Always First, Always Last

Good Morning events industry. Our newsletter went out a day early to support The Live Events Coalition Activation / #LiveEventsCoalition in Times Square this morning. Overnight I received some amazing emails. Thank you! One of those notes from a dear friend & industry icon read that "I MUST share my article with event pros that may not receive our newsletter". She said as she read it a hundred of her clients events came back to her.

Please enjoy from this weeks #EventStrong Volume 1 No. 16:

ALWAYS FIRST, ALWAYS LAST, By Michael Cerbelli

The New Normal. Hybrid Events. Pivoting. Micro-Events. Social Distancing.

I hear these terms every day. These monikers have been echoing in my head for over 4-months. Tired as they may be, already, we as a team believe the key to success is optimism.

The New Normal = Navigating Uncharted Opportunities

Hybrid Events = Larger Audiences Globally

Pivoting = New Offerings

Micro-Events = Intimate Gatherings

Social Distancing = Physical Distancing

And there’s one more, every time I hear this one, it hits home and stands out to me…First to Close. Last to Open.

I know how many of my fellow event professionals have been hit in the gut and are suffering during this time. We hope and pray that there will be live events by spring of next year, but we have to face the fact that we just don’t know. Think about that, we thought a few months ago we could be back by September. As we can see now, we won’t. Some have been able to make changes to survive, and for some, unfortunately, there isn’t a new direction. A destination management company doesn’t have people coming to their city, a designer doesn’t have a room to decorate, a caterer can’t survive on 25-meals, a rental company has nothing to deliver and this list goes on.... On March 16th, the event industry was the first to close the doors to reevaluate, keep our teams safe and buckle up for a rough ride. When will we open again? I don’t know…We won’t be able to host events again until everyone wears a mask, a vaccine shows promising results, businesses where people gather together are safe and cases are significantly lowered.

As I wrote, the key to success is optimism...

First to Close. Last to Open = Always First, Always Last

What does that mean? Simple. I have been doing this for 43-years, and I know many of you are like me…we wake up at the crack of dawn, sometimes never sleeping, just to be first on site. Why? Because we have one shot to make this event flawless. We’re there before the first stack of chairs gets wheeled in, before the first truss comes through the door, before the first road case gets slammed onto the ground - just to make sure everything gets placed properly, nothing is broken, every linen matches, and every detail is perfect.

This is what we do.

We are event professionals. Whether you are a venue or a production company, a caterer or a designer, a producer or project manager; you are the first to be on site. You are creating experiences that will lead to lifelong memories. This is why our clients trust us, and we should all be so proud of what we do and accomplish in limited time, because no one really knows what we do, besides us.

We know Thanksgiving Dinner is not made on Thursday, it's prepared for days, eaten in a couple of hours, and then clean up and packing up the leftovers begins…

Now I won’t lie, I’m usually not the last one on site. I’m usually the first to vaporize into the night. I need my beauty sleep. But there is the team that makes sure the client gets into their car safely, or on the last bus before it heads back to the host hotel. The events team that packs up the memories to be delivered back to the guest-of-honor. Collecting the jacket that was left on back of the chair and the glasses sitting on the bathroom sink, so they all get back to their owners. The overnight crew tearing down the décor, lighting, and staging. The venue team re-stacking the chairs, plates and glasses. The stage hands wrapping wires neatly to be ready for the next gig. The DJ playing background music for the crew’s enjoyment. The bartenders packing up the liquor with the final overnight crew left to clean up the mess WE made. ALL making sure the venue, the oven that cooked up our concoction, is clean and ready to do it again. These are the last people out.

First in. Last out. ALWAYS

We have so much to be grateful for. We do what we love and we will get to do it again one day. It’s a tough business. It’s not as glamorous as everyone thinks it is. But where else can a doodle on a napkin come to life, day after day, week after week, year after year? When you hear these monikers going forward, start to believe there is an end to this craziness and we will be able to make everlasting memories again. We will wake up at 3:00 AM, pack our Power Bars, and start the long day ahead. We will show up smiling, with a coffee in hand and say good morning to the overnight crew that are just finishing their shift. Some of us may walk long hallways to a ballroom. Some to the newly erected tent to see the sun rising at 6:00 AM and we all will stop for a moment to look at the blank canvas in front of us and visualize what it will look like in a few hours.

--------------------- FAST FORWARD ---------------------

Get home at 4:00 AM, kick the shoes off your aching feet, put the flowers you took into a vase, raid the fridge, eat the cookies you brought home, throw your dress blacks into a corner, take a shower, lay in bed and think about all the people that helped make this event come to life.

You were the first to see it, you were the last to see it.

Though we may be the last ones invited back to the “party”, we will be the first ones the client comes to, to make it all happen again.

Stay #EventStrong #WishIWasThere

To read more from this weeks edition or to sign up for our bi-weekly #EventStrong Newsletter please go to: https://www.cerbellicreative.com/eventstrong

#EVENTSTRONG : (AN INDUSTRY MOVEMENT)

THE NOTION THAT THE BOND BETWEEN EVENT INDUSTRY PARTNERS WILL REMAIN SOLID IN HARDSHIPS; KEEPING INSPIRATION AND CREATIVITY ALIVE.