Polls Close Tuesday at Midnight!

'Tis the season. Election season that is! Not just in politics, but in the special events industry.

And we are thrilled to have been named a finalist in one of the industry's top awards -- the 2012 Event Solutions magazine Spotlight Awards.

AOO Events is one of only five event companies in the country up for Event Company of the Year!

Polls close tomorrow night, Tuesday, January 31, at midnight Pacific time!

The finalists were chosen by the Event Solutions magazine Advisory Board, a group of high-powered professionals from all areas of the industry.
We thank the board for making us a finalist.
Now we need you to help make AOO Events a winner!

Below is a sample of the work that we designed and produced in 2011 that made us a finalist.
Please take a look through.
At the end of this post you will find a logo that is a link to the voting site.


UPMC
This year, our longtime client, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, named its annual fund-raising event "Celebrate a Future Without Cancer" and challenged us by asking for a color palette of hot jewel tones. We successfully turned up the heat both with the event design and the entertainment, the one-and-only Gladys Knight!


100th ANNIVERSARY OF NAVAL AVIATION
This event took us above and below the deck of the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego. The evening began with a presentation and a fireworks show. It continued down below in an all-metal hangar bay which we transformed in six hours into this gorgeous environment! Heartfelt videos by Brett Culp and a performance by Kenny Loggins made this one of the year's most memorable events for us.


DREAM FOUNDATION
The jewel in our crown this year was the Dream Foundation event featuring the designer Salvatore Ferragamo. At the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara we produced a runway show, oversaw the build-out of the runway itself as well as the design of the room which was notable for the bold use of red against a designer-white background.

Thank you for voting and helping to make us Event Company of the Year!

Please click on the logo below to go to the voting site.

Polls close at midnight on Tuesday, January 31, pacific time.

GUEST BLOG by Leslee Bell

I met Leslee while attending an event in Canada. I was taken with her approach to design. When I asked her to contribute a blog on design trends, she didn't hesitate. As you can see, she just starts right out of the gate delivering inspiration! She will be one of the designdawgs on stage with me in Tampa at The Special Event. Hope to see you there!
David Merrell
Creative Director, AOO Events, Lead designdawg


On Trend...2012

By Leslee Bell

We are seeing lots of changes in 2012 especially in the formal dining arena. Gone are the days of stuffy dinners (unless it is a a state dinner with all the protocol). More events are using contemporary formats in seating, combining tall tables with comfortable bar-height stools, or rectangular tables with table-height sofas. More requests for three-quarter table seating are coming in with rounds so no one has their back to the main attraction. Tables are designed as serpentines, rectangles, squares and even clover leaves in combinations to create interest in the room.

Lounge, lounge, lounge! It's in again and not going anywhere. Staged at various heights with stairs from one level to another and tiered for impact.


Various looks in furnishings, texture, different media in upholstery from leather and suede to chenille and tapestry. It's about weaves and patterns. Carpets with the sass of Zebra, geometric patterns in bold colors or soft textural earth tones let the furniture be the drama.


The color for 2012 is stunningly bold -- Tangerine Tango. The color for 2011 was Honeysuckle which is a saucy fuchsia pink. Now these two colors are being paired with celadon green or purple for "attitude palettes" and soft corals and creams for a more subdued palette with rave reviews.

A secondary popular palette is the aquatic blue colors from marine to azure and from teal to turquoise, paired with greens. Think peacock feathers for inspiration.

Themes are out but looks and names that have great freedom for design like the inspiration board for blue mystique (the client's corporate color is blue) give great latitude in design.


Black and white will be strong as an anchor palette and the base for the hot colors to use as their canvas for impact. Red, orange, fuchsia and yellow are the splashes most used with it this year.


Metallics in furniture and settings to gaudy to stylish are having rebirth. From soft;y draped fabrics, lames and leather to rigid metals -- gold, silver , pewter, bronze and copper ... all will soar in 2012.

Lighting is the most important tool in the designer's arsenal. A good lighting director is paramount. They bring depth, texture and drama to a room and change the look of the space over and over, breathing life into the event.

A designer can create a fabulous room but without the magic of lighting it can be flat with little dimension. Lighting sets the mood and tells an ever-changing story.

Branding is out and imprinting is in. Imprinting impacts all your senses, is experiential and therefore far more impactful. Smell is the sense that is most affected by imprinting. Capitalize on it.
Repurposing is very "in." Metaphorically speaking, the client wants to keep the car but will change out the wheels for impact when budgets are modest.


