Biz Bash Expo 2010

Celebrating their 10th year in the business, Biz Bash is the leading trade media for the event industry. They cover events in the hippest and chic cities in the world. Among these are
Miami, New York and Los Angeles to name a few!

Last week they held their first Expo in South Florida. I was among the fortunate to be invited to participate in such a lavish trade show.

The day started off with 2 educational sessions. The first one was focused on top female executives and how they got to be where they are at now. Among the panelists was Kelly Murphy, president of Panache, A Classic Party Rental. A prestigious and recognizable rental company which carries "out of the box" rentals. Maria Elena Rubio, general manager of the Mondrian Hotel , a Morgan's Group hotel, located on the West side of South Beach. It is the first hotel on South Beach that has an all female executive team. These professional females shared their experiences and how difficult it was to run a successful business in the corporate rat race.

The second session was geared towards catering and covered the current trends. Among the panelists were Warren Dietel, president of Puff n' Stuff catering company from Central Florida and Bonnie Fimiano president of Cafe a la Cart .

Mr. Dietel was kind enough to share some of his recent creations such ad the Deli Station. This may sound a bit odd at first but once I saw the pictures I immediately captured the concept. This type of approach goes well during a cocktail hour, casual rehearsal dinner and a bar/bat mitzvah. Different deli meats along with imported cheeses were presented in a refrigerated display case. Behind it was a chef serving the food as if you were at a NYC deli! There were condiments and sweet bread rolls so that each guest can create their sandwich to their liking. This is a very clever idea and economical at the same time.

Ms. Fimiano stated that it is much more cost effective for both the venue and the client to outsource their coffee. In the recent months, the price of coffee has increased tremendously. This in turn, has reduced the amount of coffee served nationwide. I have personally noticed that many venues are not setting a cup and saucer as part of the tablescapes unless specifically requested. Coffee is now being served upon request. I also learned that the corporate planners are paying up to $110 for a gallon of coffee for their meetings! For an average of $600 you can rent a gourmet coffee station that will serve approximately 100 guests -not bad huh!

After our morning sessions, we moved to the Biz Bash hall of fame ceremony and to hear the renowned planner, Colin Cowie. The stage, designed by Everlast Productions . It was absolutely amazing! It looked like a runway show! It had LED screens everywhere whcih projected sceneries and they were playing fantastic music (yes- I was dancing in my seat).

The ceremony began with an opening act which included a dancing tree (Designs by Sean) and absolutely amazing flute player and a dazzling singer which delighted us with the tune of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. They then moved on to introducing the award recipients. Adrienne Arsht Philanthropist and Business leader, Mona Meretsky from Comcor Events and Lee Schrager from Southern Wine and Spirits and founder of South Beach Wine and Food Festival. After much anticipation, Mr. Richard Aaron, president of Biz Bash Media introduced Mr. Colin Cowie.

Mr. Cowie owned the stage! His words of wisdom included his take on how the economy has affected the industry. He also shared 3 of his outstanding events and went into detail as to how he constructs every event and never duplicates one!

Our lunch session covered the topic of branding and how important it is to identify your product. This was conducted by Dr. Joanne Leoni and Dr. Maureen Lloyd James both from Johnson and Wales University. It's amazing how far a jingle or a logo can take you!

I then moved on to the trade floor. I must admit, it felt great to reconnect with colleagues I had not seen in a while! The Donut Divas were rocking their donuts and candy apples while the ladies at Passion for Pastry had the most unique display EVER! They decorated an antique iron tricycle in which they had buckets of mouth watering mini cupcakes (red velvet, chocolate, vanilla and carrot cake), bowls of delicious frostings- buttercream, fudge and cream cheese and hanging pots of assorted toppings, needless to say I hung out with them for a while!

The decorations around the room were superb! Petal Productions did a fantastic job throughout the floor with the florals . From amazing bar decorations to outstanding decor at the VIP luncheon!

Nuage Designs displayed their unique and lavish furniture throughout the registration and education lounge, while Room Service /AFR adorned the main display on the trade floor. Amazing lights, custom gobos and even rain was recreated by Uplyte (I'm very excited about using this at one of my upcoming events!!). There were several recognizable linen companies that displayed their latest trends and new local and upcoming venues that are sure to be the "hot spots" in the months to come.

I had an amazing day reconnecting with well known and respected individuals from the industry. Sometimes when you have business for a long time, like myself, you find that you need a bit of motivation to re-stimulate your creativity and this is exactly what I needed. At the end of the day, I was truly exhausted and had a splitting headache but it was so well worth it, after all it gave me another story for my BLOG right!

Thanks for allowing me to share and I hope you have an opportunity to visit the fabulous businesses I have listed above!

A special thanks to my friend and colleague, Irene Coroalles, for the pictures.. as usual I forgot to pack my camera!