Engage12 Wedding Industry Conference Recap
I purposely didn’t set any expectations before I attended the Engage12 Luxury Wedding Business Summit last week. I wanted to connect and build relationships but really stayed open to any and all experiences from the conference.
“Blown Away” doesn’t even begin to describe my experience. I have attended many other industry conferences which were wonderful but nothing compared to Engage12. At this point in my planning business where we are heavily focused on the luxury market in our state, I couldn’t afford not to attend. Being in the room, hearing the top event planners speak and being able to share conversations with my industry idols such as Mindy Weiss, Todd Fiscus, David Beahm, Marcy Blum, Colin Cowie, Tara Guerard and Brian Rafanelli was a priceless experience.
The conference also featured well known and inspiring event industry leaders such as Sean Low, Cindy Novotny, Peter Callahan, Lara Casey, Sylvia Weinstock, Simon T. Bailey, Abby & Tait Larson and many more.
The Engage12 event is produced by Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce who are two of the sweetest women I have ever met. I can’t imagine the amount of time, effort and love they put into producing three days of events for the leaders in the wedding industry. In addition to the packed roster of amazing speakers, they produced one incredible party after another during the three day conference with the help of The Breakers Palm Beach. The Breakers was the beautiful and luxurious location for the entire conference.
My favorite quotes and lessons learned:
Simon T. Bailey
Motivational Speaker
Author, Release Your Brilliance
- What you want, wants you. Put it out there.
- In the “bring it” economy, average is over.
- There are some things you need to let go in order to bring in a better future.
Rebecca Grinnals
President, Engaging Concepts
Strategic Consultant to the Wedding Industry
- The sphere of influence in the industry is changing. Brides aren’t booking vendors in the traditional order of venue first followed by their dress. They are falling in love with a particular photographer, cake designer or band then booking the rest of their vendors and venue based on the availability of their most important vendor.
- Pinterest recently announced the option to have private Pinterest boards which is huge news for wedding and event planners.
- Instagram is a great way to show off wedding and event details while you are at an event. Mindy Weiss and Mark Niemerko do a great job of using Instagram for their events.
- The Birthday Party Project is an incredible new organization that brings joy to homeless children on their birthdays. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when their video was shown.
Cindy Novotny
International Speaker and Motivator
Founder, Master Connection Associates
- Set your revenue goal NOW for 2013. How much do you want to make in 2013? Write it down then divide by 12 to determine what you need to make each month.
- What is your biggest barrier to that revenue goal? Write it down in one word.
- There is business everywhere in the luxury wedding market but it isn’t knocking at your door. It’s never about price in the luxury market. It’s the experience. The luxury consumer is looking for a unique experience, not an average sales pitch.
- Competition is ferocious. You have to want success so bad and never lose that desire. Don’t wait to get aggressive, don’t wait to care more than your competition, don’t wait to create a brand that has real promise.
Mindy Weiss
Celebrity Party Planner
Author, The Wedding Book
- Some event planners approach parties with fear and anger. Others approach parties with passion and joy. The passion and joy approach is much more successful.
- Treat your vendors how you would like to be treated. Mindy always treats her vendor team very well.
- For every three mean brides, you will have one amazing bride who reminds you why you do this. (hopefully it can be three amazing brides for every one mean bride for most of us!)
Keija Minor
Editor in Chief, Brides.com
Tips for getting published:
- Be friends and followers of the publication (blog, website or magazine) on social media. Retweet their tweets, repin their pins, make comments on their Facebook page.
- Show them MANY shots of the event details when submitting. They love tons of detail shots.
- Be smart and know who you are pitching. What is the particular style of that publication?
- When pitching a publication with links to the images, include a few sentences in your email about WHY this wedding is so special. They get hundreds of submissions. Intrigue them from your initial email.
- Communicate with other vendors from the event you are submitting. Your clients and vendor team should be on board with getting published.
- Once you are published in a magazine, on a website or on a blog, share it on your website, blog and in social media. Not only does it help your brand, it helps the publication gain more followers and fans.
- Don’t get frustrated. Just because your first few events did not get published, doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. Keep trying.
Lara Casey
Founder & Editor in Chief, Southern Weddings Magazine
Co-owner, Making Brands Happen
- There are no shortcuts to any place worth going to.
- You didn’t come here to stay the same, did you?
- You are far too smart to be the only thing standing in your way.
- Decide what you want your life to look like BEFORE deciding how to run your business.
Liene Stevens
Speaker & Consultant
Author, Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
- The Millennial generation believes creativity is the most important trait.
- Millennials aren’t motivated by money. They value friends, family and freedom first.
Peter Callahan
Celebrity Caterer
Author, Bite by Bite
- He created the slider!
