Great Occasions

At one of her most extravagant parties, event planner Sheryl

Ferrie created her own version of the Academy Awards, complete with a Joan Rivers

look-alike on the red carpet, a life-size replica of Mann’s Chinese Theater,

and four gold-painted male models, standing tall like the coveted Oscar.

Held at The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, this $250,000 party was

thrown by a woman celebrating her 50th birthday. Although Ferrie wouldn’t

suggest bringing gold-painted men to a business event, she and other local

event planners use their creativity to spice up meetings for the professional

crowd, whether it’s for a small company treating its local employees or a

national company splurging on clients.

Her first tip for success? Know your budget. “You don’t have

to spend a lot of money to make it dramatic,” says Ferrie, owner and director

of sales for Destination Resources, a Naples-based event-planning firm that has

created meetings for national companies, including Ralph Lauren and Pfizer, and

for local groups such as the Collier Building Industry Association. Whether

you’re working with $500 or $500,000, funding makes a big difference in

choosing not only the venue, but the food, entertainment and décor.

Pam Loudermilk, the Ritz’s director of destination services,

who handles the details for national companies who use the Ritz’s beach hotel

or golf resort in Naples, says there are ways to economize. For example, if you

want to have a breakfast meeting at the Ritz, but don’t have a large budget,

you can opt for coffee, tea and danishes.

Spending on meetings in 2001 totaled $122.1 billion,

according to Successful Meetings magazine. In Southwest Florida, many local businesses

and organizations plan their own meetings rather than hire a professional

planner. Meeting planners get most of their business from national and regional

companies that hold team-building sessions, client events and other important

get-togethers here. The region’s busy season filled with social events and

fundraising galas also keep them busy.

But many businesses have cut back on spending for functions.

“Pre 9-11, people spent whatever they wanted. With summer [economic] slowdown

and 9-11, they want the bare bones,” Loudermilk says. “They’re trying to see

how far they can go creatively. The sky’s not the limit anymore.”

Bryan L.S. Pease, whose Naples-based event planning and

transportation company, Excel Destination, has worked with Fortune 500 companies

to create events from Captiva Island to Marco Islands agrees. “Everyone is

concerned about getting value. Whether a national or local company, the

principles are still the same—quality and a successful event.”

These experts and others agreed to put their cell phones on

vibrate and tell us how, even with such budget constraints, they’re

successfully pulling off employee parties, intimate client events and major

annual meetings.

Go, Team, Go!

To introduce employees at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point

Resort & Spa to management before the hotel opened last fall, Ferrie and

her team at Destination Resources created a throwback to a high school pep

rally, complete with a marching band. “Their goal was, ‘We’re excited and we

want you to be excited because we want guests to be excited,’” Ferrie says.

When planning any event, consider the message. Do you want

to emphasize the company’s values? Do you want to reinforce a goal that the

head of the company has been trying to make? Or is the event purely fun, to

thank employees?

Also, consider the personality and profile of key players.

At one recent team-building event, the executives and employees were athletic,

so Ferrie capitalized on their competitive nature with a volleyball tournament.

For another, more intellectual client, she organized games challenging

analytical skills.

If you’re going with a game, make it unusual. At a

team-building event, Pease did a life-size version of Scrabble. He sent

participants around the hotel to find clues for the letters, placed tennis

balls with letters in the kiddie pool for people to form words, and hired an

airplane to fly by with a banner providing more letters.

In Southwest Florida, try to take advantage of the water and

the weather, event planners say. Consider a casual and relaxed beachside

party—not during the summer, of course. For groups of 50 or fewer, Loudermilk

suggests sailing out on catamarans during sunset and having a cocktail

reception. Bigger groups call for everything from a formal event in the

ballroom to an outing at Caribbean Gardens or Ngala, a private game reserve in

Naples that has become popular for corporate events.

If your holiday party has always been held at a certain

hotel, try a different place, such as a clubhouse at one of the area’s many luxurious

communities. Mary Monacelli, HDG Communities’ corporate director of sales for

special events, says businesses comprise 50 to 55 percent of her company’s

event work. The clubhouses at The Strand and Olde Cypress can seat up to 300

people. “We do a lot of corporate lunches and dinners, and a lot of holiday

parties,” she says. “They might go the Ritz one year, then come to us. People

like variety.”

