.
Caterers usually plan for a percentage over your final count, so ask your caterer what they propose. If you have a group of light eaters, plan accordingly. Caterers are the experts at serving food, but you are ultimately responsible for the success of the event so you need to be confident and comfortable with what you order. Once you establish a relationship with your “go-to caterers” the process of predicting how much food to order will become second hand.
Hors d’oeuvres are also a fun way to expand the theme of your event. For example, if your event theme leans more toward the whimsical, don’t be afraid to extend that theme to your hors d’ oeuvres. Rather than serving a nicely cut-straight-edged finger sandwich, ask the caterer to make the sandwiches in unique shapes and varying sizes. Vegetables can be made into various animals and shapes that will add variety and uniqueness to a simple vegetable tray.
Penguin Hors d’ouevres – made using black olives, cream cheese, and carrots
If you have an Island themed party, you may choose appetizers that reflect a tropical cuisine. If you are hosting a Vegas night, petit fours, or cheese squares made to look like dice would be a hit. Just about any theme you choose could have a unique selection of food that would be a refreshing change to the standard fare that is often seen at events.
Snapper Crudo with Chiles and Sesame
Dice Petit Fours for a Vegas Themed Event
Of course asking your caterer to make or create something that is not one of their “usual offerings” may cost a little more, so you will want to make sure to keep the cost in mind for your budget. But if you are going for the WOW! factor, tying the food selection to the overall theme and mood you are hoping to inspire will be a big bang.
If you feel stuck or need inspiration, turn to the experts. Before brainstorming, make sure that you have an understanding of your attendees and know the theme for the event to help determine what types of appetizers you should serve for the evening.
Just a word of warning, don’t go too crazy, remember you want your guests/attendees to eat and enjoy the hors d’oeuvres not just talk about them. Nothing will ruin an event like hungry, guests!
What are your favorite hors d’oeuvres to serve or the most creative that you’ve had at an event?
Tracy Fuller-White has owned and operated an event production company for 30+ years and has done events nationally and internationally for fortune 100 and fortune 500 companies.
We’ve finally arrived at week 3, the final week of our Event Hero Surival Guide series. If you missed week 1 and week 2 go ahead and take a look at all of the great tips we shared there as well.
Make sure you use the following survival tips to make it through your meetings and events.
Take care of Number 1
Remember to take a break when you can. Head on over to the event office for a quick sit down. Have staff that can cover for you during a quick break. Pack your Event Survival Kit with of all the tools you need and make sure you have some energy bars for a quick snack. If you are like us, just about the time you sit down for a bite, your spider senses start to tingle and off you go to save the day, you just don’t have time for a real meal on event days.
Water, water and more water
A super event hero knows that it’s hard to take care of yourself and save the ‘event world’ in one week but drinking water and keeping hydrated in dry ballrooms and convention centers will make all the difference to the super event hero. Yea, we know you need your coffee but make sure you drink lots of water as well. A superhero cannot live on caffeine alone!
Social butterfly
It’s important to be a social butterfly and to let your super hero side be seen but you need to keep your head about you and socialize responsibly. You may have many days ahead of you so make sure you socialize in moderation.
You’re probably a bit dehydrated from all the running around and lack of a healthy diet, so watch your alcohol intake. If you do partake, drink a glass of water or two for each alcoholic drink you consume. Grab some food to keep your stomach from rebelling and portray the event super hero you are! There is nothing worse than a super hero hangover or an epic case of digestive disasters to ruin your day at a successful event.
Celebrate your success with your team
You’ve managed your event with stealth like moves, handled VIPs like a highly sought after bodyguard and lead your event staff to another WOW! event. Now take a moment (or two) to celebrate! Immediately following the event, set aside time to tell your staff “Great Job!” “Thank you for all you do!” Just a quick champagne toast or glass of wine and a pat on the back! This will suffice for a week or two until you can celebrate over a dinner…and start the whole process over again.
