Tuesday, August 09, 2005
EVENT REVIEW: ISES LA's Joint Allied Mixer, Universal Backlot
by Don Rose
What a perfect summer night for JAM 2005, and the NBC Universal location was a nice touch as well. The 6th Annual ISES-LA JAM event - Joint Allied Mixer - took place on the backlot location known as "Spartacus Square" (seen in Spartacus, Scorpion King, and many more films of epic proportions)! And epic portions was what partygoers got August 9th as over 500 event professionals and providers from all industry associations in Southern California ate, drank, and were very merry indeed. And this year, a bonus boosted the attendance: the national/international attendees of EVENTWORLD 2005 were also invited.
A wide range of exhibitors made the JAM mixer exciting and fun, including designers, florists, event production companies, caterers, entertainment companies, venues, lighting and special effects companies and suppliers in Southern California for one night only - it's all jammed into JAM's three hours (my only complaint is I wish it were four or more!).
A quick highlight-summary of what was at this year's JAM:
- rows and rows of cutting-edge special events exhibitors, in the open air square
- Networking among 500+ attendees
- DJ tunes and live entertainment; a Spotlight Entertainment Showcase
- Innovative Decor Displays
- Taste of Talent Caterer Showcase.
As for my experience: I thought this year's event was fun as always, with friendly knowledgable people, and some very cool exhibits, including one specializing in Halloween costumes and decorations -- their lifesize robotic butler seems very real indeed, moving its head and eyes and looking a heckuva lot like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family (I mean the ORIGINAL one, on TV, Jackie Coogan may have been the inspiration for this robobutler).... and then there were the two booths where guests got to take wild looking hats and add stuff to them to make 'em even MORE wild, I actually picked up an animal-print Stetson-type number that was so perfect as-is i decided NOT to add to it... and then there were the food stations... STARLITE CATERERS offered up excellent chinese chicken salad (FYI they specialize in Kosher cuisine), another booth had an amazing lobster bisque, GLOBAL CUISINE by Gary Arabia had stellar crabcakes, and Universal had excellent chocolate chip cookies and wonderful spinach dip. Then there was the booth with amazing smoothies, yes I love smoothies, one of my weaknesses... AirDD showed folks their Air Dimensional Design (you may have seen their giant air-inflated sculptures/structures at various events around LA), and of course the ever popular 20th Century Props was there, who not only exhibited at JAM but threw a jam-packed DJ-driven post-party a few days later at their huge facility on Hart Street in NoHo (North Hollywood for you out-of-towners -- ask to take the tour if you have time, well worth it).
All in all, if you are an event planner, or work in any related event/hospitality field, I recommend the annual JAM event strongly for next summer. (ISES made a special thank you to their JAM showcase companies: NBC Universal, Abbey Event Services, Cort Event Furnishings and Scott Topper Productions.) JAM is a production of ISES, the International Special Events Society, who always throw excellent events; with a name like theirs, they should know how! Please visit www.ises-la.com for more info on ISES, and their future event opportunities.
What a perfect summer night for JAM 2005, and the NBC Universal location was a nice touch as well. The 6th Annual ISES-LA JAM event - Joint Allied Mixer - took place on the backlot location known as "Spartacus Square" (seen in Spartacus, Scorpion King, and many more films of epic proportions)! And epic portions was what partygoers got August 9th as over 500 event professionals and providers from all industry associations in Southern California ate, drank, and were very merry indeed. And this year, a bonus boosted the attendance: the national/international attendees of EVENTWORLD 2005 were also invited.
A wide range of exhibitors made the JAM mixer exciting and fun, including designers, florists, event production companies, caterers, entertainment companies, venues, lighting and special effects companies and suppliers in Southern California for one night only - it's all jammed into JAM's three hours (my only complaint is I wish it were four or more!).
A quick highlight-summary of what was at this year's JAM:
- rows and rows of cutting-edge special events exhibitors, in the open air square
- Networking among 500+ attendees
- DJ tunes and live entertainment; a Spotlight Entertainment Showcase
- Innovative Decor Displays
- Taste of Talent Caterer Showcase.
As for my experience: I thought this year's event was fun as always, with friendly knowledgable people, and some very cool exhibits, including one specializing in Halloween costumes and decorations -- their lifesize robotic butler seems very real indeed, moving its head and eyes and looking a heckuva lot like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family (I mean the ORIGINAL one, on TV, Jackie Coogan may have been the inspiration for this robobutler).... and then there were the two booths where guests got to take wild looking hats and add stuff to them to make 'em even MORE wild, I actually picked up an animal-print Stetson-type number that was so perfect as-is i decided NOT to add to it... and then there were the food stations... STARLITE CATERERS offered up excellent chinese chicken salad (FYI they specialize in Kosher cuisine), another booth had an amazing lobster bisque, GLOBAL CUISINE by Gary Arabia had stellar crabcakes, and Universal had excellent chocolate chip cookies and wonderful spinach dip. Then there was the booth with amazing smoothies, yes I love smoothies, one of my weaknesses... AirDD showed folks their Air Dimensional Design (you may have seen their giant air-inflated sculptures/structures at various events around LA), and of course the ever popular 20th Century Props was there, who not only exhibited at JAM but threw a jam-packed DJ-driven post-party a few days later at their huge facility on Hart Street in NoHo (North Hollywood for you out-of-towners -- ask to take the tour if you have time, well worth it).
All in all, if you are an event planner, or work in any related event/hospitality field, I recommend the annual JAM event strongly for next summer. (ISES made a special thank you to their JAM showcase companies: NBC Universal, Abbey Event Services, Cort Event Furnishings and Scott Topper Productions.) JAM is a production of ISES, the International Special Events Society, who always throw excellent events; with a name like theirs, they should know how! Please visit www.ises-la.com for more info on ISES, and their future event opportunities.
