Meet Jahon: Our Rising Star

We are happy to announce that Jahon Pilichowski, Associate Event Producer at AOO Events, was named Rising Star at The Event Solutions Spotlights Awards in Vegas this month!

For those of you have met Jahon, you are already aware of his natural talent and his energetic personality. But in case you haven't met him in person, and you've been reading this blog, then in a way you know him because his style can be found in many of the events you've seen here.

From fun and sporty...
Jahon was part of the team for the G-Loft, Gatorade's launch of a new product during the Super Bowl. Click here to see more of this event.

To simply elegant...
He was also an integral part of making the Dream Foundation's wish for an ultra-elegant fashion show come true. Click here to see more of this event.

Congratulations Jahon!

Open House -- A Lesson in Transformation

In Hollywood, nothing is as it seems. You'd never guess by looking at the outside of our production studio and offices...


That it might look like this on the inside!


Actually, I'll confess, it doesn't always look like this! For our recent Open House attended by clients and friends, we transformed our spacious production studios, warehouse and offices into several elegant settings to show them what is possible.

In each vignette, everything was absolutely custom -- the bar in the corner of the photo below, the hard set wall framed in mirror, the fabric, even the furniture was all custom created for these vignettes at this event. It was important for us to convey this to clients as sometimes we see things at events without really understanding the work that goes into totally transforming an environment.


Details, details!

The last vignette before entering our offices was this stunning wedding tent. For this we brought in special items from Unique Tabletop Rentals, Town and Country Event Rentals and lighting by Images By Lighting.



Looking at these photos now, even I can't tell that they were taken in a warehouse. So one thing we did to bring home the idea of total transformation was to leave some of the warehouse exposed so that guests could really understand what goes into event design and that anything is possible!

"Limitations live only in our minds.

If we use our imagination, our possibilities become limitless."

-- Jamie Paolinetti

Welcome to the Dawg House!

Come on in! Our door is always open!

People always ask me what our offices look like. I guess they figure creative is as creative does, and they are right! The team of AOO Events works in a large warehouse in Hollywood that is very much like backstage at a theater production company.

This year we opened our doors to old and new clients and friends. We were surprised to learn that many of clients who had worked with us for years had had never visited our space. Not only did they see ideas and pieces that they now want to use at their next event, the visit gave them an insight into our overall creative process.

Energy + color + creativity!
This photo is of the entrance to our floral and linen room.


Our lounge area is a great space where we have our creative sessions, meet with clients and even experiment with color palettes, textures, floral design and tabletop treatments for upcoming events to see what works and what doesn't.

Next week I'll post some of the vignettes and themes we created in the warehouse especially for this event. So now that you know the way, I hope to see you back here soon!

GUEST BLOG by Lara McCulloch-Carter

“In Los Angeles there is so much competition that you have to reinvent yourself every couple of years. Since I have been in business I have gone through one name change, four logo changes and three web sites! What Lara speaks of here is great advice and especially something to be thinking about in this economy."
-- David Merrell

Designing Your

Silent Sales Team

By Lara McCulloch-Carter

We’re in an industry compelled by beauty. From invitations to linens to lighting, we transform the mundane into works of art. Yet many of us don’t invest the same time and talent into communicating our own brands. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “I’m just too busy working on everyone else’s jobs to get around to it.” But what could be more important than your own company?

I oversaw the development of many package designs that are on still on the shelf today. The land of packaging is an interesting one. The average supermarket carries about 50,000 products. Getting yours to stand out and, more importantly, convincing someone to buy it, can be a mountainous challenge. But every consumer goods professional knows that the package is your silent salesman...so investing in it is critical. The same can be said for your website, your business cards, your sales materials, your portfolio, your blog, your Facebook page, etc. When you’re in bed asleep or busy in a client meeting, your silent salesmen are working for you to persuade or dissuade people from buying your products and services.

What are your silent salesmen saying about you?

• Are they clearly speaking to your target market?
• Are they visually remarkable? And, would they stand out in a crowd?
• Are they immediately telling people why they should buy from you? Do they speak to the needs, wants and desires of your target are are you simply selling to them?
• Do they hold together as a group (i.e. are they consistent)?
• Are they easy to use, read, understand and navigate through?
• Are they memorable?
  

LARA'S TEAM OF SILENT SALESMEN...
Her blog, branded with her logo, signature color and image.


Her Twitter profile.
And her business cards.

Lara McCulloch-Carter

Lara McCulloch-Carter has built her career on building successful brands. For more than 12 years, Lara worked agency-side leading strategic brand development for client such as Good Humor-Breyers, Scotts Canada, Reckitt-Benckiser, Shell and Cadbury Adams. In 2006, she joined her family business, Regal Tent Productions, in the special events industry. In her short tenure, Lara was President of ISES Toronto and she was honored with the Spirit of the Industry Award 2008 from the Canadian Special Event Industry Awards as well as both a Leadership and a Dedication award from ISES Toronto. Lara authors the award-winning blog, READY2SPARK.com, writes a monthly trend column for Event Solutions magazine and is the founder of the Twitter community #eventprofs which was featured in Tim O'Reilly's book The Twitter Book. Lara now consults businesses on how to attract more customers through brand strategy, marketing and social media. She can be reached at ...

A Fundraiser Turns XV

The Dream Foundation's annual event was turning 15 and like any teenager, it was running a little late! We have worked with this wonderful organization for years but for a variety of reasons all the elements were not finalized until only two weeks before the event. That's when we received the call to design this year's fund-raising event. It was held at The Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara and featured a fashion show by Carolina Herrera.

Making things happen under pressure just happens to be something we love and our entire team rose to the occasion.

The stage design was simple and effective. The lighting, a joint effort between myself and Bellavista Designs in Santa Barbara, made the stage come alive.

For the fashion show, the Carolina Herrara camp insisted on an all-white room so the fashions would stand out. I had to fight for gold accents on the guest table settings. But actually, this was the perfect canvas for me to create an LED light show so the entire room could change color during the evening.

This light change was used during the performance by Taylor Dayne. In this photo, I was on stage with Show Director Lisa Jones getting last-minute information on Kenny Loggins and his performance. Lighting cues were literally being decided up to the last minute.

Another look to the room. Lighting was really a key element to making this design work given the parameters we had. It didn't hurt that I had a GREAT programmer who totally "got" what I was trying to do. And really, that's what it's all about. At the end of the day (or in this case, the event) it's the people and teamwork that enable us to produce a look this gorgeous in mere weeks.