IFAI Convention

Day 2:

The golf outting was a lot of fun. Our team (me, my dad, Mike from Snyder, Linc from Versaidag) finished 3 under par. We had a blast and most importantly, we were able to get out and golf for the first time in about 3 months.

Following the golf outting, members got together for a meet and greet. It was a great opportunity to introduce ourselves to new members and to catch up with old friends. The event was held at the Tiki bar on the premises of the Tradewinds Hotel and Resort. Pretty intimate location and a great spot for the networking event.  At the meet and greet they handed out the awards for the golf tournament. I was disappointed that we didn't win (the winning team was 11 under par), but I was thrilled that we weren't awarded the last place consolation prize either.

The day was capped off by a nice dinner and conversation with friends, both new and old.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow where the exhibition tents will be set up in the parking lot in front of the resort. A pretty heavy storm is supposed to blow through the area. It will be interesting to see which companies feel confidently enough about their products to leave them up in the high winds.

IFAI Tent Convention

Day 1:

Every year the IFAI puts on a conference for its members to convene for discussions about industry trends, recent successes as well as opportunities for the member companies to respond to market challenges. There is also a very important day of golf. 

Any business convention of sorts is anticipated to include a handful of scheduled items. For example, informational sessions in which experts dictate the proper way to analyze business. There are always awards portions of these events where people are recognized for outstanding achievements and projects in the past year. After the daily sessions are over, the hotel bar is usually the final meeting room of the day where each company representative tells tall tales about his year and the jobs he’s worked on.

Taking most of these stories with a grain of salt is important but its important to not tune them out all together. Filtering out the more fantastic and unrealistic of the details can shed light onto the underlying base of work your competitors and peers are working on. Most companies generally tell the truth about who they are working with and what products are installed at events (as these details are generally easy to prove). The matter in which these products are set up and are used is where stories start to get a little out of hand. 

The ability to sift between the bravado and the basics is where the real learning happens. You can easily benchmark yourself against other companies of similar size. Figure out what types of business you need to do to compete with companies twice your size. You can learn what investments must be made in product offerings and employee training.

After I arrive in Tampa and depart my plane, pick up my golf clubs from the baggage check, hit up the rental car counter and make my way to the Tradewinds, you’ll see me cozied up to the bar doing some market research.

Sliante!

Mark

Cultural Celebrations

As long as cultures have had reasons to celebrate, they have used tents in those celebrations. Tents have been used a way to protect from inclement weather, or to celebrate religious customs, or even to create a unique event space.

For example, in the Jewish culture, the wedding ceremony is held under a chuppah as a symbol of the new home the couple will build together. All sides of the chuppah are left open just as Abraham and Sarah left their tent open to show unconditional hospitality to their guests.

Seen in a great amount of Indian weddings are tents called shamianas. Shamianas are decorated lavishly in grand colors like Red and Gold to show the great esteem in which the bride and groom are held. Along with amazing colors, tents are generally decorated with patterned fabrics and lighted with lanterns and candles. Usually incense is burned as well. All of your senses are stimulated to help create a memory that will last a lifetime.

O'Neil has had the fortune of working with communities like the Indian community, as well as several others, in central Ohio for several years. We try our best to learn the intricate customs that make each culture special in their celebration. It is this reason that we are proud to take part in Ohio's first ever South Asian Bridal show on February 20th of this year.

We are planning a display tent that will show off varying colors and patterns. We hope to show that O'Neil is ready, willing and able to work with the many diverse cultures in the central Ohio area.

For more information on the bridal show, please visit http://www.osabridal.com/index.html

Industry Trends

When it comes to tent events in the state of Ohio, O'Neil Tents and Party Supplies does our best to stay on top of what is current. We strive to offer what it is our customers need to make their events as successful as possible. We do this through attending various trade group meetings as mentioned in our previous blog post, but also through trade publications.

One of the best tent rental publications available is called In Tents magazine. In Tents is a comprehensive source for all aspects of the rental business. From sales ideas to best accounting practices, In Tents covers it all. One piece we always look at though is the project spotlight (please follow the link at the bottom of the page to view). The project spotlight section shows what our peers have been working on and shows the direction the industry is headed.

