082 – Ensuring Success at Your Business Event with Mindy Moore of Ravinia Festival
Mindy Moore is the Director of Events and Dining Services at Ravinia, the largest outdoor music festival in North America.
She has been in the hospitality business for over 40 years. Mindy worked at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), where they merged the development and marketing departments to create a new position for her. Before that she spent the 1990s working for basketball legend Michael Jordan as Director of Catering and Events at his restaurant.
An undergraduate student at the University of Miami, she graduated with a degree in Speech Communication and has been talking ever since.
She’s worked for Lettuce Entertain You at the Pump Room, where Rich Melman said, “You should make a living at this,” and created the “Grande Dame” position for her.
Over the years, she has opened many restaurants and worked with some of the finest hospitality professionals in the business.
Business Inspiration
The party that brought to light Mindy’s interest in the hospitality industry [17:10]
Candle Flickering Moments
An event that could have been disaterous and how Mindy came to the rescue [19:15]
Business Building Insights
Why take the time, money, and energy to host an event? [4:34]
Client Appreciation Event advice [7:26]
The first steps to take when planning your event [9:17]
Who’s on “The Team?” [10:10]
How to work best with an event planner [12:01]
Your goal for the event [15:20]
Advice and timing on the formal welcome and closing activities [22:53]
Technology is hot! [24:41]
Let’s talk details [25:10]
How Mindy stays up on the current trends [30:29]
Considering a career in hospitality? Mindy has a twist for you to consider [34:22]
Success Trait
Mindy describes herself as a “go with the flow kinda gal.” She’s also warm, hospitable, organized, and a great listener [26:56]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Keeping up with each event works best with Mindy’s physical schedule book where she creates a timeline and links it all to outlook [29:49]
Contact Links
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Gift biz unwrapped episode 82.
Speaker:If you're having a good time,
Speaker:your guests are having a good time.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to give to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it.
Speaker:Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific
Speaker:insights and advice to develop and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I am thrilled to have joining us Mindy
Speaker:Moore over vignette festival.
Speaker:Mindy is the director of events and dining services at Revinia,
Speaker:which is the largest outdoor music festival in North America.
Speaker:Revinia presents over 140 different events throughout the summer.
Speaker:These concerts run the gamut from yo-yo ma to John legend,
Speaker:and is also the annual summer residency of the nation's finest
Speaker:orchestra. The Chicago symphony orchestra and undergraduate student at the university
Speaker:of Miami Mindy graduated with a degree in speech communication and
Speaker:has been talking ever since 40 of those years have been
Speaker:within the hospitality business.
Speaker:Mindy has worked for basketball,
Speaker:legend Michael Jordan,
Speaker:as director of catering and events at his restaurant and has
Speaker:opened many restaurants,
Speaker:including the legendary pump room in downtown Chicago.
Speaker:Mindy is proud to say that she's worked with some of
Speaker:the finest hospitality professionals in the business.
Speaker:And today she is here to share with us how to
Speaker:work with events and special high profile clients.
Speaker:Mindy, thank you for joining me and welcome to the Thank
Speaker:you Sue.
Speaker:It's my pleasure.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:To start off all of our shows by getting to know
Speaker:you in a little bit of a different way.
Speaker:And that is by having you describe your ideal motivational candle.
Speaker:So light this up for us,
Speaker:Mindy, what would the color of your candle be?
Speaker:And the quote be on your motivational candle?
Speaker:My motivational candle would be the color of lavender and red.
Speaker:They compliment each other.
Speaker:They're calm and they pop as I like all my events
Speaker:to pop and have a great time,
Speaker:but not add anxiety or stress to anyone's plate.
Speaker:My bottle would be just have fun and be free.
Speaker:Or what do you mean by the be free part?
Speaker:We have a tendency to hold so much stress and so
Speaker:much planning on our shoulders.
Speaker:I certainly do when I'm planning an event or planning anything
Speaker:really, should I have done it this way?
Speaker:Should I do it that way?
Speaker:Once you make a decision to do something,
Speaker:just be free and accept,
Speaker:don't Go back and rethink over and over again.
Speaker:Absolutely. You don't want to rethink it.
Speaker:You don't want it make a decision and then change it
Speaker:because typically your first decision and your first feeling is what's
Speaker:going to be most successful.
Speaker:Oh, interesting.
Speaker:So you're saying,
Speaker:just make your decisions own them and move forward.
Speaker:Right? Okay.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:Be free.
Speaker:Be free.
Speaker:Right. Then that's going to be the motto.
Speaker:I think of our whole talk here.
Speaker:Maybe we'll see how that works.
Speaker:As I was mentioning to you,
Speaker:Mindy in the beginning,
Speaker:we've done a couple of shows now talking about events and
Speaker:doing some type of thing to bring in other people.
Speaker:And it's great to get exposure to businesses,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:You work with very large events and high profile people.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I know all of the artists that come to Revinia and
Speaker:they are all the best names,
Speaker:gift biz listeners you would ever want to know.
