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True Colors — What’s Hot for 2017

Get their Attention and Keep It

With so much going on in everyday life — and let's face it, the world--it is getting increasingly more difficult to not only give meeting attendees an experience they've never had before, but to do so in a way that captivates their attention at the beginning, middle, and end of an event.

Fortunately for meeting planners, there are many plays and twists on the world around us that can be incorporated into meetings for 2017 and beyond.

Make Everything Great Again

Obviously coming off the election in the last year has people, social media, and workplaces in upheaval. Use this to your advantage and utilize the message of the American hard worker, patriotism, and rebirth as an underlying theme in your event. You can be quite literal using the red, white, and blue, or simply using a company's growth or change to be the visionary inspiration for creating a sense of company patriotism (i.e., the creation of a company flag, inaugural ball for an incoming president, make the guests feel as though they've been invited to a state dinner at the White House, company slogan signage at the event in the form of "protest" signs hand drawn with markers, etc.).

On the Air

If you don't have a Facebook Live, YouTube Channel, or Subscribers to a blog these days... you got nuthin’. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is that generation gaps be melded through the newest ways our world communicates. Many companies and employees are still gun shy when it comes to these windows into the world and how a new era receives their information. From the products they buy, to how to beat the clock in life, through everyday tasks (i.e.. Buzzfeed, Tasty, etc.), there are channels through which they should be communicating.

There are only a certain percentage of people that are completely comfortable in front of a camera, therefore having activities that put the audience at the center of the attention amongst their peers gets people to come out of their shell and makes for laughs, as well as cheap entertainment. Incorporating activities that make everyone's real life their own reality show or an intercompany commercial making competition is a sure-fire way to get people engaged, encouraging them to laugh at themselves and funny life or workplace situations.

When All Else Fails, There's Always Liquor

From the billions of breweries that have popped up in every town to the hottest trends of home wine making and beer brewing, liquor has now become not only the element that loosens up the crowd, but a means to the self-promotional end. Home brew kits or wine making kits allow guests to bring home their very own creations in a customized bottle.

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Kat Minks, Owner | Adore Productions LLC | minks.katherine@gmail.com

A transplant from California to the Minnesota meeting and events industry, Kat Minks has more than fourteen years experience in event designing, planning, and styling. Adore Productions is a full-service event design and planning company providing venue design, event styling, wardrobe styling, makeup artist services, and concept consultation. As a former Director of Sales for a major hotel chain and catering company that was a sister company to an upscale hotel in Minneapolis, Kat is proficient in the ins and outs of the Minneapolis/St Paul Hotel and Catering market. Most recently, Kat received an award for Best Wedding Design under $25,000 and Best Wedding Event Under $50,000, illustrating that great style can be had at a modest budget.

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