Heart of Glass

Looking for a quintessential Seattle experience for your clients? Amongst its other attractions, Seattle is the mecca of glass art (surpassing Murano, the center for Italian glass), and we are attracting the best suppliers, shops, materials and, of course, artists from all around the world.

One of our native sons, Jean-Pierre Canlis, and his gracious wife, Leigh, own and operate a studio on the edge of Belltown that does triple duty as work studio/gallery/event space in the refurbished worklofts at 3131 Western Ave. Beauty, talent, passion for the arts, and all things delicious run in the family as Jean-Pierre descends from the founder of the eponymous 5-star restaurant in Queen Anne.

The space is 1800 sft, dotted with beautiful glass pieces and can accommodate 10-125 easily. There are no exclusive catering contracts, so have your favorite chef set up in the workspace. The price is right at $200-$220 per hour (plus $100 cleaning fee per event), and we're told parking is a breeze after 5pm. A parking lot is available for full buyout across the street, opt for valet parking, or provide group transportation as alternatives.

For more info about Canlis or the gallery, visit their website at http://www.canlisglass.com/ or call Kristen or Leigh at 206.282.4428.

Let’s Meet in the Desert!

While Palm Springs, California enjoys its mid-century modernism and cultural revival, the adjacent communities of Palm Desert, Indian Wells, and La Quinta continue to offer high-end meeting and resort space. According to Meetings Magazine, more than $1 billion has been invested in the valley within the last few years on upscale luxury properties reinforcing the area’s reputation as an upscale playground for the rich and famous.

The prime properties for meetings in this area are:

Hyatt Grand Champions, Indian Wells (http://grandchampions.hyatt.com/)

Desert Springs, A JW Marriott Resort and Spa in Palm Desert (http://www.desertspringsresort.com/)

Miramonte Resort and Spa (http://www.miramonteresort.com/)

Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa (http://www.renaissanceesmeralda.com/)

Meeting space varies from the Marriott’s 24,816-square-foot Desert Ballroom that accommodates 2,000 for receptions or 1,800 for banquets to the Miramonte’s Event Lawn and Olive Grove that take advantage of the near-perfect weather year-round. Against the backdrop of the Santa Rosa Mountains, each of these resorts makes an impressive destination.

If you only had one chance to explore the unique offerings of the area, we recommend the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (http://www.pstramway.com/), The Living Desert (http://www.livingdesert.org/), and Joshua Tree National Park (www.nps.gov/jotr).

Not for the faint of heart, the Aerial Tramway offers a 5,873 ft vertical ride up Chino Canyon, often providing a snow-covered landing at the summit in cooler months. This was the first place that our Office Coordinator, Tiffany, ever saw snow! Both the Living Desert and Joshua Tree National celebrate the local wildlife and native plants of the desert, as well as the geological diversity of the dry and rocky terrain.

Visitors with a tighter timeline can stroll the El Paseo Shopping District (http://www.elpaseo.com/), known as the Rodeo Drive of the Desert, and enjoy numerous art galleries, jewelry and apparel stores, and luxury boutiques. Restaurants along El Paseo range from the popular Café Des Beaux Arts (http://www.cafedesbeauxarts.com/) to the more casual California Pizza Kitchen.

Returning visitors can live like a local and hit the flea market at the College of the Desert on Saturdays and Sundays. It's a great place to pick up inexpensive clothing and jewelry and sip a frozen lemonade. In need of affordable relaxation? The Desert Resorts School of Somatherapy offers $30 massages to help their students fulfill their training hours (http://www.somatherapy.com/clinic.html). Touring the many model homes in LaQuinta makes for a fun afternoon, though it may leave you longing for a second home.

For lunch or dinner, locals flock to the Fisherman’s Market & Grill in LaQuinta (www.fishermansmarketandgrill.com), where the fish tacos are the best around. Since the Coachella Valley, which incorporates Palm Springs and vicinity, boasts 350 days of sunshine a year and only 5.5 inches of rain, both first-time guests and repeat visitors alike can be sure to enjoy the weather along with good food and a picture-perfect place to relax.

