Courage, Love and a Reality Check

At the end of the clip, one of the judges says, “It just makes everything you worry about…just.. so pathetic.” 

Yep.

Another gem sent to the Sunshine Club from my mom…

The world needs more mothers like her and Emanuel’s mum.

 

‘Those Who Choose To Make A Difference’- The Sunshine Club Salutes Randy Bartlett and The ADJA

Earlier this year, I featured my good friend, Randy Bartlett, here on the MMP Blog to promote his latest DVD release, “Behind The Scenes.”

He is already well-known by the mobile entertainment industry and his clients as an extremely talented Master of Ceremonies, Wedding Entertainment Director and Keynote Speaker; but the fact that he has a serious philanthropic side to complement the wit and wisdom he shares with the world might be news to many.

Last month, Bartlett, who serves as the President of the Sacramento Chapter of the American Disc Jockey Association, raised over $20,000 for Shriners Hospitals for Children in a collaborative effort with his team and the Granite Bay Golf Club. Shriners provides world class medical care for children, at no charge.  Many of these children are burn victims, have orthopedic & spinal cord injuries or cleft lip and palate.

Randy shared a few of his thoughts…

“We are all lucky to work in a profession that we love so much, where we earn a living celebrating with people on some of the greatest days of their lives.  From simple birthday parties, to Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, school dances and holiday parties, we provide the entertainment that allows us to help others forget their worries and just enjoy life.

While we’re doing this, life goes on for others and unfortunately, it isn’t always happiness and joy.  There are countless organizations out there whose sole purpose is to raise much needed funds to deal with everything from stray cats to cancer, all worthy causes that touch each of us in different ways.

It’s said that “with great fortune comes great responsibility” and I feel very fortunate to have a profession that allows me to experience such joy with my clients.  With some other great like-minded people in the Sacramento Chapter of the ADJA, we’ve produced fund raising events in four out the last five years that have allowed us to give back some of our great fortune.

From our first effort in 2007, when we raised $2,600 for a local animal rescue facility called Happy Tails, to our latest effort, just completed on October 23-24, 2011, for Shriners Hospitals for Children, we have doubled our funds raised each year, this year reaching the $20,000 mark!”

Bartlett hopes the actions of the Sacramento Chapter will inspire other ADJA chapters and like-minded individuals to pay it forward.  

If you’d like to find out more information or inquire about making a donation, please visit www.golf4shriners.com.

Kudos for choosing to make a difference Randy.  Good on you my friend.

 

 

Fun, Style and Glamour: Colin Cowie Inspires The Special Event Glitterati at Biz Bash 2011

I’ve seen his impressive work on T.V and in magazines.  I’ve heard Oprah Winfrey sing his praises.  Now, thanks to the Biz Bash team, I’ve had the opportunity to catch Colin Cowie’s latest keynote presentation at this year’s expo in Manhattan.  One word…  WOW!

Not only is his portfolio uber-spectacular, he’s got the whole James Bond accent and personality-thing goin’ for him too.  This is especially notable when Cowie describes all of his favorite things with the textbook pronunciation of things like “Du Jour.”  For my fellow fashionistas out there, you’ll be happy to know that he dresses the part as well.  Like my friend, Michael Cerbelli, he represents the total package.

Whether or not you share my man-crush, there’s no denying the quality of the content and wisdom that Colin shared with the packed house.   These were a few of his tweetable moments…

“Fun, Style and Glamour rule my life.”

“If there is anybody who fuels the party, other than the DJ, it’s the mixologist.  “

“Bring value back through customer service.”

“Deliver Proactive service vs. Reactive service.   Always be thinking what they could be thinking.”

“Nothing happens without great teamwork and communication.”

‘Set one another up for success.”

“Passion is the fuel that helps us stand out from everybody else.”

Colin has launched a new empire called Colin Cowie Weddings.  If you are in the special events industry, you probably want to keep it on your radar, twitter feed and speed dial.

 

Rewinding to the first seminar of the day… Maneesh Goyal, President and Founder of MKG and Robin Hall, Vice President of Macy’s Parade kicked things off with “The Big Idea Workshop.”  They focused on brand building via ideation, propagation, amplification and ‘finessing the message’ once it’s out of your hands.  Maneesh, who was noticeably articulate and polished in his delivery, mentioned how he’ll sometimes just simply hop on youtube for inspiration.  If you heard some of his ideas, like a philanthropic take on My Super Sweet 16 or his Times Square Fashion Show, you went home after the expo and put “watch more youtube” on your daily to-do list.  Maneesh, like my friend, Jason Jani from SCE Event Group, stressed the importance of event capture so your brand can “live beyond” the actual event.

