I’m in Maryville, Tennessee for a couple of days as a guest of RT Lodge on a fam trip with some new and old friends and wow is this place amazing! More to come on that later but, leaving TC yesterday quite early in the morning, afforded me the opportunity to take in a site that doesn’t happen to often- a sunrise. But it wasn’t just any sunrise, it was a sunrise from above the clouds. Sure, I’ve seen plenty of sunrises but not always from this point of view, literally.
Perspective. We all have it. But in our daily grind and hustle and bustle, we become so accustomed to just existing and moving into one moment from the next versus moving through moments. Think about that for a second- imagine playing attention to the movement itself vs. the action of completing it. It’s shifting your perspective that can make all the difference.
When working with new clients, we talk about our birds eye view and our macro view. Or looking big picture to zoom into the smaller picture. In our field, we must have the ability to zoom in and out of a scenario, while also looking 360 degrees on multiple axis around the subject. We must be able to make a clear and unbiased evaluation of something while simultaneously ensuring that our guidance (aka: consulting recommendation) protects and enhances the subject rather than taking away or negating it. Our vantage point is constantly changing based on the task at hand therefore we must remember to shift our perspective, or change the lens through which we are viewing the subject, depending on its relevancy.
So take off your glasses, wipe the smudges from them, even get your eyes checked as your prescription may be out of date, and change the lens that you see things through. Your feet may never leave the ground, but you just might be looking at that sunrise from above the clouds.
I can’t recall when I first heard the saying, “keep it simple silly” but I have a feeling it was sometime in my formative years before “silly” used to be “stupid” and long before the teachers had to teach us derivatives in calculus and molecular equations in chemistry. In the fast paced and quick changing world around us (often faster than lightning strikes) we are constantly searching for the simple or clearly defined. The other weekend my dad and I were running a few errands and he grabbed a Patagonia t-shirt. What was so special about it? The graphic. “Live Simply.”
This message of simple resonates with all of us. It’s a longing really. Like the movie The Gladiator with Russel Crowe where he is walking through the golden fields running his hands over the grains and Ridley Scott frames the perfect shot from Russel’s fingertips dancing on the wheat to panning upward revealing the ultimate ‘la dolce vida’ view while Hans Zimmer’s score echos in the background. Simple, right?! But what if we were made for more than just simple?
In my own life as hard as I try to “keep it simple,” sometimes I’m just not satisfied. Now of course there are times where simple is a daily part of life and easier. I’m not talking about these times. I’m talking about the complex algorithms around us that appear effortless and almost accidental like, those that we know are not mere coincidence but derive from something much bigger. Perhaps that’s why I love that we get to create “something from nothing” for our clients. Their dreams are simple, “we’d like to have our wedding at home in our backyard on the water.” But the logistics and steps to obtaining this dream are far from. The end result? Simple. A beautiful backyard wedding at home for the happy couple. Getting there? See this post! And it’s the ‘Getting There,” the complex, the unknown, the crazed and often other-worldly that I love.
I recently watched the movie Burnt with Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller. Sure, it may not be winning any Oscars or SAG awards, but it was entertaining. At the beginning of the movie Bradley’s character speaks to the search and constant struggle to achieve perfection, even if perfection isn’t possible, and he utters these words… “it was God who created oysters and apples. You can’t improve on a recipe like that. But it’s our job to try.”
Apples and oysters. Simple? Complex? Needs improvement? Perfection? To those dreamers and doers, it’s all-of-the-above but we can appreciate them for what they are, but see the potential they have for something more.
Event Planners are continually ranked on a list that most people don’t associate us with. In January of this year both CareerCast and Forbes named Event Coordinators as the 5th most stressful job around. Granted, in our day to day business operations we are not faced with life or death choices, but the amount of pressure and expectations placed on us by others and ourselves can feel like there may be no tomorrow.
In our world, Disney isn’t the only company that get’s to make magic. Every day we get to make dreams come true for our clients. Although these dreams appear effortless there’s a whole lot going on behind the scenes that goes into making them a reality. We are professional problem solvers. A problem is an intricate unsettled question and we’re the ones charged with finding a resolution- much like the engineers who rescued the astronauts on the Apollo 13 mission except Tom Hanks and Ed Harris are rarely in attendance.
We solve problems daily. Whether we are working on the timeline and how to squeeze an extra hour into the day for family photos or where to source peonies in the middle of August; every step forward in the planning process is the result of a solution to a problem. It’s our series of small victories that lead to the ultimate victory- the seamless execution of well organized and beautiful party. One where our hosts can be guests and where their closest friends and family had “the best night ever!”
On the flip side of all the organization, production meetings and walk through’s, you can never plan for the unexpected all you can do, and be, is prepared. The astronauts on the Apollo 13 mission never trained in a simulator to rectify the blown oxygen tanks. Nor did they train in the art of jury rigging over 248,655 miles away from Houston. But, through the resourcefulness of their team on the ground and the astronauts ingenuity they defied all odds and returned home, safe and sound.
The actual day of the event should be the easiest. It’s a series of well rehearsed actions and steps that have lead everyone to this point. We’re not Debbie Downers, but we do know that ultimately something unplanned is going to happen. And when that unplanned problem happens, in the middle of your dinner service for 300, it’s because of all the hard work and diligence that has lead to this point you are able to shift your focus to solving the problem while the guests continue to enjoy their dover sole.
Solving problems is as natural to us as using a telephone to place a call. Although it may be second nature, we’re always on our toes anticipating the unexpected to rear is mischievous head and when it does we’re there to calm it down and serve it a slice of cake!
