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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 […]
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Disneyland Grand Californian
Anaheim, CA Overview: Located in the heart of Downtown Disney the Grand hotel is the upscale cousin to the original Disneyland Hotel. Ballrooms: The Sequoia ballroom is very nice and is located in an enclosed conference section, which also includes many of the breakout rooms. The enclosed space includes a couple of registration desks as well as a […]
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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 […]
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Disneyland
Anaheim, CA Overview: Who doesn’t love Disney? We have produced multiple meetings at the Disneyland hotel in all of the ballrooms. The event staff is responsive, the ballrooms are a good size and the attendees always seem to respond well to the property. Ballrooms: The Magic Kingdom and Disneyland ballrooms (as well as the Disneyland Exhibit Hall) all […]
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Brian Regan
Type: Entertainment, Comedian Pros: He is very funny. His style is similar to Jim Gaffigan’s and he had the audience laughing the entire time. His performance is very much like a typical standup performance so it works well for a large audience. Brian is known for being one of the “clean” comedians, so the typical concerns about […]
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The Three Painters
Type: Opening act, speed painting Pros: The audience enters to a blank, dark canvas and within a couple of minutes three painters create a masterpiece. The painting starts with a series of brush strokes and over time grows to be a full caricature portrait of a famous person. As an option, one of the painters […]
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Improve your Site Surveys
Conducting a Standard Site Survey When an event planner conducts a site inspection and evaluates a property, they often try to look at the property through the eyes of an event attendee. What does the lobby look like and is it clean? Is the front-of-house staff friendly and attentive? What does a typical guest room look like? […]
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Hilton Anatole
Dallas, TX Overview: I have heard that this is one of the busiest conference hotels in the Hilton chain, and after working here I believe it. This is a very large property so it has some quirks that can definitely influence the success of an event, but that size also makes it a great hotel for […]
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Mark King
Type: Keynote Pros: Mark is not someone who we see very often at events. There always seem to be a couple of “hot” speakers every year who either present at the meetings we produce or are on the short list to be a presenter. Our client identified Mark as a presenter with a good message who they […]
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Importance of Technical Site Surveys
There are too many occasions when we (as the production company) have to convince clients to allow us to conduct a technical site visit. I had a fascinating exchange with a conference service manager (CSM) on a recent site visit that helped prove why these site surveys are so important. We were hired to manage […]
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Managing the Rock Band Sound
Whenever clients hire rock bands for corporate shows, we always add a drum shield onto the equipment list. These are almost never on riders and many bands hate them, but when the lead singer, production manager and most importantly the client hears how loud the percussion sounds in a corporate ballroom, the hate quickly goes away. […]
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Tri-Marq Sponsors Lanyon Live 2015
Lanyon Live featured informative, inspirational speeches from some of the meeting planning industry’s leading minds and most compelling personalities. The latest trends in the meetings, events, travel, and hotel industries were discussed while picking up best practices that inspired everyone. The event was held at the Fairmont Dallas, Dallas TX. Tri-Marq Communications, Inc. was honored […]
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The “Five Minute Drill” with Old Rock Bands
We have had the interesting experience with a couple of rock rands from the 60’s and 70’s who still think it is “cool” to make the audience wait in anticipation for their grand entrance on stage. At a recent corporate event, the stage manager for a “rock band” listened to the rehearsed band introduction by […]
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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 […]
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Mike Eruzione
Type: Keynote, Captain of 1980 Olympic Hockey team Pros: I have worked with Mike Eruzione a number of times as a keynote or featured speaker. On every occasion, you can feel the excitement and energy coming from the audience when he talks about the 1980 Olympic Hockey team. Mike always connects the presentation to the theme […]
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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 […]
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When the Band Van Breaks Down
The Saturday afternoon before a large corporate show that we were producing, I looked down to see my cell phone ringing—not always a good thing this close to a show. The call was from the production manager for the band scheduled to be the Tuesday night entertainment. Three previous calls had planned this part of the show […]
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But No Brown M&Ms
Rock bands have long been famous with their specific and lengthy backstage requirements. These demands are found in a rider attached to their contract and can detail anything from a band’s snacking needs to lighting and sound equipment requirements. This list of requirements can be short or can go on for pages—in perhaps the most […]
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Loews Chicago O’Hare Hotel
Rosemont, IL Overview: This is a very nice property that has been recently totally remodeled. Its management is very event friendly and understands what it takes to put on a good show. There are four medium sized ballrooms and plenty of breakout rooms. Ballroom: Ballrooms and breakout rooms are divided into two sections on either side […]
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Steve Forbes
Type: Keynote Pros: When it comes to the topics of business and economics, the name Steve Forbes carries a ton of name recognition. His presentation was focused on the economy but he did mix in a few interesting stories about politics. He did a question and answer session and answered every question very directly. One note, the […]
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Stuart Varney
Type: Economist/Moderator Pros: As a Fox Business analyst, Stuart Varney will be well known by many attendees—especially those who follow business news closely. We have worked with Stuart as both a keynote economist and as a panel moderator. Stuart is intelligent, entertaining and very quick on his feet. As an economist he mixes economic forecasting and news […]
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Sugar Ray Leonard
Type: Keynote Pros: He is an energetic speaker who entertains the audience with fascinating stories about his life as an Olympic and professional boxer. He also tells a number of “behind the scenes” stories about his life and fights. Ray uses a number of videos to create a visual timeline of his successes in both the […]
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John Foley
Type: Keynote Pros: I have to admit that I didn’t know who John Foley was before his keynote, and had never seen him on any of our clients’ keynote lists. After seeing his presentation I have to wonder why I haven’t seen him before. John mixes stories with leadership insight into a high energy, entertaining and informative […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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When Failure Leads to Success
Five minutes into the CEO’s presentation, one of the projectors on a two-screen widescreen blend went out. Half of a 60-foot wide and 20-foot high screen went black, and somehow this event was still a success. The elapsed time from the moment the projector failed to the point that the entire back-up scenario was in […]
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The Roosevelt Hotel
New Orleans, LA Overview: The Roosevelt is a Waldorf Astoria property in the heart of the French Quarter. The lobby, guest rooms and restaurants are what you would expect from a Waldorf hotel: historic, expensive and a little small. Ballroom: The main ballroom, The Roosevelt Ballroom, is around 18,000 square feet and it can be divided into sections. For […]
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Brian Beaulieu
Type of Speaker: Economist, ITR Economics Pros: I have the opportunity to see a lot of economists speak, as they are popular at corporate events. Often we will see the same economist “flavor of the month” at many conferences, but Brian Beaulieu was a new name to me, and I was very impressed with his presentation. He […]
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My Guide to Working with Non-Professional Talent
by Amy Wrobel, Producer Telling a compelling story typically requires a good storyteller. For some shoots, we’ll hire professional talent, on-camera, or voice actors to carry the message, but in other situations, it’s better to use real people. Real people–that’s what we ‘in the biz’ call anyone who’s not professional, paid talent. Using non-professional talent […]