How To Maintain Peak Performance: Round 2, with Marcello Pedalino and Friends at the Randolph YMCA

The Celebrate Life Series continues with another installment of “Peak Performance.”

When your discerning clientele expects nothing less than stellar service and the best possible performance you can deliver throughout their entertainment experience; staying fit is not only helpful… it’s mandatory.

In addition to a healthy diet and a strong focus on a lifestyle that promotes balance, happiness and fulfillment; a regular wellness routine is paramount for maintaining an optimum fitness level.

Once again, a few friends from the special events industry made the trip up to my “gym,” The Randolph YMCA, for a fun little workout. Bobby Carpenter from Main Event Weddings, Davide Fuoco and  Mike Walter from Elite Entertainment, Vincent Velasquez from Hurricane Productions and Dave Nase from New Jersey’s Best Dj’s joined me for a high-energy afternoon.

We did a few of my favorite core training circuits, boxing drills, tractor tire exercises, plyometric routines and even a little TRX courtesy of the Y’s phenomenal Group Fitness Coordinator, Kathy Lamia.   We also utilized the Y’s incredible aquatic center for some deep water verticals, endurance finning and their awesome underwater treadmills.

*Having an ever-evolving, diversified wellness program and surrounding yourself with fabulous people to keep you motivated, accountable and on track– is the key if you want to continue waking up early in the mornings and maintain peak performance levels.

Special thanks to Bill Lamia and Kathy Fisher from the Randolph YMCA for welcoming my colleagues to their impressive facility. We’re looking forward to our next session.

Health and Happiness,

Rock That Body: How To Maintain Peak Performance

When your discerning clientele expects nothing less than stellar service and the best possible performance you can deliver throughout their entertainment experience; staying fit is not only helpful… it’s mandatory.

In addition to a healthy diet and a strong focus on a lifestyle that promotes balance, happiness and fulfillment; a regular wellness routine is paramount for maintaining an optimum fitness level.

A few friends from the special events industry made the trip up to my “gym,” The Randolph YMCA, for a fun little workout. Bobby Carpenter from Main Event Weddings, Mike Walter from Elite Entertainment and Vincent Velasquez from Hurricane Productions joined me and one of my regular workout partners, Carlos, (El Toro) for a high-energy afternoon.

We did a few of my favorite core training circuits, boxing drills, medicine ball exercises and plyometric routines. We also utilized the Y’s incredible aquatic center for some deep water verticals, finning and their awesome underwater treadmills.

*Having an ever-evolving, diversified wellness program and surrounding yourself with fabulous people to keep you motivated, accountable and on track– is the key if you want to continue waking up early in the mornings and maintain peak performance levels.

Special thanks to Bill Lamia and Kathy Fischer from the Randolph YMCA for welcoming my colleagues to their impressive facility. We’re looking forward to our next session.

Health and Happiness,

The Celebrate Life Series, Episode 12: Vincent Velasquez of Hurricane Productions- The New Generation

It’s a bird! It’s a plane!! … nope.  It’s Vincent Velasquez, from Hurricane Productions, flying high in the sky thanks to his seemingly effortless and fearless crowd-surfing skills.  Whether it’s at the International DJ of the Year Competition in front of a couple hundred people or down at Rutgers University in front of a couple thousand, the Puerto Rican-Italian entertainer and entrepreneur takes full advantage of the double-whammy confidence, drive and sharp wit that his heritage offers up.    And the crowds love it.   Present company included.

His approach to life and his tech-chic clientele remind me of the vintage commercial and slogan for Pepsi, “The Choice of A New Generation.”    Essentially, anything that was cool more than four days ago is outdated and the only way to survive beyond the cliched trends is to pioneer a new movement.   Along with his uber-talented partner, Strato Doumanis, Hurricane Productions is attracting the energetic and demanding youth who want to celebrate with style.   FYI, you probably noticed that The Celebrate Life Series was recently treated to a sexy production facelift.    Strato and the Hurricane design team created our new video intro and outro stinger.     The feedback has been full of generous praise.

In this 12th episode of The Celebrate Life Series, Velasquez talks about how steady growth, diversification and client accessibility has enabled Hurricane to establish a notable presence in the glitterati-packed Jersey Shore DJ Entertainment and Event Production arena. Vincent reminds brides  about the importance of hiring a company that can offer all of the pre-reception concierge service items necessary to ensure a stress-free experience as well as exceeding your expectations the day of your wedding reception.

Velasquez and I also riffed about a common culinary pleasure and decadent passion...  pizza.  If you’re like me, and think that a great slice is right up there with a great steak or bacon cheeseburger, tune in for Vincent’s south-jersey pie recommendation.  And if you like gag reels,  reminiscent of the old Cannonball Run movie endings, stick around for the final minute of us just having a few laughs.  🙂

To find out more about Hurricane Innovation, call 888-393-7066.

Follow Vincent on Twitter @VinVelasquez

Best wishes and continued success,

 

 

Wedding Pros Go ‘All In’ at EPMEN

I don’t mind being inside when it’s cold and rainy outside.  Especially when some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the wedding industry are sharing techniques to improve what you’re passionate about and philosophies that can help you earn loyalty for life from your clients.  EPMEN 2012 was on.

