Bono is Coming to Your Birthday Party

“It’s a Beautiful Day” and Bono is coming to your birthday party or your gala or your corporate reception.  I bet your event plans might change.  One of the planets most famous rockstars…”I think famous and rockstar are redundant,” but how is that going to change the focus of your party.

Would you go to the local VFW Hall or would you find the hippest night club?

• What would the atmosphere be like?
• What kinds of food and drink would you serve?
• Who would be on the guest list?
• What kind of lighting, decoration or entertainment would you contract?

Notice, these are all questions you might ask your client any way.  I find this to be a fun way to shift my thinking in regards to event theming and production.  It is very easy to get tunnel vision and forget to look at events from a whole new angle.  This technique has another benefit.  It is attendee or guest focused versus planner or host focused.  It is easy to forget that most events are for the benefit or enjoyment of the attendee.

Here are a few primers to get you thinking.

• The Pope is coming to your Bar/Bat Mitzvah
• Peyton Manning is coming to your wifes baby shower
• Dennis Rodman is coming to your first communion
• Kim Kardashian is coming to your wedding
• Rush Limbaugh is coming to Thanksgiving Dinner
• Sarah Palin is coming to your pig roast
• Marylin Manson is attending your fundraiser
• Tiger Woods is attending your bachelor party
• Al Roker is coming to your 25th anniversary party
• President Obama is a guest at your retirement party
• Bill Gates is attending your shareholder meeting

Next time you are stuck in a rut planning your next event theme invite one of these folks.

Happy Birthday!

Image Credit: Copyright World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org)
swiss-image.ch /Photo by Remy Steinegger

Cheers – The Secret to Meeting Success

The theme song from the famous American Sitcom “Cheers” is a mini lesson in how to create memorable meetings.  Take a peak at the lyrics below and then I will dissect them as they relate to a successful meeting.

Cheers Lyrics:

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo

Making your way in the world today…. is tough and first impressions make a difference.  Did you make it easy to register, did you provide directions, reminders for the meeting?  What can you do to make attending a meeting easier?

Taking a break from your worries…people like to know what to expect.  What time can you arrive for registration, will coffee be served, who is attending, what is the attire, what can you tell me about the meeting that might alleviate any worries?

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name….one of the biggest fears about attending a meeting is will I know anyone at the meeting.  Even extroverts like to mingle with people they know. It is human nature.  You can make someone comfortable with event signage as they arrive, a greeter and name tags.  Another step you can take is introductions and or facilitated networking.  The reasons we host in person meetings in the first place is for the personal connection.  The more you can facilitate that connection the better your meeting will be perceived.

You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same….is the content relevant?  We are no longer in the information age. We are in the “Over Information Age” and the more you can scale back your message the better people can hear.  With thousands of marketing messages a day we all are looking for a group or meeting that speaks to our particular “troubles.”

Although there are many other logistical factors for planning your meeting using the Lyrics from Cheers as a guide you might find a new energy for your events.

Cheers!

Pecha Kucha Over Easy Presenter Line Up Confirmed

We have a diverse line up of presentations prepared in the Pecha Kucha 20×20 presentation format presented by Cincinnati’s top social mediaexperts as well nonprofit/business visionaries.

Thank you to our sponsors The Mets Center, Prestige AV & Creative Services and “Do You PK?”, for making this event possible.

Agenda:

7:15am Registration & Networking

Continental Breakfast

7:45 Program Begins

Introductions followed by Pecha Kucha Presentations

9:00 Event Concludes

Directions:

The Mets Center Link

Presenter Line Up:

Brian Monahan, Prestige AV & Creative Services – Meeting Point Cincinnati Founder
Silly Meeting Industry Inventions

Jim Jung, Prestige AV & Creative & Second Story Arts Center
Vision for Arts Center

Daniel Johnson Jr., New Media Cincinnati Founder & Howigotmyjob.com
Insights from How I Got My Job Interviews

Randy Simes, Owner & Managing Editor UrbanCincy.com
UrbanCincy.com & Mainstream Media Discussion

June Izzi-Bailey & Keith Maupin, Fallen Hero Foundation & The Yellow Ribbon Center
Vision for The Fallen Hero Foundation Museum

Event Page Link

Obama Thanks AV Team

“Thank You’s” are always an interesting part of working in the often thankless event industry.  Over the years I have received my biggest “Thank You’s” for my simplest work and “Not a Mention” for work short of a miracle.

Of course, there is the old adage “your payment is your thank you,” which is not far from the truth in this economy but here is a once in a lifetime  Thank You from President (Elect at time) Obama.