Don’t forget a personal or handwritten “Thank you” to the venue staff. Little, inconsequential gestures like this can make a big difference in how well your next event goes. Don’t underestimate the value of making someone feel good about the hard work they did for you.
Take a day or two for yourself
You’re in a beautiful location, you’ve managed a successful event and everyone is happy! Schedule a day or two for yourself and hit the spa. Refresh yourself and get ready for the next event. You have work to do but even an event super hero needs to recharge their battery.
After all is said and done…
Now that you have produced another successful event and are back in the comforts of your own office, the final step of your process is to review. Do it now, while the event is fresh in your mind and you can remember what went exactly as you wanted it too and what could have used improvement.
Be perfectly honest with yourself. Some of us are better at finding the positive in everything and some are better at focusing on the negative but now is the time to step back and evaluate your event from both sides.
If you took surveys, crunch the numbers, if you asked for feedback, consolidate the comments and make notes. Every event is a chance at learning how to perfect your skills. The real Event Heroes are those that continue to improve on what they know and what they have learned from their experiences and the experiences of others!
Tracy Fuller-White has owned and operated an event production company for 30+ years and has done events nationally and internationally for fortune 100 and fortune 500 companies.
When theming gets personal
As an event pro, it’s always hard to plan your own event, or it is for me. Knowing all of the possibilities for planning and with tons of great ideas racing through my mind, it is hard to choose just one idea to stick with.
Over the holidays, my family had the opportunity to plan my daughter’s gender reveal party. Of course we were all excited to learn the gender of this “coming soon” attraction, but I’m not sure anyone’s excitement level could match mine; this is my first grand baby after all!
We started with one of the items my daughter loves to collect – owls – and the nursery theme she and her husband have chosen. The theme for this event happened to be enchanted forest.
Our event happened on Christmas Eve; a busy time of year, but the only time we could get all of her friends in the same place for any amount of time. Instead of making this a “party” we went with an afternoon event and offered a little beer and wine, fun finger foods, and amazing owl-shaped cookies in pink and blue!
Owl-shaped cookies by You Bake Me Happy
When guests arrived, the first thing they did was choose either a pink or blue owl based on their best guess at the gender of the baby. They were also instructed to write a note for the parents or baby and hang it on the Christmas tree.
I created a display using cute little owls printed and cut out, then attached to a small limb from one of our trees outside. I hung the limb on the wall and placed the little pink and blue owls all along the limb. I added some small birds and LED battery operated star lights to add a bit of twinkle.
I’ve never been a traditionalist when it came to Christmas décor for trees and this year was no different. However, it was also our first year ever for an artificial tree and I went with white. It seemed fitting for a tree decorated with baby gear. Pacifiers, socks, bibs and stuffed toys were used as ornaments and small woodland animals placed around the base of the tree and hanging throughout the tree made sure our theme was complete.
Our food selections included rolls folded as diapers, mini cocktail wieners with little diapers, cucumber sandwiches and other fun bite-sized treats. I was able to find both pink and blue sodas and added those for beverages. Pink and blue punch served out of baby bottles would have been cute as well.
Bite-sized treats
Diaper-shaped, jelly-filled croissants
Once guests settled in, had a snack and a beverage, and had the chance to reacquaint themselves, we moved from the kitchen to the living room where we were going to do the reveal. This is an opportunity to play all sorts of games and give away gifts, but we were keeping it brief and got straight to the reveal.
In our house, we have a Christmas stocking that hangs in the ceiling and unzips to reveal small gifts sort of like a reusable piñata. Since it was Christmas Eve, we loaded down the sock with gender specific treats for everyone. We had small bags of flavored popcorn with little owl heads taped to them and when the mom- and dad-to-be unzipped the stocking, out fell the little owls in…. PINK… At the same time, the Christmas tree lit up in pink LED lights.
Popcorn-filled party favors
Yep, we will be welcoming a baby girl in April and we can’t wait to meet her!! I’m headed out to find those little baby dresses we all love.
Stay tuned for other upcoming celebrations this spring, we have a whole list of them.
