Did you miss it last week? We "kicked off" the fall season with a wonderful newsletter to our clients discussing the difference between a touchdown, interception and fumble in events. If you missed it, next week we'll be diving in deeper into event interceptions and fumbles with our newsletter. 

We actually had to perform an interception this past weekend with some of the floral arrangements for a wedding earlier this week. This is a picture of the finished product to the left. The bride actually never got a chance to see her original bouquet because we had to add an innovative touch to her original bouquet. She wanted the bling factor, and clearly they missed the mark. Not only weren't there any "Diamond" crystals, but the floral arrangement would not have met the client's standards. Therefore, after some reconsideration and thinking on our feet, I actually re-created the bouquet as well as put together her throw-away bouquet for less than $25. So it's important to have the necessary items in your playbook such as a floral class that you took a few years ago in case of an emergency. Before each event, we pack an "emergency kit" that includes random things such as floral tape, various ribbon colors and other items in case of an emergency. Overall the bride was pleased with the finished product and the person who caught her throw away bouquet was happy as well. In next week's newsletter, I will also discuss how there was a fumble at the wedding with the case of the bouquets, but you have to subscribe to see the outcome of the story. 

Sharing Is Caring!

Have you ever had an event touchdown; had to intercept a disaster from occurring; or had an absolute fumble where you had to recover?  If so, please feel free to share!

©2014 by Tillman Davis Enterprises. All Rights Reserved. Garrysa Caffey, MBA | Event Planner, Speaker and Author for Nov8ive Events & Designs. Learn the trade secrets that event planners use to create successful events. Join us today and get our free eBook “The 7 Costly $ins that Can Ruin Any Event”. Visit www.nov8iveevents.com and fill out the form

When we hear the term "Falling Forward"- what often resonates in our minds are people falling off of a high cliff like this picture above, or falling off of the deep end. Well, since it's September 2014 (the year has gone by fast)- we're right in the middle of the 3rd quarter so its time to Fall Forward and begin planning for the 4th Quarter and 2015. The team at Nov8ive Events & Designs are constantly reviewing our strategies and methods to see what has and has not been working (we highly suggest you do the same in business and in life). As we continue in this entrepreneurial journey, there are 3 key things that we have learned when we talk about building and reviewing a strategy:
1. Have a Vision & Make It Plain - Be sure to write down your goals because if it's not written- it never happened. 
2. Review Your Vision Often- It's important to not only write down your vision or plan, but it's just as important to review it because you can always adjust the plan as time progresses.
3. Be Open to Adjustments- As time progresses and as you achieve your goals, you may need to periodically adjust your vision to make room for a new one. 

So in an effort to help our fans grow their businesses and create their vision in 2014, we're offering a special treat for those who have either signed up for our e-Newsletter or reading this blog. From August 28 until September 7, you can schedule a FREE 45-minute "Falling Forward" Strategy Session where we can discuss your upcoming marketing goals and also show you how incorporating events can take them to another level. This is a $150 value with tons of content and the opportunity to speak with an expert about your marketing goals. Space  is limited, but you can register by clicking here to schedule your time. We encourage you to share with your friends and colleagues because we want to help as many people as possible. Don't forget to register today! 

Sharing is caring, what are your thoughts?

How have you prepared for the 3rd and 4th Quarter of this year? Are you where you thought you would be with your marketing or are you looking for more?

©2014 by Tillman Davis Enterprises. All Rights Reserved. Garrysa Caffey, MBA | Event Planner, Speaker and Author for Nov8ive Events & Designs. Learn the trade secrets that event planners use to create successful events. Join us today and get our free eBook “The 7 Costly  $ins that Can Ruin Any Event”. Click the Connect With Us page and fill out the form.

In our journey through business, we've been asked to answer questions and provide tips regarding event planning. This week, we're answering a question about events & workshops.

Question of the week: From Donna Marie Johnson (www.authordonnamarie.com): I host training events & workshops, how do I make them more entertaining and fun?


Our Nov8ive Answer: For training workshops, if they're live, do you incorporate games that tie into the subject that you're speaking about or you can make the actual games tie into your subject. I actually attended a conference where the speaker actually incorporated tangible items such as fake money to talk about where we spend our monthly bills. She also had us play a round of Monopoly, but they added little curve balls to the game to make it more interesting. It brought everyone back to their childhood and brought the subject of money back into the forefront. If there is a way to incorporate interactive reactions, that makes it fun. 

If the event is online, or a hybrid where you're hosting a live feed of your event, that makes it a little more difficult. You can try to do breakout group sessions online where the attendees are broken out into different groups. Also, you can incorporate survey polls and other tools to ask your attendees their opinions. As another thought, have you done a Google Hangout? That may also be another method to have that "human" touch to your online event if you're hosting those too. When utilizing technology to host virtual events, people get easily distracted, so it's very important to keep them engaged and their focus on you, so incorporating a variety of "tricks" keeps the meeting moving along. A final tip would be to try and keep your virtual event to an hour- no more than 90 minutes. Anything over that, people will begin to drift into la-la land or just disconnect all together. 

