Event Operations

What’s Hot in Food This Year
2023/04/24

Whether a corporate event is small and intimate or large in scale, food and beverage always takes centre stage. Health, sustainability, zero-waste and innovation are driving creativity in restaurants and venue kitchens, leading to thoughtful and flavourful menu choices. Keeping up with changing tastes and trends is important for event planners to create a unique and memorable experience. The Unilever Food Solutions Future Menu Trends Report suggests that while people are looking for options that are healthy both for…
Tips for Trade Show Displays
2023/04/21

Event and trade show marketing is a big investment for any business. To maximize your return, you’ll need to create a one of a kind display that engages show attendees and promotes your products or services. To make the most of your next trade show event, we’ve put together a list of six tips to attract more visitors to your booth. Pick the right booth location Some booth locations just naturally get more visitor traffic than others. Like booth…
Great Outdoor Team Building Experiences
2023/04/10

As warmer weather arrives, it will allow planners and managers to organize some activities to kickstart their team. Outdoor activities have seen a large uptick in planning by companies since 2020. As people have different comfort levels when it comes to socializing, most tend to feel safer and free to discard their masks and socialize with less risk of COVID transmission outdoors. Let’s talk about outdoor spring-summer team-building programs. Corporate team building has many advantages and benefits: Increases collaboration…
Create In-Person Events that Drive Attendance
2023/04/07

In a world where virtual communication is becoming the norm, it is easy to forget the importance of in-person interaction. Live networking events give people a chance to connect on a human level, which can encourage smiling, laughing, and produce positive neurochemicals like serotonin and dopamine that impact mood, satisfaction, and happiness. These connections translate into better productivity, business success, and overall personal and professional development. The goal then is to create experiences that drive happiness, productivity, and increase…
Are Virtual Events Here to Stay?
2023/03/24

So it is 2023, COVID responses worldwide are winding down, we don’t have to wear our masks anymore and the world is returning back to normal. Everyone wants to be back in person and virtual events have bitten the dust, right? Well…maybe. The truth is there is still a market and a need for virtual events but virtual fatigue is definitely real. The event type you ultimately choose is going to depend on many things: Your event goals What…
Ten Tips for Maximizing Productivity
2023/03/23

Event planners face a daily whirlwind of tasks and deadlines. Our industry comes with unique challenges, constant changes to plans and long days making sure every item on the critical path is completed with fire proof precision. It can become too easy to completely immerse oneself into work with no time for relationships, hobbies, family, rest or even joy. We need to recognize that the most important thing in life isn’t trying to keep up to the never-ending checklist…
The Value of an Event Planner
2023/03/08

By Angela Zaltsman Companies across the nation have seen employees transition from remote to hybrid to sometimes fully in-person work environments. Why? Because if the last three years have taught us anything, it is the value of being with one another. Work culture and building employee engagement are often pointed to as the motivation behind a push for in-office facetime, but studies have shown that team events are the true catalyst for meaningful employee-employer relationships. Team events offer not…
Contract Wisdom: Sadly Insufficient
2023/02/24

by Heather Reid I once conducted a side-by-side examination of 12 signed and negotiated contracts for booking events into unconventional venues. The “unconventional venue” contracts included the following Canadian locations: cultural centre, city-owned sports facility, entertainment complex, music hall, high-risk recreational facility, heritage facility, aquarium, brewery, two recreational/amusement facilities and museums in two different cities. Here are a few of the findings of my side-by-side review: Indemnification Clause 6 contracts – did not have one and therefore, neither side…
Reimagine Sponsors as Brand Partners
2023/02/10

Event sponsorship must be reimagined as a personalized “brand partnership” to inspire creative, experiential event design that better engages attendees. Keep your sponsors close, and your partners even closer. This mantra is not as ominous as it might sound. But it is personal, and has become our go-to for navigating corporate event sponsorship during a transitional period in the events management industry. Fluctuating pandemic restrictions and a pending recession may actually be the game-changing industry disruptors that breathe fresh…
Importance of Setting Boundaries
2023/02/09

Event planners need to set boundaries with clients and workload limits to ensure they are giving their best and are at their best. As event planners, we consider ourselves problem solvers. No challenge too big, no hill too steep. There is always a solution to every problem, and with respect to events, a great event planner behind each solution. But with every great feat, there is likely a sacriﬁce. Many event professionals can likely attest to blurred lines between…