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Check out the most recent editions of our newsletter, fondly known as ‘the opening line …’ and then subscribe below!
IN OVER MY HEAD.
January 2024
GUILTY PLEASURES
February 2024
QUIET ON SET!
March 2024
A TALL TAIL FOR YOU
April 2024
WHEN THE CLOCK WINDS DOWN
May 2024
YOUR HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK
June 2024
Cue the Confetti
September 2024
Just Sayin’
October 2024
Swingers
November 2024
2023 EDITIONS OF 'THE OPENING LINE ...™'
January 2023 – Less. Is. More. 🏀
February 2023 – 867-5309 ☎️
March 2023 – The relief is real. 💧✂️
April 2023 – Once you start, you can’t stop
May 2023 – Melted Butter 🧈
June 2023 – CHATGPT led me astray!
September 2023 – Lessons from the backyard
October 2023 – Reviews – Scary 👻 or Legendary 💪🏼?
November 2023 – What Goes Up ⬆️ Must Come Down ⬇️
December 2023 – It’s been SNOW much fun ❄️
the opening line ...™
JANUARY 2024
I like paper.
There, I’ve said it.
I also like trees, so I try to balance out my love of paper products in the interest of the environment.
Yet, there’s something extra special about a new notepad and the crisp pages of an actual book (no Kindle over here). I adore Post-It Notes and I put a lot of energy into choosing my annual paper planner.
Last year I actually made my own 2023 agenda. It’s a decision that I instantly regretted. I was excited to buy the stickers and colourful paper and I carefully researched bullet journal / agenda layouts. However, when I sat down to tackle the project, I realized I was in over my head.
It took hours, and since I’m not artistic by any stretch of the imagination, I struggled BIG TIME.
Fast forward to this year where I happily purchased a super cute 2024 agenda from Staples and saved myself the agony.
In case you’re old school like me, there’s actually some science behind why paper planners are better than digital ones.
Reason #1: Paper planners are less distracting – no appointment notifications going off. 📱
Reason #2: You remember things better – the act of writing something down helps you to memorize it. ✏️
Reason #3: You’re more motivated – writing helps to clarify our thoughts. 💡
Reason #4: Reduced stress – there’s a link between writing things down by hand and mindfulness. 🧠
I’m definitely not giving up my paper agenda anytime soon. However, my biggest take-away from the DIY agenda project last year was … KNOW WHEN TO OUTSOURCE!
The stupidest part of the project was that I only completed the months of November and December in the fall when I found myself needing to slot in some appointments and events for those two months and I didn’t have any agenda pages made.
I had procrastinated on finishing it because it was a source of stress and anxiety for me. Plus, the end product turned out to be nothing pretty to look at, which annoyed me even further. I’m too embarrassed to include a photo of it in this email.
I’m happily filling in my new 2024 calendar as we speak! Our team does still have some capacity this year for new event production & marketing, marketing / communications, sport tourism, sponsorship strategy, and coaching & training projects.
So, if you’re like me and prefer to outsource when you’re in over your head, please reach out. Our team of sport-inspired and business-driven subject matter experts would be pleased to help!
Happy 2024!
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FEBRUARY 2024
A guilty pleasure is something that you enjoy doing, even though it may be embarrassing, taboo or even shameful for you to admit it.
My February has included A LOT of guilty pleasures.
Like, a lot.
I am guilty of eating ice cream for dinner 🍦, wearing PJs all day on Sundays 🧘🏽♀️, reading too many chick lit novels to count 📚, a tremendous amount of retail therapy 🛍, and so much more.
I spent half of the month in Florida, escaping snow for sun and sand. This was the scene of the crime for most of the guilty pleasure indulgence.
I feel no actual guilt though.
I needed some vitamin D ☀️ and vitamin SEA 🌊 to get me through the winter.
The spring, summer and fall is lining up to be a crazy, exciting and exhilarating time for iSPARK.
Last week we were finally able to announce some hosting news about the Spo Ho Xperience™ event that I’ve been keeping secret for months! Charlottetown in October – in case you missed it.
This is only one of many cool things we have lined up in the coming months.
So, February felt like my last chance to rest up, kick back, and charge those batteries.