Robin Hall, who offered a healthy dose of laughter throughout his conversational contributions, gave our group of early risers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look into the world famous Macy’s Day Parade. Just the weather-related logistics, police and sanitation management, city permits, and dealing with the Mayor’s special event committee alone would be enough to scare away most producers… But the fact that Hall doesn’t really have to work with a budget while producing this event (which is pretty much unheard of), he keeps coming back to put together a magical day for the world to enjoy.

You’d think that Macy’s would be the gig that he enjoys the most or finds the most rewarding.  When in fact, Hall told us an endearing anecdote regarding a 100 year-old pipe organ from Philadelphia that he says is the “most gratifying” and “culturally significant” project he’s involved with.  Check out the Knight Foundation or Random Acts of Culture and you’ll know why.

A few tweetable moments from Maneesh and Robin…

“Newness is a requirement.”

“You have to be in touch with what’s next in technology.”

“Be authentic, be humble, produce results and make it happen.”

Marcy Blum was definitely my favorite femme-power presenter of the day.  Her wit and wisdom shined through in the next seminar which highlighted the 10 Essential Characteristics of the Successful Hybrid Planner.  They included a proficiency in Sales, Customer Service, Concept Development, Scheduling, Staffing, Training, Marketing, Entertainment, Protocol, & Technical  Experience. Blum’s subject matter is what MMP’s success is based on… The versatility and diversification to produce and provide the entertainment for both social and corporate events.

Blum shared how her hybrid resume enables her to cater to a bride, bat mitzvah mother and corporate CEO all in the same week.  Although each client demands a specific skill set, many of the paramount variables cross over.  Things like, “thinking things through from beginning to end,” knowing how to design an effective “run of show,” and the importance of investing in your own team.  “They are your ambassadors.”

Marcy also mentioned a cool color detection app called LUPE.  Kinda-like Shazam, which is when you hold up your phone when a song is playing to get the name and artist… LUPE gives you the ability to record and identify a color that inspires you.  (Marcy shared how she saw an orange on a passing F-Train that she thought had some potential for a future event).

As a fellow ‘run of show’ creator and production time-line producer, I love the clause that Blum puts on her event agendas…  “This is just an approximate time line, this event will take on a life of its own and we’ll deal with it.”  Love it!

Book and Viewing Recommendations from Marcy…

-The Mind Map Book- by Barry Buzan

-The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence- by Thomas Peters

-Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions- by Guy Kawasaki

-The Thank You Economy- by Gary Vee (featured here on the MMP Blog earlier this year)

-The T.E.D Conference: Ideas Worth Spreading-  (plenty of quality clips are available on youtube)

Rockin’ skinny jeans, kicks and a hoodie, Scott Heifferman, from Meetup.com, began his presentation by doing something very unique.  He actually got everyone to stand up, put their iPads and smartphones down, and talk to each for 2 minutes.  It was pretty funny.  Some people enjoyed the stretch, some people enjoyed the impromptu conversation, and some people actually froze up when they remembered the harsh reality that you can’t hide behind your screen forever… you need to be “social” to succeed in life.  And not just in the ‘media’ sense of the terminology.

Scott’s site connects a gazillion people interested in the same thing.  Everybody from the Occupy Wall Street folks, to new moms, to anyone looking to stir up some community vibes.  He showed us a live feed of people posting and it looked like the national debt clock in New York City.  The posts just kept coming and coming and the number of users kept rising and rising.  You could really feel the energy of all that potential power whizzing by.

Tweetable moments from Heifferman…

“There’s something about face-to-face that’s really powerful.”

“In the 20^th century, we over-industrialized and de-personalized.  In the 21^st century, people are turning to each other.”

“The days of 1 guy talking to a bunch of people the whole time are over.  People are hungry.  They want to talk to each other. Think circles instead of rows.”

The expo floor was once again chock-full of display booths featuring some intriguing concepts and trends to share with your clients.  Some of my favorites are featured below in the encore gallery.  *Since MMP  has  such a dog-loving clientele, I want to give special mention to a handsome Yorkie, Schmitty the Weather Dog, who I met and fell in love with.   He has an upcoming fashion show at the New Yorker Hotel on February 10, 2012 to benefit the Angel On A Leash Foundation. 

