Riding Naked: Part II

Here it is… my feelings over the last three days that lead up to the launch of Event Heroes! Boy what a rollercoaster ride it has been.

See the first four days of the Emotional Roller Coaster Ride

Day 3

A mixture of nausea and butterflies, my stomach won’t settle today. You know that feeling when you’re about to do something really exciting and your stomach seems to be doing flips while your mind loops in doubts and fears all at the same time?  That’s how I’m feeling right about now. Hope I can sleep tonight with only 3 days left until we expose ourselves to the world.

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Day 2

Ok, one day to go! – I’m fired up and calling everyone on our list to let them know we will be launching. We are watching Facebook posts and LinkedIn notifications and all the other social media outlets. Lots of work today to get things ready for tomorrow…. nerves are running high and butterflies abound.

Wow, what a day, we have really been running fast to get everything ready for the big day. One more check of Social media, links on the website and talking to friends and family to keep up the excitement. We are finally ready to go!

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Launch Day

2:30 AM – can’t sleep! All the doubt is coming back and I feel sick! – Hard to believe it’s finally here….now if I can just get a few more hours of sleep, that would be great. I just need to get just a few more winks!

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5:30 AM –My team will be online and watching the launch countdown clock and we can’t wait to see what happens.

Do-It-Yourself Theme Packages: Why You Need Them

If you’ve ever committed to throwing a themed party or often create theme parties as part of your job, you know that you can spend hours upon hours of time searching for the right décor elements, entertainment, food, and other intimate details to make the party a hit.

What if we told you that you could save yourself 30+ hours during the planning process by using just one DIY theme package created by Event Heroes?

What is a DIY Theme Package?

A DIY Theme Package by Event Heroes is a fully detailed instructional packet that allows you to pull off a high-quality event that WOWs your guests, attendees, and clients.

We’ve included how to engage your attendees from the moment they hear about the party (invites) until the end of the night (entertainment) and everything in between. See full details of what’s included here.

How will a DIY Theme Package improve my meetings, parties, and events?

Themes are an important element of any event. They help unify your message, create excitement before and during the event, and leave an impression on guests for months or years to come when done right. Check out our five favorite themes.

DIY Theme Packages make sure you don’t overlook any detail and that you stay consistent throughout your planning. The included instructions will walk you through what to set up where, what atmosphere to create including what guests will see, hear, and experience, and exactly what you’ll need to pull this off.

The supply list included in the package aligns perfectly with the instructions page to avoid any confusion. Details found in the instructions pages are listed in the supply list along with where to find each item, how much value it brings to the overall event, and a rough estimate of the cost for each item expressed in dollar signs.

Impact (star rating) and pricing estimates ($-$$$$) for each item will help you determine how to get the most bang for your buck and still pull off an event that WOWs and stays within your client’s budget!

The proposal included is available for you to present to your client or planning team. A theme proposal helps bring your vision to life and can inspire unexpected creativity as you put yourself in the shoes of those attending the party, event or meeting.

The proposal included is available for you to present to your client or planning team. A theme proposal helps bring your vision to life and can inspire unexpected creativity as you put yourself in the shoes of those attending the party, event or meeting.

So what are you waiting for? We’ve done all of the hard work for you!  All you have to do is take advantage of our of our DIY Theme Packages TODAY.

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Riding Naked on the Entrepreneur Roller Coaster

Three years ago, I had an idea. I stewed about it and during that first year, I was riddled with excitement and doubt. I asked myself was it even a good idea? Are people really looking for what I want to offer? Who am I to be trusted as the “go to” expert in this industry?

Now, if this was my first business venture, these thoughts and feelings I had would make sense. Anything new is scary as you enter the zone of the unknown. But I’d already established an event planning business that had grown to a 7-figure business over thirty years’ time. I wasn’t a newbie by any means, and yet a flood of doubt and fear washed over me when I decided to let my entrepreneur side out once again.

