“Time to face the music - when things go wrong!”
  By Lord Jason Scott

I was hiding in the toilet cubicle.
 
It’s fair to say that this music event which had been filmed for a major network had not gone to plan.  A slight miscalculation with the dry ice machine and the power sockets had meant the guests, among them a fair smattering of big name celebrities, had narrowly escaped being electrocuted on their way in. My event co-ordinator and I, who’d organised the event, had envisaged a dramatic entrance, where awestruck party-goers would drift down a black-out tunnel, lit only with the dimmest of low-level lighting and atmospheric dry ice rising up eerily from the ground. Instead , the dry ice machine had leaked in a gloopy puddle all over the floor, and the low-level lighting, which had all been plugged in through the same socket ( dangerously close to the rising puddle of water) had shorted, leaving the guests to pick their way gingerly through the murky, slightly damp-smelling darkness, down a partially-flooded passageway.

An eye-opener!

Where we went:

Warwickshire’s Stratford-upon-Avon, and Royal Leamington Spa. Otherwise known as Shakespeare’s Country, sitting prominently in the UK’s West Midlands region, Warwickshire is a second home-from-home for the Prestige Events team. From the Battle of Edgehill in the English Civil War via the Industrial Revolution, Warwickshire has always been ‘in the middle of it’, excusing the pun.

We could talk about the many event venues the region has to offer such as Edgbaston Cricket Ground, or the Ricoh Arena, but in the interests of your time-sensitivity we profile two very different venues that we road-tested: Mallory Court Hotel, and the RSC

“Euro Events hospitality ideas for January, February and March 2012”

Kick off the New Year with a great start by inviting your top clients, contacts or employees to some of these fantastic 2012 first quarter events. Each one will provide you with not only a fantastic opportunity to attend great events, but also to entertain those important business contacts.

Teambuilding & Corporate Fun Days:  A justified spend

Comment by Nicky Upton, Head of Corporate Events, Merlin Southern Parks

Since the recession budgets haven’t been what they were during the ‘golden years’ of the events industry. With cuts significantly reducing budgets organisers are increasingly asked to do more with less and in turn suppliers and venues are required to do the same. The economic climate has produced a shift in the needs of teambuilding events, no longer do organisers pick the desired package and turn up for it on the day. With low budgets organisers want value for money and to see measureable results: ROI. Adaptable strategically focused activities that are tailored to the specific needs of the company that will genuinely help employees improve in their day to day tasks are also a requirement.

Teambuilding and corporate family fun days are seen by many companies as an integral part of the business as some employees face pay freezes

There IS ONLY ONE EVENT INDUSTRY AWARD that showcases the X-factor

One minute you are COOL, the next minute you are not.

COOL is a matter of opinion. It is perhaps the greatest currency you can possess; whether you are running for President, or pitching for the next big event! It is what gives an events venue the position of strength when negotiating with an event organiser. The COOL Venues Awards, an entirely unique and defining accolade, were developed in 2007 by Wesley Mendy of Prestige Events magazine to recognise an unsung and largely influential element that emerges in the process of planning a corporate event – How exciting is the venue? Will the invitees RSVP? Will they turn up?

In the current economic climate, the pressure on an event organiser is even more apparent. The need for an event venue to gain the chance to position itself aside form it’s rivals has more emphasis than ever before.

Every corporate event organiser strives to ensure their next event is THE hot ticket. AND SO ONTO THE FINAL RESULTS....

Oh no, I’ve got to organise a dinner! How often has that exclamation been heard? Fear

not: it’s not as difficult as it’s sometimes cracked up to be.

First question. Does your event need to be private? If it’s a smaller party, especially of people who don’t know each other very well, might it be safer to find a venue which can accommodate a group of your size in its main dining room (perhaps in a semi-private

area or alcove)? Go to a ‘public’ venue, and  the buzz of the main dining room should help

you jump-start that ‘party’ atmosphere for your own event. Like a bonfire, the problem with

a party is to get it started.