My so-called glamorous life…

It all started back in grade school… Since my birthday lands in the summer I never got to have a birthday party at school with cupcakes and the likes that most kids got. So, because I never had a party I always wanted to help plan the parties. In fact, my 6th grade my teacher once said to me “If there’s ever a party on the moon, I know who will be organizing it!” Of course I laughed it off because I had bigger aspirations at that time – I wanted to be the first woman President of the United States. Well, as you can see that certainly didn’t become reality so I think it’s a good thing I went in the direction of event planning!

I think I haphazardly fell into the world of events. While I went to college for fashion merchandising and business I was an event planner at heart and knew that one day I would have my own company. Back in the 80’s and 90’s I worked tirelessly in the events field and paid my dues – sometimes at the expense of my health. I remember 2 events in particular – Networld+Interop, a trade show, I had strep throat but I pushed through before, during, and after the event. The second was a multi-city road show for Intel Corporation and I came down with walking pneumonia several days before I was to leave. I actually convinced my manager that I was fine and I ended up traveling for the show. I’d like to think I’m older and wiser now and wouldn’t push myself that hard!

Over the years I have worked with some incredible individuals who have helped me hone my planning skills and have given me the tools I needed to succeed in business. For the first 5 years of owning RealTime Productions, I had a wonderful business partner, Kim Pratt. Kim and I fit well together as we both brought such different talents to the table. During the first several years after forming RealTime Productions we both put in 80+ hour work weeks and did every job imaginable from creating an unforgettable 7-day Millennium cruise for 2 CEO’s and 120 of their closest family and friends, to organizing charity auctions, to cleaning toilets at a local celebrity’s house (definitely not my proudest moment!).

The one piece of advice I always give people is to make sure that you not only have the passion and drive for this business but that you surround yourself with great people. I am eternally grateful for all of the staff that has been a part of the RealTime Productions team over the years. I have learned so much from my staff – past and present. Not only do I get to work with a past boss and a close colleague, I continue to love my job, the people that work for me, and our wonderful clients. While it’s not all ‘champagne wishes and caviar dreams,’ I wouldn’t trade any of my experiences for the world!

Jeanne Berry, Founder and Principal

Something Bigger Than Ourselves

As a hiring manager, I’ve had my fair share of interviews with starry-eyed folks who really want to work in our industry. And as someone who has been in the trenches and managed logistics for many years, I sometimes forget that I, too, once had that passion to be a meeting professional. I now have a much dimmed perspective, and I try not to dampen the enthusiasm of the folks who come to talk with me, but when faced with someone whose interviews answers include “I want to travel”, “I love people”, “It looks like so much fun”, then I find myself prone to de-glamorizing the picture substantially.

If by what you mean when you say “I love to travel” is that you love to rush to the airport after working 80+ hours per week in the weeks leading up to your flight, that you love the last minute fire drills you have to deal with from one airport or another, that you love to see the inside of the same hotel/convention center for days on end, not seeing daylight and then find yourself back at the airport (there’s no sightseeing in logistics management!), then you are probably cut out for this job.

If by “I love people” you mean that you love having to call, email, negotiate, cajole, threaten, give in, do what you are told even if you know it’s the wrong thing only to have to do what you knew was right all along to fix the problem that would never had been a problem if only someone took you seriously, then you are probably a great candidate for this job.
And if you mean by “it looks like so much fun” you really are salivating at the chance to spend 8-10 hours every day and much of your weekend in front of your laptop going through the slogs of email generated by people who have no business sending mails that just clog up your inbox, then be my guest and come on down.