In 2024, I’ve committed to embracing the simple joys, guilty pleasures, and the smallest of successes because this brings me happiness along the way. 😄
I’m standing by to hear your own guilty pleasure confessions! What have you been indulging in lately? No judgement …
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MARCH 2024
Last year, at a client event, I pulled a rookie move.
I entered the ballroom where the on-stage production of a client fundraising gala was in progress. My intention was to check on how things were rolling along before turning my attention back to some behind-the-scenes logistics that I was overseeing.
My feet were killing me, so I happily plopped down on a riser where the camera guy was set-up at the back of the room.
Within 3 seconds, Dave, our audiovisual and event technology architect, was whispering in my ear.
‘Don’t move – your body weight is jiggling the camera. As soon as the live feed ends, you need to get up and find a proper place to sit’.
Eeek … what a dumb thing to do!
I am usually quite well-behaved during live production, so this is a faux pas that I’m not living down.
Fast forward almost a year later, and ironically, I’ve been part of more film days in the last 10 months than in the last 10 years of owning iSPARK.
The CREATIVE SERVICES side of our agency is killing it right now –
- a new dynamic landing page for the Spo Ho Xperience™ event
- a marketing video for a new team development service offering by Sheffe Consulting
- this cute little Post-it note clip that’s making the rounds on social media
- a new subscription-based graphic design service that is perfect for small companies and organizations with small budgets, but big design ideas
I even had my own sit-down with our marketing team!
Talk to me about how we can INFUSE YOUR BRAND with energy and increase engagement with our creative approaches to branding and marketing. That would be a really fun way to kick-off Spring!
And, I promise, I’ll hang out quietly in a corner and let the pros on our team do their thing 😊.
Happy Easter!
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APRIL 2024
WARNING: Vegans and animal lovers may be traumatized by the subject matter.
Continue reading at your own risk…
For the last four weeks I’ve been consumed by thoughts of lobster. 🦞
Live ones. Boiled ones. Stuffed ones. Mascot ones. You name it, I’m thinking about lobster pretty much 24/7.
I even dream about it. In my dream, one of them is named CLAWdia. No joke.
Why?
It’s because lobster is the feature act, the headliner, the pièce de la resistance, if you will, at a client event that starts today.
As you’re reading this, I’m packing up my SUV with event supplies and heading out for load-in day. The lobster stress I’m under will likely be totally resolved at this point. But, at the time of penning this (lobster) tail, I’m in a pinch.
You sea, the lobster side of the event got me in a bit of hot water.
First, our lobster mascot costume was lost at sea.
So, I set out to trap me another one, which proved to be a SHELL of a task. After 4 try-ons, I think I finally found one that will work, but it wasn’t without a lot of frustacean.
Getting 400+ fresh Nova Scotia lobsters out of the ocean and onto a plate in Ottawa requires clawsome precision.
We call this part of the project, ‘Operation Crustacean’.
Working with my butter half, Stewart, from Tangier, Nova Scotia, and my other butter half from iSPARK, Dave, we somehow get the little guys on a truck, a plane, another truck, and a dolly before they meet their murderer, the chef at the Westin Hotel.
However, this year, their flight from YHZ to YOW had to be re-scheduled! Even hiring a shellicopter wasn’t an option.
Since the lobster is the star(fish) act, a later arrival would mean the event would be a total lost claws.
As I’m writing this, we still have not sorted out the solution, but since I’m known to be an event prawn-fessional, I’m confident that we’re not going to get caught red-handed and everything will be a lobsterrific success!
Me sharing this story is a little shellfish on my part … I simply needed an outlet for my saltiness on a Sunday morning in April. Tis the (lobster) sea-son after all!
If you’re crackin’ a smile right now, feel free to forward this to all your non-vegan, lobster-loving friends. No pier pressure though.
PS – Have you heard the one about the guy who went into a seafood restaurant and asked the server how they prepared the lobster?
The server got quiet and simply said, “We just tell him the truth, man. ‘This is the end of the line’.”
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MAY 2024
In the dynamic arena of event production, marketing, sponsorship, and sport tourism, I often find myself in a peculiar position.
Our clients, bless their optimistic hearts, gaze at me with wide eyes and fervent hope, and ask us to score the game-winning touchdown with ½ the team injured on the bench and just seconds on the clock.
The thrill of executing that comeback is what typically drives me.
