Wedding MBA in Las Vegas
Over the past 5 years, Bow Tied Weddings has learned a lot. From being a single operator in 2014, to a multi-operation in Virginia in 2017, and a regional business in 2019, our business has become a model for growth. We were very successful in Virginia and when we decided to expand in 2018, it came with some challenges. After attending Wedding Wire World DC in Spring 2018, we came to understand our real value in the wedding industry. In the Spring of 2019, we attended the Wedding Pro Experience Charlotte where we learned to develop a new way to share our brand to our couples. Our third Wedding Industry Conference had it’s most profound impact, and that is Wedding MBA in Las Vegas.
On October 13th, after visiting our DJs in Atlanta and then a wedding in North Carolina (which ended in Fireworks), Matthew jetted to Las Vegas for both his first visit to Sin City and his first attendance of Wedding MBA, the nation’s largest conference for Wedding Professionals. Having attended a couple other conferences already, we kind of knew what to expect of the three day event. Boy we’re we in for a treat. We learned all the things.
The first day was geared toward specialty, so we attended three DJ specific seminars. Our biggest takeaway from the day was Jason Jani’s talk on Weddings Vs. Clubs, the differences and the similarities. Coming from a mixed background of bars and college parties, we already knew a few of the differences and similarities, but Jason really hammered it home. The Club (and bar) environment is completely different from a Wedding. You hardly need to MC the night, there isn’t really any ceremony to it (as in formalities), and you need to cycle out the dance floor so people go get drinks (so the club makes money). College parties, more specifically Sorority Formals, have a lot more similarity with a Wedding Reception. There IS need for a master of ceremonies, you do need to help guide the evening’s formalities, and once dinner is over, it’s non-stop dance party until the venue kicks everyone out. Same goes for a Wedding Reception, just at a greater scale. Jason did a great job of highlighting how the Club DJ needs to “know when to turn up and when to chill”, as he put it, because people expect more from a Wedding DJ.
The second day was mix of trends, task management, and teamwork. Timothy Chi the CEO of the now merged The Knot and Wedding Wire filled us in with past and future trends of the Wedding Industry that were very insightful. This was probably the most attended seminar of the entire conference. Nadia Anderson of Virginia Grace Events, and a Certified Professional Accountant, gave an expert talk on accounting for wedding professionals. Susan Southerland of Just Events, took it a step further on how to budget your accounting. Caroline Fox, a wedding industry attorney, gave excellent instruction on contracts. Kelli Daab with the Wedding Industry Institute gave us some cool tools for task management and organization. And finally our favorite seminar of the day was Andrea Eppolito, a Las Vegas elite event planner. She talked about creating an elite team of vendors so that each event has consistency. More than that, she talked about how every vendor needs to “Always Be On Brand”, which we really took to heart, being that we wear Bow Ties. But the most influential part of her conversation helped us realize that we can elevate our brand to a higher value and really set ourselves apart as a niche service. We’ll be working on that in the months to come. And then that night, she worked with WeddingPro (the vendor side of The Knot & Wedding Wire) and planned an epic party for wedding professionals. You had to go on a scavenger hunt to get an invite, you were greeted by elegant street performers, there was a band (Georgia Bridgewater) outside (9pm to 11pm, and DJ Jason Jani inside (10pm to Midnight). It was a great opportunity for networking and throwing down with the best in the industry.
The third and final day, which admittedly started off a little hungover after Eppolito’s Epic party the night before. there was another DJ breakout session in the morning, followed by a great chat by Alan Berg on how to remain competitive in saturated markets. The afternoon was highlighted by Rich Cranston of Encore Events who really hammered home our thought to transition from agent sales to booking sales (essentially instead of handing the client over to the DJ before they book, we’ll be doing that after the client books). And of course one of our favorites, who has been a couple conferences we have attended, Terrica Skaggs, an event planner in Georgia, whimsically discussed the art of negotiating with clients. She may or may not have given Matthew a massage on stage as part of her demonstration. We love her.
Needless to say, we learned a lot at Wedding MBA and we made a lot of friends. We have already signed up to attend in 2020. Follow along for more as we work to implement our newly found knowledge. Cheers!