I love the reference to the “Dreaded Breakfast Meeting” at the end of his speech.  I hope you enjoy this one.

Disregard – Paypal Payment Page

Dear MPC Email & Feed Subscribers,

I am sorry for any confusion related to a PayPal payment you may have received by email or feed reader update.

As long as the world is turning and spinning, we’re gonna be dizzy and we’re gonna make mistakes.
– Mel Brooks

NO, transaction of any kind has been made on your Paypal account or credit card.  Please disregard.

To make it up to you, if you are interested in attending the “Pecha Kucha Over Easy!” event related to my mistake, I will cover your admission to the event.

Just send and email (by December 15th) to me at meetingpointcincinnati at gmail.com  with “Dizzy Discount” in the subject and I will add you to the attendee list.

Here is the link for the event if you need more information:   http://www.meetingpointcincinnati.com/pecha-kucha-over-easy
Thanks for your interest in MPC.

Brian Monahan
Founder
Meeting Point Cincinnati

Pecha Kucha Over Easy!

Pecha Kucha Over Easy!

Good Morning! The international sensation, Pecha Kucha Night, is waking up for breakfast, just for you.

Meeting Point Cincinnati and The Mets Center invite you to experience Pecha Kucha, a whole new way of producing presentations!

Pecha Kucha Night premiered  in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has become a global sensation, inspiring creatives and presentation professionals at events around the world.

Pecha Kucha draws its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat”. It is based on a simple presentation idea: 20 images shown for 20 seconds each. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

Brian Monahan of Prestige AV & Creative Services and founder of Meeting Point Cincinnati hopes you will share his excitement with this new concept:

“Pecha Kucha offers blessed relief form boring PowerPoint presentations and it will spark new life into your next meeting”.

Start the New Year with Pecha Kucha Over Easy and enjoy coffee and a continental breakfast on the side!

When:

Wednesday January 13^th, 2010

7:15-7:45 Registration, Networking & Continental Breakfast

7:45-8:45 Pecha Kucha Presentations

8:45-9:00 Q&A and adjourn

Where:

The Mets Center
3861 Olympic Boulevard
Erlanger, KY 41018-1089
(859) 647-6387

Directions:

Admission:

$10 Register Online Now

Name for badge:

Contact Brian Monahan for more information at meetingpointcincincinnati (at) gmail.com

See Who is Attending on Linkedin:  Click Here

Presenter Line Up:

Brian Monahan
Prestige AV & Creative Services
Silly Meeting Industry Inventions

Randy Simes
Owner/Managing Editor UrbanCincy.com
Title TBD

June Izzi
Yellow Ribbon Support Center
Vision for Fallen Heroes Museum

Jim Jung
Second Story Center for theArts
Vision for Arts Community

2 additional speakers to be announced.

If you would like to present please contact Brian Monahan with your concept at meetingpointcincinnati (at) gmail.com

Pecha Kucha & Sponsor Links:

• Do You PK? Pecha Kucha Cincinnati Website
• Pecha Kucha International Website
• The Mets Center
• Meeting Point Cincinnati
• Prestige AV & Creative

MPC It’s For You!

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up, Meeting Point Cincinnati is for you!

MPC was founded to bring together the Cincinnati area meeting and event community.  My goal is to make the group very accessible to everyone.

Here are some ways to get involved.

1. Guest Post (write an article) for the MPC website.  If you would like to be a regular contributor I will create an about page and feature you on the Meeting Point Cincinnati website.  I will provide you with links back to your website or LinkedIn profile.  All articles are your property to use as you please.
2. Attend an MPC Friday Field Trip.  Currently I plan to host on the Final Friday of the month.  Price will vary by cost of each location but will be minimal.
3. Host a MPC Friday Field Trip at your location.  I only ask for coffee and a light continental breakfast.  I expect typical attendance to be 15-30 people each month.  If you host I will provide a sponsor link on the MPC website for 1 year.  You also get to make a short presentation about your venue during the event.
4. Join the LinkedIn group.  The link is located on the right sidebar of the website.  I chose LinkedIn groups to host the membership since it is a great source of new leads for the group.
5. Sign up for MPC website updates which are located on the right sidebar as well.
6. Post an article or resource on the LinkedIn group.
7. Comment on the blog posts on the website.  Each blog post has a comments section available.
8. Refer MPC to a friend.
9. Use the Share This link at the bottom of each post if you participate in link sharing sites like Digg, Delicious or Stumbleupon to name a few.
10. Present a topic at the MPC Friday Field Trips.
11. Post industry events or email to be listed on MPC website to meetingpointcincinnati@gmail.com
12. Give it a try.

