Be a Creative Morning Person

In a creative industry, I think we are always keeping our eye out for inspiration. We’re looking for a moment that sparks an idea or fires us up about a project. Recently I’ve noticed that these moments come from collaborating and surrounding myself with other creatives—those people that have the same but completely opposite brain as me all at once.  

I discovered a group called Creative Mornings that offered that kind of creative community. This group organizes breakfast lectures once a month that pulls in all kinds of creative types. Each month a national theme is announced and a local maker, doer, designer or entrepreneur is highlighted and they give a talk in each city. Plus, it’s 100% free AND you get free coffee. (Coffee, you know, the creative fuel.)

For 90 minutes there is a unifying, creative energy in the room. Ideas are sparked. Thoughts are shared that resonate with the audience. By the time the talk ends, everyone leaves with their idea tank filled up.

CM/CHI

The last Creative Morning I went to was in Chicago in a warehouse. Yes, a warehouse! The warehouse is being transformed into a workshop collaboration space called Lost Arts by one of the co-founders of Kickstarter, Charles Adler. The best thing he shared was “Rules are not meant to be broken. Rules are temporary.” 

There are over 100 chapters of Creative Mornings all over the world—so go be creative beyond the 9-5 and meet some awesome people in your city!

For more info: creativemornings.com

How to be Creative with a Small Ballroom

Smaller ballrooms, especially ones in boutique hotels, always present challenges when we are designing creative staging plans. Low ceiling heights, minimal rigging or small room sizes are common in these properties. We are always looking to find creative uses for existing technology to combat these challenges. Recently we found that LED wall technology has been a huge asset to us on a couple of recent shows that had small rooms.

LED to the Rescue

Instead of building an entire wall behind the stage, we created a series of LED panels that acted as a backdrop instead. Standing roughly 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide, the panels were ground supported and offered a visually interesting background. We created a number of different graphic looks for the panels, which allowed us to change the look and feel of each presentation. 

The content for the panels was created using existing artwork from the client that was put together into a creative and engaging set. The great thing about these panels is the versatility we were able to achieve for each presenter. The graphics on the panels were changed to support each presenter’s unique message. Most importantly, they fit well into a very small ballroom! 

Catchbox Review Is In

Overview:  We have had the opportunity to use the Catchbox on a couple of shows. Here’s our review!

Technically: The Catchbox works exactly as advertised. The sound quality was very good and the foam cube protected the microphone well.

Audience Reaction: If you are looking for a fun way to engage Q&A this is a good product but it does need some set-up for the audience to fully embrace the concept.    

On a couple of shows where the MC embraced the idea, demonstrated the use and encouraged the audience to toss the cube around, the reaction was positive. On another show where there really wasn’t any set-up the Catchbox seemed a little forced.

Breakout Rooms: We used the Catchbox in breakout rooms and the keynote speakers were able to easily toss the Catchbox into the audience. It worked very well. 

Conclusion: For a general session application, the Catchbox can be a fun tool but needs to be targeted to the right audience. If the MC or main presenter buys in to the concept, it makes it easier for the audience feel comfortable with this tool.

Note: The Catchbox needs to be tossed from one audience member to another, or tossed to a moderator who then tosses it to the next person with a question. While the Catchbox is soft foam, if it is thrown with a lot of force it can knock water glasses off of tables.   

Read part one of this post here for more background info on this product.

Headshots for Everyone

One of the services that we offer at events is show photography. Many events feature a photographer to capture the key highlights and events, but one of our event photographers also happens to shoot unbelievable portrait shots and is often hired to shoot headshots for artists and performers. 

Bonus Feature

As a fun, added feature to event photography, we started offering portrait photography for attendees and the feedback has been amazing.

The Result

At a recent sales meeting, 70% of the attendees sat for a portrait. The sitting takes less than 5 minutes and the finished and edited portraits are delivered within a week of the conference ending. We usually deliver the portraits to our client via a password-protected site, and then they provide the site information to the attendees.

Portrait photography works particularly well for internal meetings and sales meetings. Post-show meetings have shown that attendees love the photos and are using the portraits for Linkedin and anywhere else they need a professional headshot.

This is not a very expensive add-on to an event and is a fun way to offer an added benefit to attendees.