It can also turn me into one of those crazy adrenaline-fuelled fans who ill-advisedly jumps the boards and madly races across the field. We all know how that turns out … getting wrangled by a security guard with the not so good kind of 15 seconds of fame to your name.
I’m approaching my 24-year anniversary as a consultant so I’m no stranger to acting as both a coach and a player armed with strategies, experience, and a well-thumbed playbook.
When the clock is against us, my team is well-versed in the no-huddle offense.
This is a special kind of athleticism – it’s the agility of adjusting the plan, the endurance of perseverance, the mental gymnastics of turning a problem upside down to find the solution, and pure hustle.
It’s truly magical when we can turn a client fumble into the game-winning touchdown.
But the truth is, sometimes we’ve simply been called in too late to make a meaningful difference and all roads lead to the locker room instead of the end zone.
I love a challenge, but sometimes, the client expectations are a bit of a Hail Mary. 🏈
May has been one of those seasons where every game has been a battle to the finish line.
Yes, we’ve had a couple of smooth sailing W’s like the new Sheffe Consulting website project that launched 6 weeks ahead of schedule!
We’re also in the weeds with venue negotiations on four different client events with no signs of imminent success 🙁.
Yes, it feels great to hoist the trophy in those instances when the win is realistic and achievable. It also feels pretty good to have the confidence as both a coach and a player to hit the pause button … to avoid a sack followed by the inevitable concussion.
As we head into summer (and the milestone of 24 years of iSPARK), I’m reflecting on all the wins and losses that have shaped this path of entrepreneurship. Thanks for reading!
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JUNE 2024
Do you remember end of June in high school when the yearbook came out?
Did you flip immediately to the pages where everyone speculated on who would be most likely to realize some amazing milestone or achievement in their future adult life?
How fun would it be to go back and re-read those predictions and then stalk your classmates on social media to see if any of it came true!
Since many of our iSPARK team members have been with me for a long time, I like to think I know most of them pretty well. But there were some surprises when we filmed a cheeky 2024 version of ‘who’s most likely to …’
This is the first of a 4-part series, including a blooper reel, that we’ll be sharing on social media and on our iSPARK website in the coming weeks.
This is an example of a fun exercise you can do with co-workers, teammates, or even your family if you’re gathering for the long weekend.
I was literally falling off my chair (or ROTFL as the cool kids say) when I reviewed the raw footage that had been captured during the filming of this cute little sequence that took place during a 25-minute lunch break on set-up day at a client event.
Smash that play button for some giggles to brighten up your day!
Wishing you a wonderful Canada Day long weekend filled with rest, relaxation, and maybe a little social media creeping. I’ve got you curious about what your high school sweetheart’s been up to, don’t I?
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SEPTEMBER 2024
Remember when you were a kid, and the teacher asked you to talk about (or write about) how you spent your summer holidays?
There was so much pressure to come up with something cool and interesting! I always felt bad for the kid who said they spent their summer sitting on their grandmother’s floral couch watching the Price is Right eating warmed up Campbell’s tomato soup and Goldfish crackers for lunch.
Okay, that was me.
KIDDING!!
I was lucky enough to spend my summers at the beach, riding my bike to my friends’, playing a ton of softball, and eating mostly homemade lunches.
But, this core memory from elementary school got me thinking about how I spent Summer 2024 and how you spent yours!
Let’s discuss.
Here are my highlights!
New Clients 🤝
We quietly welcomed 3 new clients to the iSPARK fam this summer. Can’t wait to share what we’re cooking up!
New Website 💻
Well, it started as a refresh of 2 pages of our site, but quickly blossomed into a glow up courtesy of our talented design team. I am thrilled with how our new online presence tells the story of who we are, what we do, and how we do it!
New Team Members 👋
Our iSPARK roster has been injected with some new talent. View our 2024-25 line-up here.
New Milestone 🎖
August marked 24 years in business. Woah. That got me reflecting on a few things. So, I penned a little something. Check it out here!
New Colours 💛🧡
I did a colour analysis with a stylist this summer and found out that orange is one of my WOW colours. How lucky is that?! You can bet that I immediately filled my closest with every orangey hue I could find (just in time for fall – ).