Food stylings are nouveau from being suspended from truss to deep frozen and nitrogen tossed a la minute to being served on clothespins, cooked at a tabletop or planted in seedling gardens. It is as much about the presentation as it is the fabulous foods.


Hors d'oeuvres are served in parchment or edible pastry cones, endive leaves, edible spoons, shot glasses or even with clothes pins.


Popcorn is an adult party food with various flavored salts as toppers paired with local beers or wines. Poutine and flavorful toppings replace the old potato martini bar.

Candy stations are not only for the young, but the young at heart. Unique cocktail are always a crowd pleaser. Create a signature one.


About Leslee Bell

Leslee Bell founded Decor and More in 1989. She pioneered a new style of design and has been rewarded for her efforts. In 2005 she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Special Events Spirit Awards and in 2006, Decor and More was the most awarded company during the ISES Esprit Awards.

Decor and More

Speaking Of...

Here is a mini preview of my next two speaking engagements.
The first one is next week at The Special Event in Tampa!

We're doing a Designdawgs IV: Insights and Inspirations. I will be speaking on and hosting a lively discussion of design trends brought to you by my fellow hip dawgs and cool cats...

People such as ...


Marley Majcher
Marley, aka The Party Goddess, wrote a great guest post on designdawgs last week discussing her design process. She'll go into this more at our seminar.

Leslee Bell
Leslee is the founder of Decor and More in Canada. Her philosophy of holistic, experiential design was ahead of its time -- and continues to be -- when she began the company in 1989. You'll find out more about her on Thursday when she is our Guest on designdawgs. Watch for it. Lots of eye candy!


Ken Kristofferson
Ken is the president of POP Kollaborative in Calgary, and he'll be guest blogging on designdawgs in February.

Then in February, I'm at The Event Solutions Idea Factory in Las Vegas speaking on Designing for the New Normal (economy that is). While the events industry is doing so much better in 2012, we are working in a very different economic climate. As such, our designs have had to change. Find out more about how to integrate environmental elements as opposed to total transformation, allocating budgets and space to make the most of what you have, and more!

At Event Solutions, we'll find out if AOO Events is the winner of Event Company of the Year!

We need your vote to win! Voting ends January 31.

See this blog post to view the events that make us Event Company of the Year

Please click HERE to vote!

Thank you!

GUEST BLOG by Marley Majcher

Marley is a long time friend. I've watched in awe as she has continued to hone her brand expand into books, webinars, seminars and more and her image become well-known on TV, the internet and radio. She's a dynamo and her post here is as lively and unique as she is. Her ideas on design set my own imagination in motion. Enjoy!
David Merrell
Creative Director, AOO Events, lead designdawg


The Process of Design

By Marley Majcher

To me, good design and the process of creativity and generating amazing ideas often feels like catching butterflies: Elusive. Worth the time in the end for the splendor and satisfaction of what ends up in the net, but try and force the issue or move too swiftly and you end up, well, with nothing. This only seems to encourage "trying harder" which does only one thing - drives the cagey beauty away. Often when we stop chasing and even walk away from whatever we're trying to obtain, we manifest exactly what we want. Such is my process of design.

Event design, like any other form of artistic expression, is in the eye of the beholder, no question, but there are certain things visual artists can do to nurture their aesthetic sense. After so many years of trying to get "better" at designing and laying out the events that The Party Goddess! team is a part of, I finally realized that there are many components that come into play. Mastering anything whether it's design, tennis or even business involves similar repetitive processes.

In my opinion, good art is about exposure - traveling to far away places, taking photos of things that are seemingly unrelated to design: Patterns of sunlight through a gate on a sidewalk in Paris that become the inspiration for an invitation (or bar backdrop or gobo), propaganda crudely pasted to gritty construction plywood off the Westside Highway in New York or jam-packed store windows of Henri Bendel at Christmastime.