Sharing Is Caring!

Do you have any additional tips on how a host can make their event more engaging and fun? If so, please feel free to share!

©2014 by Tillman Davis Enterprises. All Rights Reserved. Garrysa Caffey, MBA | Event Planner, Speaker and Author for Nov8ive Events & Designs. Learn the trade secrets that event planners use to create successful events. Join us today and get our free eBook “The 7 Costly $ins that Can Ruin Any Event”. Visit www.nov8iveevents.com and fill out the form.

We took a hiatus for a couple of weeks this month because we were preparing for a trip to Washington, DC. We have returned, and definitely wanted to share some insights from the trip. We've all heard the saying "What can go wrong will go wrong and fast." or "It's Murphy's Law". This week, we're going to talk about "When sh*t hits the fan" and how do you recover. 

Last week, a project that we've been working on since September 2013 culminated with a charter bus trip to Washington, DC. All of the planning in the world could not prepare me for what took placed during the trip. 

When I make the statement, sh*t hit the fan and fell on my head last week was an understatement. There were issues with vendors; the charter bus was pulled over twice by the police; the air conditioning on the bus broke down on the return trip home; there were issues with the hotel; others on the trip had traveling issues and people didn't want to fulfill their part of the contracts. Let's just say that I am glad to be home in one piece after this disastrous trip. 

Although the stress of the trip and the challenges got the best of me a couple of times during and after the trip, I learned five very valuable lessons that I want to share with you all. All of these lessons build upon the other and can hopefully help someone avoid these issues:

1. Listen to your intuition/ gut- with our hotel vendor, I had some apprehensions with this hotel prior to us actually traveling to Washington, DC. Since January, we went through four separate sales managers and each time we spoke with someone new, there were new "rules" in play. We were unable to get a straight answer from the staff, and when problems arose, their answers were "I don't know what happened." I had a strong inclination that we should have chosen another hotel property after the first sales manager left and it took over a month to determine the new point of contact. Looking back, I should have listened to my gut feeling because it would have saved me some headaches and lost sleep.
2. Don't put your full trust into others- most times when you really need someone to come through, they don't and often leave you holding the bag. This is especially true with friends and family, many times its unintentional- but it causes financial issues for you just the same. Referencing Tip #1 about trusting your intuition- listen to it the first time- it can keep your blood pressure down. 
3. ALWAYS have a back-up plan- I live off of contingency plans, and it's always good to have a plan A, B and sometimes C when Tip #2 occurs. Thankfully, when things started going awry, we had some back-up plans to help alleviate some of the discomfort and issues that occurred throughout the trip. Although I was stressing out, everyone else continued to enjoy their trip and proceeded as planned. Consider everything that could possibly go wrong and plan your contingency plans backwards from there. 
4. Keep your contracts with you at all times (especially if your event is off-site or out of town)- Again, I learned this lesson a LONG time ago. Whenever you have an event, purchase a plastic envelope from the $1 Store and keep copies of ALL of your contracts and important pieces of correspondence with you during your event. You never know when you may need to reference this information or remind a vendor of their end of the contract. If I didn't have my contracts on hand when issues arose, we would still be arguing with vendors. Consider this envelope like money- never leave home without it. 
5. Try to keep calm and keep it professional- As much as you may want to yell, scream, throw things and perhaps catch an assault charge, it's important to remain professional when dealing with these issues. I know I would have liked to done each of these things at any time throughout that trip, but I also know that acting out of character would have made the situation worse. In addition, it's hard to get concessions and allowances out of people when you're acting like a donkey. Therefore, it's far better to kill them with kindness and your pen than to fly off the handle and make yourself look stupid. There is a professional way to make your concerns known to the staff. Reference those contracts you brought with you and refer to that contingency plan, but whatever you do, keep it professional.  I learned that lesson well before this trip, but I had to be extra careful because you never know who is actually watching you and your reactions to a situation. 

So there you have it, hopefully these 5 tips will help you when sh*t starts hitting the fan!

Sharing Is Caring!

When was the last time sh*t hit the fan for you? What did you do when everything seemed to go awry? Please feel free to share!

©2014 by Tillman Davis Enterprises. All Rights Reserved. Garrysa Caffey, MBA | Event Planner, Speaker and Author for Nov8ive Events & Designs. Learn the trade secrets that event planners use to create successful events. Join us today and get our free eBook “The 7 Costly $ins that Can Ruin Any Event”. Visit www.nov8iveevents.com and fill out the form.