It was great to reconnect with colleagues and ‘meet up’ with some new potential co-collaborators.   It was a pleasure seeing Cathi Culbertson from Forbes, Chenoa Johnson from The Patron Spirits Company, Tina Volz Bongar from Bongar Biz, Tammy Polatsek from Carmona New York & Co., Marc Posnock from Pink Inc. Design, Annette Naif from Annette Naif Events, Dyann Klein, Louis Sanders and Harian Silverstein from PropsnSpoon, Anabel Felix & Amanda Uhlein from Grosh, Alice Conway from Stratford University, Christina Berrios from Event Details, Inc., Alexandra Garvey from NYU, Dominic Francia, William Adams and Daniel McGurk from Classic Sportswear, Ivan Cordero from Heartland Brewery, Nick Saava from Dazian, Rob Necegra and Dennis Finnegan from Nice Uplights, Maher Salem, Salaheddine Benyoussef, Yousesef Alaoui & Zineb Atouani from Moroccan Prestige, Kerri Galaton and Kellie Brielmair from The National Constitution Center, Richard Liebert and Craig Alexander from Atlantis, Caryn Oberstein from Wizard Studios,

Mr. Ceido from Ice Sculpture Designs, Jigs from The London Candy Group, Alexis Ufland from Sparty, and finally, my study buddy for the day, Zi-Yun Ding- a former opera singer Taiwan here studying event management here at NYU.

Special thanks to Richard Aaron, President of Biz Bash Media, and David Adler, Founder and CEO of Biz Bash Media, for their hospitality.  They provided me with press access and accommodations in one of the Javitz Center’s green rooms.    The whole day the V.I.P’s were talking about how important it is to make sure your guests are comfortable and happy… kudos to the Biz Bash team for doing just that.  See you next year,

 

 

 

Encore Gallery:

MMP Entertainment Rocks the Boat: Danielle’s Sea Cruise Bat Mitzvah at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club

It was great to be back at one of our favorite New Jersey venues, The Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club, for Danielle’s Bat Mitzvah!  Not only does the club offer a gorgeous golf course view, an elegantly-appointed ballroom and fine dining- it features one of the most important components necessary for a successful celebration… An expert team of catering professionals.

Led by banquet manager, Barbara Bogado, who we’ve been fortunate to be working with for years, the Fiddler’s team is totally on point when it comes to facilitating a seamless time line and overall event flow.  Barbara’s desire to give her clients the best experience possible via exceptional hospitality and entertainment is right in line with MMP’s professional approach.  We’re looking forward to our next collaboration.

Danielle and her friends enjoyed our interactive game show and Minute To Win It tournament during the cocktail hour.  They also had a blast with the “Make Your Own Cd” Super Star Karaoke booth and a photo station during the reception in between the dance sets.

Speaking of dancing, there was no shortage of happy guests shakin’ their groove thing out on the dance floor throughout the celebration.  The Koslow’s were fans of everything from classic rock  to the 80′s and 70′s funk to all the way to the current hits of today.

It was definitely a textbook evening of multi-generational music programming which allows all of your guests preferences to be catered to.  This,  along controlling the volume, (an MMP Staple)  so none of your guests have leave the room to avoid a head ache,  makes for a very pleasantly-entertaining  evening.

Since Danielle’s had a cruise ship theme and they upgraded to our Signature event package, we created personalized video graphics with actual footage of tropical fish swimming under the sea that played on our plasma screens as we gave out authentic Captain’s hats to all the guest wanted to take their Sea Cruise experience up a notch.

As you can see from the candid photos that we took and later showed on the screens during the final dance set, Danielle and her family and friends had a fantastic voyage.  It was an honor to be a part of their crew and help navigate the evening’s festivities.  -mp

Encore Gallery:

Her Vision? “A 1950′s Supper Club” – Our Pleasure! YOUR Wedding, YOUR Way: Wendy and Roger Reunite at Perona Farms

When you can sing a love song as well as Barbara Streisand and you want your wedding to be one-of-a-kind, treat your husband to a concert-worthy vocal performance during the ceremony and then return to the spotlight later in the reception for an encore.     Not only was Wendy a beautiful bride on the inside and out, she had an equally striking voice.  And it turns out, so did half of the guest list.     Knowing this, Wendy came to MMP with a very clear vision…  she wanted her wedding to feel and sound like a 1950′s Supper Club.

If you go by the Wikipedia definition, a Supper Club wedding is one of our specialties when it comes to production-based events- and the venue Roger and Wendy chose, Perona Farms, was the ideal location.