And just in case you are one of the lucky ones to be in our industry, then you will have the incredible opportunity to be a part of some magical things. Just this year alone, our team has already been a part of CES (The Consumer Electronics Show), the world’s largest consumer electronics tradeshow, and the Sundance Film Festival - dedicated year-round to the development of artists of independent vision and to the exhibition of their new work. This month we’ll be assisting a client in their participation in TED (THE exclusive Technology, Entertainment and Design conference) where some of the most talented, inventive and connected people on the planet grant world-changing wishes (for more go to ted.com).

And that is why, after over 20 years in this industry, I am at times simultaneously jaded and in awe of what we do every day. We get to be a part of things that are bigger than ourselves. While we don‘t actually walk on the moon, out there somewhere is a meeting planner who helped get the right people together, in an environment conducive to dreaming that dream and made sure that someone else got the credit.If you are experienced in corporate meeting logistics management and would like to be a part of our incredible team, please email your resume to jobs@rtpevents.com.

PCMA Seattle Tips for Greening Your Meeting

Last week, the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) met in Seattle for their annual educational conference. One of the goals for the 3,400 person, 4-day event was to have a “negative carbon footprint,” or be as environmentally conscious as possible. While the Seattle convention didn’t match PCMA’s 2007 Annual Meeting in Toronto as being a “zero-waste” event, the association and the Washington State Convention and Trade Center (WSCTC) undertook a wide variety of green initiatives for the show.

· To reduce plastic waste, individual bottled water was not served--all attendees were provided with a reusable water bottle to fill at several water stations located throughout the WSCTC.
· The 2008 registration bags, produced by BrandAdvantage, were made from organic jute and recycled nylon. Extra/unwanted bags will be donated to a local charitable organization.
· All trash cans in the PCMA meeting space were removed and replaced with recycle bins.
· Most pre-event marketing was done online or piggy-backed on partner mailings.
· All PCMA Annual Meeting printed material was printed/copied on post-consumer recycled paper.
· Print-on-Demand stations for handouts reduced the paper waste in the concurrent sessions.
· Programs were only distributed to those who requested one.
· Plastic name badges and Expocards were being collected and recycled.
· All excess food were donated to a local food rescue program.
· Menu selection focused on locally grown produce and featured some organic food items free of environment-harming pesticides.
· Live trees were used for décor, centerpieces and as giveaways, to be planted later.
· PCMA’s partners were encouraged to print on recycled paper and to print and ship a reduced quantity of marketing collateral and amenities to reduce waste.
· PCMA collected and stored any unused/excess partner collateral as inventory for future events, thus reducing future print requirements. If partner collateral was not reusable, PCMA said it would recycle it.
· Evaluations for each session were still paper, to better ensure attendee completion.

· According to PCMA, green tactics that have been implemented by the WSCTC include:

· An overhaul of the Center’s lighting system was conducted to replace outdated equipment with new and more-efficient fixtures.
· New touchless faucets and self-flushing toilets were installed to reduce water consumption.
· The WSCTC recycling program recycles paper, wood, metal and plastic products. As a result of the recycling initiative, the WSCTC has recycled: 174 tons of cardboard; 2,460 lbs of aluminum cans or 79,200 individual pop cans; 186 tons of mixed paper, plastic and glass recycled; 12 tons of scrap metal were recycled; an estimated 8,000 wood pallets were shipped to the WSCTC and sent back with the shipper to be reused; all computers and office machines that are updated are recycled; all spent fluorescent bulbs and ballasts are recycled; all spent AA, AAA and 9V batteries are recycled; 3,328 gallons of kitchen grease was recycled and reused by a rendering plant; and 23,968 meals were sent to local charities this past year.
· The WSCTC also partnered with a local company to recycle PCMA meeting banners.
· Buses ran on bio-diesel fuel.

While Seattle, and the Pacific Northwest in general, is considered a leader in the green meetings movement, PCMA said planners should expect a similar level of “greening” at the two upcoming Annual Meetings, held next year in New Orleans and in Dallas in 2010.
Interestingly, PCMA will explore a variety of community-building programs for the New Orleans convention. Attendees are asking if they can come early to the annual meeting on Friday and Saturday to work in community programs to help the people of New Orleans.

