The Offshore Elite Meetings Alliance

Without being too self touting I need to give you a quick rundown or my most recent event with Elite Meetings and really for only one reason; we partnered with an incredible event design company, Current Affairs.

Current Affairs is fantastic at bringing a real wow factor while keeping in mind the way the event will flow. The first official night of our event, we were joined by rising Ukulele star, Taimane. Now, initially, I was not wowed by the fact that we would have a Ukulele player at our Hawaii event (so old hat), however I jumped the gun. This young women was the most enthralling performer I may have ever seen. It's quite possible that her performance held my attention (and everybody else's) more more tenuously than the Backstreet Boys concert I attended in Junior high (for anyone who knows me, that's a pretty strong statement). Here's a clip of her performance;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdVecuOnke0

What was really incredible about what Current Affairs did was that they interspersed Taimane's performance with another band, more suitable for background music. While we all wanted to see Taimane perform the whole night, she was too entertaining, and by breaking her performance up, people were allowed time to network. The timing was perfect, and this kind of planning comes only with true expertise. People left thrilled and impressed, yet satisfied that they had time to network.

One more highlight that I must mention, is that the following night, at our "Under the Sea" theme dinner, we had a mermaid in attendance. Of course I can't fool you into thinking it was a real mermaid, but she was a very impressive fake mermaid, and so fun to interact with. Given the incredible venue, The Sheraton Waikiki's Edge Pool, it was so picturesque that we couldn't keep hotel guests from sneaking into the party to take pictures. I must note again that Current Affairs incorporated the mermaid very smartly. She was only there for the first hour, which I at first found to be a disappointment. However, I quickly realized, we wouldn't have wanted her for any longer. A mermaid is only entertaining for an hour, tops (unless its a real one...).

Introduction

I've never been the type to miss a party. In high school I was always planning the next house party or birthday party. I was the go to girl when you wanted to know what was happening that weekend.

In College, as I started to figure out what I wanted my career path to be, it became abundantly clear that I needed to plan events. I wanted to bring people together for a living.

My first internship was for a nonprofit, called Visiting Neighbors, an organization committed to offering companionship to elders. As their event intern, I was to help plan a senior citizen talent show which would take place at a street fair on 8th avenue in New York. The winner was a vibrant woman who hailed from Puerto Rico and put on a fantastic dance performance.

I moved on to work for a boutique event planning firm, Type Social, where I was given the opportunity to help plan events for BCBG during fashion week and The Nature Conservancy. Working on such high profile events really got my blood moving and inspired me to pursue my career full throttle.

Since my beginning days I've worked for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, planned various weddings and private events, and most recently (upon graduation) landed a job with Elite Meetings International where I plan the Elite Meetings Alliance, an event that brings Meeting planners together with luxury hotel leaders.

In my upcoming posts, I plan to profile past and future events I've attended or planned, examine trends, and highlight events that I'm looking forward to. Please leave me comments or email me if their are any events you think I should check out or do a profile piece on.