Sixth Trip: Cleveland
After so many flights in such a short period of time, I decided to drive to Cleveland. In part, airfares were ridiculous for the return flight, since it was just before Thanksgiving. In part, driving meant that I could pick my son up from college on the return trip, since his break was starting.
The drive to Cleveland was pretty uneventful. The highlight probably was passing the marker denoting the highest point on Interstate 80 east of the Mississippi River, which was something like 2200 feet. Considering the time I’d recently spent in the Rockies, that marker left me pretty unimpressed.
Without a doubt, one of my favorite features of this local association outreach was the opportunity to see old friends again. One of my old friends, Rommie Sebo, was serving as President of NOVA, the Northern Ohio Videographers Association. It was in that role that he took me out to a very nice dinner the night I arrived in Cleveland. And in the small world that exists in our trade, Michael Wolkis, who was kind enough to host me in Phoenix, has some connections to the deli where Rommie took me for lunch the following day.
“Do the Math” was the requested topic in Cleveland. Like many cities in the Northeast and Midwest, Cleveland has some economic challenges. Having a context for pricing and business issues was thought to be a valuable asset for NOVA members. And, like in every city where this program was hosted, the final results (where we calculate the true cost of producing one wedding video) were astounding.
The drive home from Cleveland gave me the first opportunity to buy gas for under $2.00/gallon in quite a while. And the trip through northwestern Pennsylvania also gave me the first taste of snow for the winter. Otherwise, I took the time to have lunch in State College (home of Penn State, my alma mater) before stopping to pick up my son at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
Seventh Trip: Orange County, CA and Jacksonville, FL
My final trip for 2005 made for an interesting triangle across the country, flying from Philadelphia to Los Angeles to Jacksonville and back to Philadelphia. For the first time on this outreach, both Tim and I were presenting programs on the same date. The PVN invited us to present all four of our programs in one day, and we were happy to be able to accommodate them.
We arrived two days prior to the meeting, with Tim connecting with family that night, leaving me time to catch up on some email. While we had discussed catching the USC-UCLA football game that Saturday, we spent the day on the road, conducting interviews for The 4EVER Group podcast series.
Our first stop on Saturday was the home of Julie and Alex Hill, which was located to the east of the mountains in Riverside County. The drive itself was beautiful, and the Hills’ live in a very modern subdivision. We conducted the interview in their den, before we all went out to lunch.
When those of us from the east think about California wineries, we think about the Napa Valley. We never knew about the wineries in southern Riverside County. With the cold back on the east coast, having an outdoor lunch at a winery (a first for both Tim and me) was a real highlight of the entire outreach time.
Following lunch, we had to find our way over to a southbound freeway, as we were off to visit with Randy Stubbs. Randy would be the second of three interview subjects for this trip. Since we were nowhere near Los Angeles, the freeway trip was pretty easy, and finding Randy’s house was only a little challenging, set back from the street as it is.
Randy’s Jack Russell terrier had recently had a litter, and he was in the process of selling the puppies. In fact, a couple were in his home as we arrived, inspecting the puppies in their playpen.
Once that inspection concluded (they didn’t buy that day, but they did come back later), we were able to move on into the interview. By the time this article is published, the interview will have been posted as a podcast on The 4EVER Group web site.
Unfortunately, Randy had other plans for the evening, leaving Tim and I to grab dinner in the Gaslamp Quarter, before heading back to Orange County. For Tim, the Gaslamp Quarter has two of his favorite places: The Hard Rock Café and the House of Blues. We settled on Mexican food, which still allowed Tim time to collect his memorabilia.
The PVN had arranged for a full-day 4EVER Group program on that Sunday. Tim and I alternated our programs, with both of us presenting one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. The PVN sold something on the order of fifty tickets to this all-day educational event, with lunch included in the price of admission. It was strange, everything considered, for Tim and I to sit in on each others program. And, as in every previous city, the presentations drew focused debate from the attendees.
Following the meeting, Tim joined several PVN members for dinner, while I took the hour-long drive to Riverside, to interview John Goolsby. We spent the better part of an hour at his studio, discussing topics of interest, before wrapping up the interview. After the interview, we took a ride to visit Chip, who was in the hospital. Since we scheduled the interview at the very last minute, John did not have time to tell Chip that I’d be coming along to visit. I have to figure that I was not exactly high up on the list of people Chip was expecting to see walk into his hospital room that night. When we discussed that later, Chip confessed to wondering exactly what drugs they had administered, because my walking in to his room had to be a hallucination.
On Monday morning, I began the arduous trip from LAX to Jacksonville. This required a plane change in Houston, which allowed me enough time for lunch. The Pappas family restaurant chain includes a burger place at the Houston airport, which made for possibly my best airport meal of the entire outreach effort. That chain operates restaurants under no less than nine different names, and I’ve now eaten at three (Pappadeaux, Pappasito’s Cantina, and Pappas Burger), and enjoyed them all. By the time I finally had dinner in Jacksonville, I had one of those quirky days that I enjoy talking about: three meals on that day, each in a different state and time zone.
The Tuesday night Jacksonville Videographers Association (JVA) meeting was held in probably the most unique of locations: the garage/studio for the video department of the Jacksonville Fire Department. One of the JVA members runs the studio for the JFD, making access quite easy. And since we were pretty close to Christmas, the pizza boxes were spread out around a variety of home-baked holiday treats.
Merrill Moore, the President of the JVA, had been a judge during the first-ever Artistic Achievement Awards competition. That made the Video Critique a natural program or the JVA. And for only the second time on the outreach, my presentation was recorded (I’m still waiting for a copy, nearly two months later). After the meeting, we continued the discussion over at a local Denny’s. It was easy to follow Merrill’s SUV, since it had the most outrageous Christmas decorations I’d ever seen on a moving vehicle.
And then, once again, the morning came, and it was time to get on a plane for the trip home. I visited a total of 18 cities over the course of seven trips. We were able to include podcast interviews, a Video Summit, and several other meetings during the time of this local association outreach program. As I detailed earlier, I flew on nine different airlines, and I didn’t bother counting hotel chains or car rental companies. My two different presentations reached hundreds of videographers all across the US. We still didn’t reach every association, which means there’s still more work to be done. That means more time out on the road, as 2006 will bring more local association presentations, more Video Summits, the Artistic Achievement Awards program, and that all will lead up to the 2007 4EVER Group convention. It looks like an exciting time.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
More Videographer Education
Fifth Trip: Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix
Since I got home late on a Thursday, leaving early on Saturday meant that there just wasn’t much time to unpack, deal with snail mail, or anything else from real life. Well, this was the path we chose, so it had to be done. I did get to take a quick visit to Chicago again, as I had to change planes at O’Hare. The good news was that with all of my recent travels, I’d accumulated enough air miles to upgrade to first class for the Chicago-Seattle leg of the trip. I have a somewhat large laptop, and the extra room makes working so much easier.
On my only previous visit, the weather in Seattle was Chamber of Commerce perfect: sunny, warm, and dry. That was just a memory, as the weather was cold and rainy for this trip. That simply meant we had more time to record an interview with Laura Randall, for a 4EVER Group podcast.
