Meeting News - September 21, 2009 - (Page 13)

S e p t e m b e r 2 1 , 2 0 0 9 Vo l u m e 3 3 , N u m b e r 1 2 Corporate/Sales Nella Veldran, Vice President, Travel Group Phone: (646) 654-7325 Southeast/Mid-Atlantic/Ohio Larry Mischik, Ad Director/Account Manager 3054 Four Oaks Drive, Atlanta, GA 30360 Phone: (770) 604-9641 By Michael B. Baker mbaker@meetingnews.com Event Profile to be torn down and ours set up on Sunday,” Thomas said.“Everything had to be timed precisely, so it really tests your abilities. Everyone was on board, through lots of meetings, lots of e-mails and no miscommunication.” Thomas accomplished much of the rest of the design through Internet conference calls, never meeting the corporate players for the event in person until the day before it happened. For the floral arrangements, which included white Hawaiian orchids and calla lilies, Thomas provided sample arrangement photos to the event director, who solicited final approval from Audi’s global headquarters in Germany. Extremely short lead time for detailed corporate events “happens more often than you’d think,” according to Thomas, but those instances have become even more frequent this year. “This year has just astonished me,” she said. “People are just waiting until the very last minute to book, and then they’re booking very large events.” That is beginning to move in the other direction, she said.“2010 is going to be completely different than 2009,” Thomas said.“We already have a lot on the books and reserved for the year.” Thomas also offered budgeting tips for companies planning events in which design is a centerpiece. Floral décor, she said, should make up at least 10 percent of an event budget, and up to 20 percent of a budget if the arrangements are a top priority, she said. Companies also are paying more attention to lighting, and Thomas recommended that companies plan to budget between 5 percent and 10 percent of the overall cost for that element. Even with the short lead time, Thomas said Audi ultimately was pleased by the event. In fact, one of the Audi team members told her that the event set the bar high for the other cities that the company would be visiting as part of the campaign, she said. “One of the directors said we blew it for the other cities,” Thomas said. “Cleveland was the first stop and had the nicest party, so they were very happy.” H September 21, 2009 MeetingNews 13 N.Y./N.J./New England/Bermuda/Caribbean Diane DiMaggio, International Advertising Director 770 Broadway, NY, NY 10003; Phone: (646) 654-7332 As Clock Ticks, Planner Redesigns Audi’s Space Event designer Heather Thomas has become accustomed to dealing with shorter lead times for corporate events, but a recent event for Audi of America, which required a quick overhaul of an event venue, put her scheduling skills to the test. The Herndon, Va.-based Audi of America last fall embarked on a 14-day cross-country cam- Florida/Cruise Arthur Hyman, Associate Publisher/Account Manager 1267 Via Fiume, Boynton Beach, FL 33436 Phone: (561) 736-5374 CA/HI/Colorado/Arizona/Nevada/N.M. Sharon Freeark, Account Manager 2950 31st St., Ste. 100, Santa Monica, CA 90405-3037 Phone: (626) 578-0700; Fax: (626) 578-0720 Digital Sales Jared Smith, National Account Manager 770 Broadway, NY, NY 10003; Phone: (646) 654-5520 International Diane DiMaggio, International Advertising Director 770 Broadway, NY, NY 10003; Phone: (646) 654-7332 Diane.Dimaggio@nielsen.com Canada Cyndy Fleming,Publicitas APR 468 Queen St. E, Toronto, ON M5A 1T7 Phone: (416) 363-1388 Cyndy.Fleming@Publicitas.com Western office: Rosalind Genge, Publicitas APR 1281 W. Georgia St., 502, Vancouver, BC V6E 3J7 Phone: (604) 688-5914; Fax: (604) 689-0703 Rosalind.Genge@Publicitas.com Mexico & Latin America Veronica Castro, CASS Media Corina No 31-B; Col. Del Carmen Coyoacan, Mexico, DF 04100 Phone: 52-55/5605-1757 veronicacastro@cassmedia.com Singapore Lavender Tan, Al Media 733 Bukit timah Road #03-05, Singapore 269748 Phone: (65) 6469-9321; Fax: (65)6469-8028 lavtan@signet.com.sg Heather Thomas and her out-of-state tent for Audi paign, called the Mileage Marathon, designed to showcase the auto manufacturer’s fuel efficiency standards. For the event’s Cleveland stop, Audi’s event logistics firm Presentation Works called on Thomas’ firm, HeatherLily, to design the event. The two-day event, an evening dinner reception and subsequent breakfast based at Cleveland’s Glidden House Hotel, required floral, lighting, table designs and the most challenging element: a large clearspan tent that could hold up to 100 guests, which at the time was not available in Cleveland. “I was given a total of about three-and-a-half weeks, which is not a lot of time when having to work with a tent company from another state,” Thomas said.“Cleveland was a last-minute add-on, so that’s why there was such short notice.” Thomas was able to find the tent through a Chicago-based company but still had to fly in an expediter to get the necessary permits approved by the city of Cleveland. To complicate matters, the hotel was hosting a wedding the weekend before the event, leaving little time for set-up. “The wedding was on Saturday, so their tent had Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines Annie Blanchard & Assoc Unit 9A #8 Wack Wack Rd. Condo-minium, Wack Wack Rd., Greenhills E, Mandaluyong City 1550, Metro Manila, Philippines Phone: (632) 646-2497; Fax: (632) 647-1853 abaltd@skyinet.net Korea Jung-Won Suh, Sinsegi Media Inc. 4-13, Yoick-dong, Kandungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea 150-890 Phone: +82 2 3275 5969; Fax: +82 2 785 8225 sinsegi-2@sinsegimemdia.info Japan Hiroko Kujime, Pacific Business, Inc. Matsuda Building, 2-4-6 Nihonbashi Kayabacho Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0025; Phone 81-3-3661-6138 Fax: 81-3-3661-6139; Kujime-pbi@gol.com Taiwan Ye Chang & Paula Liu, Epoch Ltd 3F-4, 189 eelung Road, Section 2, Taipei 11054, Taiwan Phone: +886-223-779108 epoch.paula@msa.hinet.net, epoch.ye@msa.hinet.net Spain Luis Andrade, Luis Andrade Publicidad Internacional Plaza Descubridor Diego de Ordas 1, Madrid, 28003, Spain Phone: +34-91-441-6266, Fax: +34-91-441-6549 LAndrade@luisandrade.com Portugal Paulo Andrade, Ilimitada Media International Av. Eng. Duarte Pacheco; Amoreiras Torre 2, Piso 5 Sala 1, Lisbon, 1070102, Portugal Phone: 351-21-385-3598/45; Fax: 351-21-388-3283, PAndrade@ilimitadapub.com www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - September 21, 2009

Meeting News - September 21, 2009

Contents
Pricing Forecast
Newsmaker
Meetings Spotlight
Event Profile

Meeting News - September 21, 2009

Meeting News - September 21, 2009 -

Meeting News - September 21, 2009

(Page Cover1)
Meeting News - September 21, 2009 -

Meeting News - September 21, 2009