ABCey Events was super excited to be a part of the massive 3,000 person 2 day red carpet Tesla Model S Event that was held this past weekend in Fremont, CA at the former Toyota NUMMI plant & now Tesla factory. We were hired by the well known Los Angeles based Event Management company, Best Events to act as a local resource for production elements such as Staffing, Florals, DJ, etc. SF Local Favorite DJ Mancub spun some chill tunes for a record amount of time both Sat and Sun, and the crowd seemed to love him!

Saturday began with an investor event, followed by International Media, then VIP and the main Customer Event for those who have put a deposit down on this fancy electric vehicle. The car is to roll out next year as a 2013 model with prices at around $57,400. Tesla says the S will have a range of up to 300 miles, depending on which battery option the buyer chooses.  What’s more, the Model S is eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit that helps bring the cost down to $49,900.

Those who have preordered the vehicle were able to take a tour of the company’s facilities and do a test drive in a prototype (although they weren’t allowed to drive it themselves)! Guests were also allowed to tour the factory to see how it is made and learn some details about the car’s features from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. drove onto the stage in a burgundy Model S. From the car emerged seven people: five in the front and back seats and two tow-headed boys from the rear-facing seats, all of whom seemed to be carrying large duffel bags and backpacks. As Musk began to talk to the crowd, a ninth person person, sprung from the front trunk, surprising the crowd, which roared with laughter. The obvious point, made well with the display, was that the Model S has tons of cargo room — even under the hood since there’s no engine there. Tesla later tweeted that front + trunk = “frunk” — which will likely catch on quickly.

The souped-up Tesla can reportedly accelerate to 60 mph from a standstill in 4.5 seconds, which is two-tenths of a second quicker than the 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera with a manual transmission. We must say, the event was a huge success and everything seemed to go off without a hitch.We love you Tesla!

If you would like to view the full album of our own personal pics from the event, please click here!

This past Friday night, August 12th, 2011, ABCey Events was thrilled to host our first event for Intermodal Structures at Pier 1 here in San Francisco. This awesome company designs, manufactures, transports, installs and commissions sophisticated, steel-framed buildings delivered intermodally to any location in the world. They are led by a team of industry veterans, possessing decades of experience in the building design, construction, acquisition, development and operations processes.

We worked closely with Craig Severance, one of the founders who is in responsible for the company’s sales and marketing. Craig has over 25 years of experience in real estate acquisitions and financing, and was an early pioneer in utilizing technology to expedite these processes.  Prior to founding Intermodal Structures, Craig co-founded and served as CEO of RealConnected, which developed collaborative, project management software for the commercial real estate industry. Craig also served as a managing director and head of acquisitions at AMB Property Corporation (NYSE: AMB), where his group completed over $3 billion in acquisitions.

Intermodal succesfully hosted 25 investors from all over the world who dined on delicious food from the acclaimed Hugh Grohman and his well known catering company, Greenleaf Platters. Guests also enjoyed breath taking views of the Bay and looked as if they were talking some serious business! We were happy to be a part of this important event, and can’t say enough about this uber cool, enviornmentally friendly, energy efficient, and technologically advanced company. We’re just still hoping they build ABCey Events the houseboat/office/event space of our dreams!

If you are interested in learning more about Intermodal, please visit their website!

Do something good for your family, your pocketbook, and the environment. Make your home a little greener! As this week’s TV Thursday, we have posted a video to help inspire you to make a few simple changes in your house. Don’t forget to share our green tips with the office crew.

Would you want to live in the dome from the video? Simple adjustments can go a long way to combat both high-energy bills and global warming. They say many good things start at home: habits, behavior and health. Add Eco-friendly awareness to that list. You can find other tips at this site. What green practices do you already exercise?

Over the last few years corporations and companies have put a lot of effort into “going green” with their businesses.  There are some easy ways for these companies to become eco friendly by going paperless, cutting down electricity costs, and using social media for marketing.  The world-wide-web and social media connections have let the business world expand in ways never thought of as possible.  How do you make an event more eco-friendly and still a success?  Here are some ways you can make eco-friendly choices for your decor to reduce your festivity’s carbon footprint.

Eco-friendly, pocket savvy: When planning an event it can take a lot of free time to find all the right essentials to accessorize your party. If you don’t have the time to spend searching for it or a huge piggy bank to pull from a great alternative is leasing the lights, backdrops, or other materials from a reputable events company.  Rentals are a great way to go green because people will reuse the items as opposed to buying one-time-use or disposable products.

Reuse Refuse: The saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is always going to be true.  Reusing someone’s trash can really be an eye opener as people tend to throw away incredibly useful objects that can be great for a party.  If you’re not up to rummaging through another person’s trash, why not rummage through your own house to see what hidden treasures you have?  Old glassware, tins, baskets or crates can possibly be found in your garage or garden shed, and also at flea markets and thrift stores at great low prices.  To enhance the tins, baskets, or glassware find some beautiful flowers to make an eye-catching decoration.