The association meeting was held in a local library, which is an obviously popular choice among videographers. My topic was the Video Critique, and this was one of only two groups that recorded my presentation. With the meeting being on a Sunday, the late afternoon start meant that the meeting had to be over promptly. Of course, that left us plenty of time to engage in a favorite activity of many videographers: eating.
All too soon, it was time to get back to the airport for my flight to Burbank, as the Tuesday meeting was with the American videographers Association, in the San Fernando Valley.
That Seattle to Burbank flight was on Alaska Airlines, which was my first time using that carrier. Others had suggested that it was a relatively good airline, and I kept an open mind on that. Many of my flights were on Southwest, and the lack of assigned seating can get under your skin, especially when you can’t get that “A” boarding pass.
My experience was that Alaska Air was just ok. Of course, using no less than nine different airlines (American, Continental, USAirways, Southwest, America West, Frontier, Northwest, and Delta, along with Alaska), not counting the “Express” and “Shuttle” divisions for the Baton Rouge part of the trip, means that the experiences will tend to run together.
Jay Stein is the president of the AVA. By happy coincidence, I arrived in the LA area on Jay’s birthday. That meant that we got together with a number of Jay’s other friends (including videographers like Kirk Thompson and Beth Oslander) for a celebratory dinner.
Since the AVA meeting was held Tuesday night, that meant I was ready to spend most of the day locked up in my hotel room, doing computer work, as I had in other cities. But since the weather at home had been tending toward winter, and the weather in LA was so beautiful, I did take a walk to a nearby shopping area for lunch. Of course, I had an ulterior motive: buying the 30th Anniversary “Born To Run” package.
Some readers will know that I am something of a Springsteen fanatic. With the Best Buy being located in that shopping area, it made things easier for me. And it certainly made the afternoon’s work go faster, as I could listen to my kind of music.
The AVA meeting was held in the office of an association member, with pizzas and salads available as a light dinner (no one ever topped Baton Rouge, with their desserts). In addition to the nearly 30 AVA members in attendance, Larry Goldsmith (outgoing President) and Cathy Steffan (incoming President) from the PVN in Orange County were at the meeting. In part, the PVN crew was there to promote their own program with The 4EVER Group.
Some of the most creative videographers in our industry live in Southern California. That they were entertained and impressed by the work presented in the Video Critique is a statement about the quality of the winning work from the 2005 Artistic Achievement Awards.
Another trip to the airport awaited me the next morning, as it was time for the third of three meetings in four days, which meant I had to be going to Phoenix. Although America West was probably the least punctual of all the airlines I used on this outreach, the flight was at least relatively brief.
With a population in excess of 1.3 million people, the city of Phoenix has about the same number of people as the city of Philadelphia. Nearby cities add to that total, and Phoenix is also one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. Given all of that information, it’s still puzzling as to why Phoenix has two local associations, and why neither are doing particularly well.
We had reached out to both groups (CAPVA and PVCR) well in advance of our November 16 speaking date, in an attempt to offer assistance to both groups. In the end, our library meeting drew a crowd of fewer than twenty for the Video Critique.
Unfortunately, other obligations meant that I had to get on out of Phoenix early on morning following the meeting. We departed knowing that more work needed to be done in order to get videographers in the Phoenix area caught up with similar big cities.
Since I got home late on a Thursday, leaving early on Saturday meant that there just wasn’t much time to unpack, deal with snail mail, or anything else from real life. Well, this was the path we chose, so it had to be done. I did get to take a quick visit to Chicago again, as I had to change planes at O’Hare. The good news was that with all of my recent travels, I’d accumulated enough air miles to upgrade to first class for the Chicago-Seattle leg of the trip. I have a somewhat large laptop, and the extra room makes working so much easier.
On my only previous visit, the weather in Seattle was Chamber of Commerce perfect: sunny, warm, and dry. That was just a memory, as the weather was cold and rainy for this trip. That simply meant we had more time to record an interview with Laura Randall, for a 4EVER Group podcast.
The association meeting was held in a local library, which is an obviously popular choice among videographers. My topic was the Video Critique, and this was one of only two groups that recorded my presentation. With the meeting being on a Sunday, the late afternoon start meant that the meeting had to be over promptly. Of course, that left us plenty of time to engage in a favorite activity of many videographers: eating.
All too soon, it was time to get back to the airport for my flight to Burbank, as the Tuesday meeting was with the American videographers Association, in the San Fernando Valley.
That Seattle to Burbank flight was on Alaska Airlines, which was my first time using that carrier. Others had suggested that it was a relatively good airline, and I kept an open mind on that. Many of my flights were on Southwest, and the lack of assigned seating can get under your skin, especially when you can’t get that “A” boarding pass.
My experience was that Alaska Air was just ok. Of course, using no less than nine different airlines (American, Continental, USAirways, Southwest, America West, Frontier, Northwest, and Delta, along with Alaska), not counting the “Express” and “Shuttle” divisions for the Baton Rouge part of the trip, means that the experiences will tend to run together.
Jay Stein is the president of the AVA. By happy coincidence, I arrived in the LA area on Jay’s birthday. That meant that we got together with a number of Jay’s other friends (including videographers like Kirk Thompson and Beth Oslander) for a celebratory dinner.
Since the AVA meeting was held Tuesday night, that meant I was ready to spend most of the day locked up in my hotel room, doing computer work, as I had in other cities. But since the weather at home had been tending toward winter, and the weather in LA was so beautiful, I did take a walk to a nearby shopping area for lunch. Of course, I had an ulterior motive: buying the 30th Anniversary “Born To Run” package.
Some readers will know that I am something of a Springsteen fanatic. With the Best Buy being located in that shopping area, it made things easier for me. And it certainly made the afternoon’s work go faster, as I could listen to my kind of music.
The AVA meeting was held in the office of an association member, with pizzas and salads available as a light dinner (no one ever topped Baton Rouge, with their desserts). In addition to the nearly 30 AVA members in attendance, Larry Goldsmith (outgoing President) and Cathy Steffan (incoming President) from the PVN in Orange County were at the meeting. In part, the PVN crew was there to promote their own program with The 4EVER Group.
Some of the most creative videographers in our industry live in Southern California. That they were entertained and impressed by the work presented in the Video Critique is a statement about the quality of the winning work from the 2005 Artistic Achievement Awards.
Another trip to the airport awaited me the next morning, as it was time for the third of three meetings in four days, which meant I had to be going to Phoenix. Although America West was probably the least punctual of all the airlines I used on this outreach, the flight was at least relatively brief.
With a population in excess of 1.3 million people, the city of Phoenix has about the same number of people as the city of Philadelphia. Nearby cities add to that total, and Phoenix is also one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. Given all of that information, it’s still puzzling as to why Phoenix has two local associations, and why neither are doing particularly well.
We had reached out to both groups (CAPVA and PVCR) well in advance of our November 16 speaking date, in an attempt to offer assistance to both groups. In the end, our library meeting drew a crowd of fewer than twenty for the Video Critique.
Unfortunately, other obligations meant that I had to get on out of Phoenix early on morning following the meeting. We departed knowing that more work needed to be done in order to get videographers in the Phoenix area caught up with similar big cities.
