Monday, June 24, 2013

BizBash IdeaFest Los Angeles 2013 draws top innovators for top-level event planners

An all-new conference for event organizers made it’s big splash in Los Angeles this week at the LA Convention Center (6-19-13).


BizBash IdeaFest Los Angeles BizBash and the Event Leadership Institute unveiled a curated series of presentations from the top names in events and industry thought leaders. As events take on a more prominent role in marketing, business strategy, politics and philanthropy top level leaders in the industry grabbed the spotlight in downtown LA.


“We’re are excited to be introducing our successful Event Innovation Forum to Los Angeles at a time when businesses nationwide are responding to the power of events and the importance of face-to-face interaction, explained BizBash C.E.O. and founder David Adler.. “We heard about the new technologies that are affecting event marketing and the innovations that are making events better than ever.”
 

The Event Innovation Forum—Los Angeles featured two 90-minute sessions packed with inspiration, best practices, and innovative ideas to help event and meeting professionals advance their careers. Presenters include Brett Hyman, the producer of Seth MacFarlane’s Oscar party; Cara Kleinhaut, the creative mind behind event initiatives for Target, Samsung, and Elle; Chad Hudson, known for his work on the Twilight premieres; and many others.



“I don’t think of ourselves as innovators, we’re just thinking out of the box with creative, clever ideas in the event industry,” CEO & founder, Elaine Honig of Wine, Women and Shoes, San Francisco told the BizBash audience of designers and event planners.
BizBash organized the tables by interests
Honig, an entrepreneur, started in the real estate business before joining Honig Vineyard & Winery. She helped turn a money loosing winery project into a 90,000 case, nationally recognized brand. While she was at Honig, she founded Wine Women and Shoes (WW&S), which has become the fastest growing nonprofit fundraising model in the country. To date, WW&S has raised more than $16 million for their charity partners and awareness in more than 45 cities.
In addition to introducing the “TED style” event innovation forum, the conference was packed with 12 dynamic presentations illustrated over two wall-sized screens.

One amazing, showstopper was Caravents Inc’s ambitious production from last year, which included the Total Rewards Launch for Caesars Entertainment, which featured four simultaneous live concert broadcasts, as well as Samsung’s North American launch of the Samsung Galaxy SIII.
“One of my passions right now is using Social Media in events”, explained Cara Kleinhaut, who launched her event production and design firm Caravents Inc. in 2001. The Beverly Hills based company specializes in charity galas, weddings, personal celebrations, film premieres and corporate events.  
Caral Kleinhaut with Aida Mayo at BizBash IdeaFest
“We activate our guest socially and make them brand ambassadors that get millions of impressions, which gets press, the main reason people have events,” said Kleinhaut. She noted that Social Media is critical for all events, which makes her job exciting.

Prior to her events agency, Kleinhaut started her career at Sony Music Entertainment in New York. Her clients include: Target, ESPN, Piperlime, HBO and titles at Time Inc, Hearst and Conde Nast Publications such as ELLE, InStyle, Essence and W.

And between sessions, everyone was invited to a networking lunch outside with a view of the city, where you had the opportunity to speak directly with the presenters and connect with their peers at tables organized by topics of interest.
Vince Kohli, BizInnovators at after event at Ion.

The BizBash Ideafest event conference was an event in itself. It had great speakers, great entertainment and exhibits with plenty of delicious free food, drinks and entertainment that started at the convention center West Hall to the Icon across the street to a nightclub in Los Angeles, where event planners could continue to mix it up and exchange ideas all day and night.

The standout surprise came from 17-year-old Luke Gulley, CEO, LG Productions, San Diego, who’s started as a theater acrobat, has produced 2,000 all over the country and did his first event at age 13.
“We do lighting and audio visual entertainment décor as a full service company with a huge warehouse of equipment,” he said. “Most kids my age are watching a high school football game or video games at home at night, but I’m planning events with budgets from $200,000 to $1 million,” Gulley also told the BizBash audience, He also designed software for augment reality, where you can walk into a venue and sketch out everything on your iPad so the client can see what they’re getting before each event using Autocad.
Megan Buell, Everbrite
The lineup included Brett Hyman of Night Vision Entertainment divulging secrets on how to get your business to the top with the session “How I Landed My Event Company on the Inc. 500 List of Fastest-Growing Businesses.”


