We’re always scouring the web and trade mags for new and creative ideas to bring to our events. We came across some great design elements in the December issue of Event Solutions Magazine and thought we’d share. Please let us know if you’ve used any of these cool products at your events, and also what your favorites are this season!

Beautiful Buule: Rental options can sometimes be stagnant when it comes to dressing up a stage or providing an amazing backdrop. For the designers out there, make sure to check out Buule (rhymes with Jewel) if you haven’t already. These are beautifully crafted drapery panels that can be seamlessly attached to one another in five foot increments creating a variety of different looks, from one-column to an elegant full-stage backdrop. According to the manufacturer, a 24-inch shipping cube can hold enough panels to create a 30-ft by 50-ft display.

Paint Your Own Projection Screen: Screen Goo High Contrast is simply awesome. If you can paint it, you can project on it! This is a coating that can turn any paintable surface into a high performance projection screen. It can produce an impression of depth on a flat surface, and thus perfectly complements the actual physical depth of the structure. The product can accommodate high performance front, rear, or 3D projection, expanding the palette of projection possibilities available to lighting, stage and art directors. Some of the larger Screen Goo screens can be found at the brand new Cosmopolitan, at the new Las Vegas City Center, the Hard Rock Casino, Caesar’s Palace, the Tropicana and almost everywhere else!

Wrap Your Venue: When wind can blow through banner fabric, even the largest outdoor banner systems are possible. That’s the secret to AdMesh windproof banners. Air and music flow through the vinyl-coated banner mesh, so there’s no billowing or hazards. Outdoor mesh banners can be crafted to any size, and can be digitally printed with a logo or message.

High-Styled Outdoor Heaters: Lava recently introduced a new line of pyramid shaped heaters in the US as an answer to the outdated mushroom heaters we all know so well. The major advantage, aside from how cool it looks- is that the unit’s ambient heat radiates from the sides for better 360-degree warming. These heaters are available in five colors, can endure rain and snow, and are easy to assemble. An electronic ignition makes it super easy to fire up the propane tank enclosed in the base, and is even operable by remote! Whoohoo!

 We always love to hear your feedback! Please leave a comment here or email to events@abcey.com.

Christmas and Hannukkah are just around the corner, so it is time to start preparing! Here are some creative and fun photography tips that we hope you’ll enjoy.

1. Prepare: Making a List, Checking it Twice

• Make sure you are prepared to capture the moments of this holiday.

• Check that you have everything and find some good places to take some shots

• Pack the camera

• Make sure the batteries are charged and you have extra memory cards

• Put someone on ‘photos’.  Make sure someone is taking charge and photographing the whole event!

• Consider the light in the room that you’ll be photographing in. Is there enough light? Will you need a flash?
• Are the backgrounds too cluttered and distracting?

2. Get Your White Balance In Check: Pay attention to what type of light you’re shooting in and set your white balance accordingly.  If you have a camera that shoots in RAW, however, you can change it later.

3. Set Up a DIY ‘Photo Booth’: Time to be creative and set up a photo booth station where the party is.  An idea would be to photograph everyone as they come in and then leave a tripod set up with a self-timer on the camera for people to take pictures of themselves during the party.  As the party goes on, the photos get crazier!

4. Capture the Preparation Stages:

• The meal or party is the best part of the day, but there are other photographic opportunities; mainly the preparation stages of the day.

• Food preparation

• Putting up decorations

• Wrapping gifts

• Kids throwing a tantrum while getting dressed in their Christmas outfits

• Setting the table

5. Before and After Shots: Take pictures of the place before the party starts and after it has finished. It will show you what a success it truly was!

