We get to work with many of the top pharma companies and being part of their meetings has exposed me to fascinating scientific information. Much of it I don’t understand. But sitting in those meetings has inspired me to develop my own theory of genetics.

I’m talking about the event gene. Like all genes, you are either born with it or not. You might be able to surround yourself with people who have the gene and then acquire some of the behaviors of those people (nature vs. nurture theory, etc.), but I’m sticking to my premise that you either got it or you ain’t.

I believe the event gene creates the following attributes:

* freakish passion for details

* overwhelming desire to serve people

* uncontrollable urges to wow groups of other humans

* an obsessive devotion to list making

* a joyous willingness to schlep things

* a physical anomaly that allows you to be on your feet for days on end

If you have the gene, consider yourself blessed. You’ll find yourself at the top of your industry. It is your natural progression. You don’t have a choice. You were born for this. Others in your industry will envy you — because while they are working hard to try to have that “thing” that makes you great — you will just be you.

Life is a series of events. And our genes help us fit in where we belong. I hope your genes provide a good “fit” for you.

My favorite event is usually the one I’m working on at the moment. We’ve had a very busy January — here are some highlights:

We launched extremely cool, Samsung LED TVs at the CES show in Las Vegas. These screens are less than the width of a pencil! The week after we designed and produced the LG Mobile Worldcup in New York City, a competition that had 26 contestants from 13 countries vying to be the fastest texters in the world.  And the week after that…we helped one of our top clients launch their new brand across 9 global sites… simultaneously!

Teams from 13 countries compete to become the world's fastest texters.

So, needless to say, we’ve covered a lot of territory in this whirlwind kick off to 2010. I’m grateful for that, especially when I think back to just a year ago when we were making tough decisions about weathering the storm of 2009.   Thanks to our incredible clients for trusting BKA with these events.

Last night, in typical BKA fashion, the entire team gathered to celebrate January with frosty margaritas and Mexican food.

Special thanks to our friends at BizBash for the great coverage of these events. Click here to check out the stories and see some more images:

LG Mobile Worldcup

Samsung CES 2010 Press Conference

He had a smile that lit up a room, an impeccable wardrobe, an infectious laugh. He was well traveled, hard working and incredibly charming.

When I heard that he was 50 — I was stunned. He looked much younger and had the energy of someone half his age.

When I heard of his sudden passing — I was even more stunned.

I had just seen him. We caught up at a wonderful industry event that Doyle Hotels hosted. Thomas was there — lighting up the room, charming his colleagues, letting us hear his magical laugh.

We talked about getting together. We wanted to find a weekend where we both weren’t working so that he could come visit us upstate.

But being perpetually busy New Yorkers with hectic travel schedules — it didn’t happen.

I will miss his Swedish accent and the way I could make him laugh with my extremely limited Swedish vocabulary.

I was honored that we got to work together.

I wish I got to know him better.

Life is a series of events and for those of us that plan them, we end up with few free evenings and weekends for social time. If you are reading this blog, please take a moment to plan an “event” with someone you’d like to spend more time with. Get a date in the calendar.

Let them hear your laughter and see your smile.

Good night Thomas Gran.

On Project Runway (yes, I’m a reality show fan), host Tim Gunn says, “Make it work!” I love that mentality. Do the job — just figure it out — get it done.

But how about making it fun along the way?

More than ever, making it fun shouldn’t be a nice to have. It should be a requirement of any work environment.

When you are under pressure, don’t you naturally seek out the people who make you smile at work? “I need a good laugh,” is a common request of anyone who has had a tough day at the office.

I’ve been writing lots of recommendations lately — for past interns, employees, colleagues on Linked In — and it’s so much easier to write a recommendation for someone who makes the work experience fun. These are also the people who get better results. There’s a lot to be said for a good attitude.

Years back, I asked a treasured client of mine who is an expert in performance evaluation for some tips on putting together reviews for our staff at BKA. He said, “you can have all the measures you want, but in the end, you can sum up any person’s review by checking off two boxes. Are you good at what you do? And, were you enjoyable to be around when you were doing it?”

