By Ernie Smith / May 30, 2013 (iStockphoto/Thinkstock)
New research by American Express Meetings Events shows that an organization’s policies on time-tracking, contracts, and budget planning for events are often at odds with what actually happens.
Let’s say you’re planning an event. Despite the fact that you have a system for getting things moving, you’re finding it tough to get all the cogs organized. You don’t know how big your budget is, and that’s making it hard to settle details and establish timelines for when things have to be done. And don’t even get started on the contract hassles.
This research highlights the disparity between the precautions and procedures meetings leaders and planners feel should be or believe to be in place and actual current activity.
Sound familiar? You’re far from alone.
That’s the key finding in a study by American Express Meetings Events, which reveals that established standards for budgetary issues, crisis planning, and data transparency are lacking or not followed by many event planners. More details:
The budget kerfuffle: Just because you need it doesn’t mean it’s ready. While 82 percent of the leaders surveyed said a budget is recommended or required for events to get off the the ground, 52 percent of event planners said they don’t have one ready at the time the planning starts. And by the end of the process, things are still messy: The study notes that nearly one-third of leaders said they are unable to report all meeting expenses, and more than a quarter said they have no way to track them.
So, who signs? While contracts are a key part of the event-planning process, there’s a disconnect between meeting planners and leadership on who exactly signs those documents. While just 6 percent of leaders said meeting planners are allowed to sign contracts related to events, 23 percent of planners said they actually do. And 37 percent of the planners said such contracts—often for technical needs—are not forwarded to a manager before being signed.
When things go wrong… Obviously, having a crisis plan is important. (In rare instances, as the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association recently experienced at its conference in Boston, you might have to use it.) But half of the leaders and 64 percent of the planners surveyed said they do not have a way to track attendees in a crisis, and 62 percent of the planners said they don’t have access to medical and security aid.
American Express Meetings Events says the study underlines the importance of following formal procedures when planning a meeting.
“This research highlights the disparity between the precautions and procedures meetings leaders and planners feel should be or believe to be in place and actual current activity,” Milton Rivera, the company’s vice president of business development, said in a press release. “It demonstrates how crucial it is for companies’ meeting-planning processes to be formalized, documented, and controlled as a means to minimize risk.”
RoundTableHQ® Showcases The Latest Technology to Veteran Planners
An unprecedented, comprehensive planning and collaboration application for the event industry, RoundTableHQ‘s getplanning was the main topic of discussion during Cendyn’s 2013 Technology Roundtable, May 2–4 at Boca Raton Resort Club. Bringing together six -highly respected event planners, Cendyn and RoundTableHQ presented getplanning and other Cendyn solutions facilitating lively feedback and recommendations on how these tools could best impact the planner’s needs.
The planning professionals, representing Experient®, as well as the corporate, incentive and association sectors, enjoyed product demos and discussion led by Cendyn Founder/Executive Vice President Robin Deyo, RoundTableHQ President Jon Summersfield, and RoundTableHQ CTO Daniel Beattie.
“As the first tool of its kind in the entire industry, it is very important to us that we continually receive feedback from not only our hotel colleagues but also the meeting planning community,” said RoundTableHQ President Jon Summersfield. “We have prided ourselves on the fact that getplanning is a tool designed by – and for – all stakeholders involved in planning an event. The feedback we elicit and receive helps getplanning continually grow and we’re excited for what the future holds.”
RoundTableHQ recently announced the upcoming release of the latest version of getplanning – a solution which streamlines the event planning process and combines organization and security with the ease of email. Attendees were given a preview of the new UI (user interface), which is slated to launch with limited release in June/July 2013. The new getplanning will provide:
Significant branding opportunities, including extraordinary imagery, for both the corporate and property level customization
Unparalleled usability for multiple properties under one brand umbrella, as well as independent properties
Clear, concise, step-by-step process, making it easy to manage single or multiple events across one or more properties
Enhanced real-time notifications of recent activity
Best usability practices for optimal productivity and organization
“Two of the biggest challenges I deal with are that there are never enough hours in the day and the struggle with work/life balance… While there are many web-based applications floating around that pretend to help meeting planners, getplanning is the real deal,” said meeting and event manager attendee Joann Chmura, CMP, CMM, with Viridian Energy. “This application is easy to work with and it makes sense in my world because it’s designed by a veteran meeting planner. There is hope and light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Our 2013 Technology Roundtable was a great success,” said Cendyn Founder/Executive Vice President Robin Deyo. “To communicate with and receive overwhelming positive feedback from this powerhouse of meeting and event planners about getplanning and other Cendyn solutions was an outstanding opportunity.”