New Bloopers 🎥
If you’ve ever tried to film your own video content for social media, you know how difficult it is to get everything just right. In the absence of our own video storyteller, Phil, who’s been on daddy duty after the birth of daughter #2, we attempted to DIY it. This blooper reel is all the things!
Hit me up with your summer recap, news, or highlights! Or, feel free to book into my calendar for a 30-min chat about marketing & communications, sport tourism, sponsorship, or event production.
Happy Fall!
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OctoBER 2024
You know how I promise you tips, giggles, and the occasional rant?
Well, this month it’s a rant. A BIG rant.
Here’s the situation … over the last 12 months, I’ve encountered more issues, challenges, and frustrations working with event venues than I’ve experienced over my entire 30+ years in the events business.
Last week when I was prepping content for the sport tourism class that I teach, I realized that I’m becoming de-sensitized to it. Running into roadblocks and hurdles with event venues has become so commonplace in my day-to-day that I’ve come to EXPECT it.
How sad is that!?
This realization hit me as I recounted a story to my class from 1994. Yup – 30 years ago.
My colleague at the time had signed a venue contract on behalf of the professional sports team we both worked for. The team’s owner never paid the bill (the team went bankrupt shortly after he hosted a big party at said venue). My co-worker got personally sued for tens of thousands of dollars related to the venue rental and food and beverage consumed at the event.
Retelling this story to my students brought up a new wave of emotions.
Why does working with an event venue have to be so difficult? Why are there so many hidden costs, complicated contract clauses, and shark-like salespeople in this business?
The venue sh*t that I’ve had to deal with over the last year is both minor inconvenience type of stuff AND major (i.e. pit in the stomach I think I might puke) type of stuff.
Let’s just say I’ve lost a lot of sleep over it (and since I cherish my sleep, this makes it feel so personal to me).
Just sayin’.
To be fair, it’s not all bad. One of my favourite venues to work with in Ottawa is the Westin Ottawa Hotel. They are chef’s kiss on every level.
We’re days away from the Spo Ho Xperience™ event where we’re interacting with 10 venues over 2 days. Next month, we’ll be working with the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee on a series of events involving 6-7 venues within a 3-day window.
I’m manifesting positivity like there’s no tomorrow and hopeful that the last day of October not only marks Halloween, but also an end to my 12-month stint of being haunted by event venues. 👻
If you have a horror story to share, I’m happy to continue the rant (or lend a sympathetic ear).
Happy October!
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November 2024
If you’ve attended an event produced by iSPARK over the last 24 years, you’ve most likely experienced a creative and interactive element that you’ve never seen before or never seen exactly in the way that we presented it.
These wow factor elements are our superpower, and my creative eye is always on the lookout. 👀
So, when the City of Charlottetown mentioned they owned giant LED swings and asked if we would have any use for these at the Spo Ho Xperience™ event last month, my heart skipped a beat 🧡.
Although the swings were a hit, the suitcase scooter activation took things to the next level!
Not to mention our sneaker centrepieces, I Commit postcards, Play-Doh sesh, and the surprise hip hop dance party during the closing session that had the Mayor of Charlottetown grooving to Beyoncé. 🎶
Yup, that happened.
After all that (and so much more – view the 📹 video recap for the full play-by-play), I wondered how we could possibly come up with new ideas that would out-do these ones next year.
Guess what!?
A deep dive on Instagram last night sparked my creativity again, and I am confident that there will be many new unique elements at all our upcoming 2025 events!
Everyone has a creative gene … you just need to tap into it. I find some of my best creative ideas happen in the pool or on a powerwalk. This LA Times article is old, but does a great job of sharing tips on how to bring out your inner creative genius. 🎨
Or, you can reach out to me for a 15-min FREE consult and I’d be happy to toss around some ideas with you! We could even meet up for a little ride on that suitcase scooter 🛴. You won’t regret it.
Happy November!
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Decembr 2024
We got baked in December 🤣
Our amazing team had the recipe for success in 2024. As we wrap up this year, we’re taking time to rest, recharge, and savour the sweetness of the season and hope you are too!
PS – Stay tuned for what we’re cooking up in 2025. It will be butter than ever. 🧈
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JANUARY 2023
I am allergic to clutter – both mental and physical. A new year always feels like the right time to re-channel my inner minimalist.
