We’ve all been to the cocktail hour, meetings, or “celebrations” that take place in the same large conference hotel with beige walls and visited the buffet that you’ve seen ten times before.  When planning an event at one of these locations, or even the swankiest NY hotspot, you have a unique opportunity to create a brand experience.  Small budgets or large, this can be done with a few hours of creative thinking and some lead time.

Here are four tems every event can use to enhance “the beige wall syndrome” of hotel conference rooms. 

Colored Sugar – if you are serving drinks (and more than likely you are) think about offering colored sugar on the rim of appropriate drinks (mojitos, margaritas, lemon drops) or offering non-alcoholic slushes the color of your brand.  Most caterers can provide the coloring for you or we found our sugar daddy thru Twang (see "candy" in  Hot vendors for contact info).   

M&Ms – You can print an initial on m&ms for a birthday party or select two or three colors that represent your company or wedding colors.  Use these m&ms as favors, in a vase at a registration table, on a bar in a large bowl to add some flair or as a pillow gift tied with your branded ribbon.  (see "candy" in Hot Vendors). 

Ribbon – so this may sound so “girly” but ribbon can be branded and used on hundreds of items to remind guests this is a special event.  A few uses, tie conference notebooks with the ribbon, decorate the registration table tastefully with ribbon, always add a ribbon to the speaker gifts.  For weddings, custom ribbon can be helpful and a pretty addition to the program and favors. 

Napkins – the most inexpensive, high impact item you can buy.  Seriously, this simple thing is such a great vehicle for getting a message out to your guests – use it.  You can simply have your logo with the new client URL printed on it, share a joke if your brand wants to appear "fun", share the company’s unique drink recipe, celebrate a major milestone (one million customers).   Whatever you need to promote this year, print it on the napkins – and then count on every guest using 5/event – so order thousands – it’s easier to have to many than have to reorder.

Bon Voyage!