Engineered to optimize customer communications as well as inter-departmental and vendor messaging, getplanning allows everyone who “touches” events to find everything they need in three clicks. Used from the point of signed agreement or as on-site replacement to pre-con binders or folders, getplanning has immediate impact on hotel expenses. It offers an ROI conservatively estimated to save $8,000 in paper and labor per year for mid-sized hotels that host 350 – 400 events annually.
Planners touch Cendyn’s eProposal, eMenus and eBrochure tools every day and the hosted group provided excellent insights on how each tool can be used by the hotels to enhance the planner experience.
Cendyn and RoundTableHQ benefitted greatly from the sessions and are committed to incorporating feedback from all perspectives of event planning into their user applications.
About Cendyn:
Established in 1996, Cendyn is a full service agency specializing in turnkey solutions that drive bottom line results for the travel and hospitality industries. Founded by hoteliers and marketing professionals, Cendyn’s proven strategies and innovative Marketing, Sales, Reservations and CRM solutions raise online visibility, revenue and ROI for more than 14,000 hotels and travel destinations worldwide. Clients include: Starwood Hotels Resorts, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, Marriott, and other chains and independent properties and hotel companies such as Trump Hotel Collection, The Breakers, The Broadmoor and Denihan Hospitality. For more information, please call 866-625-4518 or visit www.cendyn.com.
About RoundTableHQ:
RoundTableHQ, an affiliate of Cendyn, designs and builds innovative products for the meetings and events industry using the latest technologies to deliver incredibly powerful applications. For more information, please call 561-314-1277 or visit http://roundtablehq.com.
Going to HITEC 2013 in Minneapolis, MN on June 25th – 27th? Visit booth 1143 to meet with Cendyn’s team and RoundTableHQ to learn how we can increase your revenue with award-winning online solutions and strategies.
An unprecedented, comprehensive planning and collaboration application for the event industry, RoundTableHQ’s getplanning was the main topic of discussion during Cendyn’s 2013 Technology Roundtable, May 2–4 at Boca Raton Resort Club. Bringing together six -highly respected event planners, Cendyn and RoundTableHQ presented getplanning and other Cendyn solutions facilitating lively feedback and recommendations on how these tools could best impact the planner’s needs.
The planning professionals, representing Experient®, as well as the corporate, incentive and association sectors, enjoyed product demos and discussion led by Cendyn Founder/Executive Vice President Robin Deyo, RoundTableHQ President Jon Summersfield, and RoundTableHQ CTO Daniel Beattie.
“As the first tool of its kind in the entire industry, it is very important to us that we continually receive feedback from not only our hotel colleagues but also the meeting planning community,” said RoundTableHQ President Jon Summersfield. “We have prided ourselves on the fact that getplanning is a tool designed by – and for – all stakeholders involved in planning an event. The feedback we elicit and receive helps getplanning continually grow and we’re excited for what the future holds.”
RoundTableHQ recently announced the upcoming release of the latest version of getplanning – a solution which streamlines the event planning process and combines organization and security with the ease of email. Attendees were given a preview of the new UI (user interface), which is slated to launch with limited release in June/July 2013. The new getplanning will provide:
Significant branding opportunities, including extraordinary imagery, for both the corporate and property level customization
Unparalleled usability for multiple properties under one brand umbrella, as well as independent properties
Clear, concise, step-by-step process, making it easy to manage single or multiple events across one or more properties
Enhanced real-time notifications of recent activity
Best usability practices for optimal productivity and organization
“Two of the biggest challenges I deal with are that there are never enough hours in the day and the struggle with work/life balance… While there are many web-based applications floating around that pretend to help meeting planners, getplanning is the real deal,” said meeting and event manager attendee Joann Chmura, CMP, CMM, with Viridian Energy. “This application is easy to work with and it makes sense in my world because it’s designed by a veteran meeting planner. There is hope and light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Our 2013 Technology Roundtable was a great success,” said Cendyn Founder/Executive Vice President Robin Deyo. “To communicate with and receive overwhelming positive feedback from this powerhouse of meeting and event planners about getplanning and other Cendyn solutions was an outstanding opportunity.”