Friday, February 23, 2007
More From The Road
Fourth Trip: Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Appleton and Madison, WI
This was one trip that I had been especially looking forward to taking, as I’d never been to either city. One thing that has always made business travel interesting was the opportunity to spend time with friends in different cities, seeing and doing things I may not otherwise. The first leg of the trip, to Denver, was perhaps the best mix of business and pleasure during this outreach time.
My visit to Denver just happened to coincide with a Broncos home game against my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles. Literally thousands of Eagles fans made the trip to Denver, so everywhere we went, we shared the town with lots and lots of Philadelphians. The picture on the bottom is me outside of the stadium, prior to the game.
Henry Mares, president of the local association in Denver, and Jay Wren, took turns showing me around Denver. Our first stop was lunch in the town of Black Hawk, which is at an elevation of about 8000 feet. Never having been at that kind of altitude before, I did find myself huffing and puffing as we hustled through town.
After lunch, a tour of the Coors brewery in Golden was on the agenda. As expected, there were a lot of Eagles fans sampling the variety beers on tap in the lounge. Since Henry had some business obligations, Jay and I spent the late afternoon and evening together, including dinner among dozens of other Eagles fans.
Although I did attend the football game, the less written about that the better, since, as I said, I’m an Eagles fan.
The Denver association is one of the few that have a daytime meeting. The meeting time schedule is designed to appeal to those videographers who prioritize their business in a way that allows them to attend such a meeting. That does present some obvious challenges, but it also makes for an enthusiastic group of attendees. And with a fairly limited amount of available time, it means that the attendees still can get in a pretty full day back in the studio. The meeting ends at about noon, which also gives attendees the opportunity to network over lunch afterward.
This offers the opportunity to go off on a tangent about local association meeting schedules. What is the best method for planning meetings in a way that will lead to association success?
If we consider the models of other business organizations, then daytime meetings can be effective. Chambers of Commerce and business referral networks often have breakfast meetings. On the other hand, groups that are involved in the social event industry, such as the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE), usually meet during the evening.
Obviously, each local association sets its own agenda and schedule. But our observations over these many years reveal the following;
-Successful associations tend to meet regularly (most often monthly).
-Successful associations tend to meet in the same location every time.
-Successful associations draw contributions from their members, and are able to attract outside presenters.
As we’ve stressed throughout this outreach effort, local associations truly are the backbone of our industry; everything positive starts there. Members trade job leads, share equipment and ideas, and formulate strategies for dealing with the public image of videographers. The 4EVER Group stands ready to continue assisting in the development of local videographers associations.
Following lunch with Henry Mares and Jay Wren, I spent my remaining few hours in Denver at the Mares’ home, trying to avoid the Halloween candy rush. Finally, it was off to the airport for the short flight to Salt Lake City.
Throughout this outreach, I’ve found it fairly easy to get a hotel room that included a Wi-Fi connection. That was a pleasant and important change from other extended road trips, where we considered ourselves lucky to find dial-up service. For both Tim and I, being out of the office for such an extended period of time would have meant missing vital communications, had it not been for the up-to-date internet connections now widely available.
Although I’ve seen many videos involving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), I knew practically nothing about LDS practices. After working on the computer for a few hours, in advance of a diner meeting, I went to the Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. In a compact area, the Salt Lake Temple anchors the history and future of the LDS faith. After taking a brief tour, I finally understood why I was not going to be able to enter a Temple (first, I would have to be baptized in the faith). The architecture is incredible, and the weather cooperated as well. In the ninety-or-so minutes I spent at Temple Square, I also saw two newly-married couples being photographed (no video) outside the Salt Lake Temple.
The meeting was in the rural town of Tooele (if you’re going there, it’s pronounced ‘Twill-ah’), where I got to share a barbecue dinner with Douglas Spotted Eagle, his wife Linda, and business partner Mannie Frances. We finalized the details of Spot’s participation in The 4EVER Group’s January 2006 convention. That we could meet was a happy scheduling coincidence, as Spot and Mannie were off on another leg of their VASST training tour the following morning.
I didn’t need to arrive at the Utah Professional Videographers meeting until late in the afternoon on that Wednesday, so I had plenty of time to work in my hotel room during the day. But I took another brief side-trip before the meeting, so I could get down to the Great Salt Lake.
Right off of a freeway, just past the airport, was a lake-front marina. Although the marina was closed for the season, it still offered access to the lake. The beach was an interesting combination of hard-packed sand and salt, and it was probably 100 yards wide. Set among beautiful, snow-capped mountains, the lake truly was impressive. Videographers from the Salt Lake City area have described the lake as having a rather unique scent. While I can’t explain their reactions, from my perspective, the lake smelled like the ocean, but just a little stronger.
With Salt Lake City being the major metropolitan area, the UPVA routinely draws attendees who drive two or more hours to each meeting. As a supporter of local associations, it’s gratifying to see that happen. The UPVA meets in a lecture hall at a local community college, which was the only such location I’d encountered. Interestingly, the college’s mission was to support entrepreneurial activities. Of course, most videographers qualify as entrepreneurs, making for a sense of belonging.
My presentation was “Do the Math”, and it was as informative for the UPVA as it was for every other association. Salt Lake City, perhaps the smallest market on this tour, had lots of questions about how the numbers might relate to their experiences. The point of “Do the Math” is to offer tools that videographers can use to establish their own true costs of doing business. Those costs do vary from studio to studio.
After the meeting, about half of the attendees went out to dinner, and continued the intense business discussions. Meetings are a great place to build a network of personal contacts within your own market, but the after-meeting meals are often where friendships are cemented.
Early Thursday morning, it was time to head off to the airport for a trip to Los Angeles. This was originally a trip being made in support of the LAPVA, but their meeting was rescheduled as part of a reorganizing effort. Instead, I used the time to continue developing other important business relationships.
Interestingly, I have a personal connection to with the publisher of an industry magazine called “Trade Show Week”. Through their weekly publication and web site, “Trade Show Week” is arguably the bible of the industry. I think that The 4EVER Group has a compelling story, in that we’re a start-up company taking on the 15-year old established entity in our industry. There are other obvious side issues that could be considered “inside baseball”, but that’s what “Trade Show Week” is all about.
In addition to working on the “Trade Show Week” relationship, I met with the owner and the editor of a major entity in the bridal industry. While this entity will remain nameless as this is written, the story may be very well-known by the time this is published. And the root of my meeting was the lack of growth and acceptance of video within the bridal community.
To date, little more than a token effort has been made to get high-quality video in front of large numbers of brides. Many brides remain convinced that what they saw years ago of both the process and the finished product still applies today. We know better. The 4EVER Group, in cooperation with some of the leading videographers on the continent, and in conjunction with this nameless bridal industry entity, are working together to get quality video in front of huge numbers of brides. In theory, as more and more brides see the outstanding productions that today’s videographers routinely turn out, demand will be created for quality wedding videos in every market. This will obviously lead to more work for many videographers, and provide an incentive for other videographers to improve their productions.
This creates a winning scenario for everyone. The brides get video more often, and learn about quality video. This will also create a buzz in the space where this entity does business, generating more interest in their products and services. If more brides are seeking video, that certainly means more work for videographers. And by being the catalyst, The 4EVER Group cements its role as the leader in this industry.