March Madness is a real state of madness in our house and it has everything to do with NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. See, my husband Kyle is a big college basketball fan and Michigan State alumni. Early in the tournament (we won’t say how early for those of you novice ‘bracket-eers”) but early enough, the madness ended in our house. Michigan State University has one of the most successful Men’s Basketball programs in college hoops. Thanks to the incredible leadership by Coach Tom Izzo, they have won a NCAA Championship, 7 Big Ten Regular Season Championships and 4 Big Ten Tournament Championships. Under Izzo, the have made it to 2 National Championships games and appeared in 7 Final Fours, 9 Eight Eights and 13 Sweet Sixteens. This year, MSU was favored to be another success in the Tournament. Perhaps not the champion but hey, it’s sports and anything can happen…
And that anything did. On March 18 in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history happened. (Or, at least that’s what the sports casters said.) MSU, a No. 2 seed, lost to Middle Tennessee, a No. 15 seed. This wasn’t supposed to happen! Even myself, a Wolverine and closest rival to the MSU Spartan’s, knew this was not how this story was supposed to end. The Spartans were supposed to play a good game, size up the Blue Raiders, and then waltz into the next round of the Big Dance. You see, Middle Tennessee was a speed bump. They were like a construction zone on the highway- unavoidable but you still have to drive through it to get to your destination.
Now I am not a basketball fan per say but I do have a lot of respect for college athletics and those involved in their programs and having got my start in event production via the University of Michigan Athletic Department, you could say it’s some what a part of me. Michigan State wasn’t supposed to loose that game. They were supposed to win, advance to the next round, and the next and the next. If this was the biggest upset in Tournament history I doubt Vegas saw this coming. Statisticians, analysts, sports casters, coaches, players, fans alike all had them winning… all except the Middle Tennessee team and fans.
But you see, no matter how good of odds or how impressive the MSU starting line was, they were only the “assumed winners.” A game is a game. There is a winner and a loser and you cannot determine this outcome until the game is played and the winner has been decided. Even though they were favored to win, they didn’t. Maybe you have just sent a proposal to a client you are certain you will get only to find out they have not chosen you and selected someone else. Or, perhaps your realtor told you there is an offer about to come in on your house that’s for sale that will for sure go through but come to discover they passed on your house and found something different. Whatever it might be, no matter how good the odds are, they are still just odds. So next time you loose a bid or get passed on, just remember you can’t win them all but the ones you will win, are the ones you are supposed to win. Now, get back in the game, sport!
Four years ago I attended my first Engage! conference, created by Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce of Engaging Concepts. I could spend a whole day talking about what they have done for our industry but that’s for another time. (However, if you are in the luxury wedding market, you need… strike that… you SHOULD know about these women.) Rebecca and Kathryn always say, “we’re better together” and that’s a founding principal that guides our process like a rudder on a sailboat every single day.
Ever since I was little, I’ve bled Maize and Blue. For those who you not from the midwest, those are the school colors of the University of Michigan. My alma mater. I grew up watching the Michigan football team play every Saturday during the fall and loved watching old playbacks of Coach Schembechler. To give a bit of context, Bo Schembechler was the head football coach of the Wolverines from 1969-1989. In his 21 years at Ann Arbor, his teams won or shared 13 Big Ten Conference titles. With Coach Schembechler, it was never about the accomplishments of the individual players, it was always about teamwork. He is a legend in college football and is likened a Saint on campus.
As a student at U of M, I’ll never forget my first time walking through the tunnel from the locker room out onto the field at The Big House and reading Coach Schembechler’s words overhead. The words painted in the tunnel at Michigan Stadium weren’t written in a foreign language, or deeply philosophical, or even in code. They weren’t written in vain or with ego. They weren’t complicated or a work of art but they were powerful and they resonate with me every day. “The Team, The Team, The Team.” In 1983 Coach Schemblecher gave his “The Team” speech to his Wolverine’s in the locker room and to this day, it’s one of the most celebrated speeches about the bettering of the team over oneself.
We have many players on our team. We have our clients, we have our vendors, we have our business advisers, we have our colleagues, we have our friends and families. Every single person on our team plays a specific role in our successes and failures. We win as a team. We loose as a team. No single individual is more important that another. Now, being that we are in the service industry I bet you are thinking, “wow, how can she say that her client’s aren’t the most important element to her business? Without them, they wouldn’t have any work?” You are right, that is a true statement- without people connecting with A Day in May Events and ultimately contracting us to produce goods and services for them, we would not have work. However, in that same breath, I can easily say without our vendors that we work with to execute the particular goods and services for those clients, the client’s vision wouldn’t come to life and without these suppliers we wouldn’t have any work either. Same goes for our board of directors; the accountants, bankers, lawyers and all the not-so-glamourous-but-neccessary-to-business-advisers, when we are working with our clients and our vendors, these team members keep the day to day operations in check. Without them, the lights may not stay on. Our colleagues in the industry are like our friends and family- if they didn’t support our cause, what we were called to create with A Day in May Events, then we would not have the same confidence and stamina to do what we do every day.
No matter what you do for a living or the stage of your professional career, if you can understand that you are a part of a bigger team and that you are better with them, you will go far. Your successes will be sweeter and your failures softer. And you will find that no matter what, you cannot do this alone. I never make New Years Resolutions. Why? Because I can never keep them! But in 2015 I broke my own rule and made one; it was “to work with people that I love, for people that I love” and I’m proud to say I haven’t broken that resolution yet, nor do I plan on it, because I love my team.
