KELLY LEWIS, FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF FLYING RUBY EVENTS, REVEALS WHAT GOES INTO CREATING THE IDEAL COCKTAIL PARTY. 

What do you get when you combine 990 canapes, 192 glasses of champagne, 258 espresso martinis, 138 VERY excited guests and many, many, many months of planning and waiting? The CEO Magazine’s 2021 Executive of the Year Awards finalists’ cocktail party, of course.

And what an event it was. I have to admit, I’m very proud of the end result. It felt very on-brand for the magazine – from the venue and styling to the food and beverage, everything looked and felt perfect. But the thing that really stood out for me on the night? Just how eager and excited everyone was to experience an actual real-life, in-person event! The atmosphere was truly amazing. So much so, it was something of a struggle to get people to leave at the end of the event. Ha! I think they would have stayed all night if they could.

LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING

But let me first take you back to the beginning, because I really believe one of the most important elements to consider when organising an event is the guests’ arrival – their entry journey – as it sets the tone for everything else that will follow. COVID has obviously impacted this, with its many checks and processes and, as a result, a guest’s entry journey can be tricky to navigate. You have a very short amount of time to impress someone on arrival, and it’s hard to do that when the first thing you’re required to ask is about vaccination certificates. What you really want to do is welcome them, check them in, note any dietary requirements and let them enjoy the evening. But with COVID, the ‘welcome’ has become a little more clunky, to say the least.

So, for this event, we strategically split the entry process over multiple levels. Beginning at the bottom level of the venue, we did the necessary COVID checks before guests moved up to the next level where they enjoyed a much more pleasant experience. The hostesses greeted them, they were offered a drink, they then headed to the media wall for a photo opportunity, before being greeted into the beautiful event space.

CHECK OUT THE CHECK-IN

At this point we used our digital check-in platform, which has become an essential tool for running an event seamlessly. It allows us to know, at all times, how many guests are in the space at any point. During an event, my team are normally split into different roles so, for example, at the cocktail party I managed the food and beverage and stage management, Taleah managed audio visual, photography and videography, Lucy managed styling and guest entry, and Georgia managed sponsor activations and bump-out. We might all be in different areas, but with the digital platform, we can simply look at the check-in app on our phones and know instantly how many people are in the room. This is imperative to a successful event because it allows us to speed up or slow down onstage formalities, or the food and drink service, depending on how many people have arrived. It means we almost have a moving run sheet so we can make sure every guest gets the full experience, from start to finish.

IT’S ALL ABOUT STYLING

Another incredibly important element to consider when organising any event is styling. For The CEO Magazine’s cocktail party, we had multiple meetings with suppliers to ensure we got the styling and furniture right for that particular venue – the Beta Bar – which is a really beautiful event space. It has a very New York loft-vibe, with lots of exposed brick, gorgeous feature arches and doors, and you can definitely overstyle a space like this if you’re not careful. What you want to do is bring the features of that room to life, and then just add pops of styling, so it creates different focal points, but doesn’t actually overwhelm the beauty of the space.

For this cocktail party, we used very simple lighting, minimal branding and instead focused on clean lines, cocktail tables and leaners. The effect was simple but modern – it really complemented the venue. We selected bold flower arrangements, from the wonderful White House Flowers, who did the most amazing job. The final touches were a custom bar and coasters, and branded martinis from our major sponsor, Maserati, to make sure they had ongoing presence on the night.

NOW, THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

With the scene set for an amazing evening, it was also important to find the right kind of entertainment. This can be tricky for an event like The CEO Magazine’s cocktail party. Its objective is to ensure that the finalists of the upcoming Executive of the Year Awards are meeting the judges, sponsors and each other – it’s the ultimate networking event. Because of this, you have to make sure the entertainment isn’t overpowering in any way. A band can be too loud, a DJ a little basic, so we used musician Jake Meadows, who is so incredibly talented. He moves between playing a harp to a guitar, and also uses voice looping. You can hear that it’s live and you can watch him performing on stage, but he doesn’t demand your attention at all times. It’s loud enough to create a vibe, but quiet enough to allow people to chat – he was perfect and quite incredible.

PICTURE THIS…

Someone else we continue to use again and again is our go-to photographer, Scott Ehler. I can’t stress how important is it to work with a good photographer; someone who truly understands events and the importance of the finer details, like making sure the sponsors are happy. A good photographer will make people feel relaxed, convey the right image (in every sense of the word) and continue to tell the story of your event online.

And, at the end of the day, who doesn’t love a cocktail party? It’s an opportunity to get dressed up, drink cocktails, eat canapes and wander around a room chatting to people. The energy at these kinds of events is always so great; people are just really happy to be there. Add to this the fact that at this particular event, the majority of the guests were awards finalists so they were already on cloud nine, and nothing could wipe the smile from their faces… or from mine, for that matter.

To find out how Flying Ruby Events can create a bespoke event or activation for your brand, get in touch HERE.