Behind The Scenes

I joined the Clarke Allen Group at the beginning of the year and have made a role for myself in the company as a jack-of-all-trades (perhaps master of none but I like to think I am).  Throughout most weeks, I find my daily responsibilities ranging from IT troubleshooting, website design, a bit of graphics, occasionally taking out the trash, and most recently, video production.

Strangely, video production is one of my strongest talents, being as I spent several years in television news and film making.  It's not common for a company like the Clarke Allen Group, which is usually associated with event and experiential design, to employ a videographer.  This, however, is possible through a division of the company with whom I do the most work, Creatrix Design.

Briefly, Creatrix Design is a segment of the whole, the whole being the Clarke Allen Group.  In the past, Creatrix specialized in temporary and permanent installations.  Basically, we designed and built anything ranging from trade-show booths to elaborate scenery for massive events.  Now, Creatrix is expanding its services beyond the physical environments and branching into the world of virtual.  This encompasses web presence, multimedia, graphic design, and believe it or not, video.  That's where I come in.

Riding Together

The crack of the first baseball bat rings in the spring along with many other wonderful sporting opportunities.  The Quail Hollow Championship is just around the corner, and the Sprint Cup races and legendary Coca-Cola 600 are next month.  It's an exciting time and these events allow businesses to network while enjoying the outdoors and the activities.  You can maximize the time you have to network by arranging to ride together, here are a few of the advantages of having everyone together in a van or on a motorcoach:

• Think back to those Sunday drives with the family where you shared car games and stories with each other.  It's hard to get uninterrupted time with family let alone clients, this could be your golden opportunity. 
• Riding together is a "Green" way to travel by combining people into one vehicle it reduces the carbon footprint.
• If the group plans to enjoy some intoxicating beverages you can rest easier knowing they won't be driving.
• Parking is a breeze because someone else will be doing the driving.

You can leave the driving to Charlotte Arrangements this year, we can arrange for any size vehicle to accommodate  your group, provide you with transportation coordination, or even an escort to handle the details of your day.  Time is precious and if you are entertaining clients at sporting events you will want to get the most out of the experience. 

www.charlottearrangements.com

Google Apps

When I came on board with The Clarke Allen Group, I found that we suffered from the same basic infrastructure problems that many small businesses face in this evolving world: emerging technology.  We had issues with lost emails, finding documents for clients, and managing our people and time well.

A friend of mine, who also happens to do a lot of work with IT and web design, recommended that we look into a cloud solution.  Upon a bit of research, I stumbled onto a few solutions but was really intrigued by one in particular.

Google Apps really caught my eye because of its low cost (free at that time for under 50 users, now free for up to 10) and functionality.  After going through the myriad of applications, I found that it could easily cover most of our needs.

Reception Responsibilities

It's your special day and the union of families, which is big responsibility financially and relationally.  Anything goes in terms of food, decor, and timing but depending on your family's background there are rituals that will still be observed and need to be planned for.

You are the hosts of possibly the biggest party of your life.  Your role as a host demands that your guests be comfortable and happy.  This consideration begins with the earliest decisions in your planning with the food, music, seating, transportation, and other details.

Before the event takes place, you need to decide how you want to receive (i.e. reception) your guests.  Will you be there ahead of them to greet and thank each one personally or do you prefer to make a grand entrance and then visit from table to table receiving guests and thanking them?  Once you have decided which approach to take you will want to enlist some assistance.  Have trusted friends or family be there to let the guests know what is happening, answer questions, and help you manage the people so that you can still have a positive experience on your wedding day.  Make sure that if you have a DJ or band that you have reviewed the evening in detail with them and instructed them on what your expectations are for the evening.   If you have enlisted the help of a wedding planner make sure you have shared your vision of "how you want the event to run" so that they are able to meet or exceed your expectations.

CenterStage@NoDa works with brides and grooms to provide a great reception location, Charlotte Arrangements can provide wedding planning and coordination, and also we are experts in transporting your guests to any location chosen. 

www.clarkeallen.com
www.centerstagenoda.com
www.charlottearrangements.com

Learning To Fly

“Well, you got the position!” said my manager, Vicki Nobili. It was like a wave crashing on the shore from a never ending swell. I found Charlotte Arrangements rather soon in my search for an internship and I traveled 250 miles from Wilmington to Charlotte, NC and all 250 miles paid off. At the end of my interview Vicki told me I had the internship if I wanted it. My first day at Charlotte Arrangements was anything but slow. I was “shown the ropes”. How to log into computers, calendars, and emails, the correct way to make client files, and keep up with my supervisor, Clarke Allen, and most importantly what and why we do what we do.

Hiring A Web Developer

Every business decision maker eventually needs to employ the services of a web developer.  Typically, it's for a one time project such as a creating a company website or editing one already in place.  Since my company offers up these services, I felt it would be useful to provide a few tips (and maybe a few DOs and DON'Ts) in the search for the perfect web guru.

Interview Them

Probably the most important and yet most overlooked aspect of the process is personality.  In running a business, one doesn't typically hire the first person to walk into the office.  In that same vein, one doesn't hire somebody based on references alone.  When a manager hires an employee, they look at all of the elements.  Is this person a good fit for the company?  Is he/she reliable?  Has this person been difficult to manage in the past?  If one approaches minimum wage entry positions thoroughly, why would one not approach a highly paid contractor as such?

It is important to remember that this is the individual with whom you will be working closely to build your company's presence on the web, collaborating on social medias, and creating the first visual most people see when looking into hiring your business.  Having a developer who you like, can work with, and who truly strives to help your business succeed through a melting pot of HTML and graphics is key to being successful on the world wide web.  Don't get stuck with somebody you'll dread calling when you need to discuss revisions and edits.

Inspiration

Inspiration comes in many forms: poems, pictures, nature, and experiences, just to name a few.  I was working on updating the information about our Meetings Management the other day and while creating the copy for our website, I came across a Microsoft photo of two young girls smiling and laughing while they worked on a laptop together.  The picture made me smile but more than that, it inspired me.  It took me back to a simpler time when two people could come together and experience fun while collaborating.  We are in the meetings business and we bring people together everyday through design and content.  I have this picture pinned to my bulletin board to remind me that we should never take the fun out of what we do.  We're working hard to assist our clients with creating meetings that are exciting, fun, but most of all, meetings that create memorable experiences.

There are a lot of details involved in planning that can suck the life out of anyone trying to handle a conference, convention, or meeting on their own.  We thrive on the details as if it were bread and water,  and our passion is to take the stress of planning away from our clients and replace it with the fun of participation.  We want you to be where your highest value role is, in front of your attendees and receiving the positive feedback from a great event.  Inspired meetings speak to the attendee that says, "I don't sit in meetings, I experience them".

How will you inspire your attendees next time?  What experience will your group walk away with the next time they meet or collaborate? 

http://www.charlottearrangements.com