Day 2 marked the 'official' start of our education program. Attendees woke up bright and early and were treated to a hearty breakfast at the Four Seasons San Francisco. After a short welcoming from Jean and I, Rebecca Grinnals of Engaging Concepts presented on the state of the wedding industry as it pertains to planners and designers. She was a dynamic speaker, and when she talked about the critical do's and don't's of a planner and designer's website, her examples were illustrated with images from the websites of our attendees in the room. Everyone absorbed the information like sponges, and learned an incredible amount from Rebecca.
Following Rebecca were presentations by Sean Low, David Beahm, Todd Fiscus, and the brilliant ladies behind Two Bright Lights--Siri and Rosalind. Attendees continue to absorb a massive amount of education from these experts and yearned for more after each session. David and Todd both shared design tactics and showed amazing images of their events' schematics and photographs. Todd and Sean, in particular, taught on the strategies of running a profitable design business and shared an incredible amount of valuable information for attendees to take back to their own businesses to implement.
Prior to our lunch break, we invited Liz Guthrie, Founder of Wish Upon A Wedding, to talk to our attendees about her wonderful new non-profit organization and the ways that we as wedding professionals can help.
In the evening, attendees were once again awe-inspired by the amazing design of Gloria Wong, at the Museum of Petals dinner at the St. Regis, which was in honor of the notable Grace Ormonde.
The inaugural Academy for Planners + Designers took place on March 14-16, 2010 in San Francisco, California. 120 planners and designers traveled from all over the country, Canada, and Mexico to attend our two and a half days of intense education coupled with extraordinary parties. Here's how it all unfolded....
{Sunday, March 14, 2010}
Registration took place at The St. Regis, where attendees stopped by between 3pm-7pm to pick up their name badges, plus a copy of the beautiful new hardback cover book by Tara Guerard, along with a selection of the newest wedding magazines, which included Grace Ormonde's Wedding Style, Today's Bride, Northern California Bride, and more. Some also got their portraits taken by Orange Photography!
We had a 'Meet and Greet' for our speakers in one of the St. Regis suites, allowing the opportunity for our speakers and a few of our sponsors to meet one another in a more intimate setting before the festivities officially began.
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