Glass Packaging Institute 2013 Spring Meeting

COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS

We just wrapped up the Glass Packaging Institute s (GPI) Spring Meeting in Washington, DC. 

The meetings last week were held at the Law Offices of Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius. Not only do they have fantastic conference and meeting facilities, but also one of the best views of Washington, DC. They are located on Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from some of the most famous Washington DC landmarks.

At registration Tuesday morning the members and guests received their name badges as well as a custom Moleskine notebook as the take home gift for this meeting.  Registration for the members, guests, and staff are one of our roles for the GPI meetings.

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Meeting topics this week ranged from Government Affairs to Member meetings as well as Congressional Office Visits on Capitol Hill for some of the GPI Members. Branded handouts and printed packets as well as the organization of agendas and other meeting documents were also handled by the Decibel team.

Meeting Collage

The members experienced the beautiful view on the 13th floor Rooftop Terrace at the Member s Reception on Wednesday night. The members were able to enjoy hors d oeuvres while they took in everything Washington DC had to offer.

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Decibel Management executed many other aspects of this meeting including hotel accommodations at the St. Regis for the members and visiting guests, online and onsite registration, and all banquet and catering needs for the various meetings and reception.

Decibel Online Event Registration

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Over the past few months, we have been hard at work on our new custom online registration system, and wanted to share a quick behind the scenes photo of our IA process flow. For the past few years, we have been using our current online registration system for a number of clients and it has absolutely served us well on some very unique and intense registration scenarios. As we began to build a new site for one of our clients, we decided it was time to also build a more functional and user friendly system. We decided for the new version it was time to start from the ground up. This involved intensive planning with our design and development team, as well as heavy IA work and prototyping.

IA (Information Architecture) has been a major focus for the new registration system. Our goal is to make a very intricate and complex system as user friendly and simple as possible. The more time we spend planning and developing the IA, the easier it will be to navigate an intensely complex registration function. We have also included a very unique and inventive process for buying a companion ticket to the process. This may just be the best feature that we are including.

Once we complete the development and testing and it is ready for launch, we will post additional information with more in-depth details. We are looking forward to using this for our upcoming events in 2012. Stay tuned for more info!

NFC Integration for Mobile Tours and Event Environments

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One of the best parts of the event production and management world is getting to see cutting edge and new, emerging technologies. This is especially true when companies get together and produce a field ready unit that can be rolled into our current event mix.

As it happens, we had a great afternoon with the team from GEMATouch and Telepathic Graphics show us what they are working on in the NFC world. GEMATouch has developed a NFC circuit enclosed in a fully brandable and printable card.

This has great potential for our mobile tour clients and brands as they are looking to find new ways of engaging their audience.  It also has multiple applications for meetings, conferences and events. The programming and usage also tracks real time analytics.

Function:

Once we determine what we want the end product to be, the system is programmed, and the card printed. This can be a coupon strategy, content delivery, gaming, or any other mobile activation that the client requires. The card is branded with multiple touch points and placed in the activation area. From here, the attendee activation is simple,

1. A guest places their NFC enabled phone near the interactive print

2. Then they touch the desired areas of the print

3. Content is delivered instantly to the phone (no apps, cameras, QR readers or texting needed)

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Example:

One of the great and simple examples of execution is deploying these readers for a cocktail function or gala setting. In these types of events, we usually see long lines at the bar throughout the evening. We can reduce and potentially eliminate these lines by utilizing this solution.

To begin, we program the chip to select up to 5 different beverages (e.g. White Wine, Red Wine, 2 Beer selections and the specialty cocktail). At each cocktail table or low round, we place a NFC enabled phone and printed reader. As guests finish their drinks, they can use the system to order additional beverages. An iPad or other computer is set up to receive the order and the server assembles the drink order and takes it directly to their table.

There are a host of other uses, but this one easily demonstrates the idea. For a quick look at the interaction, check out the video below.

National Book Festival Team

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We just want to share a few photos of the great team we had onsite for the National Book Festival. We couldn t pull off an event of this size without a stellar team.

