Read of the Month: Good to Great
This book illustrates what makes a good establishment from a great one. If you want to learn to be great, check out this month's read. Available on Amazon.com
Labor Day Party Ideas
Labor Day is more than just a three day weekend. It's a great reason to relax and throw a party. Here are ideas for hosting a great Labor Day Party THEMES & DECOR FOOD & BEVERAGE
Labor Day Cocktails
Labor Day is basically Summer's Last Hurrah. Make it tasty with these beverages! Blackberry Soda Recipe from Imbibe Magazine 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup water 1/2 cup fresh lemon verbena leaves, loosely packed 2 pints fresh, ripe blackberries Ice cubes Soda water...
Fall Conventions in Chicago
Conventions are happening all the time in Chicago, but fall is definitely one of the busier seasons in Chicago. Stay on top of what's going on by checking out this list of Fall Conventions from Choose Chicago.
Easy and Delicious Hors d’Oeurves
Having a house party? Selecting interesting appetizers before the main show isn't always easy, especially if you've had enough of the mini sausages and egg rolls to last you a lifetime. Here are 7 great recipes for delicious hors d'oeuves everyone will love! (Click...
Read of the Month: Good to Great
This book illustrates what makes a good establishment from a great one. If you want to learn to be great, check out this month's read. Available on Amazon.com
Labor Day Party Ideas
Labor Day is more than just a three day weekend. It's a great reason to relax and throw a party. Here are ideas for hosting a great Labor Day Party THEMES & DECOR FOOD & BEVERAGE
Labor Day Cocktails
Labor Day is basically Summer's Last Hurrah. Make it tasty with these beverages! Blackberry Soda Recipe from Imbibe Magazine 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup water 1/2 cup fresh lemon verbena leaves, loosely packed 2 pints fresh, ripe blackberries Ice cubes Soda water...
Fall Conventions in Chicago
Conventions are happening all the time in Chicago, but fall is definitely one of the busier seasons in Chicago. Stay on top of what's going on by checking out this list of Fall Conventions from Choose Chicago.
Easy and Delicious Hors d’Oeurves
Having a house party? Selecting interesting appetizers before the main show isn't always easy, especially if you've had enough of the mini sausages and egg rolls to last you a lifetime. Here are 7 great recipes for delicious hors d'oeuves everyone will love! (Click...
DIY: Holiday Invitations
It's that time of year to start sending the invites for the annual holiday party. Hopefully the venue has been secured and the details being fine-tuned. If you know where you are going, what time you'll be there and who's attending then it's time to let everyone...
Improve Your Life In Just 10 Minutes a Day
I recently was talking to a good friend of mine who told me that she was really excited with how her week was going. "Why, what happened?" I asked. "Well, I started taking 10 minutes out of my day during my lunch hour to start doing little things for me... You...
Hot or Not: Trends VS Wants
As Event Planners it's our job to provide clients with phenomenal ideas while executing a flawless event. But at what point do we dive too far into the world of possibilities? This can be more challenging than it sounds at times because we attend conferences,...
5 Steps to Help You Synchronize Communication and Organization To Make You Successful
Everyone knows you need to be organized. Everyone knows you need to communicate. Yet somehow combining the two can be difficult. Why is that? Efficiency is built on streamlining communication, organization and productivity, but all of those things rely on...
10 Ways To Know You’re a Great Event Planner
1. Coming prepared means you showed up with more than a pen and duct tape. You have a back up outfit in your car. 2. You know your vendors and can get a client anything they ask for. 3. The only thing better than a challenging client is a challenging client with no...
DIY Projects: How to Restore a Shell Chair by Jack Pettyjohn
The Chicago Event Planner Magazine is excited to have Restoration Guru Jack Pettyjohn share his skills on how to recreate a 50s style Shell Chair. You never know what a client will ask you about and thanks to Jack, you can be even more knowledgeable about everything,...
Fly Your Clients on a Private Jet
I caught this great article from Thrillist called "Private Jets You Can Sort of Afford". The list includes JetSuite, Desert Jet, XOJet, Clay Lacy Aviaition and Black Jet with some of the shorter flights as low as $1000 for planes that seat at least 6. When you...
Planning Insight from VDA Productions
I always enjoy sharing articles that I think other great and innovative individuals have written. This is a great blog post about what goes into event planning and how to continue to plan better....
How To Interview Celebrities & Why You Should Work with Freelance Writers & Small Publications
I believe that one of the most important things an event planner can do is get perspectives on how other industries work. I sat down with Jennifer Boyer, Indepedent/Freelance Writer, formerly of Cheeky Chicago to talk about her experiences doing celebrity interviews....
Technology from the Developers of the 2012 Obama Campaign
Monday evening I was lucky enough to attend a videotaped panel session hosted by New Relic, an applications performance monitoring website. It was pretty techy and a little over my head at times, but it was also interesting to hear how technology is changing the game...