Tribble Creative Group Blog
TCG: A Meeting Planner’s Personal Trainer?
Posted by Amanda Pagliarini | June 2008
The summer I spent abroad in Italy, I enjoyed myself. When the airline informed me that my luggage had been accidentally rerouted back to Rome at my layover in Brussels, I was unconcerned. I was sporting the only garment that still fit me out of my 4 suitcases of clothes.
This would be a temporary set back to most, but in my world it was a great tragedy. I was a dancer. Putting on weight is the equivalent of an artist breaking both hands, it renders you useless, and more importantly, without work.
I was back in the gym immediately. Several weeks of daily workouts weren’t putting a dent into the damage I had caused. Trust me when I say I wasn’t one of those people at the gym who glided along on the elliptical while scanning through a magazine. When I worked out, I worked out.
After several conversations with my fellow gym goers, I decided to hire a personal trainer. I was resistant at first. I figured trainers were for unmotivated, out of shape people, or worse, rich people who just wanted someone to pay attention to them. I was neither of these, and more than anything, I wasn’t rich. I was a college student!
Over and over again I was told about Reddix, a trainer whose name sounded more like an energy drink than a person. His reputation preceded him, and his clients looked amazing. When he quoted this particular college student at $60 an hour and told me he wanted to see me 3 times a week, I laughed. I couldn’t argue with the fact that I was doing was not working though, and my frustrations were mounting. I bit the bullet.
I was amazed at our very first session. A lot of the exercises he did with me were exercises I did myself, but the sequence and pace of repetitions changed. There seemed to be more a method to what he was having me do, and my body could tell the difference. Even more fascinating was that he accomplished in one hour a more grueling workout than I was able to pull off in my normal hour and a half to two hour routine.
Not only was Reddix making my workouts more effective, he made them more enjoyable. I looked forward to catching up and chatting with him. He also kept me accountable in between our workouts. He wasn’t just working out with me 3 times a week; he was providing me with a complete, professional, comprehensive program to help me reach my goals.
The penny pinching and part time job I got to fund this whole experience all paid off when another woman in the gym came up to Reddix after our workout and said, “I want you to do to my body what you’ve done to hers.” Reddix hadn’t gotten me to my pre-Italy body. He completely reshaped my physique and gave me an even better body than I had ever had. I thought I just wanted to be thinner. I never knew I could be thinner, leaner, stronger, and more defined. And his professional experience actually afforded me less time in the gym, and more time living my life.
I tell this story, because this is precisely the story one of our clients told me in describing her experience working with us. Overwhelmed with an already full plate, coupled with expectations that seemed unattainable, this client came to Tribble Creative Group for help with her annual program that had lost its “zest.” Hesitant to dip into her already tight budget to outsource this, she also “bit the bullet” operating on the faith that we’d live up to our reputation.
Much like my experience with Reddix, she immediately knew she had made the right decision when after their first meeting she received a timeline from her project manager, outlining all important deadlines, meetings, and the order in which the planning process would flow. She told me that as she plugged these dates into her Outlook calendar, she felt herself exhale, feeling confident and well-informed. Her brain was just allowed extra space for the multitude of other projects she had on her plate.
In addition to enjoying the less stressful process, the real return on her investment was in the results. Incorporating new elements into her event – soft seating to replace standard classroom style seating; short, compelling video segments to transition tracks; a lighting concept that transitioned throughout the day; and customized entertainment that complimented the theme; she had exceeded the high expectations set forth by senior management. As she put it, the best part of all was receiving all of the praise!
The day the woman approached Reddix about wanting the results he had given me, was probably the greatest testament to his work. It was also, Tribble Creative Group’s tag line, lived out loud.
Our work speaks for itself. Let it speak for you.
Now would probably be a good time to get back in the gym.
TCG Steers Grand Opening for Levine Children’s Hospital
Posted by Cassie Brown | December 2007
Hearing “The elephant is stuck” over the two-way radio is a bit of a surreal experience.