2013 The Special Event Chicago, IL

BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS, TRADE SHOW

Do you remember that feeling when you were a kid and your parents let you walk through the toy section of a store? The pure joy and excitment of the latest and greatest thing? That is exactly how it felt to walk through The Special Event in Chicago a few weeks ago.

The Special Event is one of the largest trade shows and conferences for event professionals.  Vendors bring their A-Game to show the industry what they are capable of.  Thousands from around the country and world come together to see the best of the best in our industry.

The trade show floor had a little bit of everything. Different types of lighting to cater to any event, linens of every fabric, software for anything from layouts to registration, and much more in between.

We found quite a few potential vendors within the trade show and look forward to working with them in the future. Here are a few pictures from the tradeshow floor.

The conference portion was both interesting and informative. We learned a lot about the trends and issues in the event industry and are excited to bring the knowledge back to our clients.

We were also able to attend one of the extra events during the show.  The ballroom was setup by some of the best vendors in the industry to resemble an upscale reception.  Some of the best aspects included the ice DJ Booth by Nadeau s Ice Sculptures, the live music from the Becca Kaufman Orchestra, and modern furniture from Cort Event Furnishings and AFR Event Furnishings.

The Special Event was a great experience that every event professional should have at some point in their career.  We learned a ton and met a lot of great people. Cannot wait until 2014 when the conference will be held in Nashville, TN at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center.

National Book Festival Power and Rigging Day

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Today we started both signage rigging and power for the 2011 National Book Festival. The day started with rain that moved through, but luckily didn t slow the crews down too much. 

As you can see from the photos, this is where we start to see the signage and branding come to life. We will continue the power and AC basics as well as the signage throughout the week.

Glass Packaging Institute 2012 Annual Meeting

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In November we travelled to Naples, not just for the perfect weather, but for the 2012 Glass Packaging Institute s Annual Meeting. This was our first year planning this event for GPI and it was a successful event as well as a successful meeting for the members.

According to the Glass Packaging Institute, it is

The trade association representing the North American glass container industry. Through GPI, glass container manufacturers speak with one voice to advocate industry standards, promote sound environmental policies and educate packaging professionals. GPI member companies manufacture glass containers for food, beverage, cosmetic and many other products. GPI also has associate members that represent a broad range of suppliers and closure manufacturers.

Members went on a golf outing at the beautiful Naples Grande Golf Course and their accommodations were provided by the Waldorf- Astoria Naples.  Members attended meetings regarding the upcoming trends and topics within the glass industry, cocktail receptions by the pools, and dinners all hosted by the outstanding banquet staff at the resort.

We produced the event from start to finish.  We developed, maintained and monitored custom online registrations for the members. Decibel also designed graphics and gifts given to attendees, including custom USB drives for the members. We coordinated all of the banquet needs for the meeting, and facilitated all guest accommodations.

Next November we will be travelling to Sonoma, California for the 2013 GPI Annual Meeting.

National Book Festival Load In

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Load in for the 2011 National Book Festival began today. Thankfully the weather held out and we were able to get a great start on the week. Some photos of the build are below

As mentioned above, here are some photos of our Monday progress. Got a number of tents up and began the decor install. Great work by Select Events, Legacy Scenic and Productions and EventEQ, and a big thanks to Fleishman-Hillard and the Library of Congress for the event. We are hoping to post more photos throughout the week as the event shapes up. Check back to check out our progress.

Facade Mapping and Facade Projection: Washington, DC

EVENT INDUSTRY, FACADE MAPPING, LIVE EVENTS

Many of our clients are exploring the use of facade mapping and facade projection for their own events and activations. We have seen this technique used at product launches and festivals around the world and around the nation. I have not seen many examples of facade mapping in Washington, DC, so I was particularly excited when I heard that one of our vendors, EventEQ, was working as part of a team to do just that. I have included a great photo here and you can check out the video below.

EventEQ provided the video projection technology at the National Portrait Gallery for the HITT Contracting 75th anniversary celebration. We all know it takes a number of great companies to pull this off and the Hutchinson Design Group (producer) and BARTKRESA (projection design) did a great job leading the project. For a bit more information on the technical side, there is a great article about the system here.

HITT 75th Anniversary Celebration from Bart Kresa on Vimeo.

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