Happy 4th of July from Simply Mumtaz Events!

Happy 4th of July from Simply Mumtaz Events, Inc.! We hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend and celebrate our freedoms! Here is to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!

Photo Credit: jColman

Guest Blogger: Matt Hourihan from the Pasadena Convention Center

Hi everyone! We are so excited to present our next Guest Blogger, Mr. Matt Hourihan from the Pasadena Convention Center... We've had the pleasure of getting to know Matt for the last two years and he's an amazing guy! Absolutely knows his stuff. It is always a pleasure to work with someone that you enjoy their company and they are on top of their game! If you are looking to book an event that isn't the usual Westside, Hollywood, or Downtown - visit Pasadena! Matt talks about it all...

Matt Hourihan has been with the Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) since 2002. As senior sales manager he represents the LEED Gold Certified Pasadena Convention Center and the hotels of Pasadena. Before we dive into gorgeous Pasadena, Matt can be contacted at (800) 307-7977 or via email mhourihan@visitpasadena.com Pasadena is nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, just 11 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Nearby airports include Los Angeles International, Bob Hope/Burbank, and Ontario. The dynamic city features 3 distinct shopping/entertainment districts, 2,500 hotel rooms, world-renowned museums, 500 restaurants, golf, spa, theaters, and gardens. The Pasadena CVB offers complimentary services to meeting planners, tour operators, and visitors.Pasadena is known as a leading convention and meeting destination. The expanded Pasadena Convention Center was recently awarded LEED Gold Certificaiton from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it one of the greenest convention centers in North America. The state-of-the-art facility offers 55, 000 square feet of exhibit space (expandable to 80,000 square feet), a 25,000-square-foot ballroom, 29 breakout rooms, and the renowned 3,000-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium.With its sophisticated cultural allure, pedestrian-friendly and mild climate. Pasadena resembles a European city. Visitors can walk from the convention center to 1,200 hotel rooms and Old Pasadena, a historic 22-block entertainment area filled with 200 national brand retailers, exclusive boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, and clubs. As the birthplace of Julia Child, Pasadena was simply destined to be a foodie's paradise. With 500 restaurants, Pasadena is more than equipped to delight the food-savvy crowd. Pasadena's renowned restraurants and noted architecture make the perfect combination for culinary walking tours coordinated by Melting Pot Tours. Come experience the charming history, architecture, and folklore of Old Pasadena while feasting upon culinary delights from neighborhood eateries. http://www.meltingpottours.com/ With 14 museums and 11 performing arts organizations, Pasadena is alive with culture. See masterpieces by Van Gogh, Picasso and Rembrandt at the Norton Simon Museum. Explore 150 acres of gardens at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. Other treasures include an original Gutenberg Bible, the famous "Pinkie" and "The Blue Boy" paintings and more. With 16 historical districts packed into 23 square miles, Pasadena has a wealth of incredible architecture to discover. Many of the city's museums and historic sites are ideal for off-site events. Two of the more popular historic buildings are the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and Castle Green. The grand dame of the Pasadena Convention Center complex is the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Built in 1931, the historic 3,000-seat theatre is one of the most revered performance halls in the nation. The Civic has played host to Broadway musicals, world-class ballet, symphony orchestras and celebrity speakers, as well as the Prime Time Emmy Awards. The opulent Gold Room seats 200 for a banquet.Located two blocks from the convention center and built in 1898 as an annex to the Hotel Green, Castle Green features an open-cage elevator, fireplaces, hand-carved wood work, and marble staircase. To make exploring Pasadena easier, visitors can download the free GoPasadena smartphone application at the iTunes App Store or Android market now. Get detailed information on the city's museums, shopping and entertainment areas, hotels, gardens, movie theatres, events, performing arts organizations, popular filming locations, colleges and universities, architectural tours, and much more.

Last Week's BizBash and HSMAI Affordable Meetings Conferences - Update SME Style... Top 5 Take Homes

Hey all! Last week we, your Simply Mumtaz team, had the opportunity to attend both the BizBash Expo and HSMAI Affordable Meetings Conference in Pasadena and Long Beach. Below you will see highlights from both Jennifer Minzey, Event Manger and Jenny Anderson, Events Assistant. Plus, their Top 5 Take Homes!

Jenny Anderson:

As a first time attendee and aspiring planner, I was amazed at BizBash's Expo by how much there was to see and learn! I really enjoyed the different types of chairs, couches, tables, and light fixtures that were displayed throughout the main stage.

