Event Planners & Planning Articles

There's so much that goes in to planning a wedding reception. Choosing the venue, the menu, the music, the cake?it's all enough to make a bride-to-be go crazy.

If you've been toying around with ideas for food but haven't gotten anywhere, why not consider having a chocolate fountain at your reception? Chocolate fountains have grown in popularity over the past few years, and they're showing up at all kinds of events from bridal showers and wedding receptions to corporate events. It's an attractive addition to just about any special event.

With a spread of fruit and other dipping foods to go with it, it would be a place for your guests to gather other than the bar, and it would be a nice contrast to other finger foods. When they're running, chocolate fountains look like liquid chocolate sculptures, which make them like edible centerpieces. Plus, they're fun, relatively easy, and will be a hit with kids and adults alike.

If you like the idea of having a chocolate fountain at your reception, here are a few ideas of what you can do with it.

Guess what: you can do it yourself

You may be looking at your wedding budget and wincing at the cost of hiring a chocolate fountain company for your reception. Fear not. Like most things with weddings, you can save yourself a lot of money if you do it yourself instead of farming it out.

You can find chocolate fondue fountains for sale online at sites like LiquidationConnect.com, and you can find the chocolate to melt inside them the same way. Look for chocolate with a minimum of 34 percent cocoa butter to make sure that it will run smoothly in the fountain.

If you're worried about spills and such, ask a friend to watch the fountain for you. That way you'll have somebody you trust over there, and you'll be able to enjoy your receptions without worries.

Appetizer or dessert?

Chocolate fountains can work as an appetizer or a dessert, so your decision on when to do it depends on what kind of food you're having at your reception. If you have lots of heavy hors d'oeuvres at the beginning of your reception, you might want to save the fountain for the end. If you've got relatively light finger foods, then you can use your fountain at the same time.

What to dip?

The wonderful thing about chocolate is that you can dip just about anything in it. Well, you may want to avoid tortilla chips, but anything that typically tastes good with chocolate, you can serve with your chocolate fountain.

Fruits like strawberries, bananas, pineapples and kiwi, or snacks like cookies, pretzels and marshmallows are all good ideas. Steer clear of juicy fruits like watermelon, or soft things like cake, which may crumble when dipped and ruin the flow of the fountain.

Get thee to a chocolate fountain!

You don't have to break the bank to have an elegant, tasty chocolate fountain at your wedding reception. With a little planning ahead, you can do it yourself and have that little extra sweetness on your special day. No doubt, friends and family will be gushing over it for months and years afterward.

By: Darin Brin

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The author is Darin Brin of LiquidationConnect.com, which provides consumers with fun, unique, affordable gift items. If you want a chocolate fountain at your reception, we have a wide selection to fit just what you need. To see our complete line of chocolate fondue fountains, visit www.LiquidationConnect.com today.

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The Power of Asking Questions: 7 Strategies to Discovering What Your Prospects Really Need by Susan A. Friedmann

Make no mistake - you're in a rough spot. Exhibiting is a competitive environment. You're vying for attendee's attention, against companies that are larger, better-funded, with newer exhibits and cooler ideas than you've got.

What this means is that anything you can do to differentiate yourself from the crowd is a "Very Good Thing." Being different gives you an edge over the masses. On the other hand, being different invariably costs money.

Or maybe not. You can differentiate yourself effectively by embracing the 'power of questions.' Having a team that can ask the right people, the right questions, at the right time, is the single most cost effective thing you can do to guarantee fantastic show results.

Very few people know how to ask effective, powerful questions, and quite frankly, those who do, tend not to wind up working the show floor. Luckily, asking great questions is a skill that can be taught to those who don't already have it. If you're like me, and weren't born with that great skill, here are seven strategies your team can start using today to make themselves better exhibitors:

Strategy #1: Listen

The best questions begin in silence. Train your people to embrace the 80/20 rule - they should be listening 80% of the time. Listening is more than not talking. It's an opportunity to focus on the information the visitor is providing. The data they're sharing is invaluable and helps frame more appropriate questions throughout the conversation. For sales people in particular, listening is a real challenge. Yet, if they conquer and embrace this skill, they could easily boost their performance in flash!

Strategy #2: Determine Identities Quickly

One of the first questions your team should ask is some variation of "Who are you and what do you do?" Never, ever rely on badges. People can easily swap them. This is probably the most commonly used competitive intelligence gathering strategy.

You want to determine identity quickly for a number of reasons, but the primary one is this: Knowing who you're talking to allows you to deliver information in the most appropriate fashion: a buyer for a powerful chain is a very different attendee than an intern at a friendly competitor!

Strategy #3: Ask Open Ended Questions

The first question you ask a booth visitor should never be one that they can answer with a simple "Yes" or "No." This is an easy way to give them permission to end the conversation quickly. Known as "closed questions, "Yes" or "No" answers, don't usually help you to understand your visitor's needs. The better alternative is to focus on questions that invite attendees to tell you more about themselves, their challenges or their particular situations (their stories). These include questions such as:

- What are you doing about X? - How do you handle X? - When do you need X?

