Category: Event Planning

Things That Annoy Your Attendees During Online Event Registration

Posted on by Emee Pumarega
gif via Popkey

I just saw a tweet about a really interesting conference coming up on the East Coast. Relevant speakers, education credits, a great registration fee, a compelling location. However, I’m stuck, just stuck, right in the middle of the registration process, trying to find out more. My pain is your gain, however, as I walk you through the things that are completely annoying me about this event registration page.

1. When is it?

The date is in 9-pt type in a light grey, against white background. I’m squinting. Come on guys, your target audience is meeting professionals and many of us are over 40 and starting to lose our eyesight. PLEASE MAKE THE DATE BIG, and put it first so we even know whether or not we can attend.

2. No link to hotel information

The hotel looks really nice! There is a huge embedded Google map showing the location. However there is no reference to a group rate for the conference, nor a link to the hotel, nor a group code. Nothing. I can’t fly across the country to your event and not knowing if I can stay at the convention hotel. PLEASE MAKE THE LINK TO THE HQ HOTEL BIG. And clickable.

3. Sponsors are listed, but no links to their websites

Look at all these sponsors! Some of the top players in my industry. But if I put my finger on the logo (yes, I’m on mobile, just like 73% of the world’s population) nothing happens. What? The logo should take me to more information about this great company, so I can learn about what they do and offer. You’re not giving your sponsors full value, and you’re doing a disservice to attendees, if you don’t link out to their information.

Please, for the love of your attendees, and so you don’t lose us during this process, take care of the basics! (Note: I did not end up registering for the conference. Oh well.)

 

{ Portland Wedding Venues } Planner’s Roundup – 5 sites that allow outside catering

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

For so many couples, the food is the THE most important part of the wedding celebration. I often hear from them: "The food HAS to be good"…"We like the Portland food scene and want to integrate it into our wedding"…"We want to give our guests a taste of Portland and the Pacific Northwest". Often, they already have a caterer in mind when they start their venue search, and are challenged when they keep running into venues that have strict exclusive lists.

That got me to thinking. What Portland wedding and event venues allow outside catering? Here are just a few. Know any others? Please share in the comments below!

The Red Rose Ballroom – We've recently done several weddings at this very sweet space on NE Alberta St with great results. This vintage 1920's ballroom can hold up to 200 guests at round tables and features gorgeous finished hardwood floors to dance the night away, a stage for your DJ or band, a built-in bar, and a sound system. There's even a mezzanine level for guests to use during cocktails or just for relaxing and watching the party.

Red-rose-ballroom-4

The Eliot Center – The Eliot Center is the "fellowship hall" aspect of the downtown First Unitarian Church. Not only are they able to seat up to 160 in their conference center for a reception, the adjoining Historic Eliot Chapel can seat up to 250 in a beautiful, elegant chapel setting for a wedding ceremony. They allow self-catering, outside caterers, and alcohol service in accordance with their policies.

Eliot-center-wedding-david-barss

Multnomah Arts Center – Located in SW Portland just a few minutes from downtown, the MAC is a Portland Parks and Recreation community center venue with a large auditorium and stage for indoor wedding ceremonies that can be changed over to a reception during a cocktail hour. Mingle areas include a dance studio and an outdoor plaza, which can also be used for ceremonies. All rental rooms, including the auditorium stage, and bathrooms are ADA-accessible and air-conditioned. In addition, most spaces have free Wi-Fi access.

Multnomah-arts-center-wedding-venue

The Glenn and Viola Walters Arts and Cultural Center is near and dear to our hearts, as one of our favorite recent weddings just took place there. The site features a large auditorium for ceremony and reception, downstairs classrooms to use as changing areas, a ground-floor lobby and an upstairs art gallery where guests can mingle during a room changeover. The kitchen facility is well-appointed and convenient for self-catering or your own caterer. The outdoor plaza can also be used for ceremonies.