Tracy Fuller-White has owned and operated an event production company for 30+ years and has done events nationally and internationally for fortune 100 and fortune 500 companies.
This week, we continue our three part series on surviving events and becoming the hero. Click here to read Event Hero Survival Guide: Week 1
The Big Day is here
On event day, make sure you have all your communication devices. Cell phone, headset, radio and mobile devices, everything you need to stay in touch. Other items you will need are, printed schedule, speaker contacts and contact numbers of all the people you may need to stay in touch with.
Event days are not for the weak at heart
OK, we know exercise is good for you, but while on an event make sure you take the shortest and most convenient way from one spot to another and the way that saves your feet and energy. If you’ve ever counted your steps on an event, you know you get your exercise. Take the elevator and don’t feel guilty about it. If you have doubts about this, wear a pedometer on show days and see just how many steps you take and how much ground you cover. It’s okay to take the easy way up, but just on show days!
Emergency? What Emergency?
What’s your event emergency plan? Every event super hero knows that anything is possible and having a plan in place will prevent panic if there is an issue. Most importantly, make sure your event team knows the emergency plan. Wonder Woman couldn’t have saved the world without Wonder Girl. Heck, even Superman couldn’t have done what he did without Lois Lane. Oh yea, and Wonder Boy too!
An Emergency Plan for when bad weather hits
Planning, planning and more planning
Have a plan and make sure you are sufficiently staffed for the event. Use volunteers, staff and interns strategically placed to cover all areas. They are your eyes and ears and will save you time and energy when overseeing your event.
It is better to have too many workers and have to let some go early than to have to spend your precious time trying to round up additional help on event day. Figuring out how many staff you need will get easier with time but don’t be afraid to have one or two extra people who know they may be cut early.
Your reputation as an event planner is on the line here and if something doesn’t get taken care of that will hurt your business. Just make sure that any extra staff LOOKS as if they are doing something important and not just standing around wasting your client’s money and then when you are sure you are covered, cut unnecessary staff.
Everybody needs a mood ring
Remember mood rings? It’s important to make sure the mood of event is where you want it to be. No matter what the subject of your event, you want your attendees to be comfortable, engaged, and calm and at ease, in other words a nice sea blue color.
Take the pulse of your attendees, an unofficial poll. Ask a few participants how things are going or if they need anything, get a feel if there are problems that need to be fixed. The response of just a few will usually reflect the sentiment of the whole.
Check in with catering for timing and meal placement, check on vendors and VIP movement and satisfaction. Get feedback from your staff on the ground. A simple “thumbs up” is enough to know that all is going well whereas a covert peace sign (as established in a pre-event meeting) indicates your staff member needs your attention. Know your event technology and all the bells and whistles you have available at your fingertips and use them to alleviate any unforeseen issues that may arise.
Don’t forget to tune in next week for the final part of our series!
Tracy Fuller-White has owned and operated an event production company for 30+ years and has done events nationally and internationally for fortune 100 and fortune 500 companies.
How you can successfully e-commute
I enjoy working from home. E-commuting out of my home has allowed me the flexibility to do a lot of things not otherwise possible if I were working a 9-5 job.
My favorite things about working from home include: shopping in the early afternoon when there aren’t any crowds, working in comfortable clothes as I sit at my desk, impromptu time spent with friends and family, and not having to face dreadful weather if I don’t have to (I’m talking about you winter vortex!).
All in all, working from home is a luxury but that doesn’t mean it should be taken advantage of. There are still deadlines to meet and my productivity is directly linked to the income I receive.
If you are new to working from home or are just looking for some tips to increase your productivity while working from home follow the steps below:
1) Create an office space
Photo by Aleksi Tappura
Just because you are working at home doesn’t mean that you should allow your work to spill over into various parts of the house. While it may be convenient to take your work in the kitchen during lunch or the bedroom when you want to relax but still get some things done, you don’t want to lose track of any important papers or documents.
Have a designated office space where you store everything and that other family members know not to touch. Even if your designated space is messy, at least you know where everything is located. So if you do find that some of your work has migrated throughout the house during the day, be sure to return it to this space by the end of the day.