“Anything new is scary as you enter the zone of the unknown”

Here’s what no one tells you about being a successful creative entrepreneur: No matter how much success you’ve had, no matter how your efforts impact the industry, you never outgrow doubt or fear. You can be Donald Trump or Richard Branson and still have these same fears and doubts (but maybe not as visible to the naked eye).  These feelings are all just part of the roller coaster ride of someone determined to design their own path in business and in life.

Follow along as I share my journey of what it feels during the week leading up to launching my new business, Event Heroes.

Day 7

Seven days away from our Event Heroes website launch and I am a nervous wreck! We have worked 3 years on this project and it is now finally time for us to release it to the world. Ugh – talk about exposing yourself!

The one thing I know for sure is that creating a business and bringing it to the world is like birthing a baby!

We’ve grown it, coddled it, thought about it, and changed it based on others suggestions or books from “experts.” So today, I’m on the top of the roller coaster, waiting to crest and then free fall down into the unknown, full of hopes and aspirations, fears and concerns, but all the while, really excited about the ride.

I’m preparing for the big day by spending time resting and thinking positive thoughts. At least that’s what I’m trying to do…but then the doubts flood my mind.  I’m obsessing about all the ways we could improve the product or figure out how to make sure the clients understand how to use the product, even though our team has been over this a thousand times!

We’ve tested our offerings with a small group to make sure our clients’ needs are met.  And yet, I still question everything! I keep reminding myself this is all a normal part of the entrepreneur roller coaster ride.

Day 6

Is Event Heroes what my clients really need or want?  Did we do a good job of explaining the product? Does the website make sense? Will it be successful? Did I just spend the last three years consumed with an idea only to find it never goes anywhere? Will this venture completely bankrupt me? Oh my gosh, now I’ve talked myself into a headache.

Still so many things to do and I am overwhelmed trying to keep up with two businesses.  Sometimes a glass of wine sounds great but then I remember that I need to be as sober and as productive as possible for the next few days. Definitely spiraling down on the roller coaster!

Day 5

Do I really have to get out of bed this morning? I was awake all night and thought about our upcoming launch.  I stared at the ceiling and watched the shadows play on the wall and listened to the wind howl. I’ve played this thing out over and over 100 times and broke into a cold sweat a time or two. Okay, so maybe those were hot flashes, but either way, the launch is coming.

Finding a Business Coach

It’s hard to decide when to hire a business coach because there is no objective way to assess when it is time to hire one.   The other part of the equation is more often than not when it is time to hire one; you are too busy to do your homework to determine if it is a going to be a good fit.

This is a big decision.  Do not take it lightly.

This is because business coaches will help you:  focus, make more money, experience less stress, have better relationships with employees and loved ones, help you keep your sanity while your business expands,  give you peace of mind and help you learn to trust yourself to make the right decisions at every turn.

Who doesn’t want to experience all of that?

Key #1:  Find a business coach who is the right fit for you personally and professionally.

When you hire a business coach, it has been proven in case studies that you will get the best results when you like & respect your coach (Manchester, 2001).  In addition, it will help tremendously if they have the expertise in the area of development that you need or want to address.   In other words, you must be both objective and subjective when choosing who you want to hire as your business coach.

Key #2:    Timing is everything.

If you are experiencing any of the following, it is time to consider the bottom-line impact that hiring a coach will have on the following:

  • Overcoming burn-out for you and/or your employees
  • Overcoming the lack of growth (or worse decrease in revenue)
  • Learning how to effectively deal with rapid growth
  • Taking the time to effectively prepare and plan to intentionally grow your business.
  • Overcoming and ultimately avoiding low performance from staff members
  • Creating hierarchy and/or structure
  • Creating clear job descriptions
  • Creating a culture on purpose vs. by default
  • Creating a more effective sales process: branding, marketing, pitch, onboarding customers, management of customer relationship,  etc.

With that being said, it is equally important (if not more important) to assess whether you are coachable and willing to invest the necessary time in your development to get the results you seek.If not, do not throw money at your problem.It will be a waste.