It's also the constant awareness of shapes, colors, filtered light, color schemes that aren't supposed to work together (but do), that ultimately allow great design ideas to flow on demand. Because that actually is the point: On demand is not really "on demand" at all; the ultimate "design" is the result of lots and lots of pre-work. Over the years I've developed a few strategies that work for me every time:

An environment that nurtures my creative spirit. Seems obvious, but I still overlook it sometimes. To do great work, my brain space must be nurtured and protected and encouraged to produce. For me that means an organized environment free of lots of clutter and distractions (things unrelated to what I'm working on) and annoyances (a Post-It about a customer who wants to challenge a line item on an invoice.) Incense makes a big difference. So does comfortable, luxurious clothing and rich hand lotion. Music to inspire (crazy upbeat to crank out something edgy and out of the box) or soothing to create a cozy atmosphere to lull my guests into a relaxed state of mind also helps. No clue why the Lollia hand cream does it, but then again I can't figure out why most of my problems are best solved over reapplying numerous coats of lip gloss either.

A strong foundation. A lifetime (or recent focus) on going to museums to see TRULY great artists, galleries, photo exhibits and classes about "the right way" to do things. Do I think you need to visit the Guggenheim weekly and stick solely to matches on the color wheel? Of course not. However, the confidence of knowing that I've left no stone unturned when it comes to improving my work gives me an extra boost.

Shifts. Shifts of any kind are super important to the creative process, especially when one gets stuck. When I need to come up with something particularly spectacular, I mix up everything from the way I drive to work, what I eat for lunch, how I wear my hair, where (and when) I do my exercise. Depending on how stuck and how pressed I am determines how many adaptations to the routine are necessary. Shifting precludes my brain from going on auto-pilot and by default forces me to see new things I had never noticed before.

Caffeine. This is intrinsically tied to my environment and shifts. I often do my best work in coffee shops with a strong cappuccino made with whole milk. Why? No idea. The compact environment seems to force me to focus on the task at hand, stay off the phone and the whole milk feels like such a departure from my nonfat, dressing-on-the-side-lifestyle that I guess I'm just giddy enough to produce.

Inspiration. You've got to have a fall-back. If the caffeine doesn't work and your Masters in Fine Art is still failing you, you've got to have a pre-determined go to list to get that jumpstart your drained batteries need. I have certain blogs (Design Dawgs of course!), books, sections of the bookstore and special lists of international magazines to get me going. Love British Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Dwell, Wallpaper, WedLuxe and whatever catches my eye at the newsstand when it's time to create.

A team who "gets" you. You must, in advance, way before you ever need it, have people around you with whom you can bounce ideas off, who get your vision and can shake you from your "default." The default for me is that space I always go back to when I get lazy, tired and uninspired. It's the flower arrangement I tend to revert to when I've just got nothing. It's the buffet layout I go with when the thought of something new is exhausting. Your go to inspiration gurus should be the ones who can help you get out of the inevitable rut, give you new ideas, know what you already gravitate towards and are great at provoking a twist, a turn or something to take your ordinary to extraordinary.

Space. Room to breathe. Peace. I don't know about any of you, but when I'm pushed, I just can't perform. I'm not suggesting that deadlines and coming in under the wire don't create a certain sense of motivation, I'm just saying that if I don't have a couple of pieces mentioned above already in place, my creativity is pretty much, well, toast. Sure, I can come up with ideas on a dime, that's what live TV teaches you if you want to do it more than once, but I'm talking about setting yourself up to succeed long term without a trip to rehab in the process.

Accept the fact that you and every one of us gets tired, burned out and uninspired at some point (many points.) If you know that going in, you'll be much better prepared to jumpstart your creativity at exactly the right time. And whatever you do, make sure to come up with a list of creative saps and avoid them like the plague (think lack of sleep, hunger, distraction and agitation). Inspired design (and catching elusive creatures) involves a certain set of go to strategies, patience and an awful lot of practice.

Marley Majcher

Marley Majcher is the owner of celebrity-based event planning company, The Party Goddess! and is the author of But Are You Making Any Money? She has appeared on every major TV network including Bravo, E!, HGTV, ABC, NBC, CBS, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Us Weekly, People and Entrepreneur.

Find out more about Marley by clicking HERE!

News from AOO!

AOO Events has been named a finalist in the 2012 Event Solutions Magazine Spotlight Awards for Event Company of the Year!
The awards are the event industry's Oscars.
The finalists were chosen by the Event Solutions Advisory Board, a group of high-powered professionals from all areas of the industry.

We thank the board for making us a finalist.
Now it's your turn to make AOO Events a winner!

Below are a few of the events we designed and produced in 2011 to get us to this point. Check them out and then click on the Spotlight logo at the end of this post to vote.