2) Remove distractions
Photo by Hunter Langston
The ability of distractions to present themselves throughout the day is much more likely while working from home. Having a space that is away from televisions, animals that feel like play time, and laundry duties will help minimize the ability for distractions to arise. You don’t want to get sucked into a movie only to find you have a couple of hours to finish your task or project.
Find a well-lit room with a table/desk and comfortable chair – somewhere that you can get your ideas flowing. If you find yourself easily distracted by social media, there are several online sites that allow you to temporarily block access to social media sites in order for you to be more productive. Examples include http://getcoldturkey.com/ and http://anti-social.cc/
3) Balance your work and life schedules
Photo by Michael Coghlin
When family members come home from school, work, or travel, be sure that you have the ability to disengage yourself from your work. It isn’t fun for loved ones to be greeted in an off-handed manner as you type away at your latest work project.
Be sure that you know when they are coming home so that you can find a stopping point in order to greet them and ask them about their day as they should you. If you MUST get back to work while they are there, find time while they are watching a movie or otherwise engaged in something that doesn’t necessarily have to include you.
4) Network with like-minded individuals
Photo by Ashraful Kadir
Don’t let your social life suffer because you spend the day working at home. It’s easy to get in the routine of not leaving the house for week night outings or events because you are used to staying in during the day. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap!
One bonus that “office-life” has is the ability to socialize with co-workers throughout the day. Chatting online with friends can be distracting and time consuming when you are trying to work, unless the conversation is business-related.
Either way, we suggest finding networking opportunities in your community to get out and have conversations with like-minded individuals. Nothing is more exhilarating than swapping stories and ideas with someone that has similar interests as you.
5) Have a schedule
Just because you can decide your own hours, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a schedule that you follow. Allowing your hours and productivity level to be based on how you feel that day can be risky. There are some days none of us feel like going to work, however because you have the flexibility to do just that, doesn’t mean you should.
Scheduling requires allotting time to social media/email, tasks in order of their importance, and for breaks. Once you’ve got a schedule that works, stick to it! If you struggle with the monotony of strict schedules, then switch it up by spending different days on different tasks and some days with a mix of general tasks.
6) Set your goals
It is important that if you are working from home that you set some goals for yourself. These will help remind you of your purpose while working from home and keep you on track with getting specific tasks accomplished.
I recently found out about an amazing planner that aligns with your goals in a specific aspect of your life. The datebook called Passion Planner includes a weekly appointment calendar, journal, goal setting guide, to-do list, and gratitude log all in one mobile notebook.
If you would rather create something at home to display create a mind map with goals within specific time frames or construct a vision board to hang next to your desk. See my blog on vision boards here.
7) Stay active
Photo by David Marcu
One thing you have to be mindful of while working from home, is the amount of activity you have compared to other more-active career choices. If you are required to sit at home for eight hours straight in front of the computer, then make sure you get up and stretch your legs throughout the day!
Take an early morning, mid-afternoon, and evening walk or make a trip to the gym during a designated time. If you have a gym at home, do your exercise while watching your one of your favorite shows. Whatever you choose to do, just make sure you get your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes a day. If you’re healthy you’re able to be more productive and get paid more in the end.
8) Outsource time consuming responsibilities
If you find you can’t do it all yourself, then outsource. There is no shame in outsourcing for specific tasks that you aren’t phenomenal at or just don’t have time for. If social media isn’t your thing then hire out, same with blogging, budgeting, etc.
Weigh the costs and gains of outsourcing before you do. What took you hours to do yourself could take someone else ten minutes and you could use those hours to focus on outputting quality work that comes more easily to you.
9) Organize your things
Photo by Juhan Sonin
Although creative minds see disorganization as evidence of genius, it really never hurt anyone to maintain an organized office space. All of the time spent searching for a specific document, data drive, or CD with information you need RIGHT NOW can really add up.