Life is a series of events. I hope your events are flawlessly executed by people who make it fun.

I’m writing today’s blog while flying from Orlando to Newark on board Continental airline. Flight Attendant Jennifer Jackson just got us all greeted, seated, informed and ready to “sit back, relax and enjoy the flight.”  I’m already enjoying the flight more because of her. I’m sitting in seat 1F (got a complimentary upgrade) so I got to see each person pass by as they board.

And, I got to hear Ms. Jackson interact with every single guest.  ”Good morning, Madame. Hello young lady.   What a sharp outfit you have on. Heading to Newark?”

When she caught a glimpse of a passenger’s boarding pass, she added their last name to her greeting…. “So nice to have you with us today Mr. Bradford.”  ”Ah, I have the Collins family traveling.”  Every person was treated as an individual.  And every greeting was sincere and specific.

The result — every person that proceeded down the aisle had a smile on their face.  (Ok, 2 terminally cranky guys on the cell phones didn’t seem to realize they were in the presence of greatness — but every one else got it.)   That’s a full flight of people who are already won over by this professional, genuine, charming individual.  Mind you, our flight had been held on the ground for an hour prior to boarding.  And, with all that’s going on with flying right now, winning over passengers is a huge challenge.

Ms. Jackson, just by being herself, shifted the experience with one quick interaction.   And, she also seemed to have a similar affect on her co-workers — who were all following her lead.

A big disclaimer — traveling on Continental isn’t always a joy ride for me.   But today’s experience is a great reminder that we all just want to be treated with a degree of care and we all love good service provided by someone who excels at their job.

Life is a series of events, and for many of us a series of travel experiences. I wish you all safe travel experiences and hope that you get to fly with Ms Jackson soon.

I recently had the honor of guest lecturing at NYU on entertainment production for special events.  Richard Aaron (President of Biz Bash) teaches the class and he includes guests to bring the theories he teaches to life through their practical work experience.  I had a blast.

Where was this class when I started in the industry 20 something years ago?!   They even had a textbook “Special Event Production” by Doug Matthews!  I was thrilled to see this photo of our BKA production of the musical CHICAGO, which was performed in China, in Doug’s book.

It amazes me how much our industry has changed.  Back in the day, working in events was a mysterious profession.  No one really knew how to break in and we all kind of found our way into one of the most fantastic industries I know.  Except we didn’t even know we were working in an industry.

One of the students asked me where I studied Event Management.

I didn’t.

How did you learn to do events?

The hard way.

Well what did you study!?

Hmmm…..long list….cultural anthropology (more on that in a future blog), psychology, public relations, theatre, music, dance, advertising, journalism. All helpful. I also worked as a tennis instructor, waiter, actor, director, writer, public relations VP and stand up comedian.

By the way, the waiter jobs helped the most — you really learn how to multi-task and serve the customer.  The stand up comedy job convinced me that I could do anything. During all of it, what I studied most was people. How to listen to them, what makes them tick, how we are different and most importantly how we are the same. I’m most interested in how we learn, how we communicate and how what we experience influences our behavior.

While I studied and worked I had no idea where I would end up.  But when I look at what I’m interested in — people — I guess I ended up in the right place.  My friend Lori Martin from Performance Improvement Incentives told me that I did end up being a cultural anthropologist.  I just didn’t know it.

I envy today’s event management and hospitality students — they know what they want to do and they are busy studying it and readying themselves to be the next generation of event professionals.

Let’s support them — by teaching, mentoring, providing internship opportunities and hiring them as soon as we can.   This way we fuel our industry with new ideas and fresh energy.  And help them be who they want to be as they grow up.

Fun fact: Three of our current staff started out at BKA as interns and have now been with us in leadership positions for 10 years, 6 years and 5 years respectively!

She has no time for work, let alone for juggling the rest of her life. She had to let half of her team go yet retained 100% of the work. Now she is responsible for a series of meetings and events.