A Supper Club, in general, refers to a dining establishment that also functions as a social club.  Supper Clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to all. These establishments typically are located on the edge of town in rural areas. They were traditionally thought of as a “destination” where patrons would go to spend the whole evening, from cocktail hour to enjoying night club style entertainment after dinner. They feature a casual and relaxed atmosphere.

Wendy’s vision and desired ambiance sure made for some refreshingly-sophisticated and elegantly-fun music programming.  I was able to spin some tracks that don’t normally make the play list.   Their requests included Shaynee Rainbolt‘s- Stuff Like That There, Peggy Lee‘s- That’s My Style, Ella Fitzgerald‘s- You Do Something To Me, Melinda Doolittle‘s- I’m A Woman, and the duet by Jamie Foxx and Beyoncé – When I First Saw You.

People ask me all the time, “we have a loved one that recently passed away and we’d like to recognize them during our wedding… what do you recommend?”   One of my favorite tributes is a butterfly release.    Unfortunately, Wendy and Roger had two special family members to honor.  Wendy’s brother and Roger’s father.  After the ceremony, we directed everyone outside to where the cocktail hour was taking place.   Pastor Hamlin said a few words about each honoree and then a short prayer.  The butterflies were released in their memory.  It was a very moving experience.   **FYI  The delivery, transport and release of live butterflies takes great care, coordination and attention to detail.  Please consider this and do your homework before you decide to include this at your special event.

When the budget permits, we always recommend live musicians to compliment the DJ Entertainment.  Wendy and Roger were fortunate to have their good friend, Robert, not only start off the ceremony with a cool acoustic version of Train’s Marry Me, but to perform an hour of some classic jazz standards during cocktails.  He even came back on after dinner with an awesome rendition of Paul McCartney’s My Love to re-open the dance floor.

Since I have a really solid relationship with my mom, and she happens to live 2 miles up the road, I always appreciate it when I see another son’s genuine love for his mother.  When Cameron, Wendy’s son, stepped up to the mic during the ceremony, most of the guests probably anticipated a few, quick, generically Hallmark-sounding sentiments to be delivered.  Instead, to everyone’s delight, including yours truly, Cameron offered up a genuine, heart-felt dedication to his mom that she and everyone else who heard it will never forget.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my dear friend, and fellow Wedding Entertainment Director from Virginia, Elisabeth Scott Daley.   Due to her busy event schedule, she was already booked when Roger and Wendy called her to provide the entertainment so she was kind enough to refer my services.   Not only is Elisabeth an in-demand wedding entertainment professional, she’s also a former Broadway performer who can swoon with the best of them.   During the reception, Daley belted out a studio quality rendition of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s version of John Lennon’s smash hit, Grow Old With Me, and dedicated it to Wendy and Roger.

One of my favorite racing expressions has always been, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that really counts.”    This philosophy transcends athletics and relates perfectly to event direction.  Wendy and Roger’s celebration got off to a great start, had a solid second act, and then thanks to the song… Day-O by Harry Belafonte, the Grand Finale was worthy of an encore.  I found out ahead of time that Wendy and Roger were going to Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea for their Honeymoon… so to get everybody in the mood for a piña colada on a gorgeous tropical island, we had the entire guest list on the dance floor smiling and singing their hearts out with the newlyweds.    “Daylight come and we wanna go home.”    I love my job. 

Special thanks to Ron Francis, Banquet Manager from Perona Farms, for his hospitality and professionalism.   Ron was instrumental in making sure that the celebration had a smooth flow to it from start to finish.   He was also kind enough to let us keep all of the equipment that we brought in  for the ceremony rehearsal and microphone sound check set up at the venue.  This saved us several hours of labor the next day and we greatly appreciated it.

I also want to extend my gratitude to Eric Kazmirek and Elisabeth, who graciously shared their photos for this entry.  -mp

 

Liner Notes: Wendy and Roger met a long time ago but each decided to take a different exit on the highway of life.  Then, 31 years later, their mutual friend, Sheri Burton, who originally introduced them, put them back in touch with each other.  Sheri flew all the way from Tuscon, Arizona, to be a part of the big day and got special mention during the personalized grand entrance.

Classy Move:    At many weddings, brides and grooms will spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars on a little trinket or some type of commemorative swag for their guests to take home.  In most cases, this stuff finds its way into the garbage or the bottom of a box in the basement somewhere.  Think about it for a second… do people really need another wallet-size photo frame or a few fancy chocolates?   In lieu of a gift for each of their guests, Wendy and Roger made a generous donation to the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.  Nice!!!

Encore Gallery:

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