Key #3:   Give it time!

The results you want to experience are going to come if you hired the right professional.  With that being said, they don’t have a magic wand.  If you expect magic, hire a magician NOT a coach.

Key #4:  Spending more money on coaching doesn’t equate to better or faster results.

This doesn’t mean that you are going to get to hire someone who is cheap either.   In order to make this make sense financially, you need to assess the financial impact that your developmental gaps will have on the bottom-line.  After you do this, logically decide how much you are willing to spend and then commit to spending it.

This is important because if you hire a coach, you need to commit to the relationship for at least 6 months.  If you are financially strapped due to hiring a coach, it can create the opposite of what you want to achieve.  This is not what you want!

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DIY Elegant Holiday Wreath

Snow has started to fly and the cold weather has arrived, that means it’s time for holiday decorating and company parties or as I like to think of it “Party time!”

We get a little excited this time of year when we can combine our event planning skills with our artistic abilities. It’s always fun to bring on our hot glue and glitter skills and put together some great table decorations for this year’s crop of holiday parties.

This year our primary holiday themes are all silver and white. For the perfect accent piece, we are creating holiday wreaths using all silver holiday bulbs of various sizes and textures.

Gather the following items:

  • Styrofoam wreath – I prefer 11.8” but you can use whatever size you prefer
  • Holiday ornaments of different sizes and textures
    • 2.625” or 6.7 cm
    • 1.50” or 3.86 cm
    • 1.12” or 2.80cm
  • Cool glue gun and lots of glue sticks
  • Wire (I just use the glue but it might help if you have some wire)
  • Wire cutters
  • Beaded garland
  • Any other accent pieces (ribbon, snowflakes, etc.)

Getting Started:

Now find a comfortable work space, pour yourself your favorite warm drink, and if you’re feeling festive put on some holiday tunes.

Once I have all of my items gathered, I start by gluing the larger ornaments first. Place these around the outside, gluing them next to each other. Be sure to hold the ornament in place for approximately five seconds until the glue holds on its own. There will be some gaps, but don’t worry your next layer will fill them in.

8 Holiday Cocktail Party Ideas

A list of popular cocktail party themes for your holiday celebrations

The holidays are QUICKLY approaching and if you are prepping last minute – well shame on you! However, with the following list of creative and fun cocktail party ideas you can easily plan a memorable party that will WOW everyone in attendance.

1) Winter wonderland – Decorate your party with crystals and use blue lighting to create an icy effect. Add snowflakes for additional winter ambiance. Have a hot chocolate or hot tottie bar to warm guests up. Doing a company event? Surprise guests with snow from a snow machine or bubbles.

2) Naughty or nice – This theme can be created using food and drinks that are “naughty” vs. “nice.” You can also decorate one side of the room in red and black and the other side in white. If you want to be a little riskier, ask guests to dress in celebrity naughty or nice costumes.

3) James bond – This is a black tie affair. Have guests wear suits and formal dresses. Décor should parallel a royal casino or upscale dinner party with martinis being served shaken, not stirred. Tell guests to watch their favorite Bond movie prior to attending to get in character. You can even rent a red carpet for the entrance to set the stage for the evening.

4) Fire & Ice – Use red and blue décor to signify fire and ice. Guests wear red, blue, or a touch of both. A strong fire in the fire place and an ice sculpture in the center of the food display will really set the two areas apart. If you don’t have a fireplace, faux fires are safe and inexpensive and can add a warm touch to any party.

5) Ugly sweater – This is a more laid back and fun theme. Guests wear the ugliest Christmas sweater they can find and take lots of awkward photos while wearing them. Adding family pets is always a great touch.

6) Festivus – For those frustrated with commercialism and the pressure of other December holidays, Festivus is a secular holiday that occurs on December 23rd made popular by Seinfeld. Celebrations are of grievances, feats of strength, the aluminum pole, and Festivus miracles. “Festivus for the rest of us!” – Frank Costanza

7) Break your resolutions early – Before your new year’s resolutions take full effect, have a food smorgasbord with your friends. Have a pie bakeoff, bring your favorite sweets, or set up a chocolate fondue party and pair each chocolate with a wine! This is our favorite theme!