Table Decorations: When it comes to table decorations, the use of real foliage is a great way to be eco-friendly by cutting down environmental cost and they can also be sent home with guests at the end of the night.  When looking for large amounts of foliage décor consider using indigenous seasonal greenery.  This will bring the great outdoors inside and will cut down pollution caused by shipping floral pieces.  If you have reservations about pollen and petals on your tablecloth, consider a simple display of fruit or vegetables to make a bold statement.

Lighting: If you are hosting an evening event, lighting may be needed to keep the venue festive and luminous. Opting for energy efficient light bulbs makes for low maintenance and is also safer.  Another green way to light the event is by skipping the electricity altogether by stringing lanterns.  Lanterns and candles are a great way to fit the perfect mood lighting and the perfect budget.

When planning your next event look into using what you already have stowed away at home or at the office.  Your guests will love the personal touch to the décor and the effort you put into saving the planet. What way have you used to make your home or business more “green”?

ABCey Events is reporting live today from the 7th International Fuel Cell Bus Workshop, a 3 day conference put together by the Federal Transit Administration. We were brought onto this project by the NAVC (Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium) to help plan and manage this important conference held at the SFO Airport Marriott. Representatives from different organizations such as the FTA, NAVC, CALSTART, AC Transit, BC Transit, and GE Global Research will be leading the presentations and will also participate in roundtable discussions.

The fuel cell buses are being showcased just outside, but since it’s supposed to snow here in SF this weekend and is raining now, we’re opting to stay inside at the moment and look at pictures of them instead! Topics discussed include Fuel Cell Bus Research in the US, reports from current US demonstration projects, industry views, infrastructure and supporting technologies, outlook and worldwide initiatives.

For those who don’t know what a Fuel Cell Bus is, it’s a bus that uses a hydrogen fuel cell as its power source for electrically driven wheels, sometimes augmented in a hybrid fashion with batteries or a supercapacitor. They are pretty awesome and looks like they will make the public transit experience a super pleasant one. Think about the improvement of our air quality and all the additional jobs that are being created.

We’re excited to be a part of this evolutionary event as transit continues to be in the forefront of the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of clean and energy efficient vehicle technologies.  Factors that have made transit buses the forerunner for alternative fuels and hybrid electric systems are also helping lead the introduction of fuel cell vehicle technologies into transportation applications.  These buses provide greater public exposure to the safe operation of zero emission vehicles.

Presented by AIGA SF, Compostmodern, a conference held every 2 years, will take place this year on January 22nd-23rd at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House in the Herbst Theater.  The event has been up and running since 2004, and actively works toward a brighter future in sustaining our earth’s natural resources.  The conference is mainly targeted at designers and business leaders, although anyone is welcome.  Their ideas concerning sustainable design are meant encourage a certain way of thinking and living rather than a vague interest in the environment.  The aim is to design products and services centered around design choices that will aid in keeping our planet green.

Who should attend: If you are in the design industry, the sustainability industry, an artist, an event planner, an entrepreneur, or just plain concerned about the future of our environmental and economic sustainability, you should be there.

Why you should care: Over the past 6 years, Compostmodern has promoted collaboration between all types of people and companies of varying persuasions create new ways of designing things within our world in the effort of protecting our environment.  It will be a great opportunity to network with others who also aspire to live out this way of life.

Hear it from the professionals: There will be numerous influential and acclaimed speakers at the event, some of which include Bruce Mau of Bruce Mau Design, Jenifer Willig of RED, and Jonah Sachs of Free Range Studios.

Join the community: For information on attending the conference, click here.  Or become a part of the Compostmodern Community by checking out their partner site, The Living Principles.

See you there!

With the go-green phase upon us, everyone is looking to do their part. These 5 little changes will give your business an eco-friendly outlook and help decrease your carbon footprint.  While most small companies are environmentally aware, the following tips will surprise even the biggest of tree-huggers!

1. Nitro PDF: An alternative to Adobe PDF, Nitro PDF is about one-third of the cost. This program can easily create and send individual PDF files for clients, limiting the amount of paper used for traditional reports.

2. PDF995 Printer Driver: While the name might sound a little scary, the software is surprisingly simple. The PDF Printer Driver is an excellent way to digitally render invoices, graphic mock-ups, and long text documents, without touching a piece of paper or a scanner.

3. Fax to E-mail Services: While fax machines are becoming a thing of the past, this is a way you can jump ahead. Join a service such as “eFax“, “UnityFax“, or “jConnect” which allows you to set your incoming phone number to an e-mail address, so new faxes will go straight to your inbox.

4. EchoSign Online Contracts: The idea behind EchoSign is to elimminate the amount of paper used for contracts signed with clients, businesses, employees, etc. EchoSign has the same binding powers as a conventional contract while maintaining an ecological position. As with most internet-based programs, EchoSign speeds up the execution process up; an added perk for being nice and saving all those trees!

