Nov 112011
 

Civil Partnership Video from on Vimeo.

One of the highlights of our year in 2011. This fantastic civil partnership video drew friends and family from across the globe from America to Malaysia. To where else but Shakespear’s Globe Theatre in the very heart of London. Spending the whole day over the three floors of the civil partnership and civil wedding venue called The Swan at the Globe. With our wedding videographer living just 20mins away, it could not have been an easier day of filming. In fact when a couple and a venue just click. Just like with this civil partnership filming what happens does not really feel like work. The staff also where excellent.

Our one wedding videographer filming the “Documentary” package and suppling a double wedding Dvd box set. Started th day filming on the raised ground floor main bar. With it’s slightly elevated position overlooking the Thames. Then up to the third floor with its splendid venues over the Thames to St Paul’s Cathedral and the City of London. Where the really rather touching ceremony was held. After some tears and laughter it was off for cocktails on the second floor in preparation for a wonderful meal and brilliant after dinner entertainment supplied by the couple’s talented friends. A really brilliant day filled with the sunshine reflected from the river.

Check out some of our other wedding videos filmed by our wedding videographers in London or if you have the time see our last blog Wedding at Hedsor House

Apr 282011
 

Wedding video London, filmed at the Wedding Venue Lord’s cricket ground Videographer London. Civil wedding video.

Wedding video London from Portobello Films on Vimeo.

Filmed by one of our wedding videographer London at the really impressive wedding venue London Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood London NW8 8QN

The day was amazing and this wedding video shows a whole chapter straight from the actual wedding DVD. Shot as part of the “Documentary” package. The wedding videographer used one of our Sony Z7 cameras with the really brilliant Manfrotto 501 fluid head tripod for the picture on the wedding, which have the best music and decoration, including chair covers and flowers for the event. Then to record the audio our wedding videographer used a Sennheiser MKH 416 (which is the standard for film and TV) and then a rather clever gizmo called a Sennheiser SKP which plugs into the back of a remote gun mic and then sends the single back to the camera with no wires.

We hope that this glimps into the snow covered wedding venue gives some indication of what a magical day is was for eveybody involved

If you have the time do check out our previous post Wedding at The Lansdowne Club

Apr 182011
 

Wedding video London, filmed at the Wedding Venue Lansdowne Club Videographer London. Church wedding video.

Wedding video London from Portobello Films on Vimeo.

Filmed by our 2 wedding videographers. Starting with a wonderful church wedding service at St James’s Church just down the road from Paddington in London’s Sussex Gardens. An easy cab ride from our base for our in-house London videographers to cover the preperations of the happy bride and groom. Then one videographer followed the groom for the anxious wait at St James’s. Followed by our second videographer to capture the arrival of the bride and her entrance down the aisle from two angles.

Then onto the brilliant wedding reception venue at the Lansdowne Club in the heart of London West End just a short walk from Berkeley Sq. A great place to film and the excellent wedding photographer Chris Geary got some great pictures. In fact his shots were so great they featured on weddingideas.com. The wedding venue was a pleasure to film in and had some great vantage points. Perfect for those important, unobtrusive and discreet shots.

We would also like to say a big thank-you to Lucy Mannering the wedding organizer who was so helpful on the day. LucyMannering@LansdowneClub.com

Our in-house videographers film modern Wedding Video and Wedding Videography. In this case our London videographers shot the Television package with two Sony Z7 camera and a RMS2040 and Sennheiser sound kit

If you have the time do check out our previous post Wedding St Clement Danes

Feb 232011
 

Wedding video London from Portobello Films on Vimeo.