This all sounds good in theory, right? But what does this really mean in practical terms?
At home it means I usually start the new calendar year by cleaning, editing my possessions, and lots of donating/tossing/recycling.
I uncovered this long-lost newspaper article during the purge …. No judgement please – it was the 80’s!!
At work, it means my office gets a mini make-over and the shredder overheats.
It also means I try to take a step back to contemplate how to do less but also do better. My goal is to find the sweet spot where doing less actually means MORE.
Today, during a webinar on global sponsorship trends for 2023, I had an aha moment on this very topic when the presenter identified sponsorship trend #9 as ‘sponsors sponsoring less but activating more’. I love this because the activation piece of the sponsorship partnership is my favourite part!
It also speaks to the ‘squeeze’ we are all still feeling almost 3 years since the start of the pandemic. Don’t get me started on grocery prices …
The good news is that over in iSPARK land we are cooking up so many new initiatives this year! The team is HYPED and the vibe has never been this high. Keep your eyes on our social channels (X | LinkedIn | Instagram) to follow along and be part of the fun.
As for that Most Improved Player award, I have many things in my life right now that I can credit back to my basketball days. However, I no longer feel the need to keep that newspaper article and the accompanying trophy that I have inexplicably hung onto for close to 40 years. Letting go is refreshing because LESS is the new MORE.
Can you relate?
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FEBRUARY 2023
In 1981, Tommy Tutone recorded a catchy tune about a guy discovering a phone number (purportedly belong to ‘Jenny’) in a bathroom stall. The song is an iconic part of 80’s pop culture and it’s one of my ‘guilty pleasure’ tracks on my playlist.
There are some that say Tommy Tutone was a one-hit wonder with this tune, but the band actually had another hit song the year prior (which technically makes them a two-hit wonder).
Jenny’s # is the world’s most famous phone number. ☎️
It’s also one of the few phone numbers that I still have memorized. Like many others, when cell phones became a thing, I stopped committing telephone numbers to memory. 📱
Over the years, many individuals and businesses have tried to leverage Jenny’s popular phone number in marketing campaigns, only to see it backfire when the # of prank calls or the volume of calls made it impossible to manage.
The use of Jenny’s # is a classic example of nostalgia marketing (the strategy of tapping into positive, familiar concepts from previous decades to build trust for new ideas and reinvigorate modern campaigns). In other words, it’s a tactic of associating your brand with something that customers already love and have fond memories of.
I personally LOVE nostalgia marketing when done right.
Earlier this month, my team started playing around with CHATGPT to see if it would inspire some new messaging for the Evening in the Maritimes event we’re producing for our client, ABLE2, in May. The result of that experiment is documented here.
I couldn’t resist having Riley ask CHATGPT about Jenny.
We’ve been fooling around with all kinds of out of the box marketing ideas lately – some are best left on the cutting room floor, but others will be making their debut later this year. I can’t wait to share it all with you, but in the meantime, if your marketing needs a kick in the ass, for a good time call …*
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MARCH 2023
Last spring my son and I attempted to DIY something that we should’ve left to the pros.
Here’s the story ….
The kitchen faucet broke. I headed to Rona for a replacement part. No bueno.
I hastily purchased a new faucet and headed home with intentions to call a plumber for an install the following day.
My son had another idea. After a glance at the box the faucet came in, he insisted the two of us could manage this on our own since I had purchased the cheapest and most simplistic of faucets in the store.
The new faucet sat on the counter for 5 days. 🗓
I read the instructions several times and was not 100% convinced we had this under control, but since millennial men like to think they know everything, I said nothing. 👀
On Day 6, I was tired of waiting, so after some minor bickering, away we went.
Removal of the old faucet is where we hit our first roadblock. There was a bendy aluminum cord-like thingy in the way, and we could not figure out how to remove it.
After 10 mins of fooling around, my son headed into the garage and returned triumphantly brandishing the garden shears. His plan? To cut it. ✂️
I was hesitant …. But, he showed such confidence that I eventually acquiesced, and so began the hack job of cutting through the bendy cord.
It was so ludicrous we laughed our heads off, but ultimately, we were able to slash our way through it and remove the old faucet. We were off to the races again!