Written by Simon T Bailey, author of Release Your Brilliance, and founder of The Brilliance Insitute.

As I look around the world, there is a gravitational pull to be average, common, just plain ole regular. This happens especially after you experience a redundancy for the first or second time. Sometimes you pretend that things will turn around. Well, open your eyes and deal with the reality that things will only get better when you get better. Simply put, go and be brilliant again.

Here is the reality, anyone and anything that has made an impact or left an undeniable imprint refused to be ordinary. The longer I live and the more I travel, I see men and women playing it safe and living beneath their potential. I observe people with unbelievable gifts, raw ability, and uncommon talents who settle for what life has given to them instead of striving for who they were meant to be.

Prior to your redundancy did you show up to your place of work to collect a check? However, if you ascribe to being brilliant again then in your next place of business show up to shift the conversation, shift market share, shift the thinking, and shift results. If you are not shifting how you do what you do, then you will be shifted. How do I know? It happened to me. Now is the moment and now is the time to stand up and SHIFT and be brilliant or be shifted! There is no room for average thinking, average living and average results.

Shift happens when the shifted decide to become the shifter! A shifter is a man, woman, or organization that is “IN IT TO WIN IT.” Anything less is common, unfulfilling and unrewarding. If you don’t love your job or business, then fire yourself. Get out of the way, there are a ton of people in the current job market waiting to take your place. They are hungry, desperate to add value, and make a significant contribution.

Some of you who are reading these words right now have “QUIT IN PLACE!” You are stuck in neutral, waiting for things to shift, but it won’t shift until you shift. Now, I challenge you to get unstuck by shaking the negative dust of limited thinking off of your shoulders. Go and be brilliant again. You will be fine. Here are some practical tips to go and be brilliant again:

1.     Be Boardroom-Ready!

My friend of twenty years called me nine months ago and said she was ready to go to another level professionally. There was a juicy managing director-level role at her company headquarters and she applied for it. As she prepared for the interview, we discussed how she was going to land this coveted role that over 100 people were applying for internally and externally. To win the role, she prepared a 10 slide PowerPoint presentation outlining her value in her current role, what she would do within the first 90 days in the new role, and highlighted her point of differentiation. Guess what? She got it. She told me “Simon, I went in with my boardroom-ready pumps (www.stuartweitzman.com), boardroom-ready suit (www.sjk.com) by St. John, and a plan to win.

 When do clients need that element of COOL in their events?

There’s always something cool, new and innovative in event design. Every producer wants to be cutting edge and every client wishes to wow their audience with creativity. 20 Years ago, COOL was a Caribbean themed party or a Western evening. Today this would really be the last resort unless you are in the social market and it’s the wishes of the client.

In 2011, COOL is all about being contemporary and simple. The trick for the event designer is to deliver the objectives without being overt or ostentatious in their design and planning –make it current and make it exciting without making it lavish.

Limitations on budgets have in some ways been positive of the event design industry. We all need to work harder and smarter to achieve that overall look. Budgets are not always reduced due to funding; often it is the perception of the customer that needs to be influenced through the event.

An event is always a medium for the client to deliver a message, and the channel of delivery is where the COOL come in. It is more difficult to make the environment understated and effective than opulent and glaring in the message.

Today’s COOL is all about subtlety….subdued lighting, subtle entertainment, elegant linens, clean lines to furnishings and simple, tasty cuisine are the current trends in today’s market.

Large, sit down dinners in traditional ‘table of 10’ is rapidly becoming outdated and being replaced with a ‘networking’ style of event where guests can mingle and dine in a more casual environment of food stations and casual seating. The buyer is realising that it’s not particularly effective to invite 500 people to an event, but only get to speak with 9 of them during dinner. The cost of delivering large programmes means that clients need to interface with as many of their guests as possible, and an informal setting allows them to achieve this more effectively.

The themed event is dead……COOL is simple, elegant, subtle and fresh.