Events: Got Lights

Event lighting is so important.  It sets the tone if your indoors or outdoors.  I just came across this lighting company - Space Lighting and I'm loving all their lighted fixtures.  They can be used as décor, seating and cocktail rounds.  Form and function = awesome. 

What's so great about this Smart & Green collection?  For the lighted fixture, you have over 160,000 colors to choose from.  Think of the options.  They are cordless.  They work off of rechargeable batteries that last 12 hours.  They are eco-friendly.  Oh - and they are waterproof, so yes, they can be placed in water.

Below is just a small sampling of their inventory.  Be sure to check out their website.

Can't you picture this element at your next event.  Talk about impact!

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Event: An Advisory Dinner

If you follow me on instagram or facebook, you would know that we recently finished up a program in Washington DC.  The events were a tradeshow and an advisory panel dinner with some key policy stakeholders in the higher education arena.

ROAR events managed everything for the client.  Tradeshow logistics and booth management, swag for both events and the advisory panel dinner.

Here are some details of the dinner:

When our guests arrived at the hotel, a gift was waiting for them in their room.  A note from the CEO, a mini branded fan and additional information about the event.  

Why the branded fan?  It get's so hot in the DC area during the summer and we were taking the guests out of the hotel.  The fans were a fun way to keep them cool.

So many times when you go to a tradeshow, you don't venture out of the area.  We took the group over to Old Town Alexandria in Virginia.  We needed to get the group over to Alexandria quickly, so we chartered a water taxi just for the group.  To add to the experience, we created a Rafter branded flags for the boat.

The event was at the Hotel Monaco in Old Town.  Great little hotel.  Service was superb and would highly recommend them.  We worked with the chef to create a custom menu that all guest would enjoy featuring seasonal items.

When guests arrived, they were whisked outside to the courtyard for a short reception and then brought into the room for dinner.  We didn't want the room to feel overdone with decor so we kept everything very monochromatic, except for the pop of red flowers on the table.  

Each place setting had a custom menu and a program for the evening.

One of my favorite elements we created was the Step and Repeat for the stage.  It just popped in the room. 

When the evening concluded, everyone was bussed back to the Gaylord National.  The event was a huge success.  I think it would be fun to use the step and repeat at a party we're doing for them later in the year.  I predict a little red carpet action.

Events: This or That Fruit Displays

Happy Friday everyone! It's been a crazy past couple of weeks.  I'm looking forward to a little downtime this weekend.

We just finished up an event on Wednesday at the Santa Clara Marriott.  We've done this event for 3 years in a row at the same location.  Each year, I challenge the catering staff as well as our team to come up with unique ideas for the menus.  The group arrives just before lunch and we've done box lunches in the past.  We didn't want to do them this time around so we decided on Street Tacos and Burritos and a market style fruit display.  

I didn't want your basic whole fruit display - boring!  It needed to have spark.  I wanted people to look at it and feel like they were in a market selecting their fruit.  I mean really, take a look at the picture below.  Would you want this? or THAT?

The chef was so excited to be working on these menus.  We didn't want the norm, we wanted unique (did you see yesterday's post?).  Everyone was talking about the food and how great it was and I really believe it was because the chef and his team were excited about getting out of the typical hotel catering box and their love of food really shined through.

The hotel knocked it out of the park.  I couldn't have been happier with the way it turned out.  What do you think?

Encouragement: The Norm or Uniqueness

Doing the norm or being unique - that is the question.  Another way to look at it - being safe or taking a risk.  We just finished an event where we made a point of NOT doing the norm.  We were challenged with the same location for the 3rd year in a row and we couldn't do what we "normally" do.  We had to be different, unique and reinvent.  I'm not going to lie, I was nervous - I wanted my plan to go off without a hitch.  But you know what?  It worked and it made such a difference.  

If you do what everyone else does, you aren't being unique and what makes you - you.  Just because it's been done and it worked before doesn't mean to do it exactly the same way.  Time to get out of your box rediscover your uniqueness.

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Events: Simple Flower Arrangements

How many of you are familiar with Joyus?  It's a shopping website, but they have some really great videos about styling.  I came across this one about simple flower arrangements that anyone can do.

When styling a tables for an event, flowers can get really expensive.  In the video below, Kelley shows how to make some simple arrangements that won't break the bank.  My personal favorite vase is the $18 geometric vase.  This one is great for adding height to any table.