Engineered to optimize customer communications as well as inter-departmental and vendor messaging, getplanning allows everyone who “touches” events to find everything they need in three clicks. Used from the point of signed agreement or as on-site replacement to pre-con binders or folders, getplanning has immediate impact on hotel expenses. It offers an ROI conservatively estimated to save $8,000 in paper and labor per year for mid-sized hotels that host 350 – 400 events annually.
Planners touch Cendyn’s eProposal, eMenus and eBrochure tools every day and the hosted group provided excellent insights on how each tool can be used by the hotels to enhance the planner experience.
Cendyn and RoundTableHQ benefitted greatly from the sessions and are committed to incorporating feedback from all perspectives of event planning into their user applications.
About Cendyn:
Established in 1996, Cendyn is a full service agency specializing in turnkey solutions that drive bottom line results for the travel and hospitality industries. Founded by hoteliers and marketing professionals, Cendyn’s proven strategies and innovative Marketing, Sales, Reservations and CRM solutions raise online visibility, revenue and ROI for more than 14,000 hotels and travel destinations worldwide. Clients include: Starwood Hotels Resorts, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, Marriott, and other chains and independent properties and hotel companies such as Trump Hotel Collection, The Breakers, The Broadmoor and Denihan Hospitality. For more information, please call 866-625-4518 or visit http://www.cendyn.com.
About RoundTableHQ:
RoundTableHQ, an affiliate of Cendyn, designs and builds innovative products for the meetings and events industry using the latest technologies to deliver incredibly powerful applications. For more information, please call 561-314-1277 or visit http://roundtablehq.com.
Going to HITEC 2013 in Minneapolis, MN on June 25th – 27th? Visit booth 1143 to meet with Cendyn’s team and RoundTableHQ to learn how we can increase your revenue with award-winning online solutions and strategies.
There is a species of tiny jellyfish that can revert its cells from the adult stage to the young polyp stage, effectively starting its life over and giving it the possibility of immortality. Jellifi COO Kinsey Vallier sees an inspiration here.
“With our combined hard work we can ensure that our product has the same staying power,” he says.
Luckily, Vallier and team have picked an industry that’s not likely to go away anytime soon: event planning. Weddings, parties, and birthdays are all rituals of the human race. Jellifi connects the hosts of these events with service providers like caterers, venues, and photographers.
The event space is certainly busy, with Eventup focusing on finding venues, Event Finds on last-minute deals, BrideRush on weddings, and EventNow on events of all types. Jellifi prides itself on detailed vendor profiles and the ability to barter a rate. They’ve also been used by clients like Google, Dos Equis, and Formula 1.
Below, Vallier shares some of the startup lessons he’s learned and his hopes for startup immortality.
Tech Cocktail: What common startup advice do you completely disagree with?
Vallier: That you have to fail to be successful. Einstein said, “You only truly fail when you stop trying.”
Tech Cocktail: What’s the best entrepreneurship book you’ve read and why?
Vallier: 37signals’ Rework because, in startup culture, you can get bogged down with the bullshit and buzzwords, whereas Rework really focuses on the brass tacks of making users happy and making money .
Tech Cocktail: If you had an extra $1,000 to spend on marketing, what would you do?
Vallier: We recently toyed around with the idea to spend $1,000 per month to create reusable shopping bags featuring promotional materials. It’s a green initiative that would help people, while, at the same time, spreading the Jellifi message.
Tech Cocktail: What’s the weirdest way someone has used your product?
Vallier: Daily Dot online magazine hired us to create a grand demonstration during SXSWi that featured live choreographed dancers, a marching band, and Newsies to hand out their publications. You may have seen us marching down Sixth Street with the infamous Dead Music Capital Band Zombies.
Tech Cocktail: What’s the most encouraging sign of success you’ve seen so far?
Vallier: Microsoft taking us under their wing with providing backup support and hosting of our site.
Tech Cocktail: What’s your crazy, long-term, huge vision?
Vallier: Taking over the world, of course. I believe it’s really called “international exposure.”
Tech Cocktail: If your startup were a cocktail, which one would it be and why?
Vallier: A martini. There are so many different styles of them, one just has to choose based on taste and style to find the one that is their favorite.
Tech Cocktail: What’s one quirky fact about your office culture?