Speaker:And so I'm sure there's some intricacies with working with that
Speaker:clientele that our audience might not necessarily have yet.
Speaker:I think we should all be presenting the very best and
Speaker:the top level to anybody that we're working with,
Speaker:whether they're clients putting on events,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So that's one of the reasons I wanted to just get
Speaker:a different feel from you of how these things work.
Speaker:Let's start off by talking about why should a business consider
Speaker:doing an event?
Speaker:What are you seeing with your clients?
Speaker:What's their major business purpose behind putting on an event?
Speaker:Well, you have to have a goal.
Speaker:You have to have objectives.
Speaker:You have to have a reason why to put on an
Speaker:event. It can be a celebration.
Speaker:It could be an organization.
Speaker:You might need to decipher information to your team.
Speaker:You might need to introduce a new product.
Speaker:You might just want to have a family reunion.
Speaker:So there's a lot of different reasons.
Speaker:I've had the privilege of doing events for two to 22,000
Speaker:people. And it's the same formula.
Speaker:It's the same objective.
Speaker:Everyone really wants to have a good time.
Speaker:They want to give their message out and they want to
Speaker:do it within a budget.
Speaker:And it's an awareness of the information that they want to
Speaker:disseminate. And it's how you do it.
Speaker:And the world is so creative and so colorful.
Speaker:Now that you really want your message to stand out.
Speaker:Whether you're seeing happy birthday in a multitude of languages,
Speaker:or you're doing a fundraiser or you're teaching the pharmaceutical company,
Speaker:how to sell the next big medicine events are big now,
Speaker:right? Mindy events are big.
Speaker:Have you seen it changing over the years?
Speaker:Is it more important now than it was say even five
Speaker:years ago,
Speaker:That's in five years ago,
Speaker:the rage has been slow and steady.
Speaker:More corporations are,
Speaker:instead of doing the big events that they used to do
Speaker:for hundreds are doing smaller,
Speaker:intimate events.
Speaker:They're doing dinners for 20 to 30,
Speaker:because really what you want to do is build your relationship.
Speaker:And we need to do it large event for so many.
Speaker:It's very difficult to have a one-on-one relationship and conversation to
Speaker:really see what your guests needs and wants are.
Speaker:I think event planning right now is hot because it's romantic
Speaker:and it's sexy and it's fun.
Speaker:And you can use your creative juices.
Speaker:What people forget is all the hard work and the hours
Speaker:of putting it together.
Speaker:We're all going to get into that.
Speaker:But first I want to just underline this events equal relationships.
Speaker:And this really ties into our audience because as smaller businesses,
Speaker:we probably wouldn't be doing events for a couple hundred people.
Speaker:If it's specifically directed to our businesses,
Speaker:maybe you would,
Speaker:but I'm going to suggest that at this point we wouldn't.
Speaker:Yeah. So the point is events equal relationships,
Speaker:which is really where you start looking at your goals too.
Speaker:Like, what is your goal?
Speaker:Are you doing something with your employees?
Speaker:Because you want to show appreciation for all the hard work
Speaker:they put in,
Speaker:or you're going to be talking with them about a new
Speaker:directive, or are you doing something for your top tier customers
Speaker:or all customers to get visibility into your store or something
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:But I think again,
Speaker:the overlying thing is events equal relationships.
Speaker:Yeah. I do a lot of client appreciation events lately,
Speaker:and that could be anywhere from 10 to even 50 people.
Speaker:And the biggest struggle the hosts are having is how many
Speaker:employees do I bring in and how many clients do I
Speaker:bring in because it's expensive to entertain.
Speaker:Do I want to entertain with my employees?
Speaker:Is that going to bring any money in or do I
Speaker:want to show my clients how amazing we are?
Speaker:And the solution lately has been to bring a little bit
Speaker:of both because you as the president or me as the
Speaker:president of my company,
Speaker:I can't really build that deep relationship with all 50 clients,
Speaker:but my six salespeople can,
Speaker:and then we can have a nice relationship and build from
Speaker:there. So it's really not just entertaining clients and not just
Speaker:entertaining staff,
Speaker:but it's the two together Bringing them both in for the
Speaker:same event.
Speaker:Yeah. So if you're a retail shop and let's say you're
Speaker:doing an event,
Speaker:not even in your shop,
Speaker:you're doing an outside event,
Speaker:such as I know Mindy at Revinia,
Speaker:there's the lawn area.
Speaker:A lot of people will bring in people in block off
Speaker:spaces, but wherever it is,
Speaker:whether it's in your store or not,
Speaker:you're saying bring employees or a sales team,
Speaker:if that's what you have and your customers,
Speaker:because you can actually do more in terms of relationship building,
Speaker:if it's just not you with a large number of customers,
Speaker:Correct? Correct.
Speaker:You really need to have a lot of relationships to build
Speaker:a good relationship.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:You were starting to get into the fact that there's a
Speaker:lot of planning for an event to make it go off,
Speaker:right? What are the first couple things that you need to
Speaker:start doing?