8) White Christmas – To get you in the holiday spirit with the lack of snow on the ground, have a party decorated in all white. Request your guests to wear all white too. It might be a good idea to stay away from red wines for the night. Use white leather furniture or white drape to really carry the theme through! Need help with the details? Buy this theme in our theme library.

Now that you have the theme of your cocktail party picked out, the rest of the planning elements will fall into place more easily. Make sure you choose foods, favors, entertainment, and décor that aligns with whichever theme suits your celebration best!

What is your favorite holiday cocktail party theme that you’ve created or attended before?

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Tradeshow Tips: Please Don’t Visit My Booth

Have you been to a tradeshow where the people in the booths act as if they are bored and really don’t want to talk to anyone? They only put the effort in to bring business cards and you get the feeling it was too much work to even do just that?

Or maybe there was a booth you were afraid to walk up to because they were already engaged with another attendee. You may have also hesitated because you didn’t want to interrupt their conversation with their booth mate or their social media on their phone.

Don’t be these tradeshow vendors! Use these negative tradeshow attendee experiences as a precautionary lesson on what not to do and practice the following event hero tips to be an inviting tradeshow booth host:

1) Location, location, location: you know this!

There is always the decision and race to get the right location for your booth. There are many opinions on where the best location is, but I like center of the room at the end of an aisle. This way I can stretch out a bit and I usually buy two booths to be one of the bigger players in the room.I also like to set up an activity in my booth that will attract visitors.

2) Get the LOOK!

Make sure your booth is attractive so you can attention from attendees. Use bright colors as well as some fun or attractive graphics. Be bold in your booth design!

3) Make your message easy to read and understand

Create some intrigue, make the signage POP with cutouts or big bold letters. AVOID small type or hard to read graphics. Keep the typeface for signage clean and easy to read from a distance.

4) Make your booth approachable

Have you seen the booths where the vendor stands behind the table like they are afraid you will approach them…don’t be that guy! Stand in front of the tables. Move the tables back into the booth and encourage people to come talk to you. Remove the chairs, you don’t need them. If you want chairs, bring in high bar stools, these are much more sociable.

5) Who’s hosting your booth?

Make sure your booth host is warm and friendly and will be able to engage the people that stop by. Not all of the hosts in the booth need to be well versed in your product, but they need to be able to attract those passing by. Having one or two people who know the product inside and out and a few that are outgoing and can bring in the people will work just fine.

Consider using costumed characters, models, or host and hostess dressed to convey your brand. For example, at a dog food booth for a pet expo, we had a guy dressed in a dog costume handing out free samples. Make sure the character is in alignment with your brand.

6) Offer show specials

You’ve put in the time and money to have a booth, consider what you want to accomplish with your booth. Do you want immediate sales? Offer a killer price for your product if they buy on the spot or a coupon at a lesser discount if they buy in the next 10 days.

7) Have a contest or promotions

Everyone loves to win something and that includes tradeshow attendees. If you want them to stop by and put their name in (for your later use) make sure what you are giving away is something worthwhile.

8) Treats and Alcohol

Read the fine print on your vendor contract. Make sure the facility allows outside food and drinks to be offered and that the show allows it as well. You don’t want to bring all the goodies only to be shut down on show day. The show promoter or the facility may have rules you need to abide by so really, read the fine print.

9) Offer your giveaway but make sure it is of value

Most tradeshow attendees have done this before and have seen all the items that are available. Yes, you should have a giveaway but make it something they will use and won’t just end up in the trash!

10) Put Your Social Media to Use

Work your social media connections to share where you’re going to be located and what your booth number is. Connect with as many of the show attendees you can find to introduce yourself and start communicating before the show. It’s always fun to meet someone in person after interacting with them over social media.