6. Time-lapse Christmas Series: A creative idea would be to set up a web cam on the table looking down the Christmas tree. Set the camera to go off every 5 minutes over the day and you will end up with one of the most wonderful series of shots. Of course can be applied to a Hannukkah bush as well;)

7. Christmas Lights: This can be tricky so read up on it!

8. Find a Point of Interest- but just per shot: Work hard to de-clutter your images

9. Fresh Group Photos: Take the group photo before the day gets started and when everyone looks their best.

10. Opening Gifts- Shoot in Continuous Mode: Opening gifts bring a wide array of emotions, facial expressions and excitement, so be ready to capture all of them! You will find a lot of really exciting, memorable photos.

11. Fill Your Frame: Fill your frame with your subject either by using your zoom or getting up closer to the subjec

Together with the convenience of digital cameras and advances in offset publishing, and fun new apps, this holiday season we will surely be seeing lots of digitally printed holiday cards. While we know this is more convenient for many reasons, there is still something to be said about handwritten cards. Digital images are great, but they don’t capture the feeling you get when you hold a real photo in your hands.

If you are interested in going digital, and saving time with address labels, stamps, etc…be sure to try Sincerely Ink or Postcard On The Run. Both of these apps will let you design your card and then they will send it out for you.”Just snap, tap, and send.” If you have some spare time, and want to go traditional, we’ve got a few recommendations for you this season. California Home + Design shares some of their favorite finds from local San Francisco stationery makers.

Greetings from San Fran: Wish your friends and family happy holidays from The City by the Bay! The cards can also be printed as customized photo cards. Greetings from San Francisco Cards ($16 for 6 at Hello! Lucky)

Say it in Black and White: Keep it simple with these bold holiday cards from San Francisco’s In Haus Press.The Merriest Holiday Cards: ($18 for 6 at In Haus Press, Etsy)

Merry Mistletoe: San Francisco’s famed Yellow Owl Press offers an unexpected take on the traditional holiday card this year. Botanical prints of seasonal plants are surprisingly festive and sophisticated.Botantical Card ($4 each at Yellow Owl Press)

Merry and Modern: If cutesy holiday cards aren’t your thing, consider these from the SFMOMA Museum Store. The red hue on the featured Mark Rothko’s 1967 says “Holiday” but is still sophisticated. Mark Rothko Holiday Card ($16 for 12 at SFMOMA Museum Store)

Doe a Deer: This unique card is merry, without being over-the-top. It comes from one of our favorite purveyors of fine stationery, Austin Press–who, despite their name are based here in SF. So hop to it and send it to everyone on your list. Holiday Doe Visiting Card (price upon request at Austin Press).

Shutterfly and Moo will also let you design your holiday card, but they won’t mail them for you. This year you will have no excuses! Will you be going Traditional or Digital?

Social media has clearly become a main medium for many businesses. Therefore, it is highly important to stay on track and avoid mistakes.  At ABCey Events, we are always using social media to connect with our clients and community, and to share our local knowledge. Brian Solis, tech guru and social media connoisseur, offers some great tips that we think are very helpful.  Here is a quick recap of what he shares with us.

1. Showing Up Isn’t Enough: While it is important you have a social medium and make a name for yourself, it is most important to learn how to engage with your followers.  Whether it be through Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other social medium, make sure you really engage in conversation to attract potential consumers.
2. You Can’t be Everywhere, Nor Should You: With the extensive new up and comings of technology and new social mediums, you may be really excited to try everything. Don’t.  Be where your followers are and excel within that medium.
3. Authenticity and Transparency are Nothing Without a Connection: Authenticity and transparency are the two very important aspects to social media.  They act as a “guiding light” more so than an effective form of engagement.   Therefore, it is most important to make sure you add value and content to your social media, and in return, authenticity and transparency will support your content.
4. Talking to People Isn’t a Business Strategy: Make sure you have a purpose before you engage in conversation! It is important you engage in conversation and make people who don’t know about you, find out about you.  You want the people to start talking about your brand, so engage, engage, engage!
5. Keep Your Customers Tuned in: Adding one video is not going to make you go viral.  According to Solis, “Companies believe that uploading a video to Youtube is the key to anything going viral. What they don’t know is, 48 Hours of video is uploaded every minute to Youtube. The chance of your video going viral naturally is basically nil”.  So if you want to go viral and you are sure that going viral will help your company, seek out people that will help you share and make yourself known.  ”If it creates lift, leaves an imprint or if it drives action or outcomes, that’s when you’re going viral. “

What other common mistakes have you made as part of your social media strategy?