Vallier: It’s almost a quirk or weirdness you can’t put into words, and they are endless. For one, we have this beautiful hippie painter that we found on Sixth Street during SXSW. We have since contracted him to paint our Jellifi mural and logo on the front wall of our office. When finished, it will look like a sea of jellyfish that are animated and breathe with our special color-changing lights.
It was a beautiful display of class and creativity at the booths of event planners and decorators during the recently concluded WED Expo Lagos 2013. It almost seemed like a competition as various event decorators tried to outdo themselves with the display of several creative themes.
A walk through the booths of event planners and decorators brought one in contact with traditional themed settings, fairy tale, disco, garden, classic settings and more. It was a sight to behold.
Today, BellaNaija and WED Magazine brings you Part 3 of the pictures from the WED Expo Lagos 2013 with special emphasis on Event Planners and Decorators.
Are you in Abuja? WED Expo is coming to you. In September 2013 the residents of Abuja will have tho opportunity to attend the biggest wedding exhibition in Nigeria; WED Expo 2013 (Abuja Edition) so mark your calendars.
Event Planners Decorators
Newton David
267 Props Ltd
B Signature
360 Eventee
Crystal-Styles
Planification Planners Decor
Open Hands Decor
Finesse Events
Swalek Bridal Nigeria Ltd
Zahralinda Designs Decor
Jidalights Events, Decor Rental
Diamonds Pearls
Abinibi Event Cottage
Events by Interieurs etc
Ceremonial Accent
Magnollia Weddings
Kalhari Event Planning Design
Torge Events
Naphtali
Tsoule “Special” Events
Mo’De Destination Weddings Events
Nwando’s Signature
Inessence Chair Cover
Lasting Memories Event Managers
The Special Place
Churchills
Movenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra
Photography: Ayo of MajickBrush Photography and Temisan of TAP Studios
_____________________________________________________________________________________ BellaNaija is the official media partner of the 2013 Wed Expo
Among a video library of industry pros discussing ideas for success, Janet Sperstad of Madison Area Technical College discusses grooming the next generation of planners
How is the events industry grooming the next generation of planners? Is a background in marketing and communications important when planning a well-branded event? What qualities do today’s planners need to have to be successful? These questions and more are answered in The Inspiration Café. Sponsored by PSAV® Presentation Services, the website serves as an online educational resource, including videos of experts’ interviews conducted at industry conventions.
Recently, Janet Sperstad, program director in meeting and event management at the Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin, sat down to discuss the evolution of the meeting planner.
“Years ago when you would ask a meeting planner how he or she got into the business, you would hear ‘I just fell into it or so-and-so helped me to get a job part-time and I never left,’” Sperstad said. “Today it’s quite different. The next generation is coming into the classroom saying ‘I want to be an event planner. I want to be a meeting professional.’ They have a very clear vision of what event planning is and what it isn’t. That’s very profound in our industry.”
Sperstad went on to say that students today come in with a lot of energy and passion; they talk the talk and already use the vernacular that she had to learn along the way. They understand that to be deemed “successful,” an event just can’t be well-organized and/or fun. It has to create experiences, drive business, capture market share and engage groups to come back again and again.
For more insight on grooming today’s event planners, view the interview with Janet Sperstad on PSAV’s Inspiration Café here.
The Inspiration Café – Rob Scypinski
About PSAV® Presentation Services
PSAV provides the ideas and technology that inspire great meetings. This has made PSAV the leading provider of event technology for meeting planners and producers across the corporate, association, and tradeshow markets. PSAV provides an unparalleled range of event technology to support its customers’ ability to create, collaborate, and communicate. With more than 800 partner locations worldwide, PSAV provides people and resources right where you want to have your meeting.www.psav.com
CLICK HERE to learn more about PSAV
Andee Oleno United States – Long Beach, Phone: 480.905.3445 Email: aoleno@psav.com
PSAV www.psav.com 111 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 1110
USA
– Long Beach, CA 90802 Phone: +1 (562) 366-0260 Fax: +1 (562) 366-0628 Email: gvandyke@psav.com
Thank you for the helpful article you penned on the essential steps to business start-up. I thought you hit the nail on the head on all seven steps, especially the last ‘Launching’. I started a small business two years ago and had a website with the hope that by having the website in place, by now I would be in the same league as Michael Lee-Chin or Butch Stewart. Well, it has just not happened. At this point, I turn to you for guidance as to what additional steps I could take to change my miscalculations and start climbing the hill of success.