11) Print promotional items

Keeping with the traditional items we get at the tradeshow can be a bit mundane but they are still a giveaway. Get creative for the show and produce something that won’t get tossed on the way to the car.

I love the cute stress balls that I get at tradeshows. Especially if they are in the shape of something that relates to the company. They actually are a great massage for your hands.

Pens with your logo on them work well because people are always in need of a writing utensil and it keeps you top of mind. Other options include bags to hold all the other stuff they will get, thumb and USB drives (with this you could add a small advertisement that would play when they plugged in and opened the thumb drive), cups and mugs, badge holders, notebooks, folders and binders.

Think outside the box on your giveaways.

12) Follow up with booth visitors

The attendees that stopped by your booth and took their time to visit with you are hot leads, make sure you take the time to follow up with them. There are many ways to complete follow-up that can be set up in advance for larger shows.

Choose to do personalized emails to the attendees at the show if there weren’t to many to follow up with. Don’t let those business cards fall to the wayside. They stopped for a reason to visit with you, now go make the sale.

The cost of time and money spent on a trade show are all part of your marketing budget. It should be well thought out and well delivered. It’s all a waste of time if you don’t follow up or follow through.  If you find yourself in way over your head, enlist the help of an intern, a part time employee, or someone else on your staff to handle the follow up.

In conclusion, make sure your time and money are well spent at the trade show that you’ve picked to be an exhibitor. Check it out in advance, find out who they are inviting, how they are publicizing the event and how many they expect to show up based on past experiences. Connect with past vendors for their opinion of the show and discover the pros and cons for yourself before signing the contract.

On final note: Read the fine print on the contract to make sure what you are being told you will receive in exchange for your time and money lines up with what the contract outlines.

Happy exhibiting!

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Brainstorming: the most fun you will have planning an event

You need to get your creative juices flowing to plan your next event, but you just can’t think of a good theme and time is running out. You need to get down to the planning phase quickly! What to do? What to do?

Oh, yes, you forgot that little step of Brainstorming!   We told you it was important!  Who has time to brainstorm you may ask? You do!  Unless you are happy repeating the same event over and over again, you can skip this step. But, if you take pride in producing unique, customized events that fit your client’s individual needs, brainstorming is an extremely important step. It can make the difference between a good event and a great event that your attendees are talking about for years!

So what are the best ways to get a brainstorming session started?  We’ve created a list of our top 10 ways that we like to hold our sessions.  The key ideas we always keep in mind, no matter how or where we hold our sessions are:  have fun and no idea is off limits!

Brainstorming Tips

1. Create a place that is comfortable – get rid of the office chairs and desks, those are for the serious thinking and planning!

Imagine walking into a room filled with beanbags in bright colors for seating arrangements. This will take your brainstorming to a whole new level. It’s all about getting out of the BOX and in this instance about creating a creative space.

Have a pajama party. Ask guests to wear their PJ’s (with strict restrictions) to the planning session. Just being comfortable can release the creative thinking gene.

2. Include your whole team, not just the creative /planning staff

Include the drivers, set dressers, assistants, secretaries, etc – everyone has a unique viewpoint that will add value to your session

You’ll find that by having the same people to brainstorm with over and over will end up in the same ideas resurfacing. Adding in a member to your team that doesn’t think like the rest of the group will give you different perspectives immediately. You never know who has that next WOW idea and it might not be the creatives!

3. Establish the RULE – no idea is a bad idea

Create a judgement free zone for your session. No one has a bad idea, everyone takes a turn and everyone has input. Set up the ground rules in the beginning of the session and stick to them.

Decide who will be in charge as a group, this takes away any of the animosity that can occur in groups where the leader is appointed in advance. This is not a competition or a hierarchy like the office. It’s a free flowing, save and fun environment.

4. Have a large area to record ideas so everyone can easily read and add their own comments

Cover the walls in brown butcher paper, have plenty of writing tools available and encourage picture drawing to get the creative juices flowing.

