ISES Northern California Chapter 2009 Wine Country Tour

This year, for the Annual ISES Northern California Chapter’s Wine Country Tour, we went to Pine Ridge Winery located in the heart of Napa Valley and the infamous Villagio Inn & Spa in Yountville.

Early that Tuesday morning of the tour, guests boarded two complimentary shuttles in San Francisco to promote car pooling.  Once the shuttles were full, they began their scenic journey into the Wine Country.

Upon their arrival at Pine Ridge Winery, guests were welcomed into the cocktail hour on the lush green front lawn by soothing sounds of live guitar music.  Towards the end of the cocktail hour, guests were invited to tour the grounds for a behind-the-scenes peak of the inner workings of Pine Ridge Winery As the tour worked its way into the barrel rooms and through the caves, guests were excited to see that they would be dining in the caves themselves.  The tables were covered in a deep warm fabric and napkins were golden yellow to compliment the romantically uplit wine barrels and Chihuly glass sculptures.

Executive Chef Kevin Miller of Villagio’s off-site catering service began lunch with a butter lettuce salad with strawberries, skyhill chevre, candied hazlenuts, champagne vinagrette and a glass of the 2006 Pine Ridge Dijon Clones Chardonnay.  The star of the show was the mouth-watering 5-star Coq Au Vin with wild mushrooms, roasted heirloom potatoes and red wine chicken jus as the main course which was beautifully paired with the 2005 Pine Ridge Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon.  Between the Coq Au Vin and Artisan Cheese Plate featuring Pierre Robert, Montbriac, Fig, Almond Cake, Blackberry honey, complimented by the 2005 Pine Ridge Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon, guest speaker and foodie, GraceAnn Walden, entertained guests with stories of the adventures upon which she embarked throughout her career.  I’m sure the laughter is still echoing in the caves.

Once lunch wrapped up, guests were transported to the Villagio Resort for desert.  Here, guests sipped on wine from Chimney Rock, Chalk Hill, Castello di Amorosa and One Hope upon classic Napa Valley lounge furniture draped in fresh spring citrus colors.

To see more images from the trip, please visit “The Scene” at Allure West Studios.

The Team

the designer | morgan doan of events by morgan

the speaker | graceann walden

the rentals and linens | classic party rentals

the transportation | pure luxury transportation

the wineries | pine ridge winery & villagio inn & spa

the guitar | star sound productions

the audio and lighting | lux productions

the florals at pine ridge | michael daigian design

the florals at villagio | julie stevens design

the photographer | natalie wi of allure west studios

WESTIN DIPLOMAT | HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA

I recently had the honor of being the photographer as part of the  In Good Company Meetings & Events  team at a corporate shoot, which took place at the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida. Working closely with the client, In Good Company Meetings & Events, along with the support of  the Conference Services Staff of the Westin Diplomat, expertly orchestrated a week of educational sessions and social events for over 500 attendees who flew in from all around the world.

The flight from California was a long one and I still had a team meeting to attend the evening I arrived at the hotel, but as soon as I walked into the lobby, I was relaxed by the clean smell of the Westin’s signature White Aloe Scent and a view of towering palm trees lining the path from the entrance of the hotel to the glowing pool outside.  Ahh hospitality, wouldn’t it be nice if this was vacation, but…alas…it was time to work.

Once I snapped back into reality, I met the rest of the professionals with whom I’d be working that week. After we ran through our game plan, I rolled my camera bag into the elevator, began exploring the spaces and capturing the elements that the In Good Company team utilizes when creating successful meetings and experiential events.

ALLURE WEST STUDIOS IN SPECIAL EVENT MAGAZINE

I recently photographed Kristjan Gavin, President of In Good Company Meetings & Events, for his feature article in the February issue of Special Events Magazine titled Hospitality Starts Here.

In his article, Kristjan discusses the hospitality experience and challenges each of us to take a step back and reflect upon our own projections.

How many times have you stepped off an airplane and proclaimed that you will never fly that airline again because of the flight attendant’s terrible attitude?  Or how many times have you gone out to eat and left a meager tip because you felt the service was subpar?

What we each have to come to realize is that change begins within ourselves.  If we are not happy with a particular situation, the first finger pointed must be at ourselves.  If you find yourself in what you feel to be a compromising situation, take a deep breath and ask yourself how you can carry yourself differently.  The slightest change in your own attitude could make all the difference in how another person treats you in return.

So as a wise friend once told me, change comes from within.

TODAY'S BRIDE WINTER 2009

I’m proud to announce that we’re in the Winter 2009 issue of Today’s Bride.  Images #3 and #4.  Image #3 is a centerpiece designed by Spiral Hand Floral + Event Design and image #4 is a centerpiece designed by Hunt Littlefield.  Both of these beautiful arrangements were featured at the 2008 ISES Gala at the City View Metreon in San Francisco for which I was the PR Co-Chair and Photography Co-Chair.