With the wedding reception venue at the impressive Stationers Hall and the main ceremony venue in the splendor of St Pauls Cathedral. Everybody and the most amazing day with all the excitement of being right in the very heart of historic London.
Our wedding videographer (in house of course no hiring of outsourced staff for our client’s wedding videos) being London based arrived in good time and as fresh as a daisy. With the reception just a short walk from the wedding at St Pauls the day could not be easier. Leaving our videographer all the time to discreetly pick his shots. We hope you agree that it does look quite splendid. All filmed in HD 1080 25p (non of that 1080i nonsence) and delivered as 8 widescreen wedding DVDs with an additional wedding speeches DVD

We film modern Wedding Video and Wedding Videos
Check out our previous post Wedding video London Waldorf Hotel

Feb 052011
 

Events in a corporate environment are often staged to communicate company strategy, change internal company behavior, launch a product or service, motivate, train or reward staff, or influence the external behavior of customers towards the brand.

In many instances, they bring company employees together, support wider marketing or sales initiatives, incentivize team achievements, or entertain senior leaders, get the most professionaal assistance from Trademark event production company.

What is corporate event planning?

Yet, corporate event planning goes beyond meeting planning. Although conferences and meetings may form the lion’s share of the workload, other events you may be asked to organize include corporate hospitality, client entertaining, conventions, exhibitions, and employees events—such as incentive travel reward programs, team building, motivational events, receptions, parties, and charity fundraising days.

Planning and executing a successful corporate event is no simple task. It’s typically a months-long process consisting of several stages and a variety of organizational steps.

To help you navigate the business of corporate event planning, here is everything you need to know:

  • Types of Corporate Events
  • Event budget
  • Event objective
  • Venue sourcing
  • Event marketing
  • Attendee engagement
  • Corporate event planning checklist

Types of corporate events

Cvent CONNECT Marketing

As outlined above, corporate events can range from company conferences and internal training seminars to team away-days and client hospitality. When planning for any type of corporate event therefore, it’s best to assess them in terms of their size.

Micro events (otherwise known as ‘simple events’) are planned for up to 100 delegates and often take the form of meetings or more intimate training sessions.

The planning requirements for these micro-events may simply involve a room booking, presentation facilities, break-out refreshments, and registration. However, referring to them as ‘simple events’ can be misleading, as an away-day or hospitality for 50 senior managers can be as complicated as planning a conference for 500 attendees.

Small events are classed as between 100 and 250 delegates. They could be seminars, training days or departmental conferences.

Planners may need to manage a main stage itinerary and several break-out sessions, along with lunch, refreshments, audio-visual facilities, online registration, and transport.

Midsize events rely more on technology. They could be company-wide conferences for up to 1,000 delegates or leadership summits for important client customers to meet with senior leaders.

A branded website, pre-event communications, and an event mobile app should all form part of the budgetary considerations. Delegates may require hotel accommodation, plus transport which takes attendees to and from the venue. While a pre- or post-event reception or evening entertainment may be required as part of a complex multi-stream conference itinerary.

Large-scale events often require enterprise technology tools to manage elements such as hotel room bookings, delegate flights, budgets, and online registration.

These may be multi-day events so you could need offsite activities, dinners, partner programs, an awards ceremony or other complex itinerary planning.

Staffing, catering, registration, speaker and delegate management will all need to be carefully planned at scale. Conventions, for example, can attract anything up to around 10,000 attendees and can last a few days.

Event budget

calculator and budget

The amount of available budget can impact every aspect of corporate event planning, from the choice of venue and speakers to the levels of catering, entertainment, technology, and staffing.

Decide if your budget has outgoings only, or will you be able to supplement it with income from exhibitors, sponsors or other forms of external revenue?

Has this event happened in the past? If so, use the previous budget to establish a baseline but ensure that inflation and evolving needs are taking into consideration.

Figures from past budgets are useful in providing a clearer picture of how much certain suppliers will charge. Use these to ensure you are not being over-charged when you reach out to suppliers for initial quotes.

Every event budget, however, needs built-in flexibility. Unanticipated expenditure is common and supplier costs are often provided as estimates, rather than fixed prices, so it’s vital that an overall budget is managed accordingly, and a contingency fund is in place.