There was so much new technology being used on the main stage, I particularly liked the I-tiles that were displayed behind the stage.

I loved this layered table! I thought it was a super creative way to incorporate a theme or message of any event for all attendees to see. Walking around the expo floor was so exciting! I was astounded at how many different vendors there were. One of my favorites was the world's fastest etch-a-sketch artist. He drew this picture of us, watching him work was fascinating; he is so talented!Another part of the expo floor that I really enjoyed looking at was the tabletop decorating contest put on by ISES-LA. The theme "Midsummer Night's Dream". Here are some of the entries, very creative!!
I also gained a lot from the educational sessions I attended as well! Here are my top 5 take-homes:

1. Make "green" visible. Simple steps can make a huge difference. Just by placing recycling bins around the event space you can reduce the amount of waste made.

2. Spread your knowledge. Huge impacts can be made in the industry purely by sharing what you already know. I heard many stories about vendors changing the way they operate because of something they learned from planning one event!

3. Stay local. I learned that there are many benefits of using local farmers. Not only does the food travel less (which reduces carbon emission and allows for fresher product!) but some local farmers are also willing to take the waste from an event and compost it!

4. Use social media. These sites are a great way to spread the word about the types of events you are putting on as well as a way to create a company brand for future clients to get to know as well.

5. Keep up with trends. Knowing what is going on in the event industry is important in order to generate new and exciting ideas for clients!

Jennifer Minzey:

It was once again great to attend this year's Biz Bash Expo at their new home, the Pasadena Convention Center. It was great to be in a city I absolutely adore. Here are my top 5 take aways from Biz Bash:

1. Designing: I was one of the few who woke up super early to be at the Design Lab at 8am, with Eddie Zarastian of Tic- Tock Couture Florals, and I had a great time watching him design a table top in a flurry! He was informative and always entertaining! One piece that I took away from him, was always think outside the box, we no longer can afford not to think outside of the box. How true!

2. Food Trends: Who doesn't love talking about food! Hilary Harris made all of our mouths water when talking about the new yummy food trends. I can't wait to try my mini pies and gelato floats! I definitely am looking forward to using at least one of those ideas at an event!

3. Rain Plan: Do you have one? Precision Weather.com, a paid service with professional meteorologists that can track the weather for you right down to your location!

4. Pantone App: Such a cool app! Take a pic of a photo and it will turn it into the closest pantone color. Love it! Pantone.com

5. Be Courageous! It takes courage to do something new. Not everyone can do what we do and be fantastic at it. This is going to be my mantra for the rest of the year. Let's see how courageous you can be!

Jenny Anderson:

The HSMAI Affordable Meetings conference in Long Beach was very enlightening. I had the chance to learn tons about the meeting planning side of the industry, something that I am not as familiar with!

The Expo floor was filled with many exciting booths and vendors, like the Las Vegas visitors bureau which was visible from everywhere on the floor! The raffle had some great prizes, including an Ipad2 which unfortunately, and much to my dismay, I did not win. I learned so much at the sessions that I attended that I can barely narrow it down to five things! But here are my top 5 take homes:

1. Technology is changing the face of events. There are so many ways to introduce technology into an event. The amount of involvement can range from a virtual conference to hybrid events (which include both in person and virtual components) to merely posting the presentation material online. The possibilities are endless!

2. Know your audience. Despite the fact that there are many ways to share event information know which way your audience will respond best!

3. Connect. Even though nothing can replace face to face networking, being able to continue relationships you have created at a conference or a meeting using social media is very beneficial! There are websites that allow attendees to find each other on these sites before and after the event.

4. Work with the chef. Don't be afraid to ask the chef to work with your budget. Sometimes it is even easier for them to create the menu knowing what budget you have as opposed to suggesting certain dishes.

5. Being healthy doesn't go out of style. Even though there are always up and coming trends in the food and beverage industry it is always important to serve a healthy option!

Jennifer Minzey:

For the second year in a row, it was great to be at the HSMAI Affordable Meetings in Long Beach. It was great to re-connect with some friends from the San Diego Convention Center and meet new ones from the Phoenix CVB, the San Diego CVB and the Albuquerque CVB. Here are my Top 5 Take Aways:

1. QR Codes.... These codes can be used as a marketing piece for your events. Your attendee can click on the code and it will download the information straight to their phone about the event or your company!

2. Mobile devices....They are becoming more and more popular at meetings, make sure your conference attendees can pull up their conference agendas on their mobile, so you can be more green and not print as many!