Speaker:If you've gotten to the point where you decide,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to do an event and you've identified the
Speaker:reason why you're doing it,
Speaker:what happens next?
Speaker:So once you develop your event,
Speaker:goal and your objectives,
Speaker:the very first step then is to organize a team and
Speaker:set a budget.
Speaker:A budget is key because I certainly have champagne taste and
Speaker:typically a beer budget.
Speaker:So you want to make sure that what you want to
Speaker:succeed in is attainable.
Speaker:Then you want to organize your team and decide who's going
Speaker:to be involved with this and what their roles are going
Speaker:to be.
Speaker:And then you want to set a date,
Speaker:give yourself a couple options for days,
Speaker:because you might have a key three people that you want
Speaker:to make sure they're there.
Speaker:So you have to be a little bit flexible to make
Speaker:sure that they can show and the venue works and all
Speaker:the stars align The team,
Speaker:give us examples of the types of people that you would
Speaker:need on your team.
Speaker:So you want to have your host of the party and
Speaker:how many people are going to host the party.
Speaker:And once you know what your goals and objectives are,
Speaker:you're going to know who is going to help you attain
Speaker:that. So your team can be within your own company.
Speaker:And then you want to pick your venue.
Speaker:That's your team.
Speaker:Then you want to get your catering.
Speaker:That's part of your team and your decor and your invitation.
Speaker:So all the different pieces of an event typically represent another
Speaker:person. Okay.
Speaker:So the team is not just within your own company,
Speaker:it's all the different elements that you bring together to the
Speaker:success of the event.
Speaker:Correct? Okay.
Speaker:So you organize your team,
Speaker:you set a budget,
Speaker:you set a date with some flexibility in terms of probably
Speaker:a couple of different dates.
Speaker:Do you think Mindy that you want to have like an
Speaker:overall theme,
Speaker:like a Hawaiian theme or I think same parties are a
Speaker:lot of fun.
Speaker:It can be your food.
Speaker:It can be your invitations.
Speaker:It can be your decorations.
Speaker:It can be your messaging.
Speaker:So it is kind of fun to do a thing.
Speaker:And do you need to carry the theme throughout everything?
Speaker:Yes. I believe you.
Speaker:Do you want to do that?
Speaker:Because Alva said her guests are going to say,
Speaker:Oh, I never thought of that at all.
Speaker:They are so creative and thinking of everything.
Speaker:So let's just take a Hawaiian theme and you send your
Speaker:invitation with some hula skirt,
Speaker:then your guests leave and you have a swag bag and
Speaker:you put a little macadamia nuts.
Speaker:And then your thank you note also has a little touch
Speaker:of the Hawaiian theme tying the whole entire party together.
Speaker:Okay. Do you have any advice on how to work with
Speaker:an event planner?
Speaker:If people haven't ever done that before,
Speaker:what types of things make your job easier?
Speaker:Let's say I'm a business and I'm coming to you and
Speaker:saying, okay,
Speaker:I want to start an,
Speaker:what should I have already figured out before I come to
Speaker:you? And then walk us through the process of what you
Speaker:do with your clients.
Speaker:What I do as an event planner is I interview the
Speaker:client as much as I possibly can.
Speaker:They're coming in with an idea of what they want to
Speaker:do already.
Speaker:I don't want to change their idea.
Speaker:I don't want to change your focus.
Speaker:I just want to massage it to fit the venue that
Speaker:they're going to do,
Speaker:the event,
Speaker:the budget that they have and the messaging that they're going
Speaker:to give I as an event planner really want my client
Speaker:to be as honest as possible.
Speaker:If she doesn't want to serve hamburgers,
Speaker:then she has to say,
Speaker:I don't want to serve hamburgers.
Speaker:And I want to have a vegetarian field.
Speaker:Cause I'm going to go ahead and say,
Speaker:my best thing is a hamburger,
Speaker:but it doesn't fit what she wants or the feeling of
Speaker:what the event is.
Speaker:You want to also surrender to the event planner.
Speaker:You want to be open.
Speaker:You want to be able to bring in new ideas that
Speaker:is as the guests,
Speaker:as the event planner,
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:what is the most important thing?
Speaker:So if I'm doing,
Speaker:let's say a wedding,
Speaker:some clients have said to me,
Speaker:the most important thing at this wedding is parking.
Speaker:And that is the farthest thing from my brain.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:okay, well then parking,
Speaker:we're going to take care of it.
Speaker:However, we take care of it.
Speaker:Whether we call a valet company,
Speaker:whether we have them park,
Speaker:fire away and have a party bus,
Speaker:we make sure that parking is taken care of.
Speaker:And then what's your next objective?
Speaker:And what's your next objective?
Speaker:My objective might be the service and the officiator of the
Speaker:wedding. Well,
Speaker:if it doesn't matter to the client,
Speaker:then it certainly should not matter to me.
Speaker:So I have to surrender to whatever they want and what
Speaker:their needs are as well.
Speaker:I heard you talking about something that I think is really
Speaker:important too,
Speaker:and correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker:Mindy, but it's hard to work with someone who wants to
Speaker:keep control of the whole event.
