As summer winds down, it certainly has been one filled with memories, some old and some new.
Early summer found my local ILEA and MPI Chapters toasting last years volunteers and welcoming new leadership! With grand speeches filled with lofty goals for the upcoming year, both local associations are strong and seem to be out performing many sister chapters. I find the Central Florida event community to be unlik
e most cities. We are competitive and each company is unique in services and products. However, we all flourish when we gather together to support, educate, and encourage each others growth.
This summer also brought our event community together to share in honoring two beloved industry leaders and fellow ILEA Int’l Presidents, Tim Lundy, CSEP and Dale Harmon.
I met Tim when he lived in Atlanta and first served as an ILEA board of governor during his presidential term. The following year, I produced TSE’s Opening Night Party and he volunteered to lead the catering team. With plenty of food, it was one of the best Showcasing Events in TSE history. Soon after, Tim hired me to produce talent for some of the most fun and spectacular award nominated events of the early 2000’s. His creativity, his legacy and the memory of him wearing his kilt for his ILEA President installation will forever be etched in my mind.
Dale served as Int’l President 3 years ahead of me. We met at the DC hosted ILEA Conference and spent the next 25 years volunteering, laughing and lunching together. As a DC hometown girl, Dale became my personal floral advisor, taking care of my emotional and florals needs for over 20 years. I will miss giggling and sharing stories with Dale.
The unexpected loss of two friends so close together reminds me how fortunate I am to be in the business of introducing joy to my clients through celebrations. And, like celebrations, in a city that revolves around events, the show must go on. With record breaking heat and life threatening lightning storms, our Orlando entertainers continued to impress our clients and guests with their ability and determination to deliver world class performances while dodging the storms.
And unless you are under a rock, we all witnessed the ‘summer women ruled the world’ and the female trifecta of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Barbie, credited for the summer billion dollar pop culture boom and girl power phenomenon!
I hope your summer was as memorable as mine. If not, get out there and begin making memories for yourself!