MUMTAZ @ TSE 2013 & SEARCH Foundation in Chicago

Yet another fantastic TSE show this year! The world’s largest tradeshow and conference for event professionals took place on January 15-18 in The Windy City bringing together event professionals from all over the globe. What a great place to learn about the latest trends! The conference program was outstanding as well as all the social activities for the conference, definitely a fantastic networking opportunity for everyone! There is nothing like being at a conference with great friends and business colleagues. TSE is a great place to not only catch up but also create new professional relationships that thrive into long-term personal and business relationships.

The view from our and our colleagues hotel rooms were amazing! Love Downtown Chi-Town!

Um, yeah - For those of you that know what this means... LOL!

So, on opening night of the conference we got off the buses to a very cool and unique space outside the City and had to take a freight elevator up... It was awesome - the elevator was its own party featuring a DJ! Awesome idea! It was a great initial impression!

Jenn and Joella in the elevator on the way up enjoying the beats!

So, Joella sits on the SEARCH Foundation board and Thursday night was all about SEARCH! Special shout out to Ben at Diamond Event Group! He was our technical producer and did a wonderful job. As part of fundraising for SEARCH we ask all of our vendors to donate their services... It's such an incredible thing that our event showcasers donate so much of their time, money, product, and energy in helping the organizations! Thank You!

A long time and huge supporting of the industry and SEARCH - Mr. Lenny Talarico!

If you are ever interested - please email Joella at joella@mumtazmarketing.com to donate items to the SEARCH Silent Auction. It helps us raise a lot of money to donate back to industry colleagues in times of crisis. 

Special Shout out goes to Mr. Andrew Larris as well for keeping it all on point... He did a fantastic job serving as our Master of Ceremonies. Then we got to play at bit with Catch the Moment's Green Screen Photo Booth! Love our strategic partner - the one and only and Maui's own... Mr. Frank Robinson! Shaka brah!

The following day we headed to the Masters Brunch... Very cool event and we got to sit with new - well not so new friend - Mr. Rick Jobe! We love him... The Presidential theme came together very nicely! 

 

 

You had to sneak away and go to the SEARS Tower - What an incredible view... Plus you have to walk out on the edge... At first it's like - UM, will this glass hold?

Finally, a special shout out to Audrey Gordon for helping us thru the events and serving as the TSE Ambassador! LOVE! Until next year - Let's see what Tennessee will hold???

ISES LA's: Speed Pitching...

Hey everyone... I am becoming a regular now. It's Minzey reporting in for ISES LA. As the VP of Programs & Education, I was able to produce another education based event,  ISES LA’s Speed Pitching, last week at the Luxe Hotel on Sunset.  The real idea behind this education session came straight from The Special Event Conference Speed Pitching education session. I figured that people who didn’t make it out to Florida for TSE this year, could still have some part of TSE here in Los Angeles!   I was right!  We landed up selling out the room and everyone really enjoyed themselves. 

I was lucky enough to have Andrea Michaels, Extraordinary Events, to agree to be the Presenter for this education session.  She brought on Greg Christy, BriteIdeas, Inc., Liese Gardner, Event Solutions, Cheryl Fish, Someone’s in theKitchen, Greg Jenkins, Bravo Productions, Lisa Hurley, Special Events Magazine, Ian Seeberg, a Creative Director and Writer and Ruth Moyte, Red Dandelion Creative to judge the Speed Pitching. 

I was part of one of the winning tables and we were able to present our 2 minute speed pitch to the rest of the group.  One of our first time attendees, Ned Shapiro, At Any Event, said of his first time at an ISES LA event, “What a great introduction to a great organization for a First Timer like me. I'll be back again at Lawry's.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself! 

Hope to see you at our next event on March 28^th at Lawry’s where we are featuring John Klymshyn, The Art of Living: Connecting Your Life's Work to Work You Do Every Day"

REPORT: 2012 The Special Event Show Conference (TSE)

Hey everybody! Minzey reporting in...

My trip out to Florida for The Special Event was nothing short of FANTASTIC! I had a great time meeting with colleagues from all over the world and seeing familiar faces that I get to see once a year!

My trip started this year with ISES Leadership Meetings, where I felt energized and inspired to bring home tools for both my job here at Mumtaz Marketing & Events and back to my ISES LA Board and my Programs Committee.

The highlight of the conference has always been the wedding gallery and the wedding lunch. This year wasn’t any different. My favorite wedding gallery was none other than Youngsong Martin’s of Wildflower Linen. Her design of “The Seasons” were impeccable! My favorite tabletop was the “Spring” Twilight inspired table.  It was absolutely gorgeous! 

The wedding lunch this year, was actually a Wedding Dinner and was a presentation of the design behind this massive space of the size of an airplane hangar!  It was great to see how much effort was had to put it all together. Check out these amazing photos!

Here are some tips from The Special Event Education:

·       Pay your interns!  You will get a more productive intern and they will take pride in their work.   They are creative and you can mold them into you!   