We recently saw the launch of a new lifestyle brand, HelloBrit.com which aims to find helpful, yet creative new ways for busy people to live more simply, beautifully and imaginatively. Brit Morin (wife to Dave Morin, the founder of Path) has been working in the tech world for several years now and was a former Apple and Google employee. She is already being touted as the Martha Stewart of Silicon Valley and has recently been featured in The LA Times, Huffington Post, and TechCrunch. Brit gives new ideas and tips to live a more simple and creative life whether it be through technology, food, style, health that she either created or curated from scouring the web, something that is becoming very popular! Brit says “The ideas should come to you, and they should come through a channel whose expertise and taste you trust.”

Her site is looking like a cross between Real Simple and Wired Magazines with videos showing you how to make Christmas tree cheese appetizers, how to use electrical tape to make candy cane cups, DIY Holiday welcome mats, wearable dinner party napkins, and more. She recently featured a great gift guide for the holidays and showcases 20 of her favorite products and apps. Thanks Brit!

The brand’s first offering is a wedding app called Weduary, which was inspired by the process that Morin and her husband used in planning their own ”Pixel Cowboy”- themed wedding this summer. This will be a new service for brides and grooms, and will hopefully make for a more interesting experience for guests online and off. Make sure to sign up on the website to be notified when the new site arrives! There will be some other apps launched in the future which will likely be centered around ways to be creative around the home and novel ways to perform everyday activities like cooking, decorating and shopping.

We hope you enjoy and use Hello Brit for a little inspiration into your own creativity! We know that at ABCey, we will be keeping up Brit’s innovative ideas and using them for inspiration of our own, especially this holiday season.

Do you ever spend hours in a store or shopping online, trying to find the perfect gift for someone, but just can’t quite figure out what to get them? Well, now your days have become much easier, and just in time for the holidays!  Givvy is an “open community that let’s you participate in shaping the next gift-giving trend”. Whether it’s for a birthday, holiday present, housewarming party or a little something for yourself, our community of curators makes it easy to discover trendy new gifts that will inspire you and delight your friends and family.  You can also keep track of your most important occasions and social events with a personalized calendar and gift reminder service.

Givvy is uniquely designed for use inside Facebook—so you can discover gifts and share occasions while staying connected to the friends you love most. Givvy is an open community that let’s you participate in shaping the next gift-giving trend. Simply share your favorite gift ideas with friends and earn points as your influence gains in popularity. The members with the most influence earn exclusive rewards and join our community of Curators.

Your Holiday season of gift giving has now become much easier.  Make sure to check out Givvy’s Facebook page for great ideas for the perfect gift.

ABCey Events would like to thank Larry Rubin, one of Givvy’s founder’s for making our gift-giving days much easier!

We all know that in this day and age, websites are extremely crucial for companies.  That being said, it wasn’t t until the past couple years that Typography for the web has become important.  We, at ABCey Events, are currently updating our brand and website, and we want to choose the right typography.  Here are some helpful tips that Kelli Shaver, has outlined for us:

• Readability:  Make sure that the typography you choose is readable! There is no point in having a font if no one can read it.  Therefore, sometimes sticking to default fonts for your body might be your best bet.  Although, it can be “boring”, it is easy to read and gets the point across.  So, keep it simple, stick to around 13px, and keep the font at a medium weight.  If you want to make your headline fancy, go ahead, but keep the rule of thumb: make sure it’s readable.
• Mood and Message:  Fonts illustrate the mood and message of your website.  Bold fonts can portray strength and it immediately grabs the attention of the reader, whereas lightweight fonts can portray a freedom to read and think as you wish.  Just like you shouldn’t have a variety of different font types, make sure you don’t have too many font weights as well. Pick a style and stick with it.