Allow everyone a moment in the front of the room writing on the wall or create spaces for each individual and let them draw or write in their space at any time during the session. They might need the space to write a thought down when the ideas start popping! – Brainstorming can be kind of like popcorn…Once the first kernel starts to pop the whole bag explodes!

5. Everyone’s ideas are equal – nobody should feel shy or reserved

Give everyone free reign to express their ideas. Brainstorming is about free associating and ideas that caused laughter should not be exploited in the office. You are building comradery and teamwork while gaining all sorts of ideas. Make sure this is one of the rules you set up in the beginning.

6. Collect and save all ideas – you never know when something mentioned in one brainstorming session will spark an idea for another event

OK, so the crazy idea of flying the CEO in on an airplane cable didn’t work for this event but it might work for another. Keeping all those ideas in a folder of ideas will help you create this event and many more in the future.

7. NEVER criticize anyone’s ideas – this will lead to self-censorship which squashes creativity

Be respectful of other’s ideas, you never know when one silly idea might lead to a brilliant invention.

8. Take turns being the leader – giving others the chance to lead empowers and expands thinking

Make sure when doing this that you only have one leader at a time. Otherwise, you could have conflicting power interests.

Changing up leaders will open up different areas of conversation.

9. Work in teams and mix teams up.  Have the owner of the company team up with the part-time driver to come up with a theme.  You might be surprised what they create together!

Have team competitions for the craziest ideas, the most fun ideas and the ‘are you kidding me’ Ideas. You might be surprised what they create together!

10. HAVE FUN!  Brainstorming is the least stressful and the most fun part of event planning!

The most important item is to have fun. More ideas come out of relaxed conversation, laughing and giggles, harebrained ideas and drawings on napkins than any other way of communication. Have fun, build relationships with others and great ideas will flow that will translate into great events for your attendees!

Finally!

We find brainstorming one of the most fun elements of our job. Just letting our hair down for a few hours, laughing at ourselves and our ideas and usually coming up with some ideas to WOW our audience is what it’s all about for us.

We love finding those unique ways to thrill our audience and this is one of the ways we find works best for our team. Need some quick inspiration? Check out five of our favorite themes to get you started. 

What techniques do you use to stir up creative juices? We’d love to know!

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Tradeshow Tips: Better Serving Your Vendors

Planning and managing a tradeshow can be both exciting and overwhelming. There are a lot of details to provide prior to, during, and after the event. One of the most important aspects is managing your vendors. Because they’re taking their time and resources to be there, you want to be sure to manage their expectations and provide them with accurate information throughout.

Our Vendor Experience

We’ve been vendors at numerous tradeshows throughout the years and wanted to share one of our latest experiences as an example of what not to do and help you learn how to better serve your vendors.

We recently attended a tradeshow as exhibitors in order to meet and network with event and meeting planners in a different part of the state.

It was a one-day show that promised to bring in as many as 500 event and meeting planners. In order to extend our reach and visibility in the community we took the plunge and paid the booth fee, hired labor for travel and hosting the booth. On top of this, we created new graphics for a fresh look and produced flyers and additional collateral to furnish our booth. Preparation wasn’t cheap – we put in several thousand dollars to make this happen as vendors.

One cost saver was that the event was from 3-7 PM and didn’t require an overnight stay. We arrived and setup in four hours, had a pleasant check-in experience, and were able to grab lunch at the local café before the show began.

Less Than Expected 

After doors opened, there was a VERY light crowd. We thought attendance would increase, but boy were we wrong. The expected crowd of 500 turned into a potential 100 and by the end we only saw about 25 meeting planners.

To say we were disappointed in the turnout is an understatement. To say the show was well organized, well, I’m just not going there. This was especially surprising with a room filled of vendors with extensive meeting and event planning experience.

Taking Advantage of Our Situation

To turn this negative experience into a positive one, we spent our time visiting with other vendors. We were able to set future appointments with them and have in depth conversations with the few meeting planners we were able to find in the slim group that attended.

