Project location: Houston, Texas
STRATEGY
The Houston chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global, peer-to-peer network of more than 12,000+ influential business owners with 160 chapters in 50 countries, contacted Coterie Spark to host their annual regional conference.
The April 2016 conference was at the Houston Four Seasons hotel and brought together approximately 250 participants. The multi-day conference had the theme of bringing together entrepreneurs to be educated and to network from the regions that are part of the organization.
EO wanted to focus on selling attendance tickets and sponsorships prior to the event rather than managing vendors and speakers. Coterie Spark was tasked with executing the event so the organization could focus on networking and other associated tasks during the event.
PLANNING
Coterie Spark planned the logistics associated with coordinating 30+ vendors and speakers for a multi-day conference. Coterie Spark worked with multiple vendors and committees to unify many points of view into a cohesive vision and create a seamless flow throughout the conference while bringing everyone’s expertise to the table.
EXECUTION
The Coterie Spark team scheduled meetings and conference calls among the 7 working committees responsible for producing the event to ensure committees were meeting deadlines and each team had the necessary information needed to push forward decisions. Dropbox and Google Docs allowed the Coterie Spark team to provide real-time data to the various stakeholders whenever it was needed and helped to maintain open communication and constant dialog to keep progress moving forward.
On site, Coterie Spark used established vendor and partner relationships to effectively manage client budget and deliver a show that exceeded the expectations of EO.
In managing the on-site needs, travel arrangements, invoicing and show flow logistics for 30+ vendors and speakers for the multi-day event, Coterie Spark was challenged by a flood in Houston 2 days prior to the event, and maintained a 24 hours on-call service to ensure that all speakers and talent arrived and were transported safely prior to the conference.
RESULTS
The client celebrated the huge success of the conference. Solutions implemented by Coterie Spark allowed EO to save money, time and manpower so they could focus on networking with associates, sponsors and colleagues during the event. Coterie Spark is now producing the EO conference for 2017 in Austin, Texas and has become a part of the EO team.
CLIENT FEEDBACK
“Coterie Spark provided a level of insight and professionalism that goes beyond any typical rating system. Amazing doesn’t describe what they did for our 3-day event for 250+ entrepreneurs, twenty speakers, 5 musical acts, 4 venues, transportation, lodging and more. They executed flawlessly. Coterie Spark turned it up to an eleven!!!” Mark Martin, Chairman, EO Round UP 2016, US Central Region Conference
“As we started planning our event we didn’t even think about having an event planner. Coterie Spark was referred to us and I don’t know how we would have pulled it off without them. From the big picture planning to the block and tackling they had the event mapped. Where Rebecca, Candace and team shined was on game day, where “grace under pressure” describes this group. If you asked me if I would hire them again, I would tell you ABSOLUTELY!” Josh Jacobs, Principal, Edge Realty Partners
“’Event planning doesn’t describe what Coterie Spark delivers. They create once-in-a-lifetime experiences – where every detail is perfectly executed. I can’t wait to work with Candace and Rebecca and their team again!” Winnie Hart, President, TwinEngine, Author of “Stand Out: Tools to Manage the 8 Fundamentals of Standing Out in Business”