Portland-wedding-planner-walters-arts-center

The Laurelhurst Club – A 100-year-old property adjoining Laurelhurst park in SE Portland, this venue features an historic ballroom, mezzanine bar, kitchen facilities, bride's and grooms rooms, and outdoor ceremony lawn.

Outdoor-Ceremony-laurelhurst

NW Events & Environments – By far the largest open catering venue we have seen, NW Events & Environments can accommodate 650 in a banquet setting and over 1000 if using multiple rooms in a reception-style flow. They do not allow outside alcohol, and kitchen facilities may have limitations.

Main-ballroom-large-wedding-venue

Thanks for reading – if you found this post about Portland wedding and event venues helpful, you might also like:

Also if you found this helpful, please Like, Share, Comment, Plus or do whatever you do! Happy Monday!

originally posted December 2013, updated January 25, 2015

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Delta Innovation Class to TED – Is Social Seating Coming to an Airline Near You?

Posted on by Emee Pumarega
airplane interior
Is social seating coming to an airline near you? Photo: Suhyeon Chun

Event planners have to fly a lot for their jobs: off-site meetings, destination weddings, continuing education, site selection… the list goes on and on.

Delta and LinkedIn recently partnered to make flying a bit more social, according to this post on FastCoCreate:

The serendipitous meeting on a flight is the stuff of urban legend.
We’ve all met someone who has a story about a marriage, business deal,
career move, or even just an inspiring conversation that began with a
random seat assignment.

Just in time for TED 2014, Delta Airlines has teamed with LinkedIn to make the whole lucky flight
partner legend a bit more official with a new initiative called Innovation Class.

Created by agency Wieden+Kennedy New York, the campaign is offering
customers who are LinkedIn members the opportunity to meet and fly with
select industry leaders on a designated Delta flight. The first winner
was CEO of Patten Studio James Patten who won a seat next to Pebble
Technology CEO Eric Migicovsky on a flight from Salt Lake City to
Vancouver for TED, and now stars in a brand video of their airborne
encounter.

This got me to thinking about Ticketmaster’s built-in social seating function; is social seating coming to your flights in the near future? What do you think of airline social seating — would it be creepy or cool to connect your LinkedIn account when you purchase a plane ticket, and select your seat based on the possibility of striking up a “serendipitous” conversation? What do you think about social seating in general, especially seating software apps like SocialTables that let planners use social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn to seat guests?

What is a wedding kick-off consultation?

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

What is a wedding kick-off consultation? Sometimes the terms that are bounced around in the wedding planning process can be confusing.

In our {Wedding Planning Definitions} series, I’ll examine some different terms and products that come up often in discussions of wedding planning.

Today’s definition is:

“kick-off consultation”.

Image ID: A wedding planner with an open laptop discusses wedding planning with a bride seated across a coffee table. What is a wedding kick-off consultation?

This is a program for clients who would like assistance from a wedding planner in the early stages of their engagement, but perhaps have not committed fully to using a planner for full services. The “kick-off consult” usually includes a design component, where the planner talks with you about your overall vision for the wedding in everything from colors and sounds to the food and drink, all the way to what the attendants will be wearing.  You can ask questions about the pros and cons of different sites, and also get ideas for sites you may not have thought of on your own.  Budget will be discussed, and vendor matches will be suggested. You should also get a wedding planning checklist with a list of to-do items for wedding planning and the dates the tasks should be completed.

The wedding couple will leave this meeting armed with a great deal of information to make sound, educated decisions for the initial wedding planning process.  Time involvement varies from planner to planner, and is usually around 90 minutes to 2 hours, often with an email follow-up included. There is usually a flat or hourly fee for this meeting.

So now you know what is a wedding kick-off consultation! If you are having a hard time getting your wedding planning process off the ground (perhaps you are stuck without a date or venue and getting stressed), a one-time, “kick-off” consult could be just the thing you need.

A version of this blog post appeared on The Portland Wedding Coordinator on May 9, 2009.

