Confessions of an Event Planner: Case Studies From the Real World of Events--How to Handle the Unexpected and How to Be a Master of Discretion (23 page)

• That The Emperor loved our added touch at casino destinations of having casino dealers that spoke his native language brought in for their stay.

• That you have to specifically request “clean rooms” be given to guests checking in at some casino resorts and hotels around the world, as they would prefer guests out of their rooms and gambling instead of relaxing and settling into their suite, and have been known to check guests into rooms that have not been turned around from their last guests, which forces the new guest out of their room and into the hotel—hopefully spending money—until their rooms have been cleaned.

• That a car can explode in an underground garage when it reaches a specific heat and the windows are rolled tightly shut. Luckily it wasn’t the car holding a supplier’s much needed equipment. We thought The Emperor’s posse moved quickly when The Empress returned unexpectedly early—should’ve seen how fast Dee Dee and the rest of her team made it to the garage when they heard what had happened to the car and they knew it was parked in the general vicinity of the supplier’s.

• That no matter how much care is given, sometimes during an event a fire can break out. It wasn’t at The Emperor’s table but it was sure close, as it was the table that had been originally assigned to him. During preparation for the product launch our audiovisual and special effects team had done everything in accordance with fire marshal and hotel regulations around fire safety. All materials being used were treated with fire retardant, etc., as per requirements, with official certification and permits obtained. The indoor pyro we were using as part of the grand finale production number went off without mishap but it was the hotel’s own crew, who were known for being masters of illusion and magic, and their confetti that was supposed to be flame retardant that caused the fire at dinner during one of their stage numbers, when the confetti burst went off too soon, triggered by someone playing around backstage, and confetti fell heavily in a clump on lit centerpieces—candles that were going to be removed after coffee and dessert. The confetti, something the hotel used on a daily basis and supposedly fireproofed to within an inch of its life, went up in flames. The official fire watch marshal hired by the hotel to oversee the event did not catch what was happening and it was BoyTroy to the rescue (we made sure we brought male reinforcements on all of The Emperor’s programs). He alerted the serving staff who quickly, quietly dealt with the matter and reset the table.

• That we endeared ourselves to The Emperor’s posse when we helped one of their members save face and they never forgot it. The thank-you gift to The Emperor, which he loved, was a limited edition item that had been very hard to obtain and that Jake knew that The Emperor would cherish. It was entrusted to one of The Emperor’s men to hand-carry home with him and present to The Emperor back in the office the next working day, even though we had previously offered to take it back with us or have it sent directly to his office. The Emperor’s entrusted servant—oops, I mean employee—lost it checking in at the airport. He called us, frantic, from the airport, from the plane, from the connecting airport, from the plane, begging us to find an alternative, have it engraved with the exact same plate and message and bring it to him at his home the next day. And “don’t ask me how” Dee Dee, when the hotel staff said it couldn’t be done for at least two or more weeks, was able to do exactly that. Although I did hear rumblings, or were they grumblings, about the hotel’s general manager being tracked down while dining out with his wife and friends in another state, permission being granted to have hotel security break into his private office to get a duplicate—the general manager’s own prized possession, which is where Jake had got the idea in the first place for The Emperor’s gift—carefully removing the personalized plaque, tracking down another, having it engraved, packaging and placing it in Dee Dee’s hands before she had to set off for the airport. The next day the package was delivered safe and sound into the very anxious arms of The Emperor’s most trusted man. Dee Dee said his gratitude made her eyes leak—she would never willingly admit to being moved to tears by one of The Emperor’s men. It was our pleasure to have been able to have pulled that off. We knew how important it truly was to that man and were willing to do whatever it took to make it happen and happen on time.

• That in return for our kindness that day—we were in tight now with The Emperor’s men as we had saved one of their own—we learned what we had long suspected was true: that The Emperor’s boardroom/meeting room was bugged and had two-way mirrors, and that it was a ploy to have company executives leave the meeting on one pretext or another and leave visitors or company employees not in the know (not part of The Emperor’s inner circle and privileged posse) alone to see what they would do or say during the calculated absence.

• That the world—our world—must come to an immediate grinding stop when one of the King’s, I mean Emperor’s, men called in with a question. They were insistent, the questions incessant, and they needed an immediate response in order for the calls to stop coming in. The Emperor’s posse were not doing this to drive us insane, although that was Daniela’s personal take on this matter when she crossly voiced her opinion after intercepting one too many calls one day, or at least the theory she shared with us aloud. I have a good idea of what else she might have been muttering beneath her breath. They merely were looking to have every conceivable answer to any possible question that The Emperor could ask in a meeting. They did not want to be called upon and not have an answer ready so they prepared for that eventuality by calling us.
They
had absolutely no problem dealing directly with women when Jake was nowhere to be found. Their fear of losing face in front of their colleagues and The Emperor was greater than not wanting to get an immediate response from a female, especially since they now knew they could trust us to do our best for them personally and professionally, but of course none of their cohorts could know that the other had called and putting out a memo outlining all for everyone was unthinkable (from their end). Sighhhh . . . what we do and have to put up with sometimes in the name of discretion, customer service and good business can be very revealing about human nature, corporate culture, what people value and where they place their values.

• That it is possible to fly to Las Vegas and back in one day, do a full day’s work
and
taste test, as per his request at some restaurants that featured The Emperor’s favorite national foods “just in case” The Emperor had a craving that needed to be met and to make sure the selected restaurants would meet The Emperor’s personal preferences and standards.

