Last week I talked about my time at the Engage!11 Conference in San Diego which was the most amazing four days with the most incredible people in the wedding and event industry. What I want to talk about today is the wonderful speakers who imparted their wisdom of the Wedding World with the attendees. And we are not talking just fluff and stuff, we are talking great business advice from people who are the leaders in the industry. Hard core fact and information about the business of weddings which we can all apply to make our business better.
The Opening Day was headed up by David Beahm (who gave a really enlightening and peaceful presentation) and Simon T Bailey (who reminded us to "Let it Go" and "Take it to another Level". Words I think are very powerful.
That night there was the Opening Night Party! Oh the parties!!! They were so nice I am going to have to dedicate a whole blog post to them. You have to come back to the blog as they are gorgeous!
First up on Tuesday was the amazing Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce (the producers of Engage! and the owners of Engaging Concepts) who filled us in on the "State of the Wedding Industry". I always find this information so important to feel the pulse of the wedding industry and what is new and what is coming on the horizon.
Then, the fun, smart and very witty Todd Fiscus of Todd Events in Dallas, Texas. He jetted in the day after planning and designing Tony Romo's wedding! Todd is a smart business man who tells it like it is and I love that in him. Made me really think about our design process with our clients and how I can tweak it to make it even better.
Cindy Novotny wowed the crowd as she has done in the past. She is one of the best speakers I have seen over the years! She talks about sales and customer service training and she is fantastic.
After lunch, the always impressionable Marcy Blum, who with her wit and humor had the whole crowd in stitches. She have a very great presentation on Inspiration and where you get it and how you put it to use in your events. I have know Marcy for 3 years and I am always excited to hear her talk. And she is super funny!
Carley Roney, the co-founder and Editor in Chief of The Knot gave us some amazing details and statistics about the luxury wedding market which was so useful and helpful to hear.
The day was concluding with the always smart and nice Millie Bratten, the Editor-in-Chief of Brides Magazine as she talked with Monique Lhuillier.
The first two days were action packed and just amazing! Check back this week to see some details about the opening night event and the gorgeous luncheon under a Raj tent. We also got to see Sylvia Weinstock decorate a cake and answer questions about her design process and business. Like I said, it was just too hard to sum up in one blog post so keep coming back for more!
The amazing pictures are provided to the attendees by Mel Barlow. She is an awesome photographer and an all around awesome person and thanks Mel for sharing your gorgeous images with us!