Speaker:The reason that they are hiring you is so that you
Speaker:can take care of a lot of that because you know,
Speaker:it's your business,
Speaker:right? So I would imagine it's challenging if there is someone
Speaker:who comes in and although you have to customize it to
Speaker:their event after they've shared with you,
Speaker:everything, they need to listen to you and you have,
Speaker:you perform your magic because you know what you're doing,
Speaker:especially in your own venues,
Speaker:Right? And then they can have fun.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:You really want to have a good time from the start,
Speaker:from the thinking about doing an event to planning the event,
Speaker:to being at the event,
Speaker:to ending the event,
Speaker:to saying thank you notes to the next day,
Speaker:when you're talking about who did what and what did,
Speaker:who and what tasted great.
Speaker:And what worked and what did that is the whole fun
Speaker:of it.
Speaker:It's a complete process.
Speaker:It's not just the day of those three hours,
Speaker:where everybody is in your face and you're hobnobbing and you're
Speaker:happy and you're gracious.
Speaker:And you're saying,
Speaker:hello, but it's the planning.
Speaker:It takes hours and hours and days and days of planning
Speaker:and working with all your different vendors to make it successful.
Speaker:And to me,
Speaker:that is the most joyful part I'm going to get married.
Speaker:Okay? So from the minute you get engaged to the minute
Speaker:you say I do to the minute you go on your
Speaker:honeymoon and send your thank you notes,
Speaker:that's all part of the joyful plant.
Speaker:Would you say that working with you,
Speaker:getting everything prepared,
Speaker:then the day of the event,
Speaker:they should just be enjoying everything and then you are there
Speaker:or you have somebody there who's taking care of all the
Speaker:background. Stuff Want to go and have a good time.
Speaker:You don't want to talk to anybody.
Speaker:You just want to talk to your guests.
Speaker:And that's the goal.
Speaker:You hire an event planner,
Speaker:so you can have a great time.
Speaker:So you can focus on your guests.
Speaker:You can focus on your mission.
Speaker:You can focus on everybody who is there and the reason
Speaker:why you're doing it,
Speaker:because if you don't have an event planner,
Speaker:and it's such a detailed kind of event,
Speaker:whether it's a meeting,
Speaker:whether it's a birthday party,
Speaker:any kind of activity that has a lot of different moving
Speaker:parts to it.
Speaker:You want someone else to handle?
Speaker:I'll know when to like the cake,
Speaker:I'll know when to sing happy birthday.
Speaker:I'll know when to bring out the big presentation.
Speaker:I'll know when it's time to move from cocktails to dinner.
Speaker:And when you're at dinner,
Speaker:I'm getting ready for dessert.
Speaker:So your event planners always two or three steps ahead of
Speaker:the actual event.
Speaker:So you're enjoying it and we're planning for the next movement.
Speaker:And it's a streamlined evening.
Speaker:I think that all circles back to events equals relationships because
Speaker:when you're at your event,
Speaker:have you ever been to a party where the like it's
Speaker:fits in someone's house and the host or hostess is so
Speaker:stressed out because they're getting the dinner on the table,
Speaker:they're making sure everyone has drinks.
Speaker:And at the end of the day,
Speaker:you never even have talked to them at the end of
Speaker:the party,
Speaker:because they've been so busy,
Speaker:orchestrating everything,
Speaker:especially if you're in business and you're doing a business event,
Speaker:the whole point is for you to be able to interact
Speaker:with your employees,
Speaker:with your customers outside of the normal day-to-day business that you
Speaker:conduct. So I think that,
Speaker:and tell me if you agree,
Speaker:Mindy is the major reason why you'd have an event planner
Speaker:because they can be taking care of everything.
Speaker:You can be adding value to the event through relationship.
Speaker:Absolutely. A hundred percent.
Speaker:When I was younger,
Speaker:one of my girlfriends,
Speaker:who's now a movie star was putting together a dinner at
Speaker:her home.
Speaker:And there was like eight different people.
Speaker:All from different walks of life.
Speaker:One was a movie agent.
Speaker:One was a singer.
Speaker:Then there was me who didn't know anything at the time.
Speaker:And she spent the whole time in the kitchen and we
Speaker:were struggling to find a commonality to talk about.
Speaker:And finally,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:I went in there and I said,
Speaker:listen, how you get out of here?
Speaker:I might not be able to cook,
Speaker:but I'm going to learn how to cook.
Speaker:And I think that was the start of me working in
Speaker:this industry because I saw all her guests were struggling,
Speaker:have a good time.
Speaker:And they actually just came to see her.
Speaker:So I think that that the opportunity to have someone be
Speaker:of service and help you,
Speaker:and it doesn't have to be a huge,
Speaker:big professional event planner like myself,
Speaker:you can have a chef,
Speaker:you can have someone helping in the kitchen.
Speaker:You can hire a bartender,
Speaker:you can hire a server,
Speaker:you can hire just one or two extra people to be
Speaker:of service that will free your hands and your time up
Speaker:to enjoy your company.
