All in Events

How to Handle Annoying Event Guests (and Vendors) Like a Pro - Even the Nightmares

If you've ever attended any type of networking event in our industry you've likely been inundated with tales of vendors and guests misbehaving.  Sometimes I feel like it's a competition to see who has the most outrageous story or has survived the greatest offense. If you've been in business more than a minute, you've probably experienced at least one instance when someone made your job very difficult. You may have even been genuinely surprised by their actions. After all, aren't vendors supposed to be consummate professionals, working as a team? Aren't guests supposed to be rational, thoughtful adults who want to have a safe, fun time? If you're snickering, you know what I mean and could probably write this post for me.  No matter your experience level, we all could use a little reminder of how to be diplomatic while getting the work done.  Especially during the busy season.  

Getting in the Zone: Making the Most of Your Event-Day Mindset for Maximum Success

Perhaps you’ve gone to school, taken classes or gotten a certification.  You may have worked as an assistant, apprenticed with someone or worked your way up through a company.  If you learned the hard way, you just launched a website, purchased the necessary tools and figured it out along the way.  Whatever method brought you to the place you are now, you gained useful knowledge regarding your particular service or product and consider yourself skilled enough to offer it to clients…for money.

There are so many schools, conferences, retreats and online courses that will teach you the specific techniques of your trade.  But what about the mental acuity that goes into running your business and preparing for those intense wedding and event days.  Let’s face it being a great chef, videographer or limo driver isn’t enough. You need to prepare hundreds of gourmet meals in record time, create stunning imagery among dozens of guests with cameras and transport loud, excited wedding parties to multiple destinations. Not to mention possessing a congenial and even pleasant attitude while performing these tasks. This is the aspect of our career that is the most taxing.  So how do you prepare for the intensity of the weekend? Here are my suggestions for getting in the zone mentally so you can handle whatever comes your way.   

Banish Busy Season Burnout With Jen's WeddingWire Education Center Post!

Wedding season is officially upon us - at an industry networking event earlier this week, almost every wedding pro I spoke with said they're kicking into high gear starting this month, and the same goes for my own company.

With that in mind, I'm excited to share my WeddingWire Education Expert piece for April, "Five Business Tweaks to Make Before Busy Season Hits." I've covered the major areas of your business to examine before you get swamped with events.

Thank You, WeddingWire World!

We had such a fantastic experience this year at WeddingWire World 2016! WeddingIQ was re-launched less than a year ago at WeddingWire World 2015 and we're so excited to have come so far in such a short period of time. Not only were Jennifer and I both featured speakers this year but our booth in the Marketplace allowed us to share our blog's vision with attendees. We met some amazing business owners from all across the country and listened to great advice from fellow wedding vendors and celebrities in our industry. Here are a few highlights from the week. Stay tuned for a more in depth exploration our presentations coming soon!

WeddingWire World, Here We Come!

Okay, that title is a little misleading, since we're already on-site for WeddingWire World 2016. But you get where we were going with it!

We're so excited to once again be part of this industry-leading conference, bringing wedding business owners the best of technology, marketing tools, customer service strategies, and more, as well as unparalleled networking opportunities. This year's event is a full 2.5 days and is packed with amazing content, newly organized into several "tracks" to help wedding pros identify and attend the sessions most relevant to their businesses.