Oahu Wedding Association's saywhat: News, Information, & Gossip About Hawaii Wedding Professionals

OWA/Hawaii Bridal Expo "Secrets of the Pros" Seminar

OWA to host informational talks at the Hawaii Bridal Expo, January 21st, 22nd and 23rd.

The Oahu Wedding Association is committed to enhance & promote the image of the wedding service industry of O'ahu with high standards of work ethics, extending the Aloha Spirit among the wedding industry and the community.

Each day at the Hawaii Bridal Expo, meet the pros at the Expo stage for an informative presentation by a panel of wedding experts. Consisting of consultants, photographers, florists and more, each talk will provide couples with tips from the pros that will help them in planning their wedding. Get your wedding questions answered as our host will share your questions with the expert panel.

Talks will take place on:

• Friday, January 21st at 7:30pm.
• Saturday, January 22nd at 12:30 and 3:30pm
• Sunday, January 23rd at 12:30 and 2:30pm

Visit the Oahu Wedding Association lounge at the Hawaii Bridal Expo for more details.

Have you recently THANKED your clients?

In this season of Thanksgiving, when was the last time that you thanked your clients? They are your lifeblood, and they certainly will appreciate it if you showed some gratitude for working for them. Even if you do appreciate them, they can't read your mind--so you need to tell them!

Many times, it's the small things like saying thanks that makes the difference between your clients seeing you as simply a service provider or falling in LOVE with you. And when your clients are in love with you, it means a happier client, easier event, and a positive source for future referrals!

Here are some generally low-cost ideas to say thanks to your clients:

• Send them a card. Your clients usually get wedding-related correspondence from you. How nice would it be if they unexpectedly got a greeting card or postcard saying "Thank you for your business"? If you have a lot of clients and/or are simply lazy to make a bunch of cards, there are many online automated greeting card systems out there; a popular one among Hawaii wedding professionals is SendOut Cards, with a great selection of cards ranging from 33 to 99 cents plus postage. The best part? You simply choose the card and write the message, and they will take care of the rest: printing it, putting it in the envelope, stamping it, and sending it!
• Send an email. Don't send an impersonal, blanket mass email to all of your clients in your address book. Instead, compose a general email template, and use the template to compose a personalized message to each individual client. Your only cost is time--an hour or two of changing the message greeting and other personalized information.
• Call them to thank them. This should take you an hour or two, but the rewards are tremendous. Call your clients and thank them for hiring you! It really is that simple. On this holiday, many of your clients probably won't even pick up the phone: great! Simply leave a message. They'll appreciate the fact that you called to say thanks, and with no expectation for a callback.
• Invite them to dinner. If there is one or more clients that you really made a connection with, invite them over for dinner! If they accept, then it's a great way to get to know them. Even if they decline, they'll appreciate the fact that you thought of them enough to invite them over!

Have a great Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend! And

THANK YOU for being a member of the Oahu Wedding Association!

Seminar Invitation: "Clear Vision" with DeWitt Jones, November 19, Honolulu Design Center

OWA members, here is another great educational opportunity for you to consider.

MPI AC Evening With DeWitt Jones ~ REVISED FORMAT AND REDUCED PRICING By popular demand we have changed the format of the networking portion of this fantastic event to a HEAVEY PUPU reception from a dinner and we are offering this incredable and inspirational program at a dramaticly reduced rate ! "Clear Vision" With DeWitt Jones Do you have the right lens? Does your mind's eyes have the right perspective? one that will allow you to find a creative solution and to bring that creativity into every part of your life? Join us with DeWitt Jones, world class lecturer and one of America's top photojournalists, with 20 years serving National Geographic, as he shares his knowledge of the creative process using the art of photography as a metaphor for the art of life. Come and enjoy an evening of professional education and development with friends and colleauges . . .A truley uniquely rewarding and insightful opportunity! Location:Honolulu Design Center & Cupola Theatre Agenda: 5:00- 5:30 pm Registration & site tours of the Honolulu Design Center and their vivid event space 5:30 - 6:30 pm No-Host Cocktails, Heavy Pupus & Industry Networking Reception Followed by brief Chapter Updates & Introductions 6:30pm -7:25pm Keynote "CLEAR VISION" With DeWitt Jones, Cupola Events Theatre 7:30pm Post Event Meet & Greet with Dewit Jones and your colleauges, more Pupus & Bar *Members who bring a planner will BOTH be entered into a raffle for special prizes for both. REGISTER BY NOVEMEBR 15TH AND BE ENTERED TO WIN A DEWITT JONES PRINT! REDUCED FEES: All attendees $50.00 November 19, 2010 5:30 PM - 9:30 PM Hawaiian Time The Honolulu Design Center 1250 Kapiolani Blvd. Honolulu, HI 96814 USA Event Registration Member Fee $50.00 Non-Member Fee $50.00 Student Fee $50.00 View Event Summary View Event Agenda November 17, 2010 Please respond by clicking one of the buttons below

