And I'm back!

After some changes in my life that lowered this blog on the list of priorities, I am glad to have things sorted out so I can get back to posting.  I didn't abandon completely as I was able to get lost in my most recent copy of Biz Bash, so lots more ideas to share!

One of the recent events I came across was the kick off to Veuve Clicquot's promotional summer tour.  They took inspiration from celebrating the Cliquot Mail, a metal sleeve that is able to keep a bottle cool for up to two hours.  What inspired them was that this metal sleeve is shaped like a modern-day mailbox.

Some highlights from the party include:

• a station with different message note-cards for guests to keep or send to another attendee 
• waiters dressed to resemble postmen
• postal stations where guests could have their champagne flutes topped off
• P.O. box set up with small throwback inspired food bites 

And I think my favorite was the opportunity to send a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label to a friend by filling out a postcard and dropping it in a special teller booth. 

See pictures of the event here. 

I think what drew me to this event is that I am a sucker for anything nostalgic.  Although at the same time I feel a little sad considering hand written letters and mail to be nostalgic, I guess that's what happens when you grow up in the digital age.  

Longevity of Events Follow Up

It seems as though I'm not the only one who had been thinking about how to keep an annual event up to date. Received my most recent copy of Biz Bash (The Holiday Issue!!) and when I flipped to the Readers' Forum the question was "When is it time to update an annual event?"

Thought I would pull and share some of my favorite ideas that were included:

“Probably before you even think it needs tweaking.”

Amy Young, president, Destination Consultants, Grand Rapids, Michigan

“Before you start seeing drop-off in your multi-year attendee numbers. If you start losing them, it may be because they're bored.”

Brooke Murphy, manager of planning and administration, National Notary Association, Chatsworth, California

“There should always be something fresh and exciting added to an annual event. It's great to keep the things that worked really well in the past, but without creating a sort of newness each year, it leaves the event feeling stagnant and stale. We want to help repeat attendees and new attendees have a life-changing experience every time.” 

Blume Bauer, owner and C.E.O., Siren Song Productions, Los Angeles

Enhancing the Event Experience with Technology

Combining events and technology in a seamless way is a balancing act takes more consideration than is often given.  Events are all about bringing people together, technology can play a role in both bringing them in and in helping them to remember the experience.  However, events are all about the experience and if the only way people are viewing your event is through their phone they often miss out on what they are there to enjoy.

Selecting technology that helps to enhance that experience and connects people to each other while at your event is what will make it truly memorable.

Some particularly fantastic uses of technology I have come across, include:

1. A robot drawing guests' heartbeats.

2. An interactive wall at Target's Phillip Lim launch.

3. Microsoft's "Infinity Room" that brought data to life.

Feel free to share any interesting ideas you have seen!  (I am sure I will continue to add to this list as I come across more.)

Longevity of Events

One particular question that I have been considering relates to a past post I did about "Newism" and creating "Status Stories."  

In short the central theme is that people want to a) have new experiences and b) pretty much want to rub it in their friends face how awesome this experience was. 

The question I have been pondering that relates to this idea is: 

How do long standing, annual events continue to feel new and keep people coming back to create status stories? 

Take the recent rise of "extreme races" for example (i.e. Spartan Race, Mud Hero, Tough Mudder).  Will we reach a point in which it is no longer exciting to share such an experience and what are these events doing to ensure this won't happen? 

I hope to look into the histories of such events and read up on articles related to them later this week, but if you have happened to stumble across this post feel free to share with me what you feel helps annual events feel fresh and new.

Cheers! 

Another Topic to Introduce

Wanted to bring to light another area that I will be posting about over the coming months.  As I continue to take courses related to Event Coordination to supplement my hands on experience I am certain  I will have a number of posts commenting on the subject matter.

Any and all with related experiences or education are welcome to comment on these posts as I truly feel that with events there is often much up for debate as it is ever evolving with new technologies, ideas and protocols.

I look forward to taking my education out of the classroom and sharing it with anyone who should come across this blog, enjoy :).

#Hashtags

For my first foray into discussing events and technology I want to talk about hashtags.

hash·tag

ˈhaSHtag/

noun

1. (on social media sites such as Twitter) a word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify messages on a specific topic.

This list may grow and change but here are my DO's of using hashtags: 

DO make sure your hashtag is unique.  It is easy to take a moment to do a quick search to see if the hashtag you want to use is already linked with another event.  Not only does this ensure that when people search your hashtag that they are finding content only related to your event, but is prevents your event being linked with something unfavorable.  See my earlier post here to see some true hashtag disasters.   

DO engage with the people using them. It is important that you take the time to interact with your event attendees, making it clear that the hashtag will be recognized beyond an interaction count will help encourage their use.  A fantastic example of this is using the hashtag to create a live stream of tweets and pictures on event.  Another great idea was utilized by 3M where they had a balloon that filled with air with each tweet using their hashtag, the tweet that caused the balloon to pop won $500. See it here. 

DO make your hashtag make sense and easy to remember.  You don't want your attendees to have to go searching for your hashtag or they won't use it.  Creating a hashtag that has a direct and obvious link with your event will also help non-attendees in identifying what everyone is getting so excited about!

Let me know what some of your hastag DO's (or DON'Ts) are in the comments. 

Technology, Social Media and Events

Yes, that is a very broad title.  Which is why I am simply using this first post to introduce what will likely be a recurring topic to find its way into this blog.  With so many new technologies being brought forward, from the likes of social media and hashtags, to apps the help with guest check in and coordination, it seems there will always be a continues supply of new ways technology is being integrated in events.

As someone who loves efficiency this gets me very excited as there are so many opportunities to increase the effectiveness of how our time is spent.  On the other hand I will also be posting about the potential problems that can arise with not fully thinking through the use of technology or social media, as it really should be done well or not at all.

For one quick example of how things can go horrible wrong with someone as small as a hashtag check out these Hijacked Hashtags Gone Horribly Wrong.