Cara Kleinhaut of Caravents Inc. explored how to fully utilize social networks to integrate and amplify your brand in “Amplify: Integrating Social Media into Your Event Design,” while Chad Hudson talked about how he used social media as a publicity tool when working on the Twilight movie premieres.  
Elaine Honig, Wine, Women & Shoes
“I don’t think of ourselves as innovators, we’re just thinking out of the box with creative, clever ideas in the event industry,” CEO & founder, Elaine Honig of Wine, Women and Shoes, San Francisco told the BizBash audience of designers and event planners.

Elaine Honig, Wine, Women & Shoes
Honig, an entrepreneur, started in the real estate business before joining Honig Vineyard & Winery. She helped turn a money loosing winery project into a 90,000 case, nationally recognized brand. While she was at Honig, she founded Wine Women and Shoes (WW&S), which has become the fastest growing nonprofit fundraising model in the country. To date, WW&S has raised more than $16 million for their charity partners and awareness in more than 45 cities.
Elaine Honig will provided insight into the genius charitable concept Wine, Women, and Shoes, an innovative fund-raising concept successfully licensed to nonprofit organizations, while Richard Steinau of AV Concepts will relay insights behind the breakthrough Tupac performance at Coachella.
BizBash is a top innovator and resource hub for the event and meeting industry with its website, magazines and live events.

BizBash after party at Icon

In addition to introducing the “TED style” event innovation forum, the conference was packed with 12 dynamic presentations illustrated over two wall-sized screens.
One amazing, showstopper was Caravents Inc’s ambitious production from last year, which included the Total Rewards Launch for Caesars Entertainment, which featured four simultaneous live concert broadcasts, as well as Samsung’s North American launch of the Samsung Galaxy SIII.
“One of my passions right now is using Social Media in events”, explained Cara Kleinhaut, who launched her event production and design firm Caravents Inc. in 2001. The Beverly Hills based company specializes in charity galas, weddings, personal celebrations, film premieres and corporate events.  

“We activate our guest socially and make them brand ambassadors that get millions of impressions, which gets press, the main reason people have events,” said Kleinhaut. She noted that Social Media is critical for all events, which makes her job exciting.
Sold out BizBash IdeaFest
Prior to her events agency, Kleinhaut started her career at Sony Music Entertainment in New York. Her clients include: Target, ESPN, Piperlime, HBO and titles at Time Inc, Hearst and Conde Nast Publications such as ELLE, InStyle, Essence and W. 
And between sessions, everyone was invited to a networking lunch outside with a view of the city, where you had the opportunity to speak directly with the presenters and connect with their peers at tables organized by topics of interest.

The BizBash Ideafest event conference was an event in itself. It had great speakers, great entertainment and exhibits with plenty of delicious free food, drinks and entertainment that started at the convention center West Hall to the Icon across the street to a nightclub in Los Angeles, where event planners could continue to mix it up and exchange ideas all day and night.

The standout surprise came from 17-year-old Luke Gulley, CEO, LG Productions, San Diego, who’s started as a theater acrobat, has produced 2,000 all over the country and did his first event at age 13.

“We do lighting and audio visual entertainment décor as a full service company with a huge warehouse of equipment,” he said. “Most kids my age are watching a high school football game or video games at home at night, but I’m planning events with budgets from $200,000 to $1 million,” Gulley also told the BizBash audience, He also designed software for augment reality, where you can walk into a venue and sketch out everything on your iPad so the client can see what they’re getting before each event using Autocad.
 
Charlie Beirne, GM, Stephen M. Goodling, CEO &
President, Long Beach Convention & Vistors Bureau

The next BizBash event is Oct. 30, 2013, New York, which includes the best of the best in award winning décor and events. Good luck on your entries.

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