After three quick nights in Los Angeles, it was time to move on to Chicago, for our Video Summit. Because the Video Summit was not a local association event, we’ll leave that report out of this article. We’ll move on to the association meeting in Appleton, WI.
Appleton is not that far from Chicago, so I rented a car for what turned out to be a pretty routine drive. Passing through Milwaukee, I did take a little side trip to the Harley-Davidson engine plant, catching the last tour of the day (2:00pm). The time spent there meant that I got to Appleton around dinner time.
I arrived in Appleton on Tuesday, and since the meeting was Wednesday, there was not great sense of urgency. I was able to have a relaxed dinner at a local restaurant before heading back to the hotel to catch up on the day’s email pile.
My hotel did not have a restaurant, so I had to go find a place for breakfast on Wednesday morning. Fortunately, I noticed a locally-owned restaurant, called the Machine Shed, just across the highway from my hotel. The décor was sort of a tribute to farming. There were old milk jugs all around, along with lots of farm equipment and hand tools, and the waitresses wore bib overalls and trucker caps. Water and juice got served in Ball jars. But the place was very busy, and there were plenty of business-people there.
In talking with Lance Lewis, the association president, he decided to pick me up for that evening’s meeting. They meet at a restaurant near my hotel, I was assured. And as it turned out, the meeting was also at the Machine Shed restaurant. My presentation that night was the Video Critique, and it had the usual range of attendee reactions. Basically, videographers everywhere have been impressed with the well-done videos, and they’ve also been able to learn from videos that weren’t award-winners. Although the presentation is built around five videos (four excellent, and one that wasn’t), few videographers have been able to participate in a thorough analysis before this program was created.
Unfortunately, since the meeting was held in a restaurant, there was no extended after-meeting session. Of course, some people had a significant drive home, so it just wasn’t going to be a late night.
I was out at a relaxed hour the following morning for the drive back to Chicago. There was, however, another side trip along the way, this time in Madison, WI. The 4EVER Group had been invited to help assist videographers there who were interested in establishing a local association there. In addition, I met with Steve Nathans, the editor of Event DV magazine, to discuss critical industry issues. Because of the magazine’s interest in local associations, having devoted a cover story to the topic, Nathans sat in on that meeting.
Before getting back on the road to Chicago, I had to indulge in one of my quirky interests. Over the years, I’ve walked into many stadiums, and even out onto the field on occasion. Over the years, I’ve sat in the dugout at Veteran’s Stadium in Philadelphia, walked onto the field at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, into Wrigley Field, and onto the field at the University of Michigan stadium, among others. When I was in Salt Lake City, I walked out onto the field there. In Madison, I took Steve Nathans with me to Camp Randall Stadium, and we both took a walk out onto the turf there. Steve took the picture that's on the top of the page. Like I said, it’s a quirky thing.
The rest of the ride back to Chicago was uneventful, except for the traffic. My flight from Midway was in the early evening, which meant that I had to drive across the city in rush hour traffic. You know, those of us that work from home are not missing a thing by not commuting.
After the trip home, I had just over a day to recover enough for the next part of the outreach: a journey that would take me to Seattle, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Videographer Education, Part 2
Third Trip: Orlando, Tampa, Baton Rouge, and Syracuse
My business trips over the last couple of years have often featured really bad weather at home while I’m on the road. On an earlier trip to Orlando, I was on the last plane out of Philadelphia before the airport was closed due to snow. That storm dumped about two feet of snow on my home town, and I just had to deal with setting up an outdoor registration desk in Florida.
This time, however, I was heading to Florida the very same day as Hurricane Wilma. When I’ve traveled to Orlando recently, the flights are always fairly full. Not this time. This day, there were only about two dozen people, including myself, who absolutely had to be on that flight to Orlando.
As we learned, hurricane Wilma raced across south Florida quite rapidly. Although it caused significant damage in the Miami area, north-central Florida was relatively untouched. The locals took most of the usual hurricane precautions, however, so that the school where the Orlando videographers usually meet was closed. To my surprise, the weather in the Orlando area during my stay was about perfect: cool, with low humidity.
Although the worries over the hurricane, and the eventual relocation of the meeting to a Perkins restaurant did have some effect upon attendance, at least the meeting was held. There were even a few videographers who came up from Tampa for the opportunity to network with their Orlando friends, and to hear the Video Critique (the Tampa program was “Do the Math”).
Since Tampa is reasonably close to Orlando, I decided to drive that night to my Tampa hotel. This was an extended road trip, so two nights in one hotel in Florida seemed to be a better alternative.
Road trip days are interesting in their own right. Since I didn’t arrive in Tampa until around midnight, I took the next morning as an opportunity to sleep in a bit. Then it was time to get back to work. Since I had my office calls forwarded to my cell phone, and I had full internet access, working at my hotel desk wasn’t much different than working from my home office. From there, it was on to the Tampa Bay PVA meeting.
The TBPVA leadership had chosen the “Do the Math” program, feeling that the membership would benefit from the business-oriented nature of the presentation. “Do the Math” gives videographers the tools to determine what their true costs are in producing an event video, and they can use these tools as an aid to properly pricing their services. While it’s a very detailed program, with mathematical formulas and such, the concept is vital to videographers. After all, a huge number of videographers entered the business because of the “cool” factor, and business considerations were often not a factor at all.
As happens everywhere “Do the Math” is presented, the attendees were surprised at the costs associated with producing an event video. It’s kind of fun to watch eyes glaze over a bit in the middle of the program, when costs are broken down into weekly and hourly rates, and to watch those same eyes widen dramatically when the final costs are tabulated.
There seemed to be no direct flights from Tampa to Baton Rouge, so I was out fairly early the next morning for the trip, with a connection through Atlanta.
Traveling into Baton Rouge so soon after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita meant that there were absolutely no hotel rooms available. They were all still filled with evacuees. After checking every national chain, and every local hotel that could be found, I received an offer of hospitality from Eddie Darbone, the association's past president. Eddie and I had been friends for some time, and I had to accept his gracious offer. He unexpectedly upped the hospitality ante by insisting on picking me up at the airport, driving me around town, and taking me back to the airport the next morning.
We went straight to lunch after I arrived in Baton Rouge. Having visited New Orleans many times over the years, I’d developed a taste for Cajun food, so Eddie took me to an excellent local restaurant. As we entered the restaurant, I was reminded of one difference between that area and my home town: there was a display case filled with about two dozen different guns and rifles. You’re just not going to find that at a restaurant in Philadelphia.
Eddie had hosted more than a dozen members of his family for a couple of weeks after the two hurricanes. Having just one house guest was, by comparison, no work at all.
The association in Baton Rouge meets in a local library, so there’s a definite ending time to the meeting. With an arrival time of 6:00pm, I had no idea how they handled eating schedules. Me, I like to have my meals at more or less traditional times. But since I’d had a late lunch, waiting was not an issue. What did catch me by surprise was the several members brought dessert foods. There was a variety of home-made cakes, brownies, and cookies available, and it was all very tempting. And it was all quite good.
Even with all the snacks, we still had a meeting. The “Video Critique” program was on that night’s agenda, and it was an entertaining program. Unlike Orlando, there were no local productions for me to review.