What does she really want from the production company she works with? I asked her and this was her response:

• Do what you say you are going to do.
• Tell me if there is a problem. Then solve it.
• If you can’t solve it on your own — let me be part of the solution.
• Realize I am under a lot of pressure.
• Get to know me by listening.

The listening part is huge. As event people we are always asking a lot of questions… What time do we get into the ballroom? What’s the age range of the guests? Do you want to have fish or chicken? etc. etc.

But how often do we stop asking all the things we need to know and just listen to what our clients are saying? Not what they are saying about their event — but what they are saying in general. What they are going through, what is the bigger picture as far as what they need from us?

Life is a series of events. Each affects the next. If we understand the events in our clients’ lives, we can better understand how to handle the events we create for them. It’s up to us to adjust our style to what our clients need.

Are you listening?

The busy sidewalks of NYC definitely aren’t a place for people with oversized umbrellas on rainy days.

On my walk home along rainy 9th avenue last night, I was trapped behind this particular guy who was walking right smack in the middle of the sidewalk, SLOWLY. While I walked behind him trying to get by (with my compact umbrella and soaking wet pant legs), I noticed the big AIG logo on his umbrella and smiled at the irony.

Could I blame AIG for the storm I was walking in? After all, countless people blamed AIG for drowning the meeting industry. Was it a symbol? The little event producer had to take a soaking while AIG-guy was staying dry? Or was it just some unaware person who was slow walking on a rainy day with an over-compensating umbrella in the middle of the sidewalk?

I waited for the right moment and then ran past him, turned the corner and decided to stay focused on what I know to be true. This storm will pass, and we will be able to put away our umbrellas.

Life is a series of events. And event people know that you can’t always count on the weather. But I do believe the sun is coming out again soon.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. No pressure of giving holiday gifts. No pressure of having a Valentine’s Day sweetheart. Just a great time to get together and eat yourself into a food coma.

Many, many years ago, when my parents were still alive, we had a major family reunion at Thanksgiving. Always a risky proposition. We usually kept the holidays more contained, but this particular year, it was everyone. Aunts, nephews, cousins and of course my indefatigable, irascible grandmother. Four foot, eight inches of Armenian suffering stuffed into a pair of orthopedic shoes that could kick your butt from here to Mt. Ararat.

I was on a break from college. I hadn’t started planning events yet but knew that we needed some sort of activity to keep the party sane. My brother had a home video camera and we decided that we would interview all the family members — asking them what they were thankful for. It was fun to hear what family members said. “I’m grateful my nose isn’t as big as Uncle Shah’s….” “I’m thankful that Aunt Sonny makes the best choereg…” “I’m thankful that I could climb the 44 steps from the street to the front door — why did you buy this house, anyway?!” As we moved around our childhood home asking these questions, we were soon approaching Grandma. What was she thankful for? Her husband had died years back, she never wanted to live in this country, her kids had all moved away. What was going to come out of her mouth?

“Grandma, what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?” She smiled at the camera and froze. She thought her picture was being taken. “Grandma, it’s a movie. Tell us. In your own words. What are you thankful for?” She very earnestly looked into the recorder and said, “I’m a happy for the family. And the helt…(translation: HEALTH) and I just wanna pizz.”

“What?!” my brother asked.

“I just wanna pizz. Pizz on the world. For everyone. Can we just get along with each other and have world pizz?!”

Thanksgiving was memorable that year. And for many years after that we played back that video — never again with that many family members together. But those of us that were together got a good laugh — and some tears — at seeing the family preserved for a moment in time — remembering we had so many things to be thankful for.

Fast forward — I inherited Uncle Shah’s nose, Aunt Sunny still makes the world’s best Choereg and my grandmother who is at peace now didn’t get her wish for world pizz. But I have never forgotten her Thank You’s. She really was thankful for her family and that her health allowed her to be with all of us.

Saying thank you is one of the most powerful things we can do.

Life is a series of events and we’ve all had a year of wondering when the next event is going to happen. Let’s be thankful for the good events when we have them.

What are you thankful for?