Preventing "Are You Ready to Leave Yet?" at Your Events.

For Any Event, Prevent This! "Are You Ready to Leave Yet?"

You might know someone or maybe that someone is yourself who is ready to leave an event before it has even started.  I kind of feel that way about surgery, but some people feel that way about events and weddings.  I don't know if it's the opposite of the way kids can be on a road trip and they are saying, "Are we there, yet?" or maybe they grow up to be adults wanting to leave any event early.  You know who they usually are. Typically it's a husband leaning sideways toward his wife's ear to say, "Are you ready to leave yet?"  If it's really bad he might say, "I'll be out in the car".

When you're hosting an event you've obviously put a lot of time, money, thought and energy into something that will not last nearly as long.  A host will often feel disappointed or like a failure if their guests leave early.  Everyone should host an event to see what that might feel like. For a business event, it can feel like a failure to meet your ROI. (Return on Investment) but it's not really a good measure for that. There are a couple of simple things that will make people stay longer.  

For a social event, I found one thing that works to keep even the most reluctant attendees from leaving early!  In my experience, it's been having an ice cream cart or truck.  Trucks are better in hot weather, obviously.  Ben and Jerry's (my favorite) is only one of similar operations. Dessert trucks are great, too.  Everyone becomes a kid again and will find ways to get in line multiple times to try each flavor in a cone. Then, little justification is needed to try another flavor without a cone.   It reminds me of variables and probability.

Remember the cone holds the ice cream, but the ice cream holds the power!

Music is another key to having people linger. Music affects more areas of the brain and will also make people remember your event. When I'm helping a client plan an event, I frequently go into a science lesson as to why this is the case. 

Remember these simple tricks that will make your guests want to stay longer whether they know the reason or not!

As always,

Wishing you the greatest of days!

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What Requires 16 Businesses and is 16 Hours Long?

I'm not even sure if it takes 16 or more businesses to build a house.  Well, maybe if you include all of the government agencies involved.  Most weddings take 16-20 vendors.

Couples going through the process of planning a wedding are often shocked at how many businesses they use to bring their wedding day to fruition and well beyond the wedding day.  Wedding checklists often don't list everyone that will end up being hired in one form or another.  There are so many varieties of just about every vendor category and every year we see different aspects added to weddings.  Couples are definitely in to making their day unique.

Yes, the average wedding takes 16-20 vendors.  Most people think of the venue, cake, photography, food, "the" dress or dresses, just off the top of their head.  Soon they find out that there are a lot of smaller choices to be made.  Often they are the things that take a lot of time leading up to a decision such as invitations.  Who knew they could all be so different?  I've never seen a couple not add on aspects to their wedding day beyond what they originally planned.

The people who don't think they need a DJ are often the most disappointed on their wedding day!  I-Pod weddings shouldn't even be compared to the services of a DJ.  They are the eyes and ears to your entire event.  An I-Pod cannot read a crowd to keep the party going or announce that someone left their lights on or is parked in a fire lane. 

Some of the more obscure vendor categories that people wouldn't have thought of several years ago are commonplace now.  For example, photo booths! And a photo booth is not a photo booth!  They vary quite a bit in the types of services they offer.  It goes beyond props and pics.

There are some categories of vendors that people wouldn't have even thought about such as a Ben and Jerry's ice cream truck or cart.  I can't even tell you what a hit this is on a hot summer day and it appeals to kids of all ages.  At one of the weddings I was hired for, can you guess who made their way to the cart more than any one else? Guys over 50!  Since when does this age and gender category have a good time at a wedding?  I heard a lot of "I tried that flavor in a cup, now I'll try it in a cone!"  There was a lot of foot traffic mostly from people saying, "I tried that flavor now I'm going to try this other flavor".

Weddings might begin with a ring purchase, but postage stamps, on site childcare, a dog-sitter can often be forgotten as services that are part of building a wedding.  

As far as time involved on a wedding day, 16 hours is not uncommon.  Depending up on how many attendants and couple have needing makeup and hair styling, you could very well start out at least by 8:00 AM and it's not long after that that the seating and tables are being put together and decorated.  Photographers document the whole process and the only thing they don't photograph are the guests eating their meals.  DJ's often are the last ones to leave a wedding....unless there's a wedding planner involved.  We're almost always the last to leave as we drive home at night often smelling like we've have alcoholic beverages when we haven't.  How does that happen?  It's because we have the wine soaked linens in the back of the car around midnight or 1:00 AM.

I'm attaching my notorious vendor wheel in which I have purposely left out some crucial vendors that every wedding needs.  Tell me if you can discover who is missing!  OKAY, you don't need Santa Claus, event surveys or incentives.  Hint:  Suffice it to say that a wedding as represented by this wheel would not be happening, and some guys might be a little embarrassed.  Rentals alone can sometimes be more than one vendor.

Wishing you the greatest of days!