Use with Caution

If you're not familiar with Rungtong below are a few of our favorite designs in their 2010 collection.  The paper feels thick and is nice to write on - not flimsy and not too shiny.  The card sets arrive in a beautifully decorated box, making a perfect hostess gift.  And with their brand new online store, it's easier than ever to obtain these fine boutique cards.  Rungtong Stationery Site.

It used to be cumbersome, as well as expensive, to rent the basic hand held voting devices. A company called Busy Event has come out with a number of solutions, at a great price point, allowing your audience to engage with the speaker.  With the "BeLink" product your attendees contact information as well as all sessions are part of their profile.  When attendees download presentations or answer survey questions you know exactly who is sending the information.  As a conference producer you can chose to display survey results instantly on the stage or save the data for later analysis.  There are few things more valuable than instant feedback.

Kudos to Busy Event for coming up with so many useful tools for conference organizers.  Check out their site for product demos and other helpful event tools. 

Although unconventional, an evening of cupcakes and cocktails (well mocktails for some) worked out perfectly at the chic Sarah Shaw boutique in San Francisco. The boutique venue provided a comfortable and interesting atmosphere for the 20 guests. With beautiful clothes to admire and gossip about, there was no need for cheesy games like guess how big the belly is (well i actually love those games but not everyone feels the same).  Because of space, we kept the food to only those items that can be enjoyed just fine without a table or fork.  The best decor element was the black and white pillows Blueprint Studio delivered with our chair rental - so pretty and happened to match our plates. 

gift table set amongst mannequins   

  We kept the food to finger foods, nothing that required a table and cutlery 

These beautiful chairs are from Blueprint Studios

I think everyone had a fun, festive time celebrating this baby while participating in the team sport of shopping.

Beyond their usual professional event production services, this trusted duo is ready to help you enjoy the holiday season by providing a wide range of services: manage your holiday mailings, select flowers for your next dinner party, purchase and wrap unique gifts for your assistants or family, remind you of special anniversaries, provide a festive party menu for your New Years Eve party, book your spa treatments (yes!)  or even plan your next vacation.

I'm starting to think of them as a holiday fairy godmothers, without the puffy dress and big hair of course, they're way to chic.  Check them out here: Jacq and Jules.

 Good luck ladies, looks like a wonderful service.

Every year during our Internet company sales conference two or three people always appeared who were not part of the guest list and had actually flown themselves on their own dime (some attempted to get the travel desk to pay - not a brilliant idea) and bunked up with their pals.  They even attended the long sessions - so they weren't just there for the free drinks...

One of my favorite crasher memories (it's funny now, not so funny in the moment) was at a very high brow golf tournament where we entertained many, many VIPs.  Two of the charming sales people, with a few cocktails in them of course, convinced the five star hotel front desk they were the head of Nike Marketing and his collegue but lost their IDs on the golf course - could they please check into their room?  Not only were these two pranksters guilty of upgrading themselves to the nicer hotel, their client actually showed up at 10:30pm.  When I got a call from the sold out hotel that a second "Mr. Nike" just arrived, and not knowing who had checked in earlier, we pulled the nearest host to run into his room and pack up asap.  We learned to warn the hotel front desks at future events not to trust even the smoothest talkers - when in doubt, call the event manager's cell.

This type of tool would also work fine for someone renting a vacation home or even a yoga class sign up because you can accept paypal payments as well as the bookings.  So many practical applications in our busy lives. Parent teacher conferences just got easier.

As the planner, you receive a page that you can upload your own logo to and provide a link to your participants or team. BOOKWHEN automatically syncs with your google calendar.  Check out a demo here. Congrats Jo, this is a really practical tool.

Cheers!

To all floral enthusiasts,

Flowers certainly give off a wonderful aroma and arrangements ought to appeal to your more architectural sensibilities; but COLOR is without a doubt the most intruiging aspect of floral design.

Color is a wonderful but often confusing and challenging aspect or tool of any design work. I though I would offer a couple insights on how color trends shift and evolve as our world quickly changes. I am, and I suspect most are, heavily influenced by seasonal changes. This is entirely a personal sensibility and some do not shift their pallets as much as others with the cycles of the seasons.

Certainly there are colors that are beyond seasons; white, black, certain grays.

And in that same vein, color requests cannot and should not be ignored...after all, this is the service industry.

But keeping an eye out, suspecting and trying to gauge changes while attempting to be unique and individual is why designers are constantly drawn to this variable. In the past few years there has been on a whole an interesting shift towards muted and earthy, skin like, blended, or washed out colors.

The digital revolution has muted the sharp contrast of bold colors and put a very tangible and real feel on images and creations. The attempt to actualize or bring to life digital images has lead to the toning down of colors in the interest of believability.

This is not meant at all as a dismissal of digital media. Rather a beautiful and very neutral pallet of fashionable colors have perpetrated the market. The art, fashion, and floral design reimburses this trend and things look wonderful and blend easily.

Trends we employ are washed out acid neon. Muted grays and blacks are a personal favorite. Earthy and tonal primary colors (yellow, red, blue).

Light browns and skin tones are a huge plus. They blend so well and are so tangible. While muted colors are the trend do not forget to throw a little color in to break things up.

Following the trends is not an easy process. It takes time, dedication, and a general interest. Keeping in touch with fashion and art is extremely important. I feel strongly that fashion establishes and develops the tones that are so important of such a subtle level.

Thanks for reading...
Written by Adam Iscoff - Daigian

You can have your bridesmaid's named embroidered on these keepsake robe as well as the date of your special day (at no charge).

These robes are the perfect weight. Made of silky white microfiber with soft French knit terrycloth lining, you feel warm yet they swing softly with your body. I've really thought about spending the day in mine.

Best of all, they are made to withstand hundreds of washes and still feel new. Many fine resorts exclusively use RobeWorks in their spas because of this feature.

Check out the link to RobeWorks Wedding Line here. If you're not in the wedding mode visit the Classic Collection. Love these robes!

The gals at Pink Sea Turtle Invitations have come up with an excellent list of invitation verses which are now available on Bonjour Events in the Templates section.

Please enjoy their creative wording suggestions and check out the thousands of invitations they offer at PinkSeaTurtles.com.