2008 ISES Eventworld in St. Petersburg Florida

When Jung and I moved our company headquarters to SF from DC, I was intent on finding an organization to which I could contribute and help grow and in turn, teach me to become a better leader within my own company.

I attended the meetings of several different organizations throughout our first year in California, but the ISES events lured me back time after time.  The events were designed and presented professionally, included an educational segment and I could see how much energy and attention the team dedicated to making each event spectacular.

The combination of educational content and networking were exactly what we needed in our lives.  But a strong professional fit wasn’t our only driving factor—we also needed to be able to connect sincerely on a personal level.

The ISES Northern California Chapter welcomed us with open arms professionally and personally and since I joined in the winter of 2007, I have forged a solid professional network and have made friends that I know will support me in whatever capacity they can.

I believe that ISES is my key to professional development and so, I have whole-heartedly dedicated myself to my chapter.  And thus, I am proud to announce that I am now a Director at Large on the Board and have been awarded a full-paid scholarship to the annual ISES convention, known as Eventworld, held in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Here I am, still spinning with excitement, as I sit here on this humid, rainy afternoon in the Tampa airport awaiting my flight back to California from Eventworld.  I feel empowered with knowledge and a concrete support system.

I flew the red-eye out of SF Wednesday night, the 20th of August and arrived in Florida the morning of the 21st.  As soon as I checked into the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg,  I joined the rest of the board in a round table leadership discussion, during which we connected with the leaders of other chapters and shared and exchanged suggestions of what has or has not been successful for each of our chapters.

The roundtable wrapped up around lunchtime and we rock-n-rolled into the general session with a stellar presentation on the importance of team work by Col Mike Mullane, a NASA Space Shuttle astronaut aboard Discovery and Atlantis.

The general sessions were officially open and attendees could choose to participate in seminars that were separated into three distinct tracts:  Topics for Business Owners/Executive Track; Corporate/Non-Profit Track and the Interactive Tract.

The first day of sessions concluded with the ISES Eventworld Welcome Reception, which was held on the sugar sand Gulf of Mexico beach of the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort.   We attended the reception as a chapter and had a ball taking pictures of each other on the beach, before a glowing pink and gray sunset.

On Friday, attendees had the option of participating in a behind-the-scenes tour of Walt Disney World or attending workshops throughout the day.

I began the day by attending the session titled Unlock the Potential Hiding in the Rental Company Next Door, which was presented by our very own Gwen Helbush of Where to Start, Inc., Kathy Newby of Classic Party Rentals and Kristjan Gavin of In Good Company.  Gwen, Kathy and Kristijan artfully illustrated the importance of communication and teamwork.  And although the course was directed specifically towards planners and rental companies, the principals could be applied to any professional relationship:  In order to create a successful team, communication, respect and courtesy are integral.

Amongst the other courses I attended on Friday, Business Owners:  Tips, Trick and Shop Talk was another of my favorites.  Here we listed several issues facing us as small business owners and then listened to the strategies and techniques that 4 prominent ISES professionals employed to successfully run and grow each of their own companies.

After another intense day of learning, we all came together at Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro for a delicious seafood dinner.  Afterwards, we attended a benefit for the SEARCH Foundation, which was co-founded by planner, Sasha Sousa.  The SEARCH Foundations mission is to support event professionals confronted with a catastrophic occurrence and fosters, develops and promotes educational initiatives for the advancement of the industry.

The last day of seminars began with general educational sessions, which were followed by a delicious luncheon and awards ceremony, during which several Northern California members were acknowledged for their dedication and professionalism.

After the lunchtime award ceremony, we split for the last leg of seminars.  On Saturday, I chose to participate in the Interactive Track and joined the workshop titled How to Stop Letting Your Marketing Dollars Needlessly Fly Out the Window.  During this session, we separated ourselves into groups and developed a Positioning Statement, identified our Customer’s Profile and completed a Competitive Analysis.  I was fortunate because my company was chosen as the sample and it was extremely interesting to hear other perspectives on a proposed marketing strategy.

Eventworld concluded with the ISES Esprit Awards Celebration during which the success of several of our members was celebrated and recognized as 2008 Esprit Award Nominees.

I feel inspired and motivated by the determination and professionalism of the members by which I was surrounded this weekend.    I can hardly wait to start applying the knowledge I gained and the principles of leadership I learned.  I bonded with my chapter members and feel a special connection to each one of them.  I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of such an amazing group.

I await the arrival of Eventworld 2009 August 5-8 in San Francisco with rapt anticipation.