5. Online Backup and Record Keeping: Archiving your records and files can be a total pain in the bum, and even e-mail can get a little confusing at times. Online record keeping can be an extremely helpful option for businesses looking to save time and money. Here are a few services we recommend: Box.net, DropBox, Mozy, and Backblaze.

What else can you do to decrease your company’s carbon footprint? Have you made any successful ecological changes in your business?

See how one small business implemented some great workplace policies that are all about being green!

Welcome to our first installment of TV on Tuesday, where we bring you our favorite clips from around the web.  They could be funny, they could informative, they could be irreverent or simply irrelevant…but every Tuesday, they’ll be here, waiting for you to click and view.  Today, we bring you Alexis Ohanian, the founder of Reddit, as he gives a Ted Talk on the naming of Mister Splashy Pants.  While this talk is certainly humorous (and how could a talk about Mister Splashy Pants not be?), at its heart is a message about how social media changes how we process information.  When using the web to convey the message, we are essentially setting it free; we are relinquishing the control that newspapers, television and other, older forms of information conveyance have both used and relied on for years.  So, without further adieu, we set this clip free and bring you:  How to Make a Splash in Social Media, with Alexis Ohanian and, of course, Mister Splashy Pants.

ABCey Events can help you take a few easy steps to make your event greener. Planning Green meetings has become a major initiative for many professional meeting planners and corporate travel departments.

Choose a Local Venue:
When selecting that perfect setting, why not keep global warming in mind? We will work with you to select a convenient location also help to arrange for carpools or transportation options to the event as well. Encourage your guests to carpool and pair up people who live close to one another. For those who come by public transportation, bike, and foot give low-waste door prizes like a coupon for a cup of fair-trade, organic coffee from the locally-owned coffee shop, or a bag of freshly baked cookies made from organic flour and “Bird-Friendly” chocolate.

E-vite Your Guests:
Emailing invitations save paper and money, especially if you have an extended guest list. We can also use social media to create a group for your event and create buzz around it. There are many websites that provide free email invitation services, however if a printed copy is an absolute must, we can use postconsumer recycled paper or flower seed paper, which can actually be planted in your garden.

Local Food:
Depending on the type of food you are looking to serve, we will choose a restaurant or caterer from our list that uses food and ingredients from local farmers. We can also work with a local food bank to pick up or deliver any leftovers.

Grow some of your own food:
If you’ve never tried planting a vegetable garden before, now is the time to begin. Start with easy to grow vegetables such as: radish, squash, beans, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peas, and herbs. Try growing your own “signature salad” for the event. Reduce the amount of meat you serve or consider a vegetarian menu:In relation to our diet, animal products are one of the largest contributors to global warming. Plan your menu so that there is less emphasis on large meat portions and replace with either tasty plant-based options, or with grass-fed, pasture-raised products instead.

Offer rainforest certified coffee and chocolate:
Organic, fair-trade and shade-grown products can still be problematic to our diminishing rain forests. Look for one of two seals: “Smithsonian Institute Bird-Friendly,” or “Rainforest-Friendly.” To accompany your coffee, don’t forget to serve organic cream, organic GMO-free soymilk and fair-trade, organic sugar.

Serve green drinks:
Organic spirits and “green” wines (sustainably grown) are becoming more popular and there are some excellent choices. Unfortunately, the “USDA Organic” label isn’t always enough to really know what is the best quality. Look for products from smaller companies that can be contacted for information on growing and production practices.

Use Reusable, Recyclable, or Biodegradable Tableware:
We can use cloth napkins and real tableware to reduce the amount of waste that will need to be disposed of. Alternatively, we can also provide post consumer recycled content paper napkins and biodegradable plates, cups and utensils, which will degrade faster than other types of single use tableware.

Buy in bulk and purchase and serve things with less packaging:
Don’t serve appetizers or drinks with throwaway plastic spoons, stirrers or bowls. Use biocompostable products like peppermint sticks or wooden popsicle stirrers for drinks. For food, try hollowed out cucumbers for individual appetizer bowls, a wide carrot slice when you need a spoon for something savory, and ice cream cone bowls with a thin biscotti spoon for dessert.

Clean up with green cleaning products:
Natural cleaning products are gaining in popularity and work well in the kitchen. Wash your tablecloths, napkins and towels, and clean counters, dishes and tabletops with biodegradable, earth-friendly detergent. Use only as much as needed. If you must use paper towels for cooking or cleaning, get unbleached, brown paper towels. And for whatever waste you have (hopefully, it’s not too much), use biodegradable trash bags; either brown paper bags or biocompostable ones. Find all these products at natural foods stores, online, and even at some of the larger chain grocery stores.

Offset your Carbon Emissions:
Got leftover carbon waste? We all do. It comes from the energy used to do things like drive to the store to pick up party supplies, grow the food for the meal, and manufacture our chips and salsa. After reducing and recycling as much as possible, consider offsetting (mitigating) what’s left. Carbon offsets are payments you can make to a third party to remove or offset your own carbon emissions from the atmosphere. They can help to create new industries that work towards improving the Global Warming Diet and global warming in general, for example in areas such as renewable energy.