I shared with the attendees of the inaugural Meeting Point Cincinnati Meetup, that this website and group was merely an experiment.  I have been reading and learning about Social Media for the last 2 years and figured it was time to launch something for the Cincinnati meeting and event industry.

Social Media is very young and its applications relating to events and meetings are endless.  In the past few years I have seen numerous companies and associations attempt to use Social Media and for the most part the results have been average in my opinion.  This is something we are going to need to practice.   I hope you will join me in my experiment.

If I had only one tip to give you about Social Media is remember the social aspect.  If you sit back and only watch you are not engaged in Social Media but merely entertainment.  Getting involved and sharing your expertise, and learning from others is what Social Media is all about.

So here is your opportunity to get involved.  Share your ideas, expertise and feedback.

Meeting Point Cincinnati It’s For You!

Photo Credit: Kriss Szkurlatowski

Cincinnati Wordle

You just never know what will tickle peoples fancy.  In this case, I was surprised because it was a “Wordle.”

So here is the story about the “Cincinnati Wordle.”

Last week at the Meeting Point Cincinnati Inaugural Meetup, my speech was titled “Beyond WKRP.”

My inspiration for the speech was based on my experience traveling around the country and realizing that many peoples first comment when I mention Cincinnati as home is,  “I Love WKRP in Cincinnati!”  I agree it was a great show but being in the Meeting and Event Industry I know Cincinnati has much more to offer than a memory of a 70’s Sitcom.  I wanted to inspire the group to craft a better legacy for Cincinnati.

I did a little research and found some Yahoo Reviews about the City of Cincinnati and I was happy to find they were very positive for the most part.  I remembered a website called Wordle where you can input text and have it rendered in an artistic manner.  The way that Wordle works is the more frequent the word entered the larger it is displayed.  I pasted a couple of pages of reviews into Wordle and this is what came out (pasted below).

Besides how much the attendees liked the Wordle, I was intrigued by the output of the Wordle.   Although my reviews included positive and negative comments, the positive shone through.  Often it is human nature to focus on the negative but the impartial Wordle clearly reads that Cincinnati is a “Great, Beautiful, Excellent and Wonderful City!”

You can create your own Wordles at Wordle.net.

I will be posting the full presentation on MPC next week.

The Scale of Nordstrom

Scale is an important part of any event.  If you get it wrong your message can be missed or mistaken.

Based on the picture below, I am clear that Nordstrom is opening on September 25th at the Kenwood Towne Center in Greater Cincinnati.  I estimate the banner at 25′  high by 75′ wide reminding me of the importance of scale when it comes to events.  I am easily 500 feet away and I can clearly read this sign but it is often not the case at many meetings I attended, many of which with much shorter viewing distances.

There are a number of reasons why scale becomes an issue in regards to meetings.  As meeting planners we may have control over the scale of the message and if we don’t we must at least make our clients aware of it.

Here is my top ten list of scale related issues in regards to events:

1. Screen size too small (very rarely too big)
2. Font size too small (print, banners and PowerPoint)
3. Room size too small/big
4. Ceiling height not appropriate to accommodate staging needed for attendance
5. Props too small and do not make impact on room
6. Decorations too sparse and do not make impact
7. Sound in-sufficient for room size or not robust enough for content
8. Portions too small on entree
9. Pre-Function or Foyer too small to accommodate registration/reception
10. Too Lavish for a Down Economy

We could go on for days with this list but I thought I would share  a quick reminder about the importance of scale.  Add your “Scale” Pet Peeves in the comments section below.

Meeting Point Cincinnati – Inaugural MeetUp

Meeting Point Cincinnati launches its first MeetUp,  The Meeting Point Friday Field Trip.

Get out of the office—collaborate and connect with your Cincinnati meeting and event industry colleagues.

Brian Monahan, MPC founder will kick off the networking and discussion “Beyond WKRP” How can the Cincinnati Meeting Industry get the message out about all of Cincinnati’s best offerings.

Venue 222 and Eventurous have generously sponsored the inaugural MPC Friday Field Trip.

Location:

222 East 14th Street

Cincinnati, OH 45208

Directions

Map

Agenda:

Friday August 28th, 2009

8am – Networking & Registration (Coffee and Light Continental Breakfast)

8:30am – Presentation & Discussion Primer

9:30am – Get back to work, Field Trip is over.

Cost:

Free

Click Here to Register

Questions: email Brian Monahan at meetingpointcincinnati@gmail.com

Sponsors:

Eventurous

About Venue 222:

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