The next stage went quite smoothly until it came time to connect the new faucet to the water line. It seemed we were about 6 inches short – the exact same length as the bendy cord thing-a-ma-bob we had severed only moments earlier.
We had to admit defeat.
When the plumber actually arrived to finish what we inexpertly started, I realized how many other important little nuances there were to a successful install of this damn faucet. The relief was real.
The moral of the story …. Plumbing is not something you DIY. It was full-on amateur hour at the Benoit house that night. It was everything that I stand against. 🙅♀️
I forever pledge to stay in my lane. I know my superpowers lie in the areas of marketing & communications, event production, sport tourism and sponsorship strategy. I am also a talented gardener by the way (hence the existence of the garden shears in the garage that should never ever do double duty as a plumber’s tool).
Happy Spring! 🪴
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APRIL 2023
Here’s the thing about creativity … once you start, you can’t stop.
At least that’s my experience.
My brain functions in such a way that once I get a creative idea lodged there, I can’t let it go. What comes next is a cascade of ideas – some better than others, of course!
We all have a creative streak. For some, conjuring up that creativity comes easier than others. But it’s always there.
The first few months of 2023 have been a creative tsunami for me. It’s like a tap that I can’t shut off. I’m in a panic trying to capture all these creative thoughts in case the well runs dry.
I can’t figure out if our iSPARK clients are thrilled by this or overwhelmed!
Here are a few examples:
We’ve converted our popular donut wall that was having a moment pre-pandemic into a display of sea creatures at an upcoming fundraising event! Because no one is very keen to handpick their donut any longer.
We helped to launch a new innovative event with an edgy feel and an xceptional affinity for the letter X. The promo vid still gives me goosebumps, even though I’ve watched it a thousand times in February.
We’re working on a 25th anniversary marketing video with a ‘day in the life of …’ theme. Can’t wait to capture many behind the scenes moments for our client which will most certainly include a romp along the Ottawa River.
In other random news, I am continuously thankful for my subscription to the Front Lines Lobster Report – a weekly e-newsletter written by my new best friend, Stewart, at Tangier Lobster. You have no idea how much I look forward to his weekly musings and laugh out loud take on life.
I highly recommend!
Creativity comes in many forms. I encourage you to embrace whatever unexpected thoughts or dreams inspire you. You never know what these could become.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for a creative boost to your marketing, event, sponsorship, or sport tourism initiative, hit me up while the well is still producing all of this creative water.
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MAY 2023
Fawning is a clever tactic in the hospitality industry.
If you’ve ever had a server praise you too much, offer unsolicited compliments, and give you a lot of attention that is not sincere, you’ve been fawned over.
I once had a server offer up exaggerated compliments on my scarf. The timing of the compliments suspiciously coincided with the moment I was punching in the tip percentage. And, I fell for it.
During an event, I am typically very skeptical about excessive amounts of positive feedback shared directly with me. I’ve been duped too many times by an event attendee who gushes their praise onsite and then tears things up a day later in the post-event survey. ☹
Evening in the Maritimes blew this theory out of the water.
Not only did we receive lots of anecdotal positive feedback on the night of the event, but the post-event surveys were also overflowing with compliments on aspects of the event that were directly attributable to our team:
- ‘Well organized and friendly environment and vibe.’
- ‘We were impressed with the organization of the event.’
- ‘I found the before, during and after experience one of the most professionally managed events I have ever been to.’
- ‘It was such a friendly vibe – I loved it.’
- ‘EiTM had such a fun atmosphere! I really appreciated the cute spin on the raffle (I adopted three sea creatures) and the fun extras like the Shelfie station. It was much better than a typical stuffy charity dinner!’
- ‘This was such a unique and fantastic event! Fun environment! It was overall the best fundraising dinner I have ever attended.’
- ‘It was really fun and well organized from start to finish!’
- ‘Excellent organizer.’
- ‘I liked how smoothly it went – overall, a great event!’
- ‘The pacing was really great and the attention to detail was awesome!’
Then, there was this:
- ‘I SHALL RETURN.’
The ALL CAPS and the simplicity of the declaration gives me all the feels.
Being interviewed by the Ottawa Business Journal was the icing on the proverbial cake. Or, in this case, the melted butter on the fresh, Nova Scotia lobster.
It’s been a long time since I felt this much buzz. It was CLAWsome.
