Simply Mumtaz Welcomes Guest Blog by David Merrell, AOO Events

What We Do
By David Merrell

I have a confession. For the past 25 years, I’ve been living a lie. A blog is not a confessional, that’s for sure but I feel like this is important to say. It’s something that’s been almost impossible to tell friends and family. But I’m not the only one is this predicament. In fact, Joella of Simply Mumtaz is in this boat right beside me.

Now, before you get the wrong idea, let me tell you what I mean! The big secret that no event professional can really tell anyone is what we actually do for a living. Well, we can tell them, but the question is, will they understand it?

Oh sure, we try telling them we create temporary environments. That is only met with quizzical looks and requires an additional 10 minutes explaining that we are not architects. Saying that we totally transform spaces for one night makes them wonder if we have lost our sanity. And although people do understand when I say, “I design parties,” that just makes me feel so misunderstood!

But I’ve found a way for us to let people know what I do as owner and creative director of AOO Events. The answer is visual -- before and after photos. While these are on my web site and posted on my blog, www.designdawgs.blogspot.com, I am also supremely thankful that Apple invented the iphone so now I can also show friends and family what I do!

Here’s a little of what I show them. And I think you’ll see why, after looking at these photos, they finally GET it. Hallelujah! A ballroom at a hotel in Detroit the morning of a bar mitzvah. That same ballroom, now totally transformed into a very contemporary, lounge space and dance floor. We produced this event working with Star Trax (http://www.startrax.com)/ who has been branding high-profile social events in Detroit for years. For this event, the brand was 13/13 and the theme was hip-hop (read “bling”) to reflect the birthday boy’s musical passion. Sometimes you have to get very creative when budgets are cut. I was able to transform the main ballroom at the Marriott Grand Lakes with some age-old design tricks. Yes, this is the same ballroom about six hours later! Using a sheer light gray fabric to divide the room, we projected a break-up pattern in cobalt blue coloring and projected a one color gobo on top. With the drape used from floor to ceiling, this created a BIG effect. This raw space was transformed into a nightclub in 48 hours. Drama is as much an ingredient of our design recipe as props, lighting, fabric and furniture are. Here we brought lighting, draping and large set pieces that define the space. The event was for a 50th birthday celebration so here again, we branded the event, Club Glen, with lighting projections. Glen Frey performed and David Spade emceed the night. What an amazing night. During this year’s Super Bowl in Super Bowl, AOO Events worked with Pulse 220 to turn this empty room into art gallery for Gatorade’s new brand. The event was the launch of Gatorade’s new brand, “G.” We created an artist’s loft/lounge complete with an artist who created portraits of sports stars who would be visiting the lounge for media coverage. We put in a 12-foot brick wall and we installed a hardwood floor using dance floor from the rental company (everyone thought we were nuts but it came out beautifully). Wood panels on the wall, lounge furniture, and, of course, great lighting, were the final touches on a very artfully designed effect.

David Merrell is owner and creative director of AOO Events, http://www.aooevents.com/, an event design and production firm. Merrell and AOO are based in Los Angeles but travel the country and the world producing high-profile events. David is widely regarded within the special events industry as a leader in design and has been recognized as such with many event design awards from the Special Events Magazine Gala Awards (often called the “Oscars” of the events industry) and from International Special Events Society. And in 2007 he was named Designer of the Year by one of the industry’s top magazines, Event Solutions. In 2008, David began to explore his design inspiration in one of the first blogs in the event industry, http://www.designdawgs.blogspot.com/