UPMC
This year, our longtime client, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, named its annual fund-raising event "Celebrate a Future Without Cancer" and challenged us by asking for a color palette of hot jewel tones. We successfully turned up the heat both with the event design and the entertainment, the one-and-only Gladys Knight!

100th ANNIVERSARY OF NAVAL AVIATION

This event took us above and below the deck of the USS Midway aircraft carrier stationed in San Diego. The evening began with a presentation and a fireworks show. It continued down below in an all-metal hangar bay which we transformed in six hours into this gorgeous environment! Heartfelt videos by Brett Culp and a performance by Kenny Loggins made this one of the year's most memorable events for us.

DREAM FOUNDATION
The jewel in our crown this year was the Dream Foundation event featuring the designer Salvatore Ferragamo. Held at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara we produced a runway show, overseeing the build out of the runway, and the design of the room which was notable for the bold use of red against a designer-white background.


THANK YOU FOR VOTING AND MAKING US
EVENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR!

Please CLICK HERE to go to the voting ballot

A Place at the Table for the New Year

A little before the holiday break, SITE SoCal hosted a tabletop competition at La Costa Resort and Spa in San Diego County. AOO Events partnered with PRA Orange County and the luxury ocean view resort, Terranea in Palos Verdes to create this tabletop design with linen, napkins and sheer chiavari chair covers by Wildflower Linen. The team effort was totally successful for many reasons, not the least of which was that we won the competition!

Although that was nice, it certainly wasn't just about that. Everything we do ... in this industry, in business and our personal lives ... is not about solo victories or achievements. It's about the creative process we go through together and the partnerships and alliances that make us successful, whole and happy.

These past few years have not been without their twists and turns, but we are all still here and still passionate about what we do. As the industry goes through this latest incarnation, and we with it, it's still all about delivering the client's message. As we find new ways to do so, we grow and evolve becoming stronger on the one hand, and more flexible and resilient on the other. Just as anything new, change might feel strange at the beginning, but after 20 years in business, and surviving several recessions, I am here to tell you that with every adaptation, AOO Events has moved to another, higher level.

On this week before the New Year, I am setting a place at my "table" for all that I am thankful for and all that is to come in 2012. The message is in the bottle, and the only way to find out what it says is to pop the cork and welcome in the New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
From all of us
designdawgs and cool cats at AOO Events!

GUEST BLOG by Barbara Dick

Several of my speaking engagements have taken me to Canada recently putting me in touch with the event professionals there. So it was that I was talking about design last week with Barbara Dick about the launch event for a new capital campaign called "Boundless." I loved the word, but more than that I loved how the design of the event supported it. She sent me some information and photos to share here. Enjoy!
David Merrell Creative Director AOO Events, Lead Designdawg

BOUNDLESS
By Barbara Dick

This event, the kickoff for the capital campaign for the University of Toronto, took its cues from the campaign's theme, Boundless.

The underlying message was that the university is interested in exploring the boundless possibilities of the university and its community for global leadership and societal impact. Ultimately our campaign is about preparing global citizens and meeting global challenges; channeling the immense power and talent of our community to imagine a brighter future for Canada and the world.


The event drew 1,000 donors, alumni and volunteer leaders, senior university leaders, student ambassadors and musicians. We worked with Mediaco on the design and production of this beautiful event. Because of the lengthy history of the university which was established in 1827, they created a look that combined the traditional and modern; a mesh of the familiar with the delight of the unexpected.


The visual messaging for Boundless came from projections on the suspended banners in the reception tent, step and repeats (pictured above) and screen projections.


Four stages featured rotating performance from different faculty of musical ensembles.

Lighting was a major design component in the Convocation Hall during a presentation ceremony culminating in the presentation to all the guests of a diploma with a "Doctorate in Boundless Opportunity."


Barbara Dick
Barbara is Assistant Vice President, Alumni Relations, at the University of Toronto, Canada's largest university. With more than 500,000 alumni, the University of Toronto spans three campuses and boasts one of the country's most successful advancement operations.

Barbara is a graduate of the University of Toronto with more than 20 years experience in the arts and higher education. As AVP, Alumni Relations, she provides central leadership for alumni relations within the de-centralized University of Toronto environment. She, along with colleagues in more than 25 divisions, works to foster alumni engagement in support of the university's mission and goals.

For more on the capital campaign featured here, please go to http://boundless.utoronto.ca/