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My name is Ann Henhoeffer, and I own an event-planning company called boom-D.A,
focussing on corporate clients in the downtown core of Toronto.
An event planner is a facilitator, somebody who actually doesn’t do… anything except organize all of the different elements to put together an event.
So, on a typical event, I would prepare a budget and project plans for the client,
negotiate a contract and, at that point, work with different sub-contractors, different suppliers to produce the different elements.
ON SCREEN: Invitations, Catering, Venue, Entertainment.
I need to talk to Mario about some artwork that I’m working on for this swishy little after-party for the Branham Group. So, let’s go see what’s inside.
I just want to talk to you about the group for Branham—they really liked the silver.
Sure… everybody’s going into that.
Everybody’s going into it–it’s absolutely spectacular—but I also want to budget out the black one that you gave me. It had heavier weight.
I grew up in a very small town where the guidance counsellor comes to you in grade eleven and says: where do you want to go study? what do you want to do?…
I don’t know!! Have you programmed me for anything intelligent? No!
I have a mentor—still to this day—who is from my high school years. I think he gave me the best advice: “
You were really good and really passionate about drama. Go away for a year and study it for a year and do nothing else.
ON SCREEN: tombstone: a trophy or plaque used by a company to recognize an event, deal, or person.
So we are going to see Steve Hudak who is an industrial sculptor. He does some really intriguing work,
and I commissioned him to do this Project Steeltoe for the bank.
Hi. How are you?
Not too bad. How are you doing?
I see they are here…
Yeah.
I didn’t think you were going to have them done. They are great.
These are the two you ordered from before.
Yeah…I didn’t think there were going to be done already, they look good.
I don’t consider myself to be a creative person but I do like creative elements.
So, it gives me the opportunity to work with hugely creative people in their own very distinct niche elements–
a musician, an artist, a sculptor, a graphic designer, a chef—in a very unique venue—a hotel, etcetera—
and pull those different elements together… and I get to play all day long.
My big thing is, what jazzes me, is schedule and budget, and the really boring things—
things done on time, with structure, that are exactly the way I see them unfolding.
So we are in the lobby of the Windsor Arms Hotel and I’m going to take you very quickly into the club.
And there’s Patty.
Hello.
If we could check with the tea room and then we could quickly look at the atrium.
Sure.
Actually one of the things you and I can talk about...
I was unclear about how we see setting up Death by Chocolate, the fifth course and the coffee bar because I see them all as stations…
If you work for an event-planning company you could probably earn anywhere from—on the low end—twenty-seven thousand to—on the high end—forty thousand, maybe fifty.
What do I earn? I earn nothing—I own my company—every single red cent goes back into the company.
Do I consider myself to be successful? Not yet. Do I consider myself to have the ability to be successful? One day.
The event itself is always just very busy and very hectic.
I speak to administrative assistants and office managers a lot. One of the elements I try to give them as a sort of caveat is:
“Make sure you get a lot of sleep three nights before the event, because two nights before the event you won’t be sleeping. “’
If you are really good at what do you, you shouldn’t be sleeping.
You should be checking and rechecking the table seating arrangement—
or is the spelling correct for the president of the something-something company on his little place card and on his name-tag,
and do you have a backup plan if coffee spills on the one on the table and you need it for tomorrow?
After the event is over, and I actually get to sit down, then I have to concern myself with preparing an invoice and getting it out the door.
The best day is when the cheque arrives,
and the next best day is when that same client calls to say “that was absolutely spectacular, and we want to do another event with you�€?.