Information obtained primarily from Meetings West Magazine online

Coming soon: 2008 Trends from the ISES “The Special Event” international conference in Atlanta, and Entertainer Hiring and Contract Tips.

We’re Not Laughing

What do you do when the hired entertainer is such a bomb or so inappropriate that you have to pull him from the stage? How can you avoid this happening to you?

At a recent sales meeting in Las Vegas this week, the comedian MC was pulled from the stage during the awards program for inappropriate speech and behavior. Not to mention that he was not prepared nor professionally fulfilling his duties. He couldn’t pronounce the company name correctly; he didn’t know anything about the company, its products or personnel and kept telling the audience that; he used swear words even though the client made that taboo, and despite repeated reminders on the teleprompter; the final straw was when he verbally abused an executive on stage, to the point that the executive returned verbal fire.

The microphones went dead, the stage lights went dark and a stage hand escorted the comedian from the stage. Music began to play and the overhead voice indicated that the awards show would resume shortly. What would you do at this point?

Check back next week to see what happened and who the comedian was, plus tips for hiring and prepping entertainers…….

Lucky Strike Lanes Opens in Bellevue, WA

Catherine Springman, our Sales Manager reports on the hot, new venue in Bellevue:

Last night, I attended the grand opening of Lucky Strike Lanes in downtown Bellevue, WA. The lines were long when they first opened at 7 pm, but the people watching was great. This posh bowling alley in Lincoln Square (across from high end shopping mall, Bellevue Square) will surely be popular with the Microsoft and Eddie Bauer crowds working just upstairs in the office tower. It feels like a night club with a forty-foot bar and plush contemporary lounge area, state-of-the-art bowling lanes in a separate area, two billiards tables in yet another small area, as well as a huge VIP Lounge for private parties, with its own bar and four bowling lanes. Huge video screens run films at the end of the bowling lanes, over the pins, which my party of bowlers found distracting. This night, they were showing a nature film with lots of wild animals eating other wild animals. Hmmm, foreshadowing of what was to come for all the 20 and 30-somethings cruising the crowd? P.S. The video system is customizable.

Much nicer than the Denver, CO venue, Lucky Strike Bellevue actually opened to the public last weekend. But they pulled out all the stops for this grand opening with media, City VIP’s (the Mayor and the President of the Bellevue Downtown Association, among others), event and hospitality industry guests and assorted beautiful people. They flew in experienced staff from their Hollywood location, including a dj who spun tunes from the permanent booth (but no dance floor), and hired models in tiny black dresses. The service and the food were great. The appetizers were a hearty size, and they had some imaginative nods at the stereotypical bowling fare, like fried macaroni and cheese balls. Our favorite were the bowls of self-serve molten brownies with whip cream! We hung out in the VIP room, where they served us giant drinks, brought us brand-new bowling shoes and taught us the high-tech automatic score machine. This baby even measures the speed at which you throw your ball! The balls – they were the wildest bowling balls I’ve ever seen – were psychedelic, transparent, and crazy colors. This is not your papa’s bowling alley!

The drawbacks I saw were that the areas are very separate, so non-bowlers cannot sit at the bar or in the lounge area and watch the bowlers or the billiards. There isn’t much room for spectators in either of those areas. Again, the videos above the bowling lanes are distracting, all guests must be 21 years of age or older after 8:00 pm, and it is pricey. On weekends, bowling costs $65-75 per person per hour between 5 pm and 2:00 am. Shoe rental is $4.50 and billiards are $14 per hour after 5:00 pm. On the plus side, the pricing and the dress code should keep out the “riff raff” and keep the venue upscale and nicely maintained. Parties of 8-24 guests run $55-70 per person, including drinks, food, bowling and shoes, depending on the package. Private parties are available for groups of 25+. For more details and contact information, visit http://www.bowlluckystrike.com/