Once you’ve sourced supplier costings, make a comprehensive list of all the budget line items in the event lifecycle, including venue hire, AV, food, and beverage, accommodation and travel, speaker fees, staffing costs, marketing and service fees.

For larger or more complex budget planning, look into corporate event management software suites, which include a dedicated event budget management tool. This will ensure accurate collection of your budgetary information, help you track expenses easily, generate budget reports, and demonstrate the ROI of your event.

Event objective

Setting Goals

‘What is the event’s objective?’ This should be the first question you ask when a corporate event is requested. By gaining a deep understanding of the deliverables that key stakeholders are hoping to achieve, it’ll allow you to plan more effectively and communicate your ideas in a language your bosses will understand.

Once you’ve understood whether the event’s aim is, for example, to build brand awareness, communicate business strategy, reward and motivate, or launch a new product or service, you can then set goals, put the right metrics in place to track results, and determine who the attendees will be, along with their expectations.

When you have well-defined goals and objectives for your event, planning, promoting, and sticking to your budget all become much easier.

Event objectives should be SMART

  • Specific: What is the desired outcome and when does it need to be achieved by?
  • Measurable: Return on Investment or Return on Objectives… or both?
  • Achievable: Ensure that the event objective is something that can actually be achieved otherwise senior leaders will consider it a failure.
  • Relevant: The overall objective needs to remain something that relates back to the company’s goals throughout the entire planning process.
  • Timebound: Plan for the event objective to have been achieved between two time periods. This may require subsequent training seminars or a follow-up event to assess the outcomes of the first.

Venue sourcing

Venue Search Frankfurt

The event’s objectives may also determine your choice of venue. If stakeholders are looking to leave a lasting impression on valued or prospective clients, for example, the venue will need to play its part and deliver a memorable wow factor.

Other factors that will influence your venue choice include budget, capacity, location, availability, and logistics. Having a clear understanding of these event requirements will allow you to shortlist a number of venues, send out requests for written proposals (RFPs) and arrange site visits.

Some venues offer seasonal pricing, so the hire cost may be lower during certain times of the year. Find out what the costs are for your venue of choice on your desired date. If your dates are flexible, you may be able to secure a better deal at your preferred venue.

If your event has a short-lead time, keep an eye out for last-minute venue offers as there are often great deals to be found. If you’re planning an event that’s a long way off, consider those venues undergoing refurbishment or not yet opened. They’ll be eager to secure your business and may be able to negotiate more favorably.

Three steps to venue sourcing

Step One: Find Venues

  • Know the meeting objectives and requirements. By determining these at the outset, you’ll decrease the search process.
  • Take into account feedback from attendees. Is this an annual event? If attendees ranked the venue from the previous year poorly, look at the feedback to pick a venue that will resonate better.
  • Don’t feel alone. Reach out to your team, or others that have a stake in the event to brainstorm what factors are most important.

Step Two: Write the perfect RFP

  • You already know general objectives and requirements – now define your purpose. Make it clear what this event requires and hopes to achieve.
  • Get detailed. Give as much information about the event as you can.
  • No one likes to discuss money, but you need to share your budget requirements. The venue is one of the largest costs of an event and can make or break your budget.
  • Make your deadlines clear. Give a date and time that provide venues enough time to respond.
  • Don’t start from scratch. Pull a template the internet.
  • Be ready to answer any questions venues may have about the proposal or event.

Step Three: Send and evaluate proposals

  • Using a venue sourcing tool, you can search and filter venues and send one RFP to multiple venues at once.
  • Assess proposals via the chosen venue sourcing tool or by manually importing data into a spreadsheet
  • Create a list of any factors that are less concrete – the qualitative factors.
  • Pay close attention to meeting rooms – do the sizes and layouts make sense for your event?
  • Compare how responsive and helpful the venues are to help figure out how helpful they’ll be if you choose them.