Open Mic Article: Corporate Social Responsibility

In the current winter issue of Illinois Meetings and Events magazine, One Smooth Stone Associate Producer Bethany Johnson shared her take on Corporate Social Responsibility. In the article, she provides tips on successfully incorporating philanthropic elements into your next event...everything from how to select the right charitable organization to preparing your attendees for the experience. The article is available online and also graced the cover of the print edition of this season's magazine. Check it out here!

Christmas Gift Giving

It's a One Smooth Stone tradition each Christmas to "adopt" several families through a local charity and purchase gifts for them. This year, we continued the tradition and worked with Evangelical Child and Family Agency to identify 3 families in need. One Smooth Stone staff members made donations, which were matched by the company. The staff then ventured in teams to the local Walmart and returned with a variety of gifts from the wish lists of each family member. Pizza and gift wrapping concluded our evening of giving!

Emily and Lisa perfect their gift wrapping skills.

Kimberly and Barb team up at Walmart.

Mark shows off a stylish scarf before it is wrapped.

Steve, Ken and Bethany, hard at work!

Webinar - Understand Union Labor

Thanks to everyone who listened and participated in our second installment of the Producer...You! webinar series entitled "Understanding Union Labor", a webinar co-hosted by One Smooth Stone and hinton+grusich on December 10th. The webinar provided an overview of the complexities of Union Labor, addressing frequently asked questions and reviewing key terms.

If you missed the session, complete audio/video has been posted here for viewing! Just click the video below to watch.

A glossary of terms and note from the webinar can be downloaded here:
http://tinyurl.com/UnionLaborNotes-Glossary

Feel free to send a link to this blog post to anyone who might benefit from the content.

Tips for Producing a Successful Virtual Event

As with live events, producing a successful virtual event involves extensive planning, careful content development and precise execution. Through our experience producing virtual events, we have found the following tips to be helpful in ensuring success...

1) Never underestimate the amount of pre-event planning time required for a virtual event. Build it into your schedule. You'll always wish you had more!

2) If your event is for an internal audience, engage your IT department early to ensure attendees have sufficient bandwidth and any challenges with access are resolved beforehand.

3) Like a physical event, keep the content and delivery engaging. Vary your presentation formats to keep attendees interested.

4) Consider using the virtual event platform for pre-event communication. This will test out its usability with your audience, help attendees get familiar and comfortable with its use, and get the word out!

5) If live interaction is a part of your event, don't forget to build sufficient rehearsal time into the schedule.

To learn more about One Smooth Stone's virtual event offering, watch our demo or shoot an email to Steve.

One Smooth Stone named 2010 Special Event Gala Award Finalist

The results are in...and One Smooth Stone has been named a finalist in the 2010 Special Event Gala Awards for its exquisite and elegant gala design at BMC Software's 2009 Chairman's Circle arrival lunch at the Four Seasons Lanai, Hawaii.

Released yesterday, the finalists in the competition have been posted online. Final award selections will be announced in January at The Special Event in New Orleans.

Arrival lunch at the Four Seasons golf course, overlooking the ocean

Floral and table design

Seating under an elegant canopy

All Dressed Up

October 31^st was a costume-filled holiday for the One Smooth Stone kids! Take a look at some of the outfits donned by stonies’ children, nieces and nephews…

Ken Haller's boys, Tieg and Kade, were dressed as reptiles for Halloween!

Lisa Hultmark and her family teamed up to create the cast of Wizard of Oz.

Megan's Manske's daughter, Skylar, was a princess who clearly likes to get her way!

Steve Koppel's two children, Adam and Genevieve, dressed up as a pirate and a chicken

Bethany Johnson's niece and nephew, Kylie and Tyler, walked their neighborhood as a witch and Nintendo's Luigi

Brad Zulke's nephew, Jonathan, enjoyed playing the part of Scarecrow at his school festival

Stephanie Selig's daughter, Cassidy, donned a "cheerful" pink butterfly costume to celebrate

Production...You! Webinar

Thanks to everyone who listened and participated in "Production...You!", a webinar co-hosted by One Smooth Stone and hinton+grusich on October 22nd. The session provided best practices and tips for “producing” the business meeting.

If you missed the session, complete audio/video has been posted at the link below for viewing. Feel free to pass this link along to anyone who might benefit from the content.

www.onesmoothstone.com/Webinars/Producer-You

Slides from the webinar, as well as a producer checklist, can be downloaded here:

http://tinyurl.com/Producer-You