Insights From Engage!10: The Breakers

This week, I attended and spoke at Engage!10: The Breakers.  Engage! is the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference for the wedding industry.  It is the place where the industry’s best and brightest stars come together for three days to commune, discuss and present their visions of the present and the future.  I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to take part and to hear the wisdom from so many.  My mind is flooded.  It makes no difference whether you are in the wedding industry or not, the following insights apply to your creative business:

From David Beahm – David spoke not about doing pretty (which he does ridiculously well), but about doing well.  Be better, kinder, more related.  Take Mary Kay Ash’s advice: listen twice as much as you talk.  You have two ears and one mouth.  Make the extra effort – one degree can make all the difference.  Watch this video by 212 The Extra Degree.  You do not and will not build a successful creative business on the backs of others.  Thankfully, communities of peers build great organizations today, not master and slave.

From Todd Fiscus, owner of one of the biggest, most profitable event design and production firms in the United States (and several other related businesses too): 2011 is going to be a great year, already better than 2010.  I am cutting overhead expenses (more Indians than Chiefs), changing my business model to better reflect the business I want to be in.  Todd said during his presentation that he could not make one of his events because of a conflict.  Of course, it went off without a hitch and two weeks later the mother-of-the-bride told him how fantastic a job he did.  He hated not being there.  Todd loves seeing the look on everyone’s face when they are at one of his events.  How much they love the food and the fun.  Not getting to see it just is not worth it, no matter how profitable it might be.  Creative businesses do not sell widgets.  They sell joy.  Artists like Todd need to be part of that celebration to honor themselves as artists.  Amen.

From Bryan Rafanelli of Rafanelli Events (the man behind Chelsea Clinton’s wedding – need I say more?): I do perfect.  Bryan embodies the 4P’s.  He showed us pictures of him as a child reveling in the party.  Like Mindy Weiss, creating celebrations is in his genes.  Passion.  He does perfect and has perfect clients.  If it takes 52 linen samples to get the linens right, then that is what it takes.  Philosophy.  Like a law firm, he charges by the hour for him and his staff.  He does not make any money marking up his vendors (although he does receive a referral fee from his vendors which his clients are fully aware of).  My staff and I do perfect and that is what you pay for.  Platform.  From validating parking, to making sure water is offered, to delivering a time lapse video of the set-up for an event, no detail is missed.  Process.  And even though it was fairly evident to everyone in the room that Bryan could grow his brand far beyond doing events (endorsements, licensing, TV, etc.), his focus is on expanding his event business.  Growth v. Expansion.  You can do either, but you cannot do both at the same time.

Of course, there were many many more highlights including some fantastic pearls of wisdom from the incomparable Simon Bailey and the masterful Cindy Novotny.  It is time to shift and make the three minute call you have been avoiding.

We all owe Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce a debt of gratitude for putting Engage!10: The Breakers together and allowing me to learn so much from so many in such a short time.