Thursday, April 12, 2012

Crystal Eagle Awards at the Omni...

It was a pleasure working with Coro Southern California on their 37th annual Crystal Eagle Awards this year! It was held at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel and it featured a silent auction with over 80 items! Silent auction proceeds went to keep the organization fulfilling their mission. Coro is really an incredible organization that helps to create tomorrow's leaders. This year the honorees included Dennis Gilbert, Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Chicago Whitesox; Larry King, Television Anchor and Host, Author and Philanthropist; Martha Saucedo, Community Builder, AEG; and George Kieffer, LA Civic Leader, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. The event's Master of Ceremonies was L.A. City Council President, The Honorable Herb Wesson, Jr. Conan Nolan from NBC4 served as Moderator. Thank you to all of our sponsors, participants, and Congrats to our honorees! We look forward to next year's event - always striving to grow the event and bring additional exposure to such a wonderful organization! www.CoroLA.org

Master of Ceromonies, The Honorable Herb Wesson, Jr.

 Alex Lavelanet singing the National Anthem - AMAZING!
Our Honorees taking part in the panel discussion
Larry King with Coro President John Greenwood

Coro Staff Members - Tu-Han Phan & Patty Corry

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Who Ever Thought? Red in the Crystal Would Look So Good?

A new trend in annual fundraisers is to add an educational/professional development element to the event prior to the main event. This client did so in complete fashion. Seen below was such an interesting panel that the interactive discussion went over by 30 minutes but it was well worth it! 
Once we closed the workshop portion of the event we began into the reception... Announcing doors open was our Taiko Drummers. They are always fantastic! Since our client represents all Asian cultures it was really cool to highlight various cultures via entertainment throughout the evening.
This was the most interesting factor! We wanted to use red to celebrate the Asian culture, the organization's brand, but were very concerned with it looking too Chinese or not great in the Millennium Biltmore's famed Crystal Ballroom! It actually looked fantastic with the silver accents and white patterned lighting.We continued to brand the event on the Red drape with the organizations Leo stamp.
On a budget to keep with the red accents we only ended up renting red napkins. We used house linens and rented chiavaris. It looked great.

Seen below were the Gamelan Burat Wangi and our famed vertical banners were now in place too. We helped the client with producing three vertical banners "eco-friendly" that are made from cloth and bamboo cases that they can used over and over again. For this event alone, we used them as the stage backdrop for the education sessions, push them close together for the step & repeat photos upon arrival, and then moved them to the stage to finish up the look. The highlight though in this photo are the amazing dancers!
Another very nice place to spend money when on a budget to make the most impact when hosting an event is to have your board or staff members where corsages or boutonnieres. In this case below, we have two board members (Rich Drobnick & Thomas McLain) with honoree (Sidney Rittenberg) on stage for the award photo opp.

Friday, April 6, 2012

WTUI Conference in the City of Roses!

Mumtaz Marketing & Events was honored to produce the WTUI Annual Conference once again this year one of California's many prides, the Pasadena Convention Center! It was a great space, and all the users really enjoyed their classroom-like atmosphere for the conference. The four day conference included a large exhibit hall featuring vendors from all around. We must say... The folks in Pasadena were fabulous! Thanks to the complete on hand to help us produce another great year!

Every year we have one showcase event for all conference attendees and that is the Monday Night Reception and we had the wonderful challenge of converting the Convention Center's Conference Center into a "WTUI Cabaret"... We had to provide seating for 800+ plus enough space for buffets, bars, and attendee networking! As the sun went down the lighting got better and better! Lighting is always key in producing phenomenal events! Thanks to Jorge at J&M Entertainment and his team for throwing in the "kitchen sink" on a budget!

Hand-Carved Meat Station - Where's the Beef?
Martini Mashed Potatoes - LOL Not with this manly crowd. We just dished delish mashed potatoes onto plates... The martini glasses were for decor!

Our dessert station was definitely the biggest hit of the night! It featured over 8 different desserts and was the center of attention for the most of the night. It was also a biggest hit because there was an aerialist centered in the middle of the dessert table who provided amazing entertainment to our guests during the night, check it out below!



The board members of WTUI take a moment to pose for a board picture before the reception begins! Top Hats to Match the evening's theme and allowed them to stand out as the event's hosts. Plus, it also makes every man more handsome!
Special Thanks to the Whole Team! We are thrilled to be in San Diego in 2013!!!