Picture this: You are attending an opening breakfast for an event, and suddenly, you hear music that’s worthy of a dance club—a DJ is spinning tunes as you enjoy your omelet. During a break, you and your colleagues play arcade games, or you head to a wellness area for some much-needed rest and revitalization. And you can’t get enough of the performances put on by professional dancers and actors during the event. You may well be attending an event by one of these visionary Illinois planners.
This is the kind of gathering that Anthony Navarro, creative director at Liven It Up Events, throws. With offices in both Chicago and Los Angeles, Navarro is one of those innovative, hip planners who is taking the industry by storm, and he joins the ranks of fellow trailblazers who are shaking up meetings and events.
Long gone are the days of cucumber finger sandwiches and PowerPoint presentations with seemingly no end in sight. Instead, these reinvigorated events are powerhouses of fun, filled with the fresh and unexpected.
For instance, instead of “checking boxes,” as Michelle Durpetti, founder of Chicago’s Michelle Durpetti Events, calls it, she sees every event through the lens of “experience and energy.” That is something that Jodi Wolf, CEO of Chicago’s Paulette Wolf Events, centers on as well, saying that she doesn’t just produce meetings, but instead notes, “We shape experiences that move industries forward.” Meanwhile, Akeshi Akinseye, CEO of Kesh Events and author of “The Art of Celebrating: Inspiration and Ideas for Meaningful Gatherings,” serves clients in Chicago and worldwide by shifting the conversation from trend-driven events—instead, she’s all about “meaningful, impactful, and experience-led celebrations.”
Often the most innovative planners fundamentally do things differently, focusing on experiences rather than fly-by-night, standard food, beverage, and decor. And this is something that resonates with attendees. Illinois Meetings + Events chats with several of the state’s top meeting planner trendsetters.
Fresh & Innovative
There are some top buzzwords surrounding innovation in the meetings industry right now, and they include “culture,” “engagement,” “storytelling,” and “meaningful.” And, of course, clever uses of technology also come into play.
As Wolf sets out to innovate an event, she takes time to understand each client’s brand, which is another trending buzzword. This branding, which injects the distinctive personality of each company and client into an event, can come in the form of interactive elements, as Wolf calls them. She often turns to things like virtual environments and interactive apps, things she says create immersive experiences.
For The Nature Conservancy (based in Arlington, Virginia) 60th Anniversary Gala, Wolf shares that a tech-enabled environment set the scene, complete with images and video mapping on the ceiling of the venue.
“We used projection mapping to enliven and animate the surroundings of the attendees,” says Wolf. “At the appointed hour, a buffalo stampede was unveiled above the audience with a drumline to direct attendees’ attention to the front of the stage for the brief program.”
Music has been a tried-and-true staple for all types of events, and Akinseye likes to integrate it in unanticipated ways. She says, “I love to curate the musical experience and create transitions between spaces that shift the mood, energy, and design in a way that feels intentional. I also like moments of surprise and delight; a surprise dance or entertainment between courses is always a hit.”
Some innovative planners squarely focus on attendee activities. For example, Navarro recently turned traditional caricatures on their head by having attendees drawn in high-fashion ensembles, and additionally through something he calls sketchbots, “where you take a selfie at a photo station, and a robot then sketches you.” He also isn’t afraid of unforeseen themes. Once reserved only for raves, an LED “glow party” orchestrated by Navarro included glowing games, luminous cocktails, and incandescent bartops.
“Unconventional venues are another fun way to engage attendees and get them excited about attending,” Wolf points out, who has held events at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Navy Pier, and Soldier Field. Navarro says that he recently activated Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and was able to use the full roster of entertainment used during the NBA’s Indiana Pacers basketball games, “including the drum corps, cheerleaders, an acrobatic dunk team, pyrotechnics, and the team’s mascots,” he says.
While these visionaries do things in their own ways, they have one thing in common: They’re not tied to the trends. “We always start with people, not Pinterest,” Durpetti says, about understanding clients’ visions. “Our job is to listen and build from that rather than applying a formula.”
The Creative Spark of Visionary Planners
So, how do these game-changers come up with these grand plans to innovate meetings? Well, as Wolf says, she starts with a blank canvas. “Since no two clients are the same, their meetings shouldn’t be either,” she says. “We design each program from the ground up based on brand, audience, and objectives. We break up the expected with strategic energy shifts throughout the day, interactive personalized touch points, movement-based activations, and special guest appearances, turning the meeting into part of the journey.”
Durpetti has planned galas and many other corporate events that have featured live performances on expansive stages and even a bevy of performers wearing feather-festooned headpieces. She always starts with avoiding “what has typically been done.”
“Instead, we start with intention, what this should feel like, and what people should walk away remembering,” she describes. “From there, every decision is filtered through that lens.” For Akinseye, she likes to think about the five senses, whether that’s through culinary experiences, entertainment, decor, architecture, or cultural moments.
Taking Risks
Innovation isn’t innovation without taking some risks, and those risks can be personal from planner to planner. Wolf shares that she recently hired Jim Karas, a Chicago fitness trainer who owns a well-known weight-loss management firm in the city, to “transform a traditional meeting break into an energizing experience getting attendees up, moving, and recharged while reinforcing the values of fitness and healthy living,” creating a “literal shakeup” of their meeting. Even though it was a bit outside the norm for a movement break, Wolf says it was a “wildly successful risk.”
For a closing-night award ceremony, Navarro says he took a risk by placing unique performance acts throughout the event, which included high-energy dance numbers, atmospheric acts, and a roller-skating duo who had appeared on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”
“After the show concluded, various high-level team members came up to us and told us that we should have sold tickets to that show, because it was award-worthy in and of itself,” he says.
Some planners find it risky when they put themselves out there in a way they are unaccustomed to. For Durpetti, that was launching a YouTube channel focused on the world of event planning. “It felt time-consuming and vulnerable, and there is always a level of uncertainty when you are putting your voice out there in a new way,” she says. “But it has become an incredibly rewarding platform. I started receiving inquiries from it, and it allows me to communicate directly and honestly, educating both clients and fellow creatives.”
Words of Wisdom From Trailblazing Planners
Through their intrepidness, these change-making planners are bringing about positive evolutions, both in the industry and among clients who discover that there are fresh, forward-thinking ways to go about meetings. Navarro says that raising of the bar has resulted in better, even more creative experiences, and attendees who “get a taste of happiness.”
He says, “They feel inspired, and they bring that back out to the world. When they do this, they start having a positive effect on other people, and then it just has a chain reaction.” If such a chain reaction is something that you would like to start fueling through your own innovative events, these visionary planners have some invaluable pieces of advice.
Firstly, Wolf maintains it’s important to have honest, collaborative conversations early. “Share exciting, creative ideas, but frame them within the client’s objectives, budget, and audience expectations,” she advises. “When clients understand the why behind innovation, they’re far more open to embracing it.”
Durpetti says it’s key to trust your creativity, instincts, perspective, and points of view, since those are “differentiators” that distinguish your work. She adds, “Build a team that challenges you, supports you, and elevates the work. Creativity doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in collaboration.”
Navarro notes meeting planners shouldn’t bite off more than they can chew, and to learn how to tackle event elements in multiple stages. “Progress with your clients as you gain more experience and add a little bit every time you produce an event,” he recommends. “If you overpromise—and you either do not have the vendor resources to accomplish it or the experience to produce it properly—even though you have all of these fun and unique ideas, they might not execute all that well.”
Lastly, Akinseye says, “Find what you are good at and use that as your superpower. And don’t be afraid of your ‘crazy’ ideas—they are usually the best ones.”