- Marlon
BUSINESSWISE:
I was happy to receive your email because it gives me an opportunity to address a number of interesting and topical areas in business, namely launching an online business and managing expectations.
Because your business has not yet got off the ground, I think it is important to protect the idea so I decided not to publish the name of your website. For the benefit of the readers, I will say that your business falls in the category of event planning.
I asked online marketing specialist Dayna Wallace to review your website and give her opinion on whether it satisfies the prerequisites for a successful Internet business. I also asked her to provide some suggestions on how you can revive the business and get it on the right track. She fulfilled my request and went even further to review your company’s use of social media.
Before I share her observations and advice there are some basic points I need to make.
First, when starting an online business it is important that you follow the same steps as you would a traditional business as detailed in my column of January 27, 2013 titled ’7 Essential Steps to Business Start-Up’.
Your business idea is clever but that is not nearly enough to ensure success. I don’t know whether you did any research to validate the idea or to establish whether you had the capacity to penetrate the market, but these are critical steps when starting a business.
Based on your industry and the fact that your target market is foreign professionals and company executives, you needed a survey to establish feasibility and guide your decision making.
Second, it is clear that you missed an important part of the business-planning process – preparing a marketing plan. This is a document that outlines how your strategic marketing objectives will be met for a particular period, usually a year. It outlines the actions, advertising, promotions, pricing strategy and so on that will be required to promote your business, attract customers, build and position your brand and drive sales.
The plan should include the cost and resources associated with each action, event or
promotion to ensure that you have the capability and finances to reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals.
My final point is the issue of realistic expectations. For you to believe that within two years of launching your business you would be a billionaire or in the same league as Jamaica’s wealthiest businessmen was impracticable and setting yourself up for major disappointment. Success in business depends in part on setting SMART goals and managing expectations, especially your own.
SMART is an acronym that refers to goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic/ Relevant and Time-bound.
Regarding steps you can take now to get your business on track, below I have outlined Ms Wallace’s suggestions for improving your website and building the business. These recommendations are useful for anyone considering a service-based Internet business:
Simplify your site. Complex sites turn off customers. Make your website simple and more user-friendly.
Add more dynamic content. Users and search engines like fresh content, including articles, photos and videos. Also, if you consistently post new content it should improve the search engine ranking for your business
Your value is not clear. Your website must clearly outline your services and the value you propose to offer to prospective customers.
Include testimonials or pictures from past events you have done to demonstrate your credibility as an expert in the business.
Have an opt-in offer where visitors need to provide their names and email addresses to receive a special offer, such as a discount. This will build your database of potential customers.
Add a blog where you share useful articles for event planners, specifically those who would relate specifically to your niche.
Learn where your target customers spend their time and what influences how they buy, that is, where would they ‘hang out’ online?
Finally, your social-media activity is not effective in targeting or reaching your customers. Your website refers to serving overseas clients, yet most of your Facebook fans are located in Kingston.
Since your ideal customers are professionals and executives, you may attract more customers by doing promotions on LinkedIn rather than using Facebook only. For example, in LinkedIn there is a group for event planning and event management with over 113,000 members mostly from the United States.
You should join these groups, become actively involved in discussions and promote your services to other members and connections.
Yaneek Page is a trainer in entrepreneurship and workforce innovation. Email: yaneek.page@gmail.com. Twitter: @yaneekpage. www.theinnovatorsbootcamp.com
Classic Party Rentals was on full display last night at Pier 48. The company provides flooring, tables and scenery — transforming a parking lot into anything you want.
Renée Frojo
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times
With plans for a new neighborhood and a major retailer recently staking claim, the Giants are helping shape San Francisco’s Pier 38 into one of the waterfront’s biggest revitalization projects.
As part of the Giant’s Mission Rock Development — San Francisco’s newest proposed neighborhood — Anchor Brewing Distilling Co. recently said it would open its seventh brewery in the city on the pier. But since construction will not begin until 2014 and other developments are still years away, the Giants have figured out another use for the space — events.
This week, Giants Enterprises, the event planning arm of ATT Park, teamed up with Classic Party Rentals and Got Light to showcase the space to the media, event planners and other industry professionals, pitching it as the city’s next premier event space.