Working daily and trying to manage your everyday life can be tough and stressful.  Sometimes it can even be hard to try to find the time to take a break and recharge your batteries. That is why Rebecca Shambaugh has pinpointed 6 ways to refocus and recharge.

1. Don’t Go Another Day Without a Life Plan:  If you develop a life plan, then you are ultimately thinking about what you want to attain over the course of your life.
2. Fill Your Whole Tank:  When you look at your life, consider four aspects: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.  Try to keep all of these aspects in line and if you feel one is not in harmony with another, try to focus on that particular aspect.  This will require you to concentrate about what you are doing personally and professionally.
3. Be Intentional About Having Healthy Disruptions in Your Life:  Plan to take breaks in between work and your personal life. Read a magazine or book, take a walk, or relax! You deserve to take a break.
4. Create a Revised Time “Budget” That Reflects Your Real Life Priorities:  Take a look at how you spend your time each day and figure out where you can gain some time or relocate your attention to other priorities.
5. Establish Your Boundaries and Communicate Them:  You make the changes in your life and decide how you want to prioritize your time. Don’t let other people try to dictate your priorities and choices. Be vocal and clear about what you need.
6. Build Your Support Network and Actually Use it:  Surround yourself with people that inspire and motivate you and are good company.  Stay focused as to what is important to you and be with people that give you energy and provide a little fun in your life.

Customers will use social media to give compliments or complaints about a company, regardless of whether that company uses social media itself.  Therefore, it is important for a business to use social media to give their customers an environment to share their thoughts. Dave Toliver, Director of Corporate Marketing at Angel, gives seven ways to create a memorable customer experience with social media.

• Give Your Customers a Place to Talk:  If you don’t have a place for your customers to talk openly, they will do it behind your backs and you may never know what customers don’t like. Therefore, having a place for customers to freely give compliments or complaints, allows you to know what you are doing well or need to resolve.
• Integrate Social Media Into Your Customer Service:  Giving a place for customers to voice their complaints allows for you to find a way to fix them, but be prepared to have resolutions for the complaints.  Likewise, if a customer compliments you, make sure to give them thanks or even coupons and rewards.
• Activate Your Existing Customer Base:  Many businesses have more customers than they do Facebook or Twitter followers.  Reach out to the current customers to start building your social media fan base. Then use the social media to reach new customers and perhaps promotions to sell your product.
• Be Proactive:  Interact with customers. Engaging in conversations will make you noticeable and customers happy.
• Reward Influencers:  If you reward customers, they will most likely be advocates for your business.
• Create Compelling Content:  Give your customers something they can admire on your page.  Remember, they are following you, so you want to make them feel special and exclusive.
• Stand Out From the Crowd:  The majority of social media is done by text. Be different and make yourself stand out. Use pictures, voice applications, or even music, to engage with the customers and make yourself memorable.

LinkedIn can be used for a variety of different reasons. For example, it can be used to post your résumé, network, promote your business, and conduct research.  A perk to having an account with LinkedIn, however, is trying to win new business.  Ann Handley, offers some tips for how companies might use LinkedIn to gain new clientele.

• Target Searches:  Keywords that are most important about your business.
• Track:  Who looks at your profile? Find out, then send them an agency portfolio.
• Research:  Find new companies that might be interested in a new agency!
• Set up a Company Page:  Give your company some presence.
• Discern Patterns:  Recognize who is connected in your industry and make sure they see your brand.
• Participate in LinkedIn Groups:  Find groups in your target market and engage in conversation.

How are you currently using LinkedIn?  Let us know if you think these tips are helpful… ABCey Events will be sure to try them out!