Musings, Scribbles & Screed
It's beginning to feel a lot like A.I. Don't you love learning about how other peoples celebrate their holidays? So many traditions and activities, feasts and fasts, tics and quirks. Of course, gathering with family is usually at the center, thriving with warmth, love and joy. This year, I turned to generative artificial intelligence to … Continue reading The Holiday Card 2023 Is Here!
I started designing personal Christmas cards the year I moved to NYC, 1994. Back then, I'd take a floppy to Kinko's to use their color printer, and then I'd cut each out and glue it into one of those photo-frame cards. Ugly. These days the process is much more polished and professional but the brain-wracking … Continue reading Life in Christmas Cards
Close of kids saying grace while having Thanksgiving dinner with their family at dining table. It’s the grandpappy of all gathering days: THANKSGIVING! Here’s a fun exercise you can deploy during this most sacred of holidays that might inspire even more emotional and meaning into your corporate events. You know, those moments that make your … Continue reading Learning from Thanks
...then bring all those emotions, excitement and empathy to your event programs. Our plans for the summer include travel and exploration, a few visits to the shows and fairs that roll through town, and meet-ups with family, friends, neighbors and long-ago schoolmates. Along the way, I know we'll savor moments that I want to deliver … Continue reading Enjoy Your Summer Gatherings!…
Five things I learned at my first back-to-live event Just home from Las Vegas and the production of a CEO keynote at his company's high-tech conference. I know a lot of us are getting back to live or still looking forward to the opportunity. For me, I was surprised at the depth of the impressions … Continue reading We Are Back, Baby!
In the first weeks after I moved to New York City, I visited the Whitney on the Upper East Side. There was an Edward Hopper exhibit, and who doesn't love Edward Hopper. On a wall leading into the gallery was an inscription of an E.B. White quote that I was not familiar with and which … Continue reading The Gift of Solitude
GATHER: The Business of Coming Together My new book is out, celebrating the fascinating work that goes into creating events for business audiences. In equal parts how-to, manifesto and memoir, the book provides inspiration and strategies for successful design of corporate events, informed by the human needs behind any gathering, whether with family and colleagues, … Continue reading It’s Time to Gather!
The music was still ringing in Marty’s ears as he headed from the ballroom towards the elevator and his room. He was riding a post-show high, having closed out a big night with the anthemic “The Future is Now!” jingle performed by members of Styx and Mötley Crüe, fronted by that guy from Sugar Ray. … Continue reading Back to the Future! Events Edition
As before the pandemic, I still don’t want to see or hear your kids. But please bring your dogs, I want to see all the dogs.
Snaking our way into the Ralph’s market in Santa Barbara that Thursday I realized the world was changing. It was chaos. Stressed employees shouted orders at frantic shoppers pressed shoulder to shoulder in checkout lines that meandered in every direction. For the first time I saw entire aisles of empty shelves – my introduction to … Continue reading The Last Weekend
Binderama 