When you add up the time searching for things over a week, month, or year – this is time you could have spent writing an award winning proposal (who knows). Organizing your desk helps you organize your thoughts and will pay off in the long run.
10) Seek out support from other telecommuters
Just like spending time with like-minded people in your industry, also reach out to other telecommuters. They can provide advice, ideas, and share the perils that they experience while working at home.
Bouncing ideas off one another will allow you to try out different techniques and find out what works best for you. If you’ve found any methods that work for you, feel free to share them with me. I am always looking for ways to improve!
What do you do to ensure success while working from home? I’d love to hear your tips!
What would Superman or Wonder Woman do if they were event planners? I can image a mild-mannered young woman dressed in a shapely suit, standing with a clipboard while she oversees all the attendees and happenings of the event. Suddenly, a call comes in from her sidekick and she rushes off to solve the problem at hand.
How does this SUPER event hero stay calm, cool and collected as she deflects bad sound systems, grumpy speakers and lost powerpoints for the breakout rooms?
We’ve come up with a list of ways for you to stay cool and save the day for your clients! Over the next three weeks we’ll progressively share our top fifteen tips for surviving an event and becoming the hero!
Pick a venue that works
When choosing an event venue, make sure you think about traffic flow. Are all the rooms on the same level? Do attendees have to travel a long distance between the General session, trade show and breakout rooms?
Keeping all of the event spaces close keeps your attendees close. If they have to travel up and down the elevator or from one venue to the next, you are likely to lose a few.
Dealing with stairs and elevators is also hard on you, as the event planner, to try to manage event spaces that have a lot of distance between them.
Make sure you have an event office close to the meetings that are going on.
Stay close to the venue
Make sure your hotel room is close to the venue and whenever possible, stay on property. There might be times you need to run down to the ballroom or meet with one of your VIPs or speakers on site the evening before the event starts or bright and early in the morning. Staying close will make it easier for you to do so.Make sure you aren’t driving while tired or after dark in a strange neighborhood.
Having your room on property will allow you to run to your room when you have a chance to freshen up or just escape for a few minutes.
Create your dream team
You will need all the eyes you can find for an event. Make sure you have introduced yourself and “made nice” with the venue staff. This includes the custodial staff, craft services, set up staff, sales and event staff, your tradeshow vendors, volunteers and your event staff. It takes a village to make an event happen. And remember every person you work with is as important as your VIPs and should be treated as such.
Dress for Success (and of course, work too)
We know you love those great shoes you just purchased and they look amazing with that pencil skirt, but leave the new shoes at home! Or save them for the dinner function where you get to sit down for a while.
We suggest you take shoes that will be comfortable for long days and many hours on your feet. We also HIGHLY suggest you bring a second pair. Switching out shoes midway through the day will keep your feet happy and you rely on them for many days in a row – be nice to them!
NEVER take your shoes off and expect to get them back on again. Switching pairs will do the same thing as taking off your shoes. Being barefooted is not acceptable in public places.
Wear clothing that will allow you to move easily and offer you the ability to bend, stretch, lift and look amazing. It’s a challenge but you will build your event clothing wardrobe fairly quickly.
Dress in layers and take a sweater. Facilities often wait to turn on the air conditioning or heating until the night before the event starts, you will want options during the event.
Preparing for event day
Before you turn in at the end of the day, make sure you have everything done for the start of the event. Check the General session room and breakout room/s to make sure they will be ready for your morning sessions, check with your event team and the venue team. Knowing everything is set and ready for the event will allow you to rest easy.
We even lay out our capes, super hero outfits and shoes to make sure we know exactly what we will be wearing in the morning and for the day. In fact, we go as far as hanging our credentials (name tags and tickets) on the hanger with our shirts so we make sure we have everything we need to jump into super hero gear for any early morning emergency that might arise. If we had a magic phone booth we could jump in and instantly be dressed, we would take that with us!
Be sure to tune in next week to see the next five tips to survive an event!
Tracy Fuller-White has owned and operated an event production company for 30+ years and has done events nationally and internationally for fortune 100 and fortune 500 companies.