It was 8:30 A.M, an hour before the last four events celebrating the grand opening of Levine Children’s Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center (CMC). A year of planning meetings stressed the importance of not blocking Medical Center Drive, and now after days of nearly flawless events, the elephant truck was in the middle of the road. The wrecker was at least 30 minutes away. Stopped cars with frustrated drivers lined the road.
But when the elephant walked out of the trunk into the parking lot, the grumbles switched to laughter. When the second elephant appeared, the camera phones came out. The elephants waited patiently in the parking lot of the CMC while the technicians from Audio Ethics pulled the tractor-trailer out with a forklift.
The more than 1,200 hours put in by Tribble Creative Group to plan the hospital’s grand opening events were an exhilarating experience. The numerous logistical particulars, tiniest event details, and the challenges involved with holding multiple events in the middle of hospital property made it all the more interesting.
The series of events surrounding the opening had to be as spectacular and relevant as the hospital itself. In a span of just five days, the Tribble staff managed four very different events. A cocktail party for 350 to honor the hospital physicians kicked off the whirlwind. Two days later, there was a 650-person gala dinner, recognizing the biggest donors, followed the next night by another donor party for 800. Finally, a ribbon cutting celebration was held on Saturday, October 20, 2007.
Tribble partnered with a host of vendors who spent countless hours working through logistics of seemingly impossible tasks. Events only become successful because of the teamwork among numerous individuals and organizations. The AV equipment company rescuing the elephants is vendor collaboration at its finest.
The buzz for the grand opening was created the week before the actual events when the venue for the week’s activities- a 15,000-square-foot tent- was erected in the parking lot. The lot operated as a small city with its own auxiliary services. Light pools were removed. Nine generators provided power to eight tents and mobile kitchens. The event required almost every permit the city requires for special events. Vendors worked around the clock on set-up. After the gala dinner, Party Reflections removed all the tables and chairs and replaced with them with soft seating.
Tent installations began October 8 and completed October 14. The clear-roof tent was floored and carpeted with heating and air conditioning capabilities, and the clear rood created a greenhouse effect, making the tent extremely hot during the day. Once the sun started setting, the tent cooled off so much the AC was not needed.
With décor elements such as ice curtains, a lighted dance floor, soft seating, three-foot white Phalaenopsis orchid centerpieces, and an overall lighting design that changed continuously throughout the evening, no details was ignored. Guest also enjoyed performances by Dionne Warwick, Wonder Bread 5, Incognito, and GT All Stars.
There were also touches that showcased the central theme of children. On the evening of the gala dinner, guests were escorted to their tables by children wandering through the crowd. For dessert, guests were served a plated version of build-your-own ice cream sundaes.
Due to the enormity of the tent, design elements had to be created to fill the room. The Tuesday evening event used ice curtains to make a large space intimate. Todd Dawson with Ice Occasions installed four curtains, with each curtain having 17 strands and literally weighing a ton. Each strand had 25 individually cut ‘ice diamonds’ for a total of 1,800 pieces of ice. The 14’ x 8’ wide curtain illuminated by LED lights was hung on a truss.
One of the major challenges involved designing four separate events in a huge space on a limited budget, so rentals and design elements were shared at each event to keep the costs down. John Lupton of Elements Design creatively re-used florals and lanterns. Individual potted orchid centerpieces on Tuesday night were grouped together for the large centerpiece arrangements on Thursday night. These centerpieces were rebuilt as large bar arrangements for Friday night’s event. Large silk lanterns hung over some of Thursday dinner tables as centerpieces. For Friday night, they were utilized over seating areas to create a club-like atmosphere.
The event ended with a circus-themed ribbon cutting let by a ringmaster, and of course, Mykea, the elephant. After dignitaries and elected officials delivered their congratulatory remarks, the Levines, the Hendricks, and Christa Overcash assisted the children’s choir in cutting the ribbon to officially open the hospital.
The Levine Children’s Hospital Grand Opening Event won “Best Non-Profit Event” and “Best Tented Event” for the 2007/2008 EVIE Award, as recognized by the International Special Events Society (ISES), and continues to be one of the most talked about experiences ever for Tribble Creative Group.