Dinner at a local Italian restaurant followed the meeting, and at least 15 people went there from the meeting. I think this kind of evening speaks to the best of what local videographers associations can do. They held a meeting with networking time and an educational presentation, and then followed it up by spending another hour or so together, sharing a meal. The friendships and business relationships that grow from nights like this are invaluable.
All too soon, it was time to call it a night. That set me up for one of the more challenging
Travel segments of this tour. I had a 6:00 a.m. flight back to Philadelphia, with a plane change in Houston. From Philadelphia, I was going to drive to Syracuse. With only thirty minutes to make the connection in Houston, and a little over five hours to drive from the Philadelphia airport to Syracuse (about 200 miles), there was virtually no room for any delay anywhere in that agenda.
The worst part of the schedule was that I needed to get up at 4:00 a.m., in order to get to the airport and go through the pre-flight process. And if I had to be up at 4:00 a.m., that meant that Eddie Darbone also had to get up at 4. That really was a shining example of Southern hospitality.
Fortunately, other than a little glitch in the directions when I was close to my hotel in Syracuse, I didn’t experience any delays. Let me say this about the flights into and out of Baton Rouge: they were on two very crowded, and very small, regional jets. A standard roll-on bag can’t be brought into the cabin, and there’s not enough room to open up most laptop computers.
Heading through Northeastern Pennsylvania in late October is usually a visual thrill. This ride was no exception. With lots of forest land, I spent as much time focused on the various shades of yellow and red leaves as I did on the road. Fortunately, it’s also not a particularly crowded highway, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only leaf-gazer anyway.
That little glitch in the directions cost me less than a half-hour, and that was about all the spare time available to me. Just a few minutes after I settled into the hotel, Syracuse association President Rod Salvilla was waiting to pick me up. Ironically, Rod served as a video awards judge together with Eddie Darbone several years ago, so I got to spend time with two old friends from different parts of the country on the same day.
Just like the group in Baton Rouge, the Syracuse association meets in a local library. Sadly, unlike the Baton Rouge association, no one at the Syracuse meeting brought any desserts.
Rod felt that the association would be best served by the “Do the Math” presentation. With some member being new to the video production industry, and some part-time videographers as well, this subject was an excellent primer on the important business issues all of us face.
Only a core group went out to dinner after the meeting, at a chain restaurant located in a nearby mall. As always, the talk turned to ways of improving the association by having informative presentations, and how to draw new members.
My business trips over the last couple of years have often featured really bad weather at home while I’m on the road. On an earlier trip to Orlando, I was on the last plane out of Philadelphia before the airport was closed due to snow. That storm dumped about two feet of snow on my home town, and I just had to deal with setting up an outdoor registration desk in Florida.
This time, however, I was heading to Florida the very same day as Hurricane Wilma. When I’ve traveled to Orlando recently, the flights are always fairly full. Not this time. This day, there were only about two dozen people, including myself, who absolutely had to be on that flight to Orlando.
As we learned, hurricane Wilma raced across south Florida quite rapidly. Although it caused significant damage in the Miami area, north-central Florida was relatively untouched. The locals took most of the usual hurricane precautions, however, so that the school where the Orlando videographers usually meet was closed. To my surprise, the weather in the Orlando area during my stay was about perfect: cool, with low humidity.
Although the worries over the hurricane, and the eventual relocation of the meeting to a Perkins restaurant did have some effect upon attendance, at least the meeting was held. There were even a few videographers who came up from Tampa for the opportunity to network with their Orlando friends, and to hear the Video Critique (the Tampa program was “Do the Math”).
Since Tampa is reasonably close to Orlando, I decided to drive that night to my Tampa hotel. This was an extended road trip, so two nights in one hotel in Florida seemed to be a better alternative.
Road trip days are interesting in their own right. Since I didn’t arrive in Tampa until around midnight, I took the next morning as an opportunity to sleep in a bit. Then it was time to get back to work. Since I had my office calls forwarded to my cell phone, and I had full internet access, working at my hotel desk wasn’t much different than working from my home office. From there, it was on to the Tampa Bay PVA meeting.
The TBPVA leadership had chosen the “Do the Math” program, feeling that the membership would benefit from the business-oriented nature of the presentation. “Do the Math” gives videographers the tools to determine what their true costs are in producing an event video, and they can use these tools as an aid to properly pricing their services. While it’s a very detailed program, with mathematical formulas and such, the concept is vital to videographers. After all, a huge number of videographers entered the business because of the “cool” factor, and business considerations were often not a factor at all.
As happens everywhere “Do the Math” is presented, the attendees were surprised at the costs associated with producing an event video. It’s kind of fun to watch eyes glaze over a bit in the middle of the program, when costs are broken down into weekly and hourly rates, and to watch those same eyes widen dramatically when the final costs are tabulated.
There seemed to be no direct flights from Tampa to Baton Rouge, so I was out fairly early the next morning for the trip, with a connection through Atlanta.
Traveling into Baton Rouge so soon after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita meant that there were absolutely no hotel rooms available. They were all still filled with evacuees. After checking every national chain, and every local hotel that could be found, I received an offer of hospitality from Eddie Darbone, the association's past president. Eddie and I had been friends for some time, and I had to accept his gracious offer. He unexpectedly upped the hospitality ante by insisting on picking me up at the airport, driving me around town, and taking me back to the airport the next morning.
We went straight to lunch after I arrived in Baton Rouge. Having visited New Orleans many times over the years, I’d developed a taste for Cajun food, so Eddie took me to an excellent local restaurant. As we entered the restaurant, I was reminded of one difference between that area and my home town: there was a display case filled with about two dozen different guns and rifles. You’re just not going to find that at a restaurant in Philadelphia.
Eddie had hosted more than a dozen members of his family for a couple of weeks after the two hurricanes. Having just one house guest was, by comparison, no work at all.
The association in Baton Rouge meets in a local library, so there’s a definite ending time to the meeting. With an arrival time of 6:00pm, I had no idea how they handled eating schedules. Me, I like to have my meals at more or less traditional times. But since I’d had a late lunch, waiting was not an issue. What did catch me by surprise was the several members brought dessert foods. There was a variety of home-made cakes, brownies, and cookies available, and it was all very tempting. And it was all quite good.
Even with all the snacks, we still had a meeting. The “Video Critique” program was on that night’s agenda, and it was an entertaining program. Unlike Orlando, there were no local productions for me to review.
Dinner at a local Italian restaurant followed the meeting, and at least 15 people went there from the meeting. I think this kind of evening speaks to the best of what local videographers associations can do. They held a meeting with networking time and an educational presentation, and then followed it up by spending another hour or so together, sharing a meal. The friendships and business relationships that grow from nights like this are invaluable.
All too soon, it was time to call it a night. That set me up for one of the more challenging
Travel segments of this tour. I had a 6:00 a.m. flight back to Philadelphia, with a plane change in Houston. From Philadelphia, I was going to drive to Syracuse. With only thirty minutes to make the connection in Houston, and a little over five hours to drive from the Philadelphia airport to Syracuse (about 200 miles), there was virtually no room for any delay anywhere in that agenda.
