Great emcees create surprises and memories
Last night was Super Bowl 50 and the season is now officially over. You may be a casual football fan up against my elite football mind, and yet I am still interested in what you thought about the game. Were there enough innings in last night’s interplay to satisfy your thirst for rallies? I hope so. I hope your squadron prevailed. Speaking of surprising me, I have the most creative clients that always think in ways I marvel at. Years ago a company was entertaining clients at
Rule #4 for planning your fundraiser or corporate event: Hire the right emcee
I would like to meet you person and shake your hand firmly while maintaining good eye contact and using your name twice in every sentence. That is not possible right now. So I will suggest plan B. When you go to hire a great act, the first thing you might want to identify is the performers body of work and the critical response to it. If their website shows strong critical praise over consistent years of work, you have a great start. For example when a critic from a major new
Rule #3 for planning your fundraiser or corporate event: Audiovisual do's and don'ts
Do: use well prepared, high quality A.V. materials. Don’t: use tacky ones. No further questions your honor. There are the basics. You must feel relived this is free advice. Visuals are very strong, but ones that are not crisp, clear, and well thought out can be completely ignored, and I will add, “should be.” We live in a world of High Def details. We see 100’s of graphically amazing messages every day. We have retina screens on our phones…not having a comparable look can in
Rule #2 for planning your fundraiser or corporate event: Find a funny and clean entertainer
When choosing a speaker or entertainer or your event, there are three different avenues you can take: The good, the bad, and the me. Did I just call myself ugly? Shocking. Well, I was much cuter in High school. Speakers and entertainers are the center point to a successful event. People may remember or may not remember the Rumaki appetizers, but I am certain they will have an opinion on the speakers and if the message was effective, humorous, enjoyable, and memorable. Enter m
Rule #1 for planning your fundraiser or corporate event: Start sharp, end sharp
We are overly obsessed with schedule, time, and sports on 65 inch HD TV’s, Wait, that was personal. But when I get invited to any event I wonder when it starts and when it ends. I was recently invited to an event that said, "starts at 6:00PM and ends at 7:30." I was thrilled to accept that invite. It was on a Tuesday night and I was encouraged to see a timely and specific invite. It would be crisp, efficient, and I was in a great mood to enjoy the fellowship around the table,
Ten rules for planning your fundraiser or corporate event
There are a million ways to screw up an event, but only 10 ways to get it right OK, now it’s serious. We have our big annual fundraising event and we need to have it be a huge success. Sadly, these events are largely constructed by a committee that have little understanding of how events should flow, and the critical importance of timing and transitions. No offense. The most basic emotion at these events is restlessness. This is not the first fundraiser these people have ever