• That The Emperor wants to personally meet every top-name talent after they perform and requests that they come to him. Most comply but one performer—a male—would not. He requested The Emperor come to him. There was a standoff and neither’s ego would allow them to give in. Dee Dee came to Jake’s pleading rescue; he was getting tired of running back and forth negotiating what would take place. Dee Dee set up a private meeting between the two “men” at the exact halfway point. This and all other concessions must be addressed and agreed upon and written into contracts before they are signed.

• That if Head Office elects to fly over and attend an event, expect the whole company—theirs, not ours—to be thrown into a pleasing tizzy the likes of which we have never before witnessed. Over 27 versions of a name badge had to be made for The Chairman in the event that he decided to wear a name badge (
as if
everyone wouldn’t know who The Chairman was, surrounded by his procession of men in front, beside and following behind him, making every entrance a grand entrance—and here we thought The Emperor’s entourage was large—and
as if
The Chairman would ever elect to wear one, but hey, if he did we had very conceivable variation of how he might like his name and title to read).

• That The Chairman would not go onstage to speak unless a very specific brand of men’s hair care (not found advertised here since the late ’60s) was found and brought to him. Try scouring a foreign city for that early one Sunday morning, but our local DMC didn’t fail us. American Express is the card that says “don’t travel without it,” but we never left home without a certain product—when doing The Emperor’s programs—because you just never know when a little dab will do you, or do you in, as the case may be. Both Daniela and Marco were horrified at what The Chairman was electing to use and longed to bring his hair care into this century.

• That each year a brand new, bright, eager-for-promotion sacrificial employee would be hired and assigned to work with The Emperor’s men to do the mountain of work that was part and parcel of putting on an event. Each project manager was determined to break the job assignment’s curse of being fired after the event had taken place, but, alas, none was employed the next year to tell the tale. It didn’t matter how hard they tried, how late they stayed—they were used up and dismissed on one pretense or another. Their real role was not to be designated project manager, but to be “fall guy or girl” or “fall-on-your-sword guy or girl” in the name of protecting The Emperor’s men in case something triggered Head Office’s or The Emperor’s displeasure. Someone had to be dismissed, and The Emperor’s men knew that it was not going to be one of them if they could help it. When the new project managers would ask about those who had fallen before them, it was our job not to enlighten them but, without telling tales out of school, to help them do all possible not to lose disfavor. For example, just because we now knew with certainty that their company meeting room was miked didn’t mean that it was our place to tell them, but we could steer the conversations to safe topics when left alone with them during event planning meetings.

• That you should never ever expect to see your room when on program with The Emperor. No matter how longingly you may look at the sunken bathtub located right next to your bed overlooking the city lights, your luxurious suite, which your sales manager assigned you in the hopes of winning future business, will merely become a place to shower and change clothes, and maybe, just maybe, catch an hour or two of precious sleep. More appreciated would be a room close to the ballroom so we could perfect the art of being quick-change artists. Yul remarked wistfully one day, but just teasing, during setup when we had been pulling 20-hour days, that he had heard there was an amazing theme park nearby. A deep longing sighhh for time to play. But Yul was totally committed to staying until what needed to be done had been completed and we could all call it a night. Jake, on the other hand, hoping to escape notice and have a moment’s reprise from ending up with The Empress duty, turned off his cell, his pager and his walkie-talkie—a no-no in our business—but he forgot to turn off the tiny live cameras that key staff members were assigned so that Daniela, set up in the hotel at command central, could monitor what was taking place during move-in, setup, rehearsal, day of, teardown and move-out, and dispatch people where they were needed. Jake was found in a matter of minutes much to his dismay, and Dee Dee took great pleasure in personally escorting him to where The Empress was waiting for him to take her out and about.

• That we must be able to cost an event down to the exact penny. Spend one nickel—and that is not an exaggeration—more than “estimated” and there was hell to pay finding out exactly where and why that nickel went. The Emperor’s men could happily spend hours of company time looking for the elusive nickel and we didn’t have time to play that game, so our costings were so precise that even The Emperor was impressed. And, in turn, we helped our suppliers to grow better at pricing. We fully understood The Emperor had been burned in the past and that was something we could make sure never happened again, as pricing, along with creative design, is one of our strengths. The event planning company that misspent in the past for a custom-designed cirque-style show—we could not believe how little they knew—had totally forgotten to question, let alone cost, the type of flooring the acrobats needed, how the rigging worked, how long would it take to put up the rigging, what the weight system would require, green room and dressing room setups, having seamstresses in place to handle any last-minute adjustments, the costs to have all the costumes and equipment brought in, blocking in and including costs for dress rehearsal, finding out if the hotel was unionized and what that would add to the cost, and why 50 people were coming down for a 10-person act (some of them were children of the performers, which could be a rider condition, but at least they should have known it and cost it going in). They even proposed something totally impossible with a prototype, not understanding just how fragile it is. And that was just one event component. No wonder The Emperor and his band of men looked with mistrust upon those they were doing business with until they won their confidence. But part of being masters of discretion means not trashing your competition to clients, suppliers or anyone else in the industry and letting others know the other company’s Achilles’ heel. That we kept to ourselves, but Jake went on a mission with single-minded determination to land as many of their accounts as possible using what he now knew to his sales advantage but without giving anything away, looking to save other clients from a similar fate.

• That it was to our advantage to bring down as many men from our team as possible in the event that Jake was not in the vicinity and The Emperor or one of his entourage needed to speak to us and required female-male translation services performed. Back in the office the entourage had no problem calling and speaking to us directly, but on program with The Emperor or his other many followers around it just wouldn’t happen. It was a game of follow the leader and we all knew it wasn’t personal, just a part of their corporate culture.