Classic Party Rentals set up a number of elaborate event themes to show what the space can look like when it’s all dolled up.
“We want to show the flexibility of space, which can be set up for receptions or a seated lounge,” said Giant’s spokesman Jens Weiden. “It’s a huge blank canvas that people can do whatever they want with.”
With 120,000 square feet event space, the venue is enormous — almost too enormous. It has both an indoor and outdoors area and can fit up to 7,000 guests or 2,500 seated.
Last year, the Giants held dozens of events in the space, including holiday parties for companies based in the South Bay and a World Series post-game party for approximately 2,000 people.
Weiden said it has yet to be determined how the brewery’s development will limit private rentals, but will continue to rent the space as is until the end of next year when construction begins.
Renée Frojo covers hospitality, restaurants, retail and nonprofits for the San Francisco Business Times.
The domain name “Xboxevent.com” was registered yesterday by a company historically known for arranging Microsoft media events, according to a Whois domain search.
Eventcore, who registered the domain, is an event-planning firm specifically geared towards producing media events for tech and gaming companies, including Microsoft. Eventcore produced Microsoft’s E3 2012 keynote and, as part of that process, registered a related domain, XboxE32012. That site was a registration portal for keynote attendees.
Sony unveiled their next-gen platform, the PlayStation 4, at a media event in New York on Wednesday. Though reviews of the show have been mixed, the event was viewed and followed by millions via livestream, and has monopolized the gaming industry news cycle for the past 36+ hours.
According to CVG, the Sony event took Microsoft executives by surprise, and the Xbox-maker will look to respond as soon as possible. Their sources indicate that Sony will host a similar stand-alone event to launch the next Xbox in April. If that’s the case, Microsoft will have to get around discussing their new console at the news-heavy Game Developer’s Conference in March.
Parties and social events have remained one of the greatest unifying components of society throughout history. However, these traditional gatherings and celebrations are not immune to the waves of change brought on by technology and social trends. In fact, a recent article from Bedouk.com highlights a new survey conducted by Destination Hotels Resorts that reveals the many changing trends that event planners expect to see in 2013. As the founder and owner of leading San Francisco event-planning business, Sandra B. Events, Sandra Bertsch comments on the importance of paying attention to some of these trends and involving them in this year’s parties.
According to Sandra Bertsch, one of the most important aspects emerging in event planning is that of sustainability. The article states, “In this planner’s survey, 45 percent voted eco-friendly practices as ‘somewhat important’ while selecting the venue whereas 18 percent said it is ‘extremely important’.” Bertsch comments, “Although eco-friendliness is not something that is new to the industry, it is something that clients are going to be looking for in the years to come. Given the sizable nature of many events, it is important for planners to find ways to reduce carbon footprints. In addition, it is a great opportunity to spread the message of sustainability, as event attendees will likely take notice to and become influenced by considerations given to the environment during a party.”
While protecting the planet has become a main concern across all industries, technology has also impacted the direction of event planning trends. According to the article, “Nearly 50 percent of the planners responded that social media as an integral part of their event planning. Most of them also go through reviews available in the Internet before deciding on a hotel or resort for their events.” Although Sandra Bertsch is a supporter of social networking and review sites, she cautions, “Event planners cannot become lazy when it comes to utilizing it as a tool to judge locations and services. It is still recommended that planners visit locations and meet with service providers in person in order to ensure that the gathering goes off with no problems.”
With technology in mind, the article also mentions that many events—particularly corporate ones—want to utilize unique components and resources, such as cloud computing and web conferencing at events. While these elements are certainly a draw, Sandra Bertsch concludes by encouraging all planners to invest in these services widely, “If a client is hosting a corporate event with web-based features, such as video conferencing, it is important to have all these factors aligned ahead of time. Although technology can greatly boost an event’s impact, poor delivery—as a result of equipment errors and connectivity issues—can also diminish the power of a message.”
ABOUT:
Sandra Bertsch is a Public Relations graduate from James Madison University who has become a formidable event planner in San Francisco, California. As the founder and owner of Sandra B. Events, Sandra Bertsch has provided over 10 years’ of service—along with her colleagues—in planning a wide range of social events and parties. With extensive industry connections in the PR world and a keen sense of style, Sandra Bertsch is a leader when it comes to planning weddings, graduation parties, anniversary celebrations, company picnics, retirement parties, baby showers, bridal showers and more.
