Successful Meetings - July 2008 - (Page 20)

Planner Spotlight > Sean Basinski Vendy Awards, New York, NY A Moveable Feast Take a hearty helping of oxtail stew, add a dash of yogurt sauce and some pork-and-pineapple tacos, throw in a few hundred foodies and a handful of celebrity judges, and what do you get? The Vendy Awards, an annual Iron Chef-style cook-off among purveyors of New York City’s best street eats. Though the Vendys have been one of the city’s the complex committee structure, adopted last year, whereby the Vendys are organized by a group of 20 to 25 volunteers, each responsible for a different area, from sponsorship to music to logistics to judges. FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD Here’s how the Vendys work: First, thousands of New Yorkers submit nominations to the Street Vendor Project for the city’s best food vendors; given New York’s ethnic diversity and the fact that vendors tend to be immigrants, cuisines range from Caribbean to Middle Eastern to Asian, with nary a dirty-water dog or soft pretzel represented. Basinski and others tally the five most nominated, who set up their carts at the location (this year, a state park in Brooklyn) and go mano a mano whipping up the best dishes of their native lands. After attendees have stuffed themselves silly for five hours, the winner is Past Vendy winner Samiul chosen by a panel of judges—a mix of Haque Noor prepares his local celebrities, foodies, and the odd spicey Halal dishes; politician—who present him or her with above, Sean Basinski the Silver Vendy Cup. “It doesn’t matter who wins. It’s just a fun competition,” most popular food events since their 2005 launch, says Basinski, though he admits that winners tend the contest was actually conceived as a way to to expand their businesses as a result. help local sidewalk vendors. “It was the day after BON APPETIT Basinski begins planning nine the Grammys, and we’d been thinking of doing a months out and works his way up to 12-hour workfundraiser anyway,” explains Sean Basinski, days the week before the event. “In a way, this founder and director of the Street Vendor Project, overshadows the rest of our work,” he says. “For an advocacy group representing New York’s instance, I’m supposed to be getting out court 10,000-plus pushcart peddlers. “Now it seems like papers, yet here I am taking calls about the everyone I talk to knows about the Vendys, even if Vendys.” they don’t know us or the work we do.” But he doesn’t regret it. “People really appreciSuccess has been a boon and a bane. The ate that this is a grassroots event organized by Vendys have mushroomed from a party planned by local volunteers. You could make the case that the Basinski (a lawyer and former street-food vendor public only associates our organization with the himself) and “a couple of friends” to a phenomenon Vendys now, but we’ve built a funding source and that draws international media coverage. In the improved the image of vendors, so we’ve been process, he has gained both a steady revenue very successful.” —By Sara J. Welch stream and several organizational headaches, Does your meeting deserve to be in the Spotlight? Write chief among them the ever-changing venue (“We’d us at vince.alonzo@nielsen.com, and you could be profiled in SM. love to find a permanent location”). Then there’s mimegasite.com JULY 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS VENDY AWARDS Tickets: $60 in advance, $75 at door Man-hours required to plan: 800 Attendees: 500 PHOTO: A.P. WIDE WORLD / BEBETO MATTEWS 20 http://mimegasite.com

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Successful Meetings - July 2008 Contents Editor's Note Industry Trends Suppliers Newsmakers On the Record Technology Newsmakers Calendar Planner Spotlight Management Matters Meetings Law Websites of the Month Mouth for Sale Pre-Event On Site Tools of the Trade Pre-Event Initial Success Strong Medicine Risky Business Places & Spaces Birmingham Kentucky Georgia & the Carolinas Hong Kong Melbourne Gurus

Successful Meetings - July 2008

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