3. Ask Outrageously! Wouldn't you rather take risk than not at all? Whether it is for your meetings or for your professional career, take a risk, cause you never know what can happen!

4. Hybrid Meetings.....It is all about inclusion and the future for meetings. They are not the enemy, look at it as a new way to bring in more attendees that might not necessarily be able to attend the meeting. Charge for access to the meeting, in order to protect the value of the face to face meeting.

5. Conference Publishers....they are professional "summarizers" of meetings. Think of them as the cliff notes for the meetings. They will turn a 2 hour meeting into just 2 pages! What a concept.

Annual Awards Dinner at the Millennium Biltmore on a Budget and Gorgeous!

On June 7th our team transformed the Crystal Ballroom at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel for the Asia Society's Annual Awards Dinner. Even on an extreme budget we were able to create a gorgeous event. Many non-profit organizations across the nation are facing the same question - how do we create the same quality event on a smaller budget. Catering costs haven't come down and clients still want more... As a planner it is our job to be creative and help the client pull a fabulous event! Below we showcase a few items of the elements we focused on to create a gorgeous event on an extreme budget. The ballroom was decked out in yellows and oranges, the colors associated with the non-profit organization, and the beautiful Asian inspired centerpieces were created by Doyle at My Flower Guy. We knew we had little in the budget for "fancy" linens so we paid close attention to lighting and threw patterns across the tables to create warmth and texture. It is also important to leverage your relationships with your vendor partners to pull rabbits out of a hat! To close the reception, guests were alerted to the ballroom doors opening with a Dhol drummer leading the way... What other way than to have drums announce a change in pace - in celebrating the organization - Asia Society - we used two different types of drums - an Indian Dhol Drummer and Japanese Taiko Drummers. For those stragglers that wanted to linger in the reception and not find their way into the main event space, we "politely" moved them along when the Japanese Taiko drummers began. It was actually great because as people started to find their seats we could hear the drummers, but it was not overpowering. They also set the stage for the rest of the program which included a panel presentation on the Economic Outlook of Asia.
We branded the event using their "Leo" as an accent through out the event from the chocolate chips on everyone's dessert to almost all event signage and gobos! It was an easy way to tie all of the elements together. A lot of bang for the buck!We were thrilled to see Billy Zane supporting the event and it's cause. Joella and Jennifer got a quick moment to take a shot with him!Thanks to Jorge of J & M Entertainment Event Production (pictured above), Chivari Chair Rentals, Luminaire images, and all of our team members who collaborated to make this such a successful event!

We love our Interns! They Report In... Thank You Jenny & Jessalyn

Our Simply Mumtaz interns report in...

Jessalyn Ishigo, Simply Mumtaz' Intern
It has been a whirlwind 5 months as the Simply Mumtaz intern! I have thoroughly appreciated, embraced, and enjoyed every minute of this fabulous experience, from travelling to Palm Springs for the Western Turbine Users Conference to watching amazing venues such as the Millennium Biltmore Hotel and the Natural History Museum go from grand to fabulous. Seeing how Joella and her team put together one successful event after another has been invaluable to me, and I have learned so much about this industry.

Not only am I grateful for the indispensable lessons, but also the strong, positive women I learned from. Working for the Simply Mumtaz team has been in every way everything I could have hoped for: educational, entertaining, exciting. I genuinely loved every opportunity I was given to learn and participate.

I am truly inspired to set my goals beyond what I had previously thought possible in the event planning industry, and hope that I continue to honor the positive paragon that Simply Mumtaz represents wherever I go.

Jenny Anderson, Simply Mumtaz' Intern
The past few months I have spent working for Simply Mumtaz has been filled with lots of learning and laughter. I have had a fantastic time working with Joella and Jennifer and am happy to be included as part of their team!

I have always been passionate about event planning and am thankful that I am learning about the industry from such successful entrepreneurs. I work in the office on Mondays and have had the pleasure of working at the Coro Crystal Eagle Awards Gala and the Treasures of Los Angeles event. I have also attended a variety of ISES Los Angeles events including "The Cost of Going Green" luncheon. My time here has introduced me to a variety of wonderful event venues and vendors and has allowed me to meet many other industry professionals. I am so grateful to Joella and the rest of the Simply Mumtaz staff for providing me with such great learning experiences during my time as an intern.

Watching Joella and Jennifer at work is inspiring! They are both so talented and passionate about what they do, and I am appreciative for the opportunity to learn from both of them.