Seminar Invitation: "The Changing Face of Retail", November 17, Hilo Hattie's

OWA members, you may find this useful.

 

 

TTRA and AMA Hawaii present The Changing Face of Visitor Retail An Industry Luncheon Panel Featuring Marketing Director for Royal Hawaiian Center, Ms. "Sam" Shenkus Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Hilo Hattie, Mr. Carlton Kramer Vice President of Merchandising & Advertising for Maui Divers Jewelry, Mr. Doug Kreul Moderated by Senior Director of Market Insights for the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, Chris Kam Wednesday, November 17, 2010 11:30 am - 1:30 pm The NEW Hibiscus & Plumeria Meeting Rooms at Hilo Hattie's Flagship Store, 700 North Nimitz Highway FREE PARKING Menu Mixed Greens with Champagne Vinaigrette Sauteed Mahimahi with Lomi Tomato Beurre Blanc Lilikoi Mango Cheesecake with Fresh Berry Compote   11:30 am — Check-in and networking with light refreshments and entertainment Noon — Lunch is served 12:45 pm — Program begins over Kona coffee and dessert 1:30 pm — Aloha and mahalo When Wednesday, November 17, 2010 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM   Where Hilo Hattie's Flagship Store 700 North Nimitz Highway NEW Hibiscus & Plumeria Meeting Rooms Honolulu, HI 96817  When Wednesday, November 17, 2010 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM   Where Hilo Hattie's Flagship Store 700 North Nimitz Highway NEW Hibiscus & Plumeria Meeting Rooms Honolulu, HI 96817 FEE Event Registration Member Registration Fee - AMA      $30.00 Member Registration Fee - TTRA     $30.00 Non-member registration fee          $35.00  View Event Summary  RSVP Friday, November 12, 2010 Please respond by visiting the event registration page here.

Updating your Hawaii Wedding Blog: So what's your excuse?

So you have a blog. When was the last time you updated it? Blogging isn't just to stay in touch with your clients and show your personal side; it also helps you with your search engine optimization results. So when was the last time you wrote something worthwhile and meaningful on it? When was the last time you added interesting pictures or content? What's your excuse?

Wedding marketing expert Andy Ebon posted the Top 10 Excuses for Not Posting To A Blog.

So what's your excuse?

~ Marino

OWA Board Meeting, Tuesday, June 22, 6pm, CoffeeTalk

The monthly OWA Board meeting is upon us, and you're invited. Come join your board of directors as they make the decisions that affect your association, business, and industry over the next few months.

Tuesday, June 22, 6-8pm
CoffeeTalk on Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki

See you there!

BRIDAL BUSINESS BOOT CAMP!!!! June 30th Wednesday 6:00 - 8:30 pm.

WHAT: Bridal Business Boot Camp

 “IF YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR A SEMINAR THAT WILL IGNITE YOUR BUSINESS —YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT ANY LONGER.”

WHEN: June 30th Wednesday 6:00 - 8:30 pm.

WHERE: Dave & Busters in Honolulu

COST: "No charge if your are in the Hawaii Bridal Expo" 

             $30. if you are not a member and would like to attend anyways

LEARN:

Brad Buckles of Hawaii Bridal Expo & Chris Evans presents his signature presentation, “Bridal Business Boot Camp.” Chris is a successful entrepreneur, sales guru, and former comedy writer for Jay Leno.  Chris created the wildly successful Bridal Business Boot Camps which he has taught to thousands of wedding professionals throughout the world. You won't find many speakers out there like Chris, someone who can immediately help your business achieve exciting results while entertaining you throughout the process.