Ron Blackmore: Someone you Should Know

Ron Blackmore is a talent agent/broker and runs a company called NextLevel, which contracts talent for private events. I have worked with Ron for over 10 years and always feel that he puts the clients’ interest first every time. 

One of the things I most appreciate about Ron is his ability to present a group of potential speakers for any type of request. Whether you are in need of a rock group or a financial expert, he’s got a list of recommendations for you.

After the talent selection is made, Ron sets up and participates in pre-production calls with the client regarding the content and message of the speaker’s presentation.

He attends the event to serve as a liaison between the production team, client and presenter. This service is included in his cost, but his hotel room is an additional charge.

What I am most impressed with:  We had a keynote schedule to present first thing in the morning and had a scheduled rehearsal the evening before. Due to a ridiculous combination of travel obstacles the talent arrived just 30 minutes prior to the rehearsal. Ron had arranged for all of the talent’s props to be delivered to the ballroom, set them on the stage, reviewed the performance and answered questions for the production crew. He even offered to get the audio and lighting lead coffee from Starbucks while we were waiting for the keynote. He helped make what could have been a frustrating rehearsal run very smoothly.

Producer’s Notes: Ron is a good alternative to large booking agencies because he takes ownership and pride in his job. He is professional and personable and has always delivered.

Catchbox

We’re looking to cut down on the cardio. During the Q&A portion of events, we are usually running around the room, passing the microphone to all the audience members who have questions. Sound familiar to you?

We came across a new product that could replace our light workout with increased audience engagement—truly a win-win. Catchbox is a microphone inside of a foam box that can be tossed from person to person when they have a question to ask. It’s faster and more interactive than a traditional stage mic. Plus, it adds a little fun to meetings or events.

This product seems ideal for a breakout session where there is a small group of people, but it would be interesting to try for general sessions too. Although we have not used Catchbox yet, it is on our list of things to try. Once we try it, we will post a review, so stay tuned!

Update: Read our review here.

Let's Get Social

Consumers have more power than ever now because of social media—they are able to control the conversation. But the brands that interact with their audience through social media enable a two-way communication that allows them to better connect with their audience. So we found a tool to help manage that conversation.

Using a tool like HootSuite allows you to schedule posts, monitor conversations and hashtags, and communicate individually with attendees.

During the event, live tweeting helps the audience (near and far) follow along with the event’s highlights. When done correctly, it tells the audience to “look here!” “follow us!” and “see what we’re up to!”, leading to more engagement and a wider reach.

Benefits of Using HootSuite

HootSuite, specifically, is easily adapted to an event’s needs and can monitor multiple social platforms in one place.

After the event, HootSuite has a fantastic analytics report that can show the social ROI. It clearly shows how the hashtags performed, who was interacting with your tweets, and how many retweets and mentions a tweet received.

Most importantly, with all this information in one place, it can provide insights on the attendees’ feelings of the show—insights that could not be attained elsewhere. These insights can help brand managers form new strategies to further connect with their audience, or inform them of what worked or didn’t work according to their objectives.

So what’s your social plan? Don’t know? HootSuite can help you figure it out. Venture into the vast world of social media and refine its strengths to make it work best for your company’s needs.

Brand the Elevators

An event’s theme and brand play a vital role in its success. Countless hours are spent developing and refining an event’s brand and tagline, then more time is spent adding visual life to that tagline. Maximizing opportunities to expand that tagline or brand outside of the meeting space can be an effective way to add value to an event. 

At recent three-day user conference, I counted the number of times that I stood in the lobby elevator bank waiting for an open elevator. It was 17 times! However, as with most events, I spend the majority of my time in the general session ballroom, but it occurred to me that most attendees would spend considerably more time waiting in an elevator bank.

Branding the Elevators

This is where the idea of elevator clings popped into my head. Elevator clings are an interesting and relatively inexpensive way to extend an events theme beyond the general session space. And I have to admit I much prefer elevator clings to window clings… 

When you are on an event site, you jump in and help where ever you are needed, even if that means the director, graphics producer and audio lead get the job of helping the meeting planner hang window clings in Mexico City. It is a fun story, ask me sometime and I will gladly share it with you—just hopefully not while we are hanging window clings.