SCE ‘s Jason Jani, struck a nerve with a lot of the attendees when he said that “75% of the people on this earth aren’t doing what they love everyday… That sucks.”  “Don’t just chase the dollar, chase the dream…  Don’t settle…”  It was clear why artists like Jay Z and Kanye West call on Jani when they are on tour.  His passion for “doing cool things for cool people” is currently unmatched in the mobile entertainment and event production field.  I loved the way his question, “Are you making excuses or are you all in?” came up in conversation and on twitter the rest of the day.  As I said on my Twitter… “I’m all in JJ!”

 

Lorenzo Araneo, host of Rockstar Podcast and devout Twitter fan, shared some heart-felt personal stories about why he and his family are loyal to particular brands in his Art of Social Marketing presentation.  After he and a few others in the audience got a little choked up, his points were easily made and accepted.  I really liked how Lorenzo wasn’t shy about sharing his affection and respect for his Italian heritage.  Araneo tells it like it is.

Always a crowd favorite, Elite’s Mike Walter, brought his usual dose of well-prepared wit and wisdom in a seminar called, 10 Things You Can Do To Have A Better Day.  In addition to stressing the importance of waking up early, exercising and eliminating distractions… he earned a tweet-worthy moment with “Health and fitness IS a time management solution.” Amen Michael!  Neen James would be proud.

Many of us got to meet WedLock’s Jayne Hallock for the first time and picked up a few nuggets from her seminar on Blogging.  One in particular was the Yoast SEO Plugin recommendation for Word Press users.  Another was how to use Pinterest as a source for content and inspiration.  Jane also had some heads nodding when she said, “Your website is your business card; your blog is your personality.” And, when you are blogging, “sometimes about 100 words is enough.”     (-maybe next time. )  Hallock and seemingly everyone else in the entire world except me was dialed-in to Instagram too.  (Some of the cool filters that app offers was the inspiration for this entry’s photos).

Up and coming stars of the photography and cinematography world, Vanessa Joy and Rob Adams, offered some great tips for capturing event footage and testimonials with the latest DSLR equipment, software and technology.  Since MMP still uses a video camera from 1997 to record comments from our clients at the end of events, this seminar was extremely informative and timely.  We’ll be taking their advice soon and  upgrading to a DSLR camera with a 50mm 1.4 lens and a manfrotto 561bhdv-monopod.  Rob and Vanessa also shared ways to offer instant gratification to your clients.  This dynamic duo is making quite an impression on the workshop circuit.

If you were interested in Creating an Exceptional Customer Experience before the actual sale, Alan Berg had you covered.   Alan has a remarkable ability to take anything you do or say and within 5 minutes advise you how to do it and say it 10 times better.  On top of that, he knows how to take whatever you are currently doing for your prospects and rethink everything–  from the way you contact them initially to the way you respond to them when they call you back after shopping around.  Mr. Berg has some serious skills.

The country’s most lovable Emcee, Sean “Big Daddy” Mckee, took a day out of his ‘8 gigs a week’ schedule to host the festivities.   Show producer, Adam Skuba, deserves major kudos for the caliber of Monday’s line up and the over-all production;  especially considering that this was only his sophomore effort.  Special thanks to Adam, the EPMEN team, and all the sponsors (NJ Wedding, Bride Live, Elegant Bridal, Hurricane Productions, Screaming Lunatic, NJDJN, Sherman Specialty, NAME and ADJA) for their hospitality and support.

See ya next year!

The Sky is the Limit- Corey Crawford Jumps 25.5 ft. for Indian Hills

If you are a fan of great moments in sports, delicious pizza, Indian Hills High School or Oakland, NJ, here’s a story you might enjoy…

How would you feel as a high school athlete if the only person in the country that was stronger, better, & faster (for now) was Olympic superstar, Carl Lewis?…  Exactly! Pretty damn good about yourself and ready to take on the world!

Corey Crawford, Indian Hills High School track & field phenom soared 25 & 1/2 feet in the long jump last Friday to earn the number 2 spot in the state and the number 2 spot in the nation for the best of all time. As a competitor, your natural instinct is to be happy at first and enjoy the moment, but the inevitable curiosity will always kick in…  who is number one?  I’d have to think that for a nice suburban kid from Oakland, NJ, the next thought would be… One of my idols?! Carl Lewis?!  This is awesome!  It’s like a basketball player finding out that Michael Jordan is the only one with better stats.  (for now)    Kudos and congrats to Corey!  Onwards and upwards.  Best wishes with your career.

Special thanks to my good friend, Vincent Velasquez, for bringing this story to my attention and  for sharing his video interview.  (also for the title prefix) Vincent travels the state every week to cover, re-cap and produce video productions of  major sporting events for the Star Ledger.  Velasquez has a cool tradition of finding a local pizza joint near every shoot that he works on.  His latest stop on “the quest for the best slice in NJ” was at Oakland Pizza- one of my all time favs’.    He had a “balsamic, roasted red pepper slice” that was “very good.”  I’ll join you on that quest anytime Vincent. 🙂  -mp