Strategy #4: Follow Up With a Relevant Question

When a visitor spends time telling you their story about a particular situation or challenge, your very next question must relate to what they've just told you. This then demonstrates that you're actually listening, and care about what they have to say. Failing to do this is likely to damage, if not destroy any credibility you may have established throughout the conversation so far.

Since this is such a common mistake exhibitors make, it's well worth having your team practice this skill in pre-show role-playing exercises. Have them work at this until it's automatic and starts to feels completely natural to them.

Strategy #5: Compliment Them

If you find yourself with a visitor who's somewhat reluctant to talk about their situation, try complimenting them. It's a subtle yet powerful way to stroke their ego. A simple "I'd really like to know what you think about X," or "What's your opinion on Y" will often get people talking, especially those individuals who love to show off their knowledge. I'm sure you know the type! Remember that everyone likes to be valued and recognized.

Be careful with this. You always want to appear genuine, without seeming to fawn over your visitors.

Strategy #6: Get Off Topic

Exhibiting is not just about making those immediate sales. There's far more that goes on with your booth visitor. Building long-lasting, profitable relationships is key! To do this effectively, you may need to take the conversation 'off-topic.' Don't be afraid to use questions to do this. Ask questions that allow you to get to know the visitor better. This can be as simple as "Where are you from?" Look to visual cues - clothing, jewelry, pin, etc. - anything that allows you to go further conversationally and further reinforce the relationship. It's only when you start asking

Strategy #7: Go After Low Lying Fruit

Visitors often indicate, often unconsciously, what they want to talk about. If they mention a subject repeatedly, or devote considerable time in one particular area, that's a pretty good clue to let you know that this topic is important to them. Yet many times, either exhibitors don't hear what's being said, because they're tuned into their own mind or, they might 'shy away' from a topic because it's sensitive, or something they just don't know about. They might avoid the latter not to show their ignorance.

Speaking from experience, that's not a good, solid plan of action. What's it says to the visitor is that "you're just not interested" in them or their situation. It takes courage to 'grab the bull by the horns' and frame questions directly around that topic, inviting visitors to elaborate further.

For example, "You seem to have concerns about our widget's durability. Could you tell me what's troubling you?" Addressing these concerns head on is the best way to build a prospect's confidence in your products and services.

Asking questions is only half the battle. The other half of the equation concerns what you do with the answers they give you. If your team asks great questions, listens to the answers, and then responds with the standard boilerplate one-size-fits-all answer, you've accomplished nothing.

Instead, answers must be customized on the spot - responsive, not only, to the client's needs, but also to the tone and timing of the conversation.

Brief your people on the need to take things further than just the familiar and often, boring, sales pitch. Keeping the focus on relationship building and the lifetime value of the customer helps make this easier and takes a lot of pressure off of your team. It's far easier to concentrate on having a meaningful, value-laden exchange if your team knows this isn't their only chance at bat. With any luck, this is just the beginning. They'll be asking your customers questions for years to come!

Written by Susan A. Friedmann, CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, internationally recognized expert working with companies to increase their profitability at tradeshows. Author: "Riches in Niches: How to Make it BIG in a small Market" and "Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies." http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com

A nose job is medically termed as rhinoplasty. It is the name given to the surgical procedure normally performed by a plastic surgeon to improve the cosmetic appearance of a person's nose. A nose job is the medical alteration of one's nose look to make it look better.

Sushruta, a Hindu physician, was the one who first introduced and developed the concept of plastic surgery for noses. It was in 500 BC when he attempted to reconstruct the noses of his amputated patients. During that time, noses were removed as punishment for certain crimes.

The procedure surrounding a nose job requires local or general anesthesia, depending upon the extent of the operation. There will be incisions made inside the nose. They can also be made on the skin separating the nostrils. The surgeon would reshape the cartilage and the bone of the nose. Without anesthesia, the patient won't be able to withstand the pain. This is also the reason why nose jobs can only be conducted inside a hospital or a fully equipped clinic.

Today, nose jobs are generally performed for aesthetic purposes. It is very popular in Hollywood, where both the famous and not-so famous actors and actresses take their turns on the surgical table to have their noses done. Of course, the most celebrated nose job to date is still that of Michael Jackson's and his siblings.

When it comes to races, Asians and Africans are the people who normally subject themselves to nose jobs. People belonging to these races tend to have the need to make their nose to look more European or Caucasian. The nose job performed on a person would depend upon the actual structure of his nose. This also indicates that the procedures performed on an Asian are different from that of an African and other races.

A person may undergo several nose jobs throughout his lifetime. In fact, many Hollywood stars today admit to having two to three jobs done on their noses just make it appear perfect. There might be a need to undergo more nose jobs to revise or correct the unsatisfactory outcome of the first one.

However, there are also non-surgical rhinoplasty procedures. A non-surgical nose job is performed by altering the shape of the person's nose through filling in the depressed parts. This doesn't require any invasive surgical procedures at all. It is also the best alternative for people who are afraid to undergo total surgery of their noses.

Here are a few ti