The worst part of the schedule was that I needed to get up at 4:00 a.m., in order to get to the airport and go through the pre-flight process. And if I had to be up at 4:00 a.m., that meant that Eddie Darbone also had to get up at 4. That really was a shining example of Southern hospitality.
Fortunately, other than a little glitch in the directions when I was close to my hotel in Syracuse, I didn’t experience any delays. Let me say this about the flights into and out of Baton Rouge: they were on two very crowded, and very small, regional jets. A standard roll-on bag can’t be brought into the cabin, and there’s not enough room to open up most laptop computers.
Heading through Northeastern Pennsylvania in late October is usually a visual thrill. This ride was no exception. With lots of forest land, I spent as much time focused on the various shades of yellow and red leaves as I did on the road. Fortunately, it’s also not a particularly crowded highway, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only leaf-gazer anyway.
That little glitch in the directions cost me less than a half-hour, and that was about all the spare time available to me. Just a few minutes after I settled into the hotel, Syracuse association President Rod Salvilla was waiting to pick me up. Ironically, Rod served as a video awards judge together with Eddie Darbone several years ago, so I got to spend time with two old friends from different parts of the country on the same day.
Just like the group in Baton Rouge, the Syracuse association meets in a local library. Sadly, unlike the Baton Rouge association, no one at the Syracuse meeting brought any desserts.
Rod felt that the association would be best served by the “Do the Math” presentation. With some member being new to the video production industry, and some part-time videographers as well, this subject was an excellent primer on the important business issues all of us face.
Only a core group went out to dinner after the meeting, at a chain restaurant located in a nearby mall. As always, the talk turned to ways of improving the association by having informative presentations, and how to draw new members.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Videographer Education
An important part of what I've done in business over the years is educate other professionals. It really started in the late 1980's, when I was a member of the Guild of Professional Photographers of the Delaware Valley. Back then, there were no videographer organizations locally or nationally, and the few video professionals were welcomed into the photographers group.
Since starting the 4EVER Group, that education process has intensified. In 2005, Tim Ryan and I presented programs at a lot of local videographer association meetings. I wrote a lengthy article for a trade publication, but it was never published. Because I now have the ability to publish, this will be the first of several installments of my original article.
Road Trip!
For those of us who like to travel, those are magic words. It conjures up all of the fun we had in college, and beyond. Business travel today, however, is a far cry from the moving party we enjoyed so many years ago.
The 4EVER Group made a commitment to present programs at as many local videographers association meeting as possible during the second half of 2005. This kind of industry outreach was truly unprecedented, and dates quickly filled our schedule.
For this writer, the first trip on the schedule came up on September 19, 2005, with the meeting of the Pittsburgh Professional Videographers Association. With Pittsburgh being about 300 miles from my office, I had the choice of flying or driving. Since my regular GPVA meeting would be the following night, it just made sense to drive.
Most of the distance between the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas is spanned by the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Maybe because I’ve driven it so much over the years, I find the Turnpike to be very boring. Driving did allow me to make and receive plenty of phone calls, but that didn’t make the ride any more interesting.
Late September finds the leaves just at the cusp of changing colors. There were touches of yellows and reds among the leaves as I moved into Western Pennsylvania. And for those of you who drive the Turnpike even on occasion, you’ll have recognized the orange throughout the trip.
One unexpected sight waited for me near Johnstown. Perched on a hilltop was a small windmill farm. Although I’ve seen larger windmill farms in California, this was surprising.
Lately, a common topic of discussion everywhere has been the price of gasoline. Taking a 600+ mile round-trip, while never leaving Pennsylvania, gave an opportunity for an informal gas price survey.
Gassing up in the morning near my office, I paid $2.89 per gallon. The prices varied a bit on the Turnpike, with the higher prices found closest to Philadelphia, and then the next highest were in the Pittsburgh area. I finally refueled at a rural rest stop along the Turnpike, at the price of $2.84 per gallon. In suburban Pittsburgh, near the PPVA meeting site, the prices were down to $2.65 per gallon.
The PPVA meets at a local restaurant (see the photo above), so members can have dinner together, or they can join in later. Enough PPVA members arrived for dinner, and we fell into a conversation on the general business issues of the day in Pittsburgh. By and large, the challenges faced by videographers in the Pittsburgh area are similar to those faced by videographers everywhere: Brides who don’t place priority on video or are under-educated; competitors priced at unsustainably low levels; overall slump in the wedding business, and others. We discussed the obvious solutions to some of the challenges: better networking with other industry professionals; more effective advertising methods; ways to educate the brides directly.
After dinner, the PPVA ran through their routine business issues, and then we moved into my Video Critique program. In this presentation, we review and deconstruct a number of final round videos from the 2005 Artistic Achievement Awards Competition. Everyone agreed that this was one of the best programs the PPVA ever hosted.
Second Trip: Detroit/MIVA
The October meeting of the Michigan Independent Videographers Association (MIVA) was my next trip. For an out-of-town meeting, it was one of the quicker trips: travel there on the day of the meeting, and return home the next.
Air travel was expected to be a consistent challenge during this extensive outreach. Crowded flights, lengthy security checkpoints, and bad weather are among the factors in making air travel difficult. But to cover distances like this, there is no alternative. My flight to Detroit seemed to capture so much of the essence of air travel today. My original flight was delayed due to bad weather in a connecting city. Fortunately, I had arrived at the airport in time (and only had carry-on bags) to switch to the earlier flight, which was close to on-schedule. But I shared the row on a full flight with a woman who was traveling with her 2-year old son. He had an epic melt-down when we boarded the plane, and carried on for most of the flight.
Scott Bert, the MIVA president, had arranged for one of the association members to pick me up at the airport, and take me directly to the hotel where the meeting would be held. The timing was excellent, and we arrived in Farmington Hills, MI with about an hour to spare.
My evening presentation was, once again, the Video Critique. One brave MIVA member had sent me a video to preview, and we deconstructed that at the meeting. In addition, Scott Bert offered one of his Love Story videos for my review.
That video gave rise to the discussion of certain regional differences in wedding traditions. In the Detroit area, lakefront weddings (and other videos) often feature working ships (coal carriers, etc.) in the background. Tradition dictates that a ship passing a wedding party shall blast its horn, as a good-luck wish. Scott’s DVD cover, in fact, featured a still image of the bride and groom walking on the beach, with a freighter in the distance. To my eyes, that was one ugly boat. A sailboat, or a luxury powerboat, might make a more attractive backdrop. In light of the discussion we had, it was clear that such a ship would be a welcome part of the video for many couples in that region.
Another unique feature of MIVA is that there are several Canadian members, making it a uniquely international local association. About a half-dozen videographers from the province of Ontario made the three-or-so hour drive to the MIVA meeting that night. Included in that number were Joe McManus, a member of The 4EVER Group Advisory Board, along with Dennis Marantette, a scheduled presenter at The 4EVER Group 2006 Event Video Convention and trade Show.
MIVA is a well-established local videographers association, and is still growing. At least two new members signed up that evening. With about 40 people in attendance, an agenda that also included a software tutorial, and a great mix of videographers, MIVA stands as a great example of what a local videographers association can be.
