Three of the Greatest Events Ever Planned

What makes a great event? Good food? Quality guests? Ambiance? The venue? Whatever it is, you want your event to be a success. You want people to be awed, inspired and impressed enough to talk about it for weeks. And you want it to serve the event purpose that it set out to serve.

If it is a corporate event, you need to make sure that you don’t sway away from the brand’s image in order to make the event more creatively appealing, and of course to remain within the budget to eventually get a return on your investments. If it is a personal event, then you want it to reflect your personality and individuality, and you want it to be the most special day ever, not only for yourself but also for your guests.

But how do you pull that off? How do you inspire people? How do you connect to them emotionally? How do keep people in awe through the entire event?

Ask any quality event planner and they’d tell you that the secret is to inspire yourself first, to emotionally connect to the occasion, and to hire a team who knows how to take your ideas and objectives and make them reflect in your event. And if you are looking for a little more inspiration, then following are three events that succeeded in making a huge impact.

London Olympics Opening Ceremony

Nothing does it like the Olympic events. Olympics are no longer just a sporting event, they are an expression of the hosting country’s culture and a representation of their creative abilities. The 2012 Olympics in London is a perfect example of how poetry, literature, films, history, traditions and even pop culture were perfectly amalgamated to present a show which was no less than magical.

But it takes a lot to make such an event possible. From Mary Poppins dispensed in mid-air and changing scenarios from old Britain to New Britain to David Beckham carrying the flame on a speed boat, the event spelled of perfect execution. Needless to say, it is no easy task. It requires more than just a creative person to pull something like that off. It requires thorough planning, timing and a team of dedicated professionals who pay attention to the tiniest of details. If there is anything you can take away from the London Olympics 2012, it definitely has to be attention to detail and going back to the basics for inspiration.

images from olympic.org

iPhone Launch 2007

Technology is fast moving and ever-changing. Steve Jobs’ Apple has consistently been on the cusp of those changes, turning products we didn’t know we wanted into ones we can’t live without. The iPhone was the pioneering Smartphone, and still consistently ranks at the top of Smartphone lists. Apple now calls the first generation ‘obsolete’. It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since its launch. It goes to show how quickly technology is advancing.

And that’s exactly what its launch on 9th January 2007 promised and offered. Steve Jobs had opened the launch event saying, “This is the day I have been looking forward to for two and a half years.” He was inspired, and the feeling was contagious.

It helped that the screen popped up on time, the lighting was perfect to make sure that the guests were only focused on every word that he said and followed him through the journey he narrated. He talked about the first Mac computer, the invention of mouse and his competitors. But it neither sounded like a history lesson nor a bashing of the competition.

The one takeaway from the first IPhone launch it is to make sure that your audience follows your every word without being distracted, something that is only possible with the right ambiance and use of technology.

images from engadget

Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Remember when Kate Middleton stepped out in the Sarah Burton wedding dress on the 29th of April 2011? The world was watching them, so everything needed to be perfect. And when it comes to a Royal affair, it pretty much was. From showing the ceremony live at Westminster Abbey to the journey back to the castle, the execution was spotless. The budget of $33 million may not match up to the $115 million wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, but it was just as spectacular.

To handle hundreds of thousands of spectators and keep the security in check while retaining the traditional and personal value of the event was definitely a job well done. What you can take away from this is to retain the essence of the event, whether personal or corporate, while at the same time incorporating the needs of the changing times.

images from harpersbazaar.com

Other famous big events to check out for inspiration are Super bowl halftime shows, the Academy Awards, movie premieres and red carpet events, and launch events of high profile gadgets.