Plan Your Meetings

What could possibly go wrong? Part II

Everyone makes mistakes. In the events industry, it’s how — and how quickly — you “fix it” that counts. Serenity J. Knutson found plenty of industry pros who aren’t afraid to bare their blunders, and here, in Part II of a series, we bring you their stories, along with a few lessons to be learned.

Fit for a Queen

In the course of creating spectacular events, many industry pros have grown accustomed to their roles as miracle workers. For a fundraiser in Rancho Santa Fe, Thomas Bercu, founder of Tom Bercu Presents, and his event production team faced and conquered a number of challenges with a “very wealthy and fastidious client.”

“We solved the problem of the ground sloping 10 feet from one corner of our 8,000-sq. ft. tent to the opposite corner,” Bercu says. “We solved the problem of creating an atmosphere where the wealthiest of people would be inclined and encouraged to spend money. Yes, we solved many things over the span of the six weeks we had to put this event together.”

Then, the day before the event, Bercu’s client entered the tent, took one look around, and stormed out. Bercu, puzzled, could not identify the problem. When the client returned, she carried with her the storyboard for the event.

“Slapping it on the table, she pointed and said, ‘That’s what I want!’” Bercu recalls. “I looked at the storyboard; I looked around the tent. I was perplexed. White silk draping–check! Black, shiny, high-gloss floor–check! Black crystal chandeliers–check! Black chavaris chairs–check! Now, I was very perplexed when I said, ‘I’m not sure I understand.’”

Then he realized the problem: the original rendering showed 48-inch King’s Tables with seating for 12 each. Weeks prior, the client had opted to seat 10 at each table instead, so Bercu switched to 40-inch tables—”it just seemed like the appropriate thing to do,” he says. But the rendering still showed 48-inch tables, and the client wanted 48-inch tables.

“After a long discussion of why a 40-inch table works better, and how the Fire Marshall had already approved the floor plan with 40-inch tables, and how the custom white suede linens were made for a 40-inch table, and how the seating charts had already been done for seating 10 around a 40-inch table, and how table service was based on aisles created by having 40-inch tables … there was no getting around it,” Bercu says. “The client saw 48-inch tables and was adamant that those are what we have.”

His response? “No worries. It’s only 5:30 p.m. on Friday night — I will have those tables for you by tomorrow.”

Bercu and his team jumped on the phones and tried “every rental place between San Diego and L.A.,” but to no avai l— no provider had enough 48-inch tables that could be delivered in time.

“But then I spotted it,” Bercu says. “Just sitting there in a corner, minding its own business, tucked out of the way of all the rigging and lighting programming and table setting that was busily going on around it, in a neat little pile… I thought, What the heck; that might work. I grabbed a piece of plywood and set it atop a table. There it was—eight feet long and 48 inches wide.”

Realizing he had only seven pieces of plywood in the tent, Bercu sent his lighting crew off in their truck to commandeer further supplies from a nearby Home Depot. By 11 p.m., he says, “we had enough plywood to make our King’s Tables! A few rolls of duct tape to wrap the wood plank edges, a screw gun to fasten the planks to the tables, and extra table pads and white linen to use as underlays, so you couldn’t tell the sides of the custom suede linens missed the floor by just a few inches, and we were set!”

First thing in the morning, the updated arrangement was granted approval from the Fire Marshall. By the time the client returned, Bercu’s team was at work, busily setting the new 48-inch tables, and everything went off without a hitch — yet another event saved by last-minute ingenuity.

Buck to Spare

When it comes to expecting the unexpected during events, you win some and you lose some. “As a wedding planner, you usually expect things to go wrong,” says Patricia Gibbons, senior wedding planner with The Bridal Studio. “[You] just don’t want them noticed.”

During a wedding at a downtown venue, guests parked their cars at a garage and walked one block to the venue. So far, so good. But the planning team had not examined the route firsthand.

“What we didn’t foresee was that guests had to walk past a very busy bus terminal at that time of the day, and many [panhandlers] hung around this bus terminal,” Gibbons says. “As guests, all dressed up and carrying gifts, walked past, they were approached for money. It was becoming an embarrassing situation for the couple and a danger to the guests.”

The immediate solution: a member of the planning staff stood watch at the bus terminal and handed out $1 bills to prevent panhandlers from approaching the wedding guests as they passed by.

“Fortunately, we did have enough ones on hand, and it did calm down the situation,” Gibbons says.

Bridal Shower

Another wedding also necessitated a walk to the event, but, this time, it wasn’t a part of the plan. Gibbons recalls a group that was supposed to be picked up from their hotel by a trolley service, which was to deliver them to a church for the ceremony. Approximately 50 guests gathered for their pickup from the hotel lobby, rain began to fall, and no trolley arrived.

“We were 10 minutes away from ceremony time, and I [was] stuck at the hotel with 50 anxious guests, the mother of the bride, the bride, and no transportation,” Gibbons says.

When phone calls to the trolley company went unanswered, Gibbons decided it was time for the group to get moving. She directed the guests to follow her assistant outside, through the rain, and down the street to public transportation — “not a good idea,” she says.

“When they got to the terminal, the bus was no longer running because a street event was being set up for the day,” Gibbons says.

From there, only one option remained. The wedding group, bride and all, had to walk through the rain to get to the church, and the couple’s special day became the day Gibbons remembers for her “most horrible blunder” ever.

Over Flow

Planners the world ’round are routinely challenged to draw enough attendees to justify their events. What happens when the tables are turned and an event draws far, far more people than anticipated? Recently, Allison Rynne of Audacity Events worked with the University of California, San Diego, to plan a first-time Science Expo event, held April 4 during the new San Diego Science Festival (SDSF).

“The logistics and planning of this event were my primary responsibility,” Rynne says. “As this was the first year for the event, I wanted to make sure that we anticipated the crowd appropriately.”

Rynne examined the histories of similar events held in the city, and she estimated that the Science Expo would draw about 15,000 attendees throughout the day.

“I built all of our plans around that estimate — for food, traffic, restrooms, trash cans, etc.,” Rynne says, “which is why things went a little crazy when 50,000 people showed up for the event.”

Trash cans and restrooms were not a big problem, as she had planned for extras, just in case. The big problem was the five-mile traffic jam that soon converged on the event site.

“I immediately made a call to our local police division that works on permitting for large events,” Rynne says. “They were already aware of the problem, and they sent out more officers to help with traffic control. I had discussed the event at length with them in advance, and they were perfectly poised to come in and make it work. I had warned them that we may exceed 15,000, but I had no idea that we would have three times the estimated attendance!”

In large part, Rynne credits the success of the event to her team of volunteers, who, in essence, oversaw activities and ensured that participants were “happy and busy” while Rynne spent the day directing traffic in the outlying streets.

“I was so glad that I had a great team assembled and that I had spent some time with them before the event, prepping them on what to expect,” she says. “By the end of the day, the traffic was dispersed and the participants and people who attended the event were happy. But, as the person behind the event, I see every flaw.”

Looking back, Rynne believes her initial attendance estimate was “based on some solid research,” but she realizes she underestimated the overwhelming success of the event’s marketing campaign.

“Our initial marketing budget was for 15,000 people, but we had some sponsors step up later in the planning process and contribute large amounts to reach out to a wider audience,” she explains. “I feel like I should have known. I just didn’t anticipate how many families would attend a science education event! With the help of the volunteers and the police department, we made it work.”

Check back soon for more event blunders in “What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Part III.”