For those of us who like to travel, those are magic words. It conjures up all of the fun we had in college, and beyond. Business travel today, however, is a far cry from the moving party we enjoyed so many years ago.
The 4EVER Group made a commitment to present programs at as many local videographers association meeting as possible during the second half of 2005. This kind of industry outreach was truly unprecedented, and dates quickly filled our schedule.
For this writer, the first trip on the schedule came up on September 19, 2005, with the meeting of the Pittsburgh Professional Videographers Association. With Pittsburgh being about 300 miles from my office, I had the choice of flying or driving. Since my regular GPVA meeting would be the following night, it just made sense to drive.
Most of the distance between the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas is spanned by the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Maybe because I’ve driven it so much over the years, I find the Turnpike to be very boring. Driving did allow me to make and receive plenty of phone calls, but that didn’t make the ride any more interesting.
Late September finds the leaves just at the cusp of changing colors. There were touches of yellows and reds among the leaves as I moved into Western Pennsylvania. And for those of you who drive the Turnpike even on occasion, you’ll have recognized the orange throughout the trip.
One unexpected sight waited for me near Johnstown. Perched on a hilltop was a small windmill farm. Although I’ve seen larger windmill farms in California, this was surprising.
Lately, a common topic of discussion everywhere has been the price of gasoline. Taking a 600+ mile round-trip, while never leaving Pennsylvania, gave an opportunity for an informal gas price survey.
Gassing up in the morning near my office, I paid $2.89 per gallon. The prices varied a bit on the Turnpike, with the higher prices found closest to Philadelphia, and then the next highest were in the Pittsburgh area. I finally refueled at a rural rest stop along the Turnpike, at the price of $2.84 per gallon. In suburban Pittsburgh, near the PPVA meeting site, the prices were down to $2.65 per gallon.
The PPVA meets at a local restaurant (see the photo above), so members can have dinner together, or they can join in later. Enough PPVA members arrived for dinner, and we fell into a conversation on the general business issues of the day in Pittsburgh. By and large, the challenges faced by videographers in the Pittsburgh area are similar to those faced by videographers everywhere: Brides who don’t place priority on video or are under-educated; competitors priced at unsustainably low levels; overall slump in the wedding business, and others. We discussed the obvious solutions to some of the challenges: better networking with other industry professionals; more effective advertising methods; ways to educate the brides directly.
After dinner, the PPVA ran through their routine business issues, and then we moved into my Video Critique program. In this presentation, we review and deconstruct a number of final round videos from the 2005 Artistic Achievement Awards Competition. Everyone agreed that this was one of the best programs the PPVA ever hosted.
Second Trip: Detroit/MIVA
The October meeting of the Michigan Independent Videographers Association (MIVA) was my next trip. For an out-of-town meeting, it was one of the quicker trips: travel there on the day of the meeting, and return home the next.
Air travel was expected to be a consistent challenge during this extensive outreach. Crowded flights, lengthy security checkpoints, and bad weather are among the factors in making air travel difficult. But to cover distances like this, there is no alternative. My flight to Detroit seemed to capture so much of the essence of air travel today. My original flight was delayed due to bad weather in a connecting city. Fortunately, I had arrived at the airport in time (and only had carry-on bags) to switch to the earlier flight, which was close to on-schedule. But I shared the row on a full flight with a woman who was traveling with her 2-year old son. He had an epic melt-down when we boarded the plane, and carried on for most of the flight.
Scott Bert, the MIVA president, had arranged for one of the association members to pick me up at the airport, and take me directly to the hotel where the meeting would be held. The timing was excellent, and we arrived in Farmington Hills, MI with about an hour to spare.
My evening presentation was, once again, the Video Critique. One brave MIVA member had sent me a video to preview, and we deconstructed that at the meeting. In addition, Scott Bert offered one of his Love Story videos for my review.
That video gave rise to the discussion of certain regional differences in wedding traditions. In the Detroit area, lakefront weddings (and other videos) often feature working ships (coal carriers, etc.) in the background. Tradition dictates that a ship passing a wedding party shall blast its horn, as a good-luck wish. Scott’s DVD cover, in fact, featured a still image of the bride and groom walking on the beach, with a freighter in the distance. To my eyes, that was one ugly boat. A sailboat, or a luxury powerboat, might make a more attractive backdrop. In light of the discussion we had, it was clear that such a ship would be a welcome part of the video for many couples in that region.
Another unique feature of MIVA is that there are several Canadian members, making it a uniquely international local association. About a half-dozen videographers from the province of Ontario made the three-or-so hour drive to the MIVA meeting that night. Included in that number were Joe McManus, a member of The 4EVER Group Advisory Board, along with Dennis Marantette, a scheduled presenter at The 4EVER Group 2006 Event Video Convention and trade Show.
MIVA is a well-established local videographers association, and is still growing. At least two new members signed up that evening. With about 40 people in attendance, an agenda that also included a software tutorial, and a great mix of videographers, MIVA stands as a great example of what a local videographers association can be.
More to Come
As I can, I'll publish more of my travelogue, along with some pictures.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Wedding Consultants
In addition to the meetings I mentioned previously, I've also met with two other consultants. Sheila Corbett (http://www.elegant-events.net) and Lynda Barness (information below) are both skilled, resourceful, and sophisticated wedding consultants. While many hotels and country clubs have staff members that try to fill the role of a consultant, only a consultant can provide the necessary service and attention throughout the wedding process. I highly recommend that you consider retaining a consultant for help with the planning, and running, of the most important day of your life.
When I met with Lynda, we spoke about our roles in providing information to brides and grooms, regardless of whether they chose to work with us. Lynda was kind enough to provide the information below:
WEDDING TALK:
TEN TIPS FROM A WEDDING CONSULTANT
Doesn’t it feel like planning a wedding involves just about a million details? It can seem like they are just endless! Here are a few ideas to help make your planning a little easier:
1. Buy wedding magazines. Yes, of course you do this. However, instead of just cutting out pictures of things you like (which I do recommend), also make a pile of the things you hate. It is much easier to say to the florist (or cake baker, or any other vendor) that I love this and don’t want that. Having the visual example of the two extremes will help ensure that the communication between you and your vendor is very clear.
2. Order an extra boutonniere for the groom. He will get lots of hugs on your wedding day, and if the two of you greet guests before you take photos, his flower may not be so pretty in the pictures. Take a moment to make a quick swap of boutonnieres, and the photos will look even better!
3. Make sure that you physically take your invitations to the post office and have them weighed before mailing. You want to make sure that they get where they are going! You can order personalized stamps (from www.zazzle.com, for instance). The US Postal Service now offers wedding stamps in two denominations; one for the envelope and one for the response card. Remember NOT to pre-stamp response envelopes for those who live in foreign countries, because they will need to have their own postage stamp on the letter.
4. Let your photographer and videographer know of any personal family issues. If Uncle Jack doesn’t talk to Aunt Sally, you don’t want them shoved together for photos.
5. Purchase a new wedding perfume (and a new after-shave for your groom). Every time you wear it, you will remember your wedding day.
6. Take a napkin. Fold it, but not in the regular way. Try some OTHER ways. If you google "napkin folds," you will find more than a half-million entries! There must be something there that will strike your fancy, allowing you to dress up your table without spending anything extra at all. And where you place the napkin can be another choice: on the left side of your plate, across your plate, in a glass, on the back of the chair. These simple napkin adjustments will make a personal, stunning addition to the whole look of your reception room.