Vendors are the core of tradeshows, so it’s important that you understand how to best serve them in order to ensure the success of current and future tradeshows. Learn our top tips for vendor management and appreciation from our most recent tradeshow experience below.

Here are a few ways tradeshow organizers can better serve their vendors:

1) Offer a vendor hospitality room

Although we weren’t there for a long amount of time, a place to put our coats and grab a water and small snack would have been nice. Any time you have people standing on a hard floor for a long amount of time, it’s nice to have a place for them to get away. Even for five minutes.

2) Underpromise and over deliver

Gather friends and friends of friends that are in the demographics you promised and make sure you deliver on the promises of attendees made. Trade shows are expensive ventures for your vendors so make sure you deliver the crowd.

3) Pay special attention to noise levels

Keep music and presentations to a level where the attendees and vendors can have a conversation. We could not hear the people that attended our booth and they couldn’t hear us over the very loud bands that had been booked to play during the event.

4) Make sure your deliverables are outlined and clear

I was told by the tradeshow intern that I would get a list of attendees. In this group the attendees this probably didn’t make that much of a difference, as they turned out not to be my audience. However, there was one person whose business card I didn’t get that I would have really liked to communicate with later. I was later told by the organizer that no list would be delivered. I understand that several of the other vendors were expecting a list as well. This should be clearly outlined for both the vendors and the attendees.

5) Offer incentives to help pull in attendees

For the companies and meeting and event planners in this area, an educational series or discussion might have made the difference deciding to attend. Tapping into the speakers’ or performers’ social media followers could have also increased the opportunity to reach more of the audience and incentivizing them to attend.

6) Don’t forget signage and/or mapping

Make sure there is a banner for each booth to hang on the drape at the back of the booth. If the vendor has their own signage, this is a waste of money but if they don’t, this would have certainly helped to identify the vendors. In this case, those were not provided and several vendors didn’t have any signage to identify them.

We know it’s a lot of work to put on a tradeshow, we know that there are a bazillion things to manage, but keep in mind that your vendors have paid you money to attend and are expecting what you promised in return. They too, have taken a risk of time and money to be there and it can be quite costly for them. Make sure you deliver!

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Themes We Love: Corporate Meetings & Events

Every meeting or event you plan has a purpose and a reason for being held. Having a theme helps to relay the message of the event to the attendees, helps you focus on the elements you need for a successful meeting and helps you control what you do with the meetings. Need some inspiration? Learn how we brainstorm themes.

Whether you plan events for corporations or small businesses, these 5 event themes are sure to be a huge hit with both your client and their guests:

1. Charting a New Course

Best used when an organization is changing directions or launching a new product. Charting a new course can be water, compass or map theme.

2. Mission Possible

This is a pretty obvious theme and contains a lot of fun ideas to incorporate.

Your VIPs enter in black suits, hats and brief cases. They appear on stage and can even repel from the ceiling or make other Tom Cruise-esque entrances. This theme is great for launching a new product or to encourage team work in reaching a grand company goal!

3. The Power of One

This is a longtime favorite. Use this theme when you want to encourage individuality, need to empower your attendees or move them to action. Think of ways to express how one person can make a difference or how an individual can be a hero.

4. Picture the Possibilities

This theme can be used for a variety of purposes. From creating new ideas, releasing new products to changing how a company functions or for producing an award show, this theme is perfect for brainstorming new products or for revised company procedures.

5. Everyday Heroes

Of course we love this one because it has our favorite word in it! This is a great theme for recognizing those who have gone above and beyond in their positions or careers. Whether they have created exceptional outcomes, provided valuable service to their community, or advanced the company or organization in a big way, this is a great theme to use to acknowledge excellence within a company or organization. Think of the pink Cadillac award given to Mary Kay makeup distributors when they achieve a certain number of sales.

These are 5 of our favorites! Share what your favorite theme is or what theme you’d like to see.

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