·      Don’t judge a book by its cover.  Finding the right person for the job is hard in our industry, you never know what might walk through your door! 

The relationships that you build at TSE, can carry you through for the next 10-20 years. You never know when you might need.  You might have to call up someone in London, Chicago or Canada.  So get to know your industry colleagues The Special Event and throughout the Special Events industry, cause you never know when they will need your help or vice-versa.

We also had the opportunity to play hookie for an afternoon and went to see the Manatees! So, here's one saying Hi!

Simply Mumtaz Events Welcomes Guest Blogger, Evan Carbotti from Perfect Surroundings, Inc.

I would like to introduce Evan Carbotti, our guest blogger from Perfect Surroundings, Inc. I first met Evan and the rest of the Perfect Surroundings team this past January, at The Special Event Conference in Phoenix. I was inspired by the two sessions that Evan and company presented: the first on using colors and textures for designing your event and the second on mixing cultural designs within your event. I hope that I can bring you via this blog post some the inspiration they've give me. Enjoy!

Jennifer

As the third partner of Perfect Surroundings, Evan works to develop innovative event design concepts in addition to marketing activities. Evan has also been published in several industry magazines, as well as self-publishing his first book. A portion of the proceeds of his book go to the SEARCH Foundation, of which he recently finished a 2 year term on the PR Committee. A co-founder of Spero Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit, Evan has gathered contacts and established relationships by working alongside numerous special events industry partners producing amazing events that have raised tens of thousands of dollars for local children in need. When I first started, I thought I was pretty hip to it all, but I quickly realized ideas are not constant and will always be inspired from other ideas. True originality is hard to come by and needs to be refined and carefully thought out. It is my pleasure to share some design tips and concepts that we use every day at our events.
1) We often describe many of our events as “residential.” We love to design comfortable environments, warm and familiar for our guests. Thematic transformations certainly have their time and place, but can sometimes come across as “gimmicky.” Recreating an atmosphere such as one found in a boutique-style hotel, plays a key role in many of the event landscapes we create. Events aren’t necessarily just about fantasy, but are often about bringing the reality of some amazing or non-existing place to life. 2) Attention to details and scaling is always a key element: flower arrangements, existing fixtures, furnishings, tables, stages and of course the event space itself. Beautiful elements and designs are wasted when the scales are off. The use of proper scale and complimentary design elements will offer a complete and unified look to your events, even if they are not terribly expensive or intricate. 3) We love the idea of designing with “found objects.” We utilize different elements we find ourselves surrounded by every day. We find these things bring life and soul to an event, whether they are unique vases or vessels, antique chairs, custom pillows/throws, candlesticks, driftwood, reclaimed wood, or broken tiles. Using such elements helps keep events fresh and original with a great sense of personality and style. 4) Try using local artists and craftsmen: painters, potters, glass blowers, seamstresses, carpenters, and sculptors. They can be creative resources full of ideas and skills helping to bring your visions to life. Just recently we have had custom built acrylic and wooden bars made, glass vases, votives and events favors custom blown, pillows sewn, and the walls of a permanent installation hand painted with amazing detail--all by locals excited for the opportunity to be part of memorable events. 5) For many of our recent events, we have used natural herbs, potted plants, perennial fruits, tailored boxwood, and other succulents in place of more traditional floral displays. Combinations of these elements bring a vibrancy and warmth to a table, dramatic display, or cocktail setting. These kind of solutions can also prove to be very cost-effective, as such floral and foliage is often less expensive (depending on your location), and are great substitutions easily made and put together in a pinch. Thank you for allowing me to share some of our ideas at Perfect Surroundings. We sincerely hope you find our design tips useful, and wish you all the best throughout all of your future creative endeavors!

TSE - New Orleans - Photo Update / HOPE FOR HAITI

Hey everybody! We hope this post finds you well!

First and Foremost - Please help the efforts in Haiti by donating what you can. Text GIVE to 50555 and $10 US will be added to your next mobile bill or visit http://www.hopeforhaitinow.org/. It's an amazing thing to see the world come together to help a fellow human being. Help bring hope to the people.

On that note, here's to hope that 2010 will be a year of change and prosperity for business and personal persuits. The Special Event Conference this year was help in New Orleans. It was wonderful that our conference was able to bring much needed tourist dollars into the community. I highly recommend visiting the area soon. The overwhelming response from locals were - come back! They were only operating at 50 - 60% of what they were before Katrina.

Please see below some photos of our time on the trade show floor and also of the Table Top Competition. If you were'nt able to make it out. Hopefully, these photos bring you inspiration when you are designing your next event and table top.

Also, thank you to those Conference Attendees that were able to attend Simply Mumtaz' President Joella Hopkins presentations - The Event Planner's 5 Years in Business and Association Special Events & Meetings.

We look forward to hearing from you. How did you like TSE or how have you contributed to the efforts to help Haiti?