7. Be kind to your vendors. Have water bottles at the musicians’ stands at the ceremony, and make sure to discuss vendor meals with your caterer. Your vendors will be so appreciative (they don’t have to eat what the guests are eating, and most will be happy to have a sandwich. They have a long day and are grateful to be fed at some point during the reception.). The best time for the vendors to eat is usually during the cocktail hour.
8. There is a difference between flowers that decorate a cake (they shouldn’t be treated with any chemicals) and flowers that might be on a cake table surrounding the cake. Make sure to discuss with the bakery and also the florist.
9. Personalize SOMETHING at your wedding. It doesn’t have to be anything big, but do something to make your day yours alone. Try a monogram somewhere, or a signature drink, or use a family heirloom.
10. If you don’t own a glue gun, or you don’t want to have to use it on your wedding day, then you should hire a wedding consultant! Lots of little things go wrong, and it is nice not to have to deal with the stress yourself. All of the details are important, and the wedding consultant’s job is to help manage the details, the vendors, and your stress.
Lynda Barness
I DO Wedding Consulting
PO Box 22450
Philadelphia, PA 19110
215-262-8188
www.idoplan.com
lynda@idoplan.com
When I met with Lynda, we spoke about our roles in providing information to brides and grooms, regardless of whether they chose to work with us. Lynda was kind enough to provide the information below:
WEDDING TALK:
TEN TIPS FROM A WEDDING CONSULTANT
Doesn’t it feel like planning a wedding involves just about a million details? It can seem like they are just endless! Here are a few ideas to help make your planning a little easier:
1. Buy wedding magazines. Yes, of course you do this. However, instead of just cutting out pictures of things you like (which I do recommend), also make a pile of the things you hate. It is much easier to say to the florist (or cake baker, or any other vendor) that I love this and don’t want that. Having the visual example of the two extremes will help ensure that the communication between you and your vendor is very clear.
2. Order an extra boutonniere for the groom. He will get lots of hugs on your wedding day, and if the two of you greet guests before you take photos, his flower may not be so pretty in the pictures. Take a moment to make a quick swap of boutonnieres, and the photos will look even better!
3. Make sure that you physically take your invitations to the post office and have them weighed before mailing. You want to make sure that they get where they are going! You can order personalized stamps (from www.zazzle.com, for instance). The US Postal Service now offers wedding stamps in two denominations; one for the envelope and one for the response card. Remember NOT to pre-stamp response envelopes for those who live in foreign countries, because they will need to have their own postage stamp on the letter.
4. Let your photographer and videographer know of any personal family issues. If Uncle Jack doesn’t talk to Aunt Sally, you don’t want them shoved together for photos.
5. Purchase a new wedding perfume (and a new after-shave for your groom). Every time you wear it, you will remember your wedding day.
6. Take a napkin. Fold it, but not in the regular way. Try some OTHER ways. If you google "napkin folds," you will find more than a half-million entries! There must be something there that will strike your fancy, allowing you to dress up your table without spending anything extra at all. And where you place the napkin can be another choice: on the left side of your plate, across your plate, in a glass, on the back of the chair. These simple napkin adjustments will make a personal, stunning addition to the whole look of your reception room.
7. Be kind to your vendors. Have water bottles at the musicians’ stands at the ceremony, and make sure to discuss vendor meals with your caterer. Your vendors will be so appreciative (they don’t have to eat what the guests are eating, and most will be happy to have a sandwich. They have a long day and are grateful to be fed at some point during the reception.). The best time for the vendors to eat is usually during the cocktail hour.
8. There is a difference between flowers that decorate a cake (they shouldn’t be treated with any chemicals) and flowers that might be on a cake table surrounding the cake. Make sure to discuss with the bakery and also the florist.
9. Personalize SOMETHING at your wedding. It doesn’t have to be anything big, but do something to make your day yours alone. Try a monogram somewhere, or a signature drink, or use a family heirloom.
10. If you don’t own a glue gun, or you don’t want to have to use it on your wedding day, then you should hire a wedding consultant! Lots of little things go wrong, and it is nice not to have to deal with the stress yourself. All of the details are important, and the wedding consultant’s job is to help manage the details, the vendors, and your stress.
Lynda Barness
I DO Wedding Consulting
PO Box 22450
Philadelphia, PA 19110
215-262-8188
www.idoplan.com
lynda@idoplan.com
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Art Institute of Philadelphia
I was invited to be an evaluator in the portfolio review session at the Art Institute last night. Along with several faculty members, I had the opportunity to review the work of eight students in a session that ran from 6:00 to 10:00pm.
The students showed no fewer than three, and as many as five, clips. Some were countdown clips that ran for less than ten seconds, while the longest went for about two minutes. We provided written notes to the students, then spoke to them directly about their videos. Some of the students enrolled in the Art Institute directly from high school, while others were "adult learners", looking to enter the world of professional video as a new career.
One student's work really stood out from the others. Jonathan DeMuth's work was, for the most part, on a par with nearly anything I've seen from professionals. All the other students showed tremendous potential, which bodes well for our industry.
There was one scene in particular that amused me. One student included wedding clips in his montage. There was a scene of a bride coming down the stairs at her parent's home. Because it was shot from a low, side angle, and because the bride wore a strapless gown, we could see beneath her arms. This bride had gone to the trouble of getting a tan, but had neglected the white skin under her arms. So the lesson is that you'll never know the angles from which you'll be seen at a wedding. If you're tanning, make sure that you tan evenly.
The experience overall was not unlike the Artistic Achievement Awards program we have at the 4EVER Group. The production elements being evaluated were quite similar, and opinions were offered by several professionals. In the awards competition, you win or you don't. In these evaluations, you pass or fail.
I want to thank Craig Do'Vidio from the Art Institute for inviting me to participate. It was a real honor.
The students showed no fewer than three, and as many as five, clips. Some were countdown clips that ran for less than ten seconds, while the longest went for about two minutes. We provided written notes to the students, then spoke to them directly about their videos. Some of the students enrolled in the Art Institute directly from high school, while others were "adult learners", looking to enter the world of professional video as a new career.
One student's work really stood out from the others. Jonathan DeMuth's work was, for the most part, on a par with nearly anything I've seen from professionals. All the other students showed tremendous potential, which bodes well for our industry.
There was one scene in particular that amused me. One student included wedding clips in his montage. There was a scene of a bride coming down the stairs at her parent's home. Because it was shot from a low, side angle, and because the bride wore a strapless gown, we could see beneath her arms. This bride had gone to the trouble of getting a tan, but had neglected the white skin under her arms. So the lesson is that you'll never know the angles from which you'll be seen at a wedding. If you're tanning, make sure that you tan evenly.
The experience overall was not unlike the Artistic Achievement Awards program we have at the 4EVER Group. The production elements being evaluated were quite similar, and opinions were offered by several professionals. In the awards competition, you win or you don't. In these evaluations, you pass or fail.
I want to thank Craig Do'Vidio from the Art Institute for inviting me to participate. It was a real honor.
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