Speaker:And when you're enjoying your company,
Speaker:you're building your relationships.
Speaker:That's really great advice.
Speaker:One more thing about an event.
Speaker:I have the feeling that no matter how much you plan,
Speaker:no matter what you do,
Speaker:something is not going to work out as planned.
Speaker:There's always one thing.
Speaker:And then once that one thing is over,
Speaker:then it's like,
Speaker:okay, we're done.
Speaker:We had our one thing let's move on.
Speaker:Right? What do you say about thinking that everything's going to
Speaker:go off without a hitch or any advice just to calm
Speaker:the host down about the day of the event?
Speaker:Well, You just keep moving forward.
Speaker:You've done all of your work.
Speaker:You've done work for days and weeks and months from planning
Speaker:and planning.
Speaker:And the day of something does go wrong.
Speaker:But as a professional,
Speaker:you just smile and you let your guests go and have
Speaker:a good time.
Speaker:Remember we're not curing cancer,
Speaker:we're having a good time.
Speaker:So nothing that bad can ever happen.
Speaker:One time actually,
Speaker:we had a,
Speaker:it was a bar mitzvah at one of the restaurants that
Speaker:I was working at and their theme was gaming.
Speaker:So they put the little girl's head on fake money and
Speaker:they had some kind of rillette thing that said,
Speaker:okay, you win a manicure and you win,
Speaker:or you don't win this.
Speaker:And somehow that gaming commission found out about this and came
Speaker:in an hour before the guests were coming and wanted me
Speaker:to close the whole entire party down.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:Oh my stars.
Speaker:I can't do that.
Speaker:And the host was right there already.
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:how in the world would the gaming commission come to this
Speaker:little itty bitty restaurant and think that we're doing gambling.
Speaker:So It took a roulette wheel,
Speaker:cause it Was a roulette wheel and she had fake money.
Speaker:And her invitation was something about gambling to have a great
Speaker:time with.
Speaker:So what did you do?
Speaker:It couldn't be hours,
Speaker:but I just,
Speaker:I had to move them from the situation I had to
Speaker:let the servers take care of the host who was there
Speaker:and really beginning to panic.
Speaker:And they were the nicest family in the whole entire world.
Speaker:So I moved them from the situation.
Speaker:I brought them to another area.
Speaker:I brought my director and my manager at the time and
Speaker:we all just talked to them.
Speaker:And at the end we had a great laugh.
Speaker:I ended up buying him dinner in the restaurant,
Speaker:so I would be calm and fine.
Speaker:And they let me do that,
Speaker:which I was a little surprised.
Speaker:So they let you stick with eight,
Speaker:let us Stick with the plan.
Speaker:Originally, we going to have him take all the fake money
Speaker:Away, I mean,
Speaker:on and on and on.
Speaker:And it ended up being,
Speaker:they saw the innocence of the whole entire event.
Speaker:So I don't know how that ever happened,
Speaker:but it lives with me every single day.
Speaker:Like, Oh my stars,
Speaker:I had to close that whole party down that these people
Speaker:spent so much time and effort and money and detailing.
Speaker:It would have been horrible,
Speaker:but it ended up being okay.
Speaker:But the key was to get the client out of harm's
Speaker:way. They didn't have to react or be all upset before
Speaker:all their guests arrived.
Speaker:That was the biggest successful key was getting them out of
Speaker:the way.
Speaker:So they didn't have to deal with it.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I can own that really funny today,
Speaker:today. It's well,
Speaker:now that it worked out okay,
Speaker:you must have,
Speaker:when you finally came to a resolution,
Speaker:you must've been breathing such a upside.
Speaker:Oh my stars.
Speaker:And in the meantime,
Speaker:The kids were coming by bus.
Speaker:So I had to make sure all the other staff,
Speaker:whereas the party was still running as usual.
Speaker:And I could manage the whole thing.
Speaker:Everyone had a really step up and do their part because
Speaker:me as the lead had to take care of something that
Speaker:was a lot bigger than any of us.
Speaker:So you really want to surround yourself with good people all
Speaker:the time,
Speaker:because they can take over for you.
Speaker:So I couldn't be there,
Speaker:but I had the staff to take care of it.
Speaker:Well, that must have been a heart-stopping moment.
Speaker:And It was a learning experience for me to realize I
Speaker:can't do it all myself.
Speaker:You really have to surround yourself with great trusting people.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well, any final thoughts on event planning and let's drive it
Speaker:back into more business.
Speaker:I'm imagining if you're bringing some people together for business,
Speaker:the host or hostess would want to address the group.
Speaker:But at some point you've been to events before where you
Speaker:walk in and all you do is party and then you
Speaker:leave and it's like,
Speaker:okay, that was a great party and really fun.
Speaker:But did it really serve a business purpose,
Speaker:right? Any suggestions in terms of how you would do that
Speaker:when in the event and how much time is appropriate?
Speaker:I think that is,
Speaker:It's always important to address your guests.