Photo: Oliver M. P. Miller

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Event Design Series – Day 5: Theme { Sponsored Post }

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Continuing our discussion of event design (and please, make it a discussion by commenting)…

More about our Event Design Series here at Day 1, and where the questions came from

Day 5: Theme: Why does theme matter in special events?

Dozens of volunteers came together for this SE Portland gala and auction and raised over $75,000 for the school foundation. The theme was “Put A Bird On It”.

I think theme matters because I want guests to be comfortable, and it’s hard to be comfortable if you don’t understand your environment. I don’t want a guest to receive an invitation that sets one type of expectation, register on a website with yet another theme or design, and then arrive at the event where the room is one formality level, but the food service is a different style, and so on. An organized, cohesive theme makes people feel comfortable and immerses them more completely in the experience you’re trying to give them.

A theme helps us organize the environment and the experiences surrounding the event.

Do you have to have a theme? If by theme, you mean  “Circus”, “Casino Night”, or “Denim and Diamonds”, I think the answer is no. Certainly these highly defined party themes can work, depending on your event, but I don’t think they are necessary. One trend I enjoy is the use of one-word themes that, while allowing the planner to style the event, are open for interpretation — for example, “Revolution” , “Ignite” or “Transcend”. It also depends on your group. One successful theme we did recently was for a SE Portland school auction. Portlandia is still a party theme touchstone, and this group decided on “Put a Bird On It” for their theme. You can imagine that this had endless applications.

Have you used a theme to pull an event together recently? How did it go? Please feel free to share in the comments. Don’t forget to tweet, +1, or share on Facebook if you found this interesting and helpful.

Today’s Portland Event Planner blog post is sponsored by the LA Shop, offering many trade show and expo items at discounted prices.

Portland Trade Show Conference Expo Materials

Get 10% Off sitewide when you shop at TheLAShop.com. Valid until December 2013.

Event Design Series: Day 4 – Budget

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Continuing our discussion of event design (and please, make it a discussion by commenting)…

More about our Event Design Series here at Day 1, and where the questions came from

Day 4: Budget: What tips do you have for a client that has a very small budget but wants a big impact?

Inexpensive table centerpiece of glitter paper, shadowbox frame, and candles
Materials available at most craft stores for around $15USD. Design concept by EJP Events.

I will try not to write a novel here, although it’s very tempting. Budget is always a concern, even for so-called “big budget” events – no one wants waste or to go over. Here are a few thoughts:

1. Manage your and your guests’ expectations. Remember that your target budget needs to reflect real life. For example, whatever your target event budget is, take about half of that for food and drinks and set your style/formality level from there. So a $30/per person event has a roughly $15/per person meal (including drinks and service!), so keep it casual!

2. Focus your efforts. If there’s no budget for an item like decor or party favors, remove it from the program rather than trying to do it halfway. If you design what you do have carefully, attendees often won’t notice what you didn’t include.

2. Cut your guest list. The number one element that affects the budget is the scale. Each additional guest means an additional chair, spot a table, place setting, invitation, print suite, meal or food, drinks, and rental items. Also – carefully manage your invitations and RSVPs so you don’t purchase for guests who don’t show up. You will get fewer guests than you expect more often than not.

3. If you are doing any event functions in-house or DIY in order to save money, start early. There’s nothing more morale-killing at an organization than giving a job like registration/nametags, decor, or setup to your employees (or, in the case of a wedding/social event, to your relatives and friends) and leaving things until the last minute. Your hoped-for “big impact” will wither and die as people sense the stress of your DIY staff or volunteers.

4. Choose a venue wisely. For example, if there’s no budget for decor, avoid sites with little built-in appeal that cry out for flowers or lighting. And if a speaker is an important component of the event, look for a venue with a great sound system included in the rental (and test it!).

5. Support “lean” events with customer service. If you are having to cut back on food or decor, chances are these are less noticeable if your guests are treated well and with personal service from the time they register to the time the exit the event.

Have a tip on event budgets you’d like to share? Please leave a comment below!