Catering to Your Clients

If you’re bringing in clients for a weekend, consider their

age, interests and whether or not spouses will be accompanying them. Think

about the reason for the event. Then you can plan the details, says Michelle

Dremann, an event coordinator in Naples for nearly two years who specializes in

intimate engagements like the Winter Wine Festival’s private dinners. If it’s a

dinner or cocktail reception, create an inviting atmosphere with low-key

lighting such as candles and floor lamps. “People enjoy themselves in a

beautiful atmosphere,” she says.

With client events, the purpose is to better the

relationship between the client and your company. In a one-on-one environment,

Pease recommends an outdoor cocktail reception with strolling guitar players.

Or, again, use the beach. You have the sunset, water and sand, says Pease. At

one business event at LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort, Pease hired a guitarist

and created table centerpieces with a tropical floral arrangement in a conch

shell. “Usually it’s a very important event and needs to be treated as such,”

says Pease, who adds that creativity is integral to the event’s success.

If you’re doing a theme, try something sophisticated, he

says. “People don’t want items that might be construed as cheap. They want

quality. The focus has shifted away from props. There is more interest in an

experience,” Pease says. His clients have spent anywhere from a couple of

hundred dollars for the entire event to $1,000 a person.

Ferrie created her most memorable event one weekend at the

Hyatt in Bonita Springs for a group of the hotel chain’s female clients. During

the day, the women golfed. Friday evening, Ferrie coordinated a slumber party.

Attendees arrived at the ballroom in their pajamas and found a disc jockey

(with a karaoke machine), pizza and popcorn, makeup artists, fortune tellers,

tabloid magazines, Twister and more. The following night, in conjunction with

an awards banquet, Ferrie and her team created a game they called “The

Strongest Link,” their version of “Weakest Link.” Answering questions about the

Hyatt, participants competed via computerized systems at each table. “We had a

blast,” she says.

Creating a Must-Attend Event

As a naples-based professional speaker and former public

relations executive for the Ritz, Allison Blankenship has seen her share of

meetings. The best events, she says, present a clean-cut message, either

saying, “Here’s what we’re going to learn” or “Here’s what we’re going to do

for you.” For example, if the meeting is going to relay bad news, make

rebuilding or restructuring a theme, says Loudermilk.

Keep awards ceremonies short—a maximum of 45 minutes.

Attendees lose interest in speech after speech. At one event this year, instead

of reading off accolades for award winners, Pease’s client featured photos of

the winners on a waterscreen created with a waterfall in front of a projection

screen.

“Take the obligation out of it and create something that’s

fun,” Dremann says. That way, people will “have a hard time leaving as opposed

to running out the door.”

Food and décor help create a memorable evening without

taking away from the message. One food trend is duets—portions of meat and

seafood on the dinner plate, says Mary Ann Shea, The Ritz-Carlton’s director of

catering. “It’s more exciting that they’re giving people a choice right at the

plate,” says Shea, whose local clients include Bank One, the Collier County

Economic Dev-elopment Council, First National Bank and Saks Fifth Avenue.

When it comes to décor, lighting, linens and florals are

key. Ferrie recommends combining fruits and flowers in centerpieces and using

unique lighting. At a recent IBM event at The Registry Resort, Ferrie’s lighted

centerpieces changed colors spontaneously throughout the evening. Such

unexpected elements, she says, delight guests; in fact, she recommends viewing

every party like a theatrical production, with color, drama and several fun

surprises.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

Even though he’s a seasoned pro, Pease admits there are

potential pitfalls. “The key is to think through as many as possible and plan

accordingly,” he says.

Two common mistakes are poor timing: events that go on and

on and risk the chance of people fleeing early, and poor flow, where attendees

stand near the door.

When planning an event, don’t wait too late to reserve the

venue. During season, many hotels are booked up to a year in advance.

Clubhouses are more available, typically taking reservations up to 45 days in

advance. If you want to hold the event during season, prices will probably be

higher.

For four years, Rosemary Mc- Callister has helped plan the