Speaker:If you call it from five to seven or even five
Speaker:to eight,
Speaker:I personally recommend having your welcome speech.
Speaker:You always want to have a,
Speaker:have a welcome toast within the first 25 minutes,
Speaker:even though it might not be critical mass,
Speaker:those people cared enough to come early and on time that
Speaker:your messaging is really important.
Speaker:So to raise a toast and raise a glass and welcome
Speaker:everybody is a wonderful thing.
Speaker:I also believe that leaving an event with something is really
Speaker:important, a little swag that you can tie your gorgeous ribbons
Speaker:around. You know,
Speaker:even if it's a bag of popcorn,
Speaker:whatever you're selling at the time and when they leave,
Speaker:they have something in their hand.
Speaker:I think that's a really big key.
Speaker:So two touch points would be right in the beginning,
Speaker:an introduction within the first 20,
Speaker:25 minutes.
Speaker:Thank you for coming,
Speaker:whatever other kind of message.
Speaker:But would you say,
Speaker:keep it short and sweet,
Speaker:keep it short and sweet.
Speaker:Don't get into this big sales pitch.
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:no, no,
Speaker:no. I mean,
Speaker:you can identify why everyone's here.
Speaker:You can identify your new product and your product launch.
Speaker:And if you can incorporate personally,
Speaker:some of your guests into your welcome speech,
Speaker:that's a great gift too,
Speaker:because it engages them and it makes them feel part of
Speaker:it. You don't want to talk at,
Speaker:you want to talk with your guests.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:So the introduction,
Speaker:and then at the end,
Speaker:having some type of partying gift,
Speaker:whether it's a sweat bag,
Speaker:a small little sample of a product,
Speaker:it doesn't have to be expensive,
Speaker:I think is what you're saying.
Speaker:No, you're right.
Speaker:But something to thank them and send them on their way.
Speaker:I'm grateful to show up and it makes them happy to
Speaker:leave. So when they're leaving,
Speaker:they say,
Speaker:Oh, that was really nice.
Speaker:They thought of everything.
Speaker:And in between you're meeting a couple people,
Speaker:you're having some food,
Speaker:you're having some beverage.
Speaker:You're looking at some videos.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:technology is one of the hottest things right now,
Speaker:for all kinds of entertaining.
Speaker:If you have a video of your product,
Speaker:you can have it running in the background.
Speaker:If you have a,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a high profile person that you want to Skype in,
Speaker:you can do that as well.
Speaker:But to have some kind of technology is really cool too.
Speaker:What about some other special touches?
Speaker:Cause I think so much is all the little pieces.
Speaker:All the little details add so much and they don't have
Speaker:to be really expensive.
Speaker:What other types of things have you done that are special
Speaker:touches? You,
Speaker:You want to pay attention to the details.
Speaker:And I think I've started parties just around the details.
Speaker:One party,
Speaker:they were,
Speaker:it was a dance team.
Speaker:So I said,
Speaker:okay, everybody dance.
Speaker:As people walked in,
Speaker:each little kid would grab somebody and they would dance.
Speaker:So the music was always running.
Speaker:I think your food,
Speaker:your attention to the food is really important.
Speaker:The attention to your colors are also really important.
Speaker:And I think one of the biggest detail is you as
Speaker:a host,
Speaker:having a good time,
Speaker:if you're having a good time,
Speaker:your guests are having a good time.
Speaker:It's a good point.
Speaker:The disposition of the host really will filter through the whole
Speaker:part. Totally,
Speaker:absolutely. When I'm hosting a party of my own,
Speaker:I welcome everyone with the biggest hug and the biggest welcome
Speaker:and make sure they have food and the beverage and they're
Speaker:talking to somebody new.
Speaker:And then when they leave,
Speaker:I do the same thing.
Speaker:Who did you meet?
Speaker:Did you have fun?
Speaker:Like to really emphasize meeting somebody new at every single event
Speaker:because he could come and you can come with your spouse,
Speaker:you can come with your friends,
Speaker:but if you leave with a new relationship,
Speaker:you are that much more ahead of the game.
Speaker:Totally agree with you.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:Mindy, we're going to roll now into our reflection section.
Speaker:This is a look at you.
Speaker:And what has made you successful along the way you were
Speaker:talking about and sharing with us that trigger point where you
Speaker:thought, okay,
Speaker:half the hospitality industry is important to me and is what
Speaker:I'm going to spend my career in.
Speaker:But do you have a natural trait that you're using while
Speaker:you're in the hospitality industry that has helped you to be
Speaker:successful? Hmm.
Speaker:That's a very good question.
Speaker:I'm a pretty go with the flow kind of gal.
Speaker:So I'm extremely flexible and I'm kind of a chameleon.
Speaker:When people want to do something,
Speaker:then let's do it.
Speaker:Let's make the best of it and have a great time.
Speaker:I am pretty hospitable and very warm and make people feel
Speaker:very comfortable mostly by listening to what their needs and their
Speaker:wants are.
Speaker:I'm extremely organized.
Speaker:I can multitask for clients.
Speaker:And I personally like to have a good time.