Another great section is the Trend Watch. Whether its how to get the most out of you tent liner, or creative ways to light a canopy, the Trend Watch keeps O'Neil Tents on the cutting edge of tented events in Ohio.

Project Spotlight: http://intentsmag.com/events/projectbriefs
Trend Watch: http://intentsmag.com/events/trendwatch

Why Join Trade Associations?

Whether you work in manufacturing, insurance, or some other area, chances are that there is an association of trade professionals for your field. These groups meet sometimes monthly, other times annually to discuss current events, trends and issues that may affect your company or the way your company operates. They aren't cheap to join and the meetings are definitely not free. So why join?

O'Neil is a member of 3 rental related groups. We are members of the International Special Events Society (ISES), the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) Tent Rental Division, and the American Rental Association (ARA). We join these groups for a couple of distinct reasons.

First, trade groups help keep us on the cutting edge of the event industry. Groups like ISES pull together professionals representing many disciplines like production companies, party planners, caterers, photographers, etc... When all of these people get together they talk about what's next in their profession. They let us know where the direction their markets are heading. This is helpful to O'Neil because we can take their feedback and see how or if we should change our product offering to accommodate the newest trends.

Joining a group that is more industry specific like the Tent Rental Division in IFAI still provides cutting edge information. The main benefit here though is that we can judge if we are up to par with other companies that we may or may not be competing against. By comparing our operation with other industry specific companies, we can benchmark things like:

1. Do our installation practices need improvement?
2. Are our safety precautions are up to date?
3. Is our manufacturing operation as efficient as it should be?
4. Is there equipment that we should be using that we currently are not?

Different than the first two organizations, the ARA brings together rental companies from all aspects of industry. Where the Tent Rental Division only includes tent companies, ISES only involves event planners, the ARA includes companies that rental heavy equipment, furniture, heating and cooling, and many more. This group helps to offer perspective into the way our business is structured, the way we work with end users as well as other companies, and different ways to look at the rental process from a business perspective.

Each of these organizations is important to the way we do business. Over all, they help us to make sure we're on our game in terms of what we're doing. But when you break down the individual benefits from each group, they are each rewarding in unique ways for O'Neil.

Don't over-sell or under-sell; Just sell.

One thing that will make any event a success is getting the details just right. It's one thing to take an order from the customer and deliver their goods on the agreed upon day; However, it's a completely different thing to avoid coming up short of customer expectations.

Each customer has an image in their head about how everything should look once a job is finished. It is the job of the event professional to make sure we get as close to that image as possible with our installations. The best way to meet expectations is to develop strong communication before the job even takes place. If we can communicate what our equipment looks like and what its capable of doing, the customer will more than likely be happy with the results upon delivery.

There may come a time that a chair or table may have picked up a little dirt and needs to be replaced. Those things happen. This is when strong communication comes in most handy. It's easier at this point to let the customer know that you will replace the item and make everything right. The customer will trust that you'll fix the problem because you've been able to deliver on what you've promised so far. There is no reason, in their mind, that you won't be able to fix a little problem. You haven't promised them the moon and not delivered anything.

Some people are of the opinion that you should sell your capabilities a little bit short to the customer. This way when you over deliver, you look amazing. To O'Neil though, it just seems like you're telling the customer: "We aren't that great. Don't expect too much." This is no way to develop a reputation as being reliable.

When I go on sales calls representing O'Neil Tents & Party Supplies to our customers, I try to give them the most realistic expectations as possible. I have no problem highlighting areas in which we've surpassed expectations. This isn't over-promising or over-selling. Its being honest about our experience and what we're capable of. Because we've surpassed expectations time and again, customers know we will go the extra mile to make their upcoming event a success.

September Recap

Long time no post. We're coming back from our busiest time of the year, and we've been a part of some pretty fantastic events. O'Neil was a part of the New Albany Classic, Delaware County Fair, the Michigan Irish Music Festival, the Country Living Expo, the Bob Evans Farm Festival, corporate events for Columbus companies, tailgate events for The Ohio State University Alumni Association, as well as hundreds of other events and parties.

It used to be that the end of our busy season was setting up and taking down the Fairfield county fair. Anymore we're pushing full steam ahead into October with tailgates, weddings, and other corporate events. Its great seeing an empty lot next door when its normally full of trucks waiting for a job to deliver.