- There has never been more wealth in this country than their is now. Stop reading the finance paper.
- If you go way out of the box, you can charge WAY more.
- Negotiation from your clients is not personal, it’s just business.
David Beahm
Celebrity Event Designer
- You do “YOU” and you can’t go wrong. There is only one you!
- “So What, Who Cares?” – say this to everything. When you lose a proposal, so what, who cares? That opens you up to another bigger proposal or event.
- When something ain’t working, stop it. Don’t let it grow.
- Are you meeting the expectations of your customers, employees, vendors, family and yourself? If not, look at what changes you have to make to make that happen.
- Every single person is wearing an invisible sign that says “Make Me Feel Important”. Always remember that. We all want to feel special.
Tara Guerard
Celebrity Wedding Planner
Author, Southern Weddings: New Looks from the Old South
Author, Weddings by Tara Guerard
- Write down your sales goals. She figures out her entire bill structure for the year then divides by twelve. That is what she needs each month to pay overhead, her staff and herself. Then she saves the rest for slower times.
- Do the right thing: be loyal, pay your bills, have respect for others.
- She doesn’t accept any kickbacks or commissions (yay Tara!)
- OWN YOU! What are you about? She grew up on a dirt road and believes every event should have every kind of alcohol imaginable. She OWNS her world, thoughts and opinions. She doesn’t apologize for it and shares it freely.
- Her company only does eight incredible weddings per year but she also owns the Lettered Olive, a luxury stationery company and consults and designs interiors and products for the hospitality industry.
- Her philosophy at the office and in life is “Life’s a Party!” (working for her has to be so fun!)
Sean Low
President, Business of Being Creative
- The only reason to start a second knock-off business from your company is if it can stand on its own. Many people start additional businesses that get stuck in the mediocre area of making money. If you can’t scale it, it’s not worth it.
- Every good entrepreneur has restless feet – they have tons of ideas and always want to start something new.
Carly Roney & Mark Ingram
Carly Roney, Founder of the theKnot.com
Mark Ingram, Owner of Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier
- Never make brides feel like they don’t have a big enough budget. Instead of asking their budget, simply state the range for your rates or services. Even if they can’t afford your prices, treat them well and offer a referral to someone who can help.
I could write pages upon pages of all the take-away key points from so many wonderful speakers. I didn’t even mention half of them in this recap. I was surprised at the number of huge industry leaders who struggled this year in their businesses. They all dealt with losing key staff and with personal situations that affected their business. One planner touched everyone by sharing the loss his business experienced from Hurricane Sandy and how other planners helped out when his business needed it most.
I was also surprised to hear that some of these celebrity planners who have been in business for decades occasionally think about quitting and doing something different. Who knew?!
It was wonderful to hear that every wedding industry leader runs their business differently. One celebrity planner takes client calls at all hours of the night but also takes calls from her children while meeting with clients (and makes it clear to clients from the start that this is how she works). Another celebrity planner leaves the office by 6pm every night and doesn’t take any client calls in the evening. Some of our industry leaders have an in-house production team and do all of their own floral, decor and rentals while others have a small office and outsource all vendors (and these companies compete against each other all the time). There is no “right” or “wrong” way, even among the most talented and successful leaders in our industry.
If you are working in the luxury wedding market, you can’t afford NOT to attend an Engage conference in the future. The knowledge, connections and the experience are priceless.
Seaside Luncheon by The Breakers
Winter Wonderland Party with blowing snow AND the Rockettes!
The amazing final gala
Photo credit: Elan Artists, Scott Clark, and Chellise Michael Photography
[…] Where do I begin talking about a conference that leaves me speechless on so many levels? Engage14 in Beaver Creek, Colorado was an intense experience. This was the second Engage Luxury Wedding Business Summit that I have attended. You can read the detailed recap of my first experience here. […]
Oh, I plan on being in the luxury market and already am planning for next year. Is it around the same time every year?
I wish I would’ve known about this! It looks so amazing and so much of your tips have already helped me out. I love it! I plan on going to the next one 🙂
Thank you for your comment Erika. It was such an incredible experience. If your current or future focus is the luxury market, you can’t afford NOT to go. Plus it was such a fun time!
Debbie,
I went to the Engage!12 in Las Vegas and felt the same way. I wish I would have written down and summarized the best words of wisdom as you did. I also wish I would have realized I should go to Engage every time–not just once a year. Clearly, there is something new to experience and learn each time. I can’t wait for Engage!13 and hope we have the chance to meet in person–finally!
Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year!
Oh I wish we could have been at the same one so we could finally meet! Next year, ok? I hope you have a wonderful holiday Michele!!
You too Debbie and a very happy and successful New Year! Until we meet in person…