Speaker:I'm not a big drinker and I don't do drugs or
Speaker:anything like that,
Speaker:but I really like to have a good time.
Speaker:So ever since I been at the pumper,
Speaker:actually I worked at night and I was in a party
Speaker:atmosphere and I had a great time and I got paid
Speaker:for it.
Speaker:So I think that was really helpful.
Speaker:And I do the same thing at Revena every night I
Speaker:get to listen to music,
Speaker:I get to meet wonderful,
Speaker:fantastic guests and people and my friends and family come.
Speaker:And now all of a sudden everyone's my friend and family.
Speaker:That to me has been a great gift,
Speaker:but you really do have to have nice relationships with vendors.
Speaker:I don't think we talked about vendors very much,
Speaker:but for me,
Speaker:my vendors make all the difference.
Speaker:If I need to do decorations,
Speaker:if I need to have specialty food,
Speaker:if I need to have cars,
Speaker:if I need to have a balloon artists,
Speaker:if I want to have a face painter,
Speaker:if I want to have,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:even at these smaller events,
Speaker:like in your stores and in your home,
Speaker:it's always nice to have special something.
Speaker:If you have a handwriting analyst,
Speaker:if you have a Palm reader,
Speaker:if you have something that just sets you apart from any
Speaker:other event,
Speaker:it's fun.
Speaker:And I always like to bring something on that.
Speaker:And since I get to meet so many different people in
Speaker:my wonderful day,
Speaker:I make sure that I incorporate many new people into the
Speaker:events That also brings to mind a really important reason to
Speaker:use an event planner,
Speaker:because you have relationships with all of these people.
Speaker:You've used them over and over again,
Speaker:and you have a rhythm of how you work together.
Speaker:So you're minimizing the possibility of a problem because you're already
Speaker:in sync with each other because these are people you use
Speaker:on a regular basis,
Speaker:Right? I can call him DJ and Tom to do this
Speaker:and I can have the decorator do that.
Speaker:And I have the parkers do that.
Speaker:And that's for a big event,
Speaker:but even for a smaller event,
Speaker:the same way you can have someone makes music in your
Speaker:home or at your stores,
Speaker:make sure that the people that they're serving the food and
Speaker:beverage or what you like,
Speaker:or the food and beverage that you're serving you do,
Speaker:like, but always ask for help.
Speaker:I don't think anyone should ever do an event by themselves
Speaker:because it's not as much fun and it's so much work.
Speaker:You need to be handling your relationships.
Speaker:That's about right.
Speaker:Okay. So is there a tool that you use to keep
Speaker:organized? I mean,
Speaker:you have multiple going on all the time.
Speaker:Is there something that helps you keep organized and structured that
Speaker:you could share with our listeners?
Speaker:I have a book that has every single day,
Speaker:every single event and a timeline.
Speaker:I use a timeline for each event.
Speaker:So whether it's six weeks,
Speaker:eight weeks,
Speaker:two weeks or one week out,
Speaker:I know what I need to do for each event.
Speaker:And I really use my Microsoft outlook.
Speaker:I know that sounds so archaic,
Speaker:but every day I have a plan for what I have
Speaker:to get done.
Speaker:So I really just use my schedule.
Speaker:Have you read a book lately that you think our listeners
Speaker:could find value in?
Speaker:I read magazines all the time.
Speaker:What kind of magazines do you read?
Speaker:I use crane Chicago business every single week.
Speaker:I am a member of NACE national association of catering executives,
Speaker:which is an amazing thing.
Speaker:The special event,
Speaker:TSC is a club I belong to and they're always sending
Speaker:me stuff.
Speaker:I think it's really important just to stay up on trends.
Speaker:Any magazine really will keep you up on trends.
Speaker:I also like to walk the malls in the morning and
Speaker:look at the windows,
Speaker:cause that keeps me up on trends and see what's selling
Speaker:and see what colors are hot.
Speaker:See what's in.
Speaker:I like this.
Speaker:And I liked the answer that you've given because also give
Speaker:biz listeners for whatever industry you're in.
Speaker:There are,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Mindy's talking about specific magazines that are important for her for
Speaker:an event planning position,
Speaker:right? But if you're in jewelry or you're in crafts,
Speaker:there are clearly trade magazines that you should have your hands
Speaker:on. Because as Mindy's saying,
Speaker:you want to be up to date with the latest and
Speaker:the most significant trends or adjustments or changes or whatever it
Speaker:is within your specific industry,
Speaker:because customers of course are looking to you to be the
Speaker:one in the know,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you're the professional of that industry.
Speaker:That's never been brought up on a podcast before yet.
Speaker:So I'm thrilled that you did that.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So now Mindy,
Speaker:I would like to invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I would like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:What is inside my dream box?
Speaker:I would love to do an event.
Speaker:Believe it or not.
Speaker:And Dubai I've never been there.
Speaker:And that actually has been a dream.
Speaker:I want to fly Ameritas airlines to Dubai and do a
Speaker:big international event.