    
 ABOUT SPEAKER:

Chris Evans is a wedding trade show specialist, sales and marketing coach, and book author. He has helped large numbers of individuals and companies learn how to do great presentations and close the business. He has taught them how to expand their business and how to excel in a tough economy.

He has taught sales training to major electronics retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City and A.T.T. Chris was the National Sales Manager for Fisher Electronics and has been in the bridal show business for 25 years. He is especially well-versed in any wedding related business problems you may be having. Having taught over 10,000 wedding businesses, Chris understands how to help every wedding professional.

CONTACT:

Please contact Chris Evans directly if you'd like to attend.  Feel free to call either Chris or Brad with any questions you may have at 425-922-7924.

Brad Buckles & Chris Evans

www.ChrisEvansInternational.com

chrisevansint@yahoo.com

805-428-3851

Checkout My Facebook Page 

Blogging Your Hawaii Wedding Business: The Importance of Commenting

If you have a blog AND a Facebook page, you probably have it set up so that, if you post something on your blog, it gets saved on your Facebook Wall as an update or a note. It's a great idea, since it hopefully will drive people to your blog and website, raise your hits, and ultimately give you better SEO rankings. You probably have friends who do this as well, and when you want to make a comment on a great post, you probably comment on it...on Facebook.

There's nothing wrong with commenting on Facebook, but you should also duplicate your comment on that person's blog. Here's why.

When you comment on another person's blog, you will be asked to fill in your website or blog link. Fill it in! Ultimately, it is another link to your website/blog. And the more links you have back to your website/blog, the more popular your website will look to Google and the search engines!

Here's an easy way to do this. Let's say you work a wedding with other Hawaii wedding professionals who have blogs. It's a great wedding: your clients had a great time, the food was delicious, the party flowed smoothly, the music was superb, and everything came together.

• When the photographer blogs about the event and posts teaser images, comment on that post (on that photographer's blog) about how great it was working with him, and how great the images turned out.
• When the videographer blogs about the event and posts the same-day edit (SDE), comment on that post (on that videographer's blog) about how great it was working with her, and how much you enjoyed the video slideshow that day.
• When the coordinator writes about the event on her blog, comment about how great it was working with her, and how smoothly the event went.
• When the DJ, Master of Ceremonies, florist, cake designer, makeup artist, and other wedding professionals post about the event on their blog...you get the picture.

That's at least five links or more back to your website/blog from that single wedding. And if you do a lot of events every month...that's a lot of links back. And as I wrote earlier, the more links that you have back to your site...the more popular your site will look to the search engines, making you get even closer to the top spot on Page 1! So get commenting, not just on Facebook, but on your friends' blogs!

~ Marino

Image courtesy KOLBY AKAMU/Aria Studios

Facebook & Your Hawaii Wedding Business: Friending Future Clients

If you're on Facebook, you've probably made it a point to friend your wedding clients. It's a great way to connect, share ideas and designs back & forth, and stay in touch after their Hawaii wedding. Hopefully by staying in touch, it will lead to future business: when your clients have baby showers, first birthday celebrations, housewarming parties, or other life events in which they may need you and your services once again.

But are you also staying in touch with your clients' friends?

Social studies have shown that people generally associate with people who are similar to them--similar interests, lifestyles, incomes. Therefore, if you like your clients, you'll like their friends too. So why not stay in touch with your clients' friends after the wedding as well?

At the wedding, whether you're a coordinator, photographer, videographer, or other Hawaii wedding professional, you'll probably spend a good amount of time with the bridesmaids, groomsmen, Best Man, Maid of Honor, and close friends of the newlyweds. Now that you've gotten to know them, continue that relationship after the wedding. If your clients' friends are on Facebook, become their friend! They'll be able to keep up with you and what you're doing, establishing you subliminally on top in their mind for your particular industry. Collaterally, you get to read about how they're doing, and more importantly, about milestone moments in their lives. Did your client's friend just post that she's engaged? Congratulations! She's a future client! And if