Glitz and Glamour
Event planning is one of the most commercialized responsibilities of a PR practitioner. Reality shows like MTV’s The Hills and PoweR Girls illustrate the glitz and glamour of going to the hottest events and meeting a laundry list of celebrities. Here in Michigan (and yes, even in LA), events may not be as alluring as cable would like to make them seem. Things come up, plans need to be changed, and someone has to do the dirty work!
Last Friday was a big night in Detroit! Every year, the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) throws an elaborate black tie charity event. Local corporations jump on the bandwagon and plan big after-parties for their clients. In fact, we at EPR had been getting ready for the after parties of Timken and T-Systems all week. From nametags and gift bags to confirming final lists, everyone was doing their part to make sure these events went as smoothly as possible!
At the last minute, a problem with T-Systems’ Midnight Masquerade arose. Gift bags (containing wine) sent to Comerica Park were quickly sent out because bringing in alcohol was against their liquor license. Only hours before the event, something had to be done quickly.
Coming to an unconventional solution, Megan (from EPR) and I spent the evening waiting in a van near the Comerica Park valet from 8:30-midnight to ensure a gift bag was put into every guest’s car! We then had to peak into each car and ensure that no one was left without a gift.
Dealing with issues such as these go unmentioned in classes, job descriptions and TV. Are there any unmentionables from your professional experience?
Last Friday was a big night in Detroit! Every year, the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) throws an elaborate black tie charity event. Local corporations jump on the bandwagon and plan big after-parties for their clients. In fact, we at EPR had been getting ready for the after parties of Timken and T-Systems all week. From nametags and gift bags to confirming final lists, everyone was doing their part to make sure these events went as smoothly as possible!
At the last minute, a problem with T-Systems’ Midnight Masquerade arose. Gift bags (containing wine) sent to Comerica Park were quickly sent out because bringing in alcohol was against their liquor license. Only hours before the event, something had to be done quickly.
Coming to an unconventional solution, Megan (from EPR) and I spent the evening waiting in a van near the Comerica Park valet from 8:30-midnight to ensure a gift bag was put into every guest’s car! We then had to peak into each car and ensure that no one was left without a gift.
Dealing with issues such as these go unmentioned in classes, job descriptions and TV. Are there any unmentionables from your professional experience?
posted by Amanda Robinson at 8:29 AM
1 Comments:
Great story—it illustrates why event planning can be defined as “unexpected setbacks and unconventional solutions.” Good planners—and good firms—know that every Plan A must come with a Plan B and Plan C, and these planners must also be ready to enact Plan D…which stands for “Devise on the spot.”
Many moons ago, I led my energy company’s event team at the Detroit 300 celebration in Hart Plaza. We’d set up our booth/tent the night before the festivities began, in a (supposedly) security-patrolled “event zone” targeted at kids. As such, for our tent we’d created various on-site games and handouts that encouraged kids, and their parents, to “play it safe around electricity.” However, on opening morning I turned back the flaps around our tent to find that squatters had left several kinds of “unmentionables” all over our space, and in the process completely ruined everything we had.
With an hour to go before the kids started showing up, I had to spring into action quickly. I grabbed our finger paints from my car and told the team that we were now painting electric safety symbols—such as Louie the Lightning Bug—on kids’ faces, but they could only receive a face-painting if they could correctly answer a question about electric safety (luckily we all knew at least three good questions to ask). We also invented safety songs and conducted a sort of karaoke musical chairs for kids, utilizing the seats originally intended for my team members. As luck would have it, we were one of the most popular booths in the kids zone, and by nightfall many a child could be seen sporting Louie the Lightning Bug on their cheek.
Both your story and mine illustrate why an event planner in need, needs “Plan D” indeed…
Thanks for jogging up the memories!
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