Events are back, baby!
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JUNE 2023
This story is going to make me sound like a complete idiot, but I’m sharing it because it’s too juicy to stay locked in the vault.
In May, we had a few small things going on in iSPARK land.There was a little thing called event production of Evening in the Maritimes, and then another little thing called launch of Spo Ho Xperience™, not to mention storyboarding for a video shoot later in the summer,and a proposal on a new project.
However, I had to find time to schedule my pool opening, because, priorities.
If you know you know.
The pool company got behind due to rain and ended up showing up at 8:30 pm on a Wednesday, the night before event load-in. So, you might say I was a little distracted. And, to be fair, it was dark.
The next morning, I didn’t have a chance to even glance at the pool in the backyard before heading out to start my 18-hr day.
So, you can imagine my surprise to wake up on a Friday morning following the successful execution of EiTM to find the pool filled with a gazillion white Styrofoam pellets. They were literally everywhere – in the pool, on the pool deck, in the garden, stuck to the side of the house, in my flowerpots. It was as if it had rained Styrofoam overnight.
I was baffled. So, I Googled it. Not much intel there.
Then it struck me. I could ask CHATGPT.
My AI friend was quick to provide several potential explanations for the Styrofoam mystery. All of them were equally scary … including the possibility of a Styrofoam disintegration taking place underground or a shoddy winterization of the pool last fall.
Each of CHATGPT’s explanations involved a resolution that included digging up the pool.
I freaked out.
I madly texted my pool company (with photos) and lots of ALL CAPS and even more exclamation marks (!!!).
I requested a prompt service call and essentially blamed them for the mishap. After a bit of back and forth with ‘Dan the Pool Guy’ over text, he left me on read at 10 pm on Friday night.
I woke upon Saturday morning determined to be the ‘fixer of all problems’ that I am known to be.
As I hopelessly scooped buckets and buckets of Styrofoam pellets out of the pool, common sense and logic started to kick in. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this.
I paused, took a deep breath to clear my thoughts, and slowly scanned the backyard.
Two minutes later I discovered a large rip in one of our beanbag-style pool floaties. The second I lifted the floatie, the pellets shifted and spilled onto the pool deck. The wind caught them and before I knew it, thousands more tiny balls of Styrofoam were floating in the pool.
My stomach dropped.
Three hours later I had most of it cleaned up and I had disposed of the evidence of the ripped floatie in a nearby dumpster.
This backyard debacle will go down in Benoit family history as one of my dumbest moments. As much as I want to blame CHATGPT for leading me astray, I have to acknowledge my own role in making a Styrofoam mountain out of a mole hill as the saying goes.
If you’ve been thinking about using Artificial Intelligence to make life easier, think again! Riley, our resident wordsmith at iSPARK wrote a blog about it in February.
My takeaway is this … as much as technology and tools like Artificial Intelligence are designed to make our lives easier, there is no replacement for the human brain.
I am signing off from The Opening Line … for the summer, but I hope your July and August are filled with one or more cool dips on these hot days.
If you’d like to join me poolside, don’t be shy to ask for an invite! I’ve got a new bean-bag pool floatie (rip-free) with your name on it.
the opening line ...™
SEPTEMBER 2023
‘People who are successful are not only willing to get uncomfortable, but they know they have to make a habit of it if they want to stay successful’. – Jen Sincero
So, last month I finally sat down to read what my daughter refers to as the bad ass book (YOU are a BADASS; How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life) by Jen Sincero.
I’m late to the party on it, but, as it turns out, the timing was perfect.
You see, earlier in the summer I started with a bout of imposter syndrome that I couldn’t shake. So, I settled in with the bad ass book by the pool on a quiet, sunny Sunday determined to get my own bad assery back up and running.
I was several chapters in when suddenly my 40-something neighbour hauled out his boom box and fired up ‘I’m Too Sexy’, the techno version, ON REPEAT, as he proceeded to install his new fence, a project that he had been procrastinating on all summer long.
Although I was impressed with his boldness, I couldn’t help but put on my judgy face.
I mean …come on … a 1991 hit by British pop band Right Said Fred? On a Sunday? On level 10 on the boom box dial? For what appeared to be a minimum 3-hr DIY project?
What was he thinking!?
