What I Learned at #ElevateDC – The BizBash Event Planner Conference | Graphic Recording, Visual Notes - Washington, DC

Last Wednesday I attended the annual BizBash Elevate Conference. Bizbash is an idea and resource hub for event planners. The conference was held at the illustrious Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC.

I pay attention to detail and let me tell you, I was so impressed to walk thru the auditorium and there was David Adler, the founder of BizBash reaching out to shake my hand and thank me for attending. In a time when we are heads down in our phones – texting and tweeting, it was a pleasant surprise for him to offer a smile and a handshake. That will always stand out in my book!

Our day kicked off with a keynote from Ben Parr, the author of Captivology. He shared some gold nuggets about attention triggers and memory. All critical things to know if you want to captivate your audience, your attendees, or your client. Here is my sketchnote from his talk.

After the keynote, I went to the AOL breakout session where they gave us an inside look at how they leverage branding. Their ideas were high tech and high touch, with an emphasis on multiple touch points. For example for Cannes Lions 2016, AOL used creative branding in their catering, elevator doors, and in the swimming pool

Check out dessert, tasty and a beautiful presentation.

Next up, time for the luncheon. During our lunch, I learned so much about the PIC. No, I don’t mean PIC as in picture. I mean PIC as in the Presidential Inauguration Committee. Learning the ins and outs of planning for the inauguration was amazing.

After lunch, I attended 5 Ways to Crush Every Event Challenge, presented by Univision. Paulina Tapia’s gave some great ideas on how to save money and be creative in re-using your marketing and promo items.

The closing session was all about trends and the best ideas from coast to coast. The editors shared tons of unique ideas to shake it up for attendees to return to your event. One of my favorite ideas was using coloring books at events. If it has to do with coloring and drawing, I’m all in!

I want to give a shout-out to some of the great people I met like Nicole Gallub at Pelonkey, Vinh Nguyen and Corey Frank at FoundryCrew, Stacey Powell Williams, Kea Taylor at Imagine Photography, Joe Felperin at CadmiumCD, Ghana Odet Wilson at Film Life, ilana Moreno at Linder Global, Khadija Campbell and Vanessa Gibson at AUSA, Angelique Agutter at dimarva events, Sarah Peterson at Woolly Mammoth, Brittney Lanni at O’Keefe Communications, Craig Weisbaum and Kaitlyn McNaney at Talkingtree Creative, Veronica Carter at GBTA, and Latoya Lewis at Envent U.

Have you attended a BizBash event? Tell me about it. Please comment and share 🙂

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Lisa

Visual Thinker | Graphic Recorder | Sketchnote Artist at See In Colors

Lisa Nelson loves combining art with life. She is the Founder and Chief Visual Strategist of See In Colors where she leads a team that designs, facilitates, and captures conversations with hand-drawn pictures. By blending the power of visuals, communication and project management, Lisa helps organization have impact for social change. See In Colors is based in the Washington, D.C. area and serves clients world-wide.