March 01, 2003
Meetings & Conventions: Short Cuts March 2003

March 2003
Short Cuts:Irresistible
InvitationsNew and creative ways to entice attendees
What do you do to
make your event invitation stand out from all the junk mail
attendees have to sift through? Increasingly, planners are thinking
outside the envelope when it comes to invitations, and a growing
number of vendors are ready to supply them with eye-catching,
eclectic items.
A recent invite to a lunch sponsored by the Palm Beach County
CVB came complete with a miniature palm tree (shown above). The
supplier, Plymouth, Fla.-based Plants With a Message (www.plantswithamessage.com), received preprinted
invitation cards from the bureau, which it then packaged with the
tiny trees and express-mailed to would-be attendees. General
manager Mark Herman says his company’s creations are popular for
product launches or “if the theme is growth.”
If the event is a bit more low-key but the invitation still
needs to stand out, consider the use of mailing tubes, available
from many speciality retailers in countless colors and patterns to
fit nearly any type of celebration. But resist filling the tube
with confetti or some other messy attention-getter, advises Hilka
Klinkenberg, founder and director of New York City-based consulting
firm Etiquette International (www.etiquetteintl.com). “That can be very irritating, and
you don’t want to irritate people with your invitations,” she
points out.
Klinkenberg’s other advice: Make sure that the invitation is
wholly consistent with the tone of the event and the image of the
host organization, and try to avoid negative-sounding phrases, such
as “regrets only,” accompanying RSVP directions.
• MARTHA COOKE
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