I know what I was thinking (in chronological order) ….
- My peace and quiet is totally ruined.
- These lyrics are super distracting.
- My neighbour is definitely not ‘too sexy’.
Here I was committed to self-improvement and inspiration and instead, I’ve got DJ Dan the Fence Builder jacking up the plan.
Then, the epiphany hit.
This was a perfect example of bad ass behaviour.
Coincidentally, a few minutes later, I landed on page 231 of Sincero’s book where she writes:
An epiphany is a visceral understanding of something you already know
This is what I now call ‘Lessons from the backyard’.
I actually didn’t learn a lot of new things from the bad ass book that day.
It was more a case of being reminded of things that I already know. And, remembering that being uncomfortable at times is a necessary part of the path to bigger and better things.
I also learned that I’m too sexy for that song (if you know you know).
Happy Fall!
the opening line ...™
OCTOBER 2023
How do you perceive online reviews?
Turns out the weight given to online reviews is subjective and depends on various factors, including the individual’s preferences, the nature of the product or service, the source of the reviews, and their credibility.
Social proof, the concept that suggests that people are more likely to trust products or services that others have positively reviewed, can have a heavy influence on decision-making.
At iSPARK, we rely on social proof to market and promote the events we produce because FOMO is a very real thing in the events business.
Over the last 6 months, we’ve been blown away by the overwhelmingly positive and high ratings for three events we’ve managed. So much so, that I insisted on double-checking the feedback and source of the reviews because it seemed impossibly glowing!
As it turns out, event attendees at Evening in the Maritimes, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Team Collab Week 2023, and Spo Ho Xperience™ genuinely loved what we were throwing down.
Here’s our secret …. all that positive attendee experience and those memorable (and Instagramable) moments don’t just happen organically.
We are very intentional with how we design these events.
Although the last 10 months have kicked my butt and left me exhausted, and at times very discouraged and overwhelmed, I take a lot of pride in the work we do.
We’re in the business of creating memories for people, and, in our case, our latest reviews lean more towards legendary than scary.
Happy Halloween!
the opening line ...™
NOVEMBER 2023
I tend to have these impossibly high standards for myself and our team, so when things go wrong, I’m crushed.
These feelings of despair, complete disappointment, anxiety, and misery are emotions that I work hard to shake off every single time I’m faced with a situation where ‘things did not go according to plan’.
Over the last year, there have been some memorable pivots from Plan A to Plan B, C, or D.
This includes the epic ziplining fail where 10 adventurous event attendees suited up and climbed 100+ steps up a tower to zipline across the Ottawa River on the only interprovincial zipline experience in Canada, only to be told there was a live construction zone below making it unsafe to do so.
My stomach literally sank when that text message came in alerting me to the change in plans. It took me days to let it go … I was ruminating on it in a very unhealthy way.
It was only when I received emails from the wanna be zipliners saying it was ‘no biggie’, followed by some sage advice from a colleague who said: ‘No one actually signed up to come to this event because of the ziplining. It’s not why they’re here’, that I was able to fully let it go.
That’s when I decided to make light of it and our team created this little video clip:
In another instance, we had a request from an event attendee for a private lactation room– something we had not foreseen or planned for.
As a young mom who struggled with how to effectively feed my baby and manage the leaking boobs situation during my early return to work and sports some 25+ years ago, I went on a personal mission to find a quiet spot in a convention centre filled with thousands of people for this new mom.
We, of course, figured it out and mama was very appreciative 😊.
These hiccups in the original plan always teach me things (and give me great stories to tell and reflect on). In most cases they eventually become a source of entertainment. The irony of the 180-degree turn on how I process these emotions is not lost on me.
The truth is that our team has had loads of FUN with our clients this year. Those moments far outweigh the messy, imperfect ones.
If you have a story of an epic fail that you ultimately ended up laughing and smiling about, shoot me a message.
Until then, remember … what goes up must come down (just not always down in the way you thought it would).
Happy November!
the opening line ...™
DECEMBER 2023
As you’re reading this, I will be digitally detoxing at my first-ever wellness retreat experience in a sunny location.
It’s no secret that I’ll trade snow for sand any day. 🏝
The one exception may be when our iSPARK team gets to have a little seasonal fun like this … ❄️
Happy Holidays!
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