Speaker:I don't know why,
Speaker:but it's always been something I believe.
Speaker:No. Okay.
Speaker:Is it going to be a wedding?
Speaker:Is it going to be a business event?
Speaker:Let's create the event right here.
Speaker:We're going to put it out in the universe.
Speaker:Okay. So Let's say it would be my wedding.
Speaker:It could be my wedding.
Speaker:I hire a private plane and take all of my friends
Speaker:and family to Dubai.
Speaker:We stay at the Ritz and we have two days of
Speaker:pre event parties.
Speaker:Then we have the wedding and then everyone goes on my
Speaker:honeymoon. I don't know if it's too bad.
Speaker:It's my party.
Speaker:Okay. And so here's the question.
Speaker:Are you going to hire an event planner?
Speaker:Absolutely. Perfect.
Speaker:I get the basics and the vision on my own.
Speaker:And then I'll sell the vision to the event planner and
Speaker:she will make everything happen.
Speaker:But of course,
Speaker:because that is the way you are able to be free
Speaker:and enjoy your special day.
Speaker:If someone wanted to know more about Revinia and event planning
Speaker:and all of that,
Speaker:where's the best place for them to contact you Directly just
Speaker:contact me at M Moore,
Speaker:M M O O R E N.<inaudible>
Speaker:R a V I N I a.org.
Speaker:And I am on my computer five days a week,
Speaker:at least six hours each day.
Speaker:So I'm more than happy to share and talk.
Speaker:I believe that right now I've had such an amazing,
Speaker:wonderful career that it's my job to give back.
Speaker:So I spend a good couple hours a week talking to
Speaker:younger people,
Speaker:mentoring people that want to get involved.
Speaker:I have are people that say,
Speaker:I want to change my business.
Speaker:I want to go to do what you do.
Speaker:Well, number one,
Speaker:I make it look really easy and really fun,
Speaker:but it is a lot of work.
Speaker:Well, you have experience too,
Speaker:right? And I talked to this young girl,
Speaker:she wasn't that young actually.
Speaker:And she did her wedding.
Speaker:She goes,
Speaker:Oh, now I want to be an event planner.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:okay, what is your career?
Speaker:She went to school.
Speaker:She was an attorney.
Speaker:And we talked and talked a lot.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, why don't you read contracts for an event company?
Speaker:Why don't you do contracts for an artist?
Speaker:Why don't,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's what your specialty is,
Speaker:contracting and legalities.
Speaker:So take your profession that you first did.
Speaker:And instead of deleting the thousands and thousands of dollars and
Speaker:thousands and thousands of educational hours enhance your career,
Speaker:bring it into the event industry,
Speaker:but become a specialty person with contracts or as an attorney
Speaker:or I'm a florist.
Speaker:How can I do events?
Speaker:Well, what a great segue.
Speaker:So I do believe that as I've gotten older and more
Speaker:experienced in the industry,
Speaker:it's my job to give back and help people really look
Speaker:at it to see if it's what they want to do.
Speaker:You come to Revinia and of course it looks romantic and
Speaker:wonderful, but I'm also here at nine in the morning,
Speaker:getting everything ready and we stay till 10 or 11 or
Speaker:12 at night,
Speaker:but I have six hours of amazing while I'm here while
Speaker:the show goes on and the guests are here,
Speaker:but it's a lot of work.
Speaker:So you don't want to pull yourself to say I just
Speaker:here to have a good time because you'll be really tired,
Speaker:really fast.
Speaker:I really liked the insight where you're talking about,
Speaker:take your experience and your education and see how you can
Speaker:merge it into something else.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:some other type of a career.
Speaker:So you're really getting the best of both worlds,
Speaker:what you already have learned,
Speaker:how to do it.
Speaker:And you may be creating a very unique business when you
Speaker:merge two things like that together,
Speaker:too, right?
Speaker:It sounds like Mindy that you are receptive to people giving
Speaker:you a call and talking through,
Speaker:and you know,
Speaker:you're doing some mentoring,
Speaker:which is exactly what this podcast is meant to be,
Speaker:is to help pay it forward,
Speaker:to energize them and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:get them excited about their business either jump-starting their business or
Speaker:starting something else.
Speaker:So that was perfect.
Speaker:Now give biz listeners,
Speaker:if you've been listening to me for a while,
Speaker:you know that there's a show notes page,
Speaker:it'll have all of this information,
Speaker:some of the highlights of the conversation that we've had,
Speaker:as well as other contact information for Mindy and the Revinia
Speaker:festival. Mindy,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:You clearly delivered as I expected that you would do.
Speaker:I really appreciate your time today and may your candle always
Speaker:burned, bright.
Speaker:Beautiful. Thank you so much to you and lists all of
Speaker:your events,
Speaker:Happy, joyous,
Speaker:and free.
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business,
Speaker:and you want to know your setup for success,
Speaker:find out why taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y
Speaker:slash gift biz quiz or from your phone like texting gift
Speaker:biz quiz to four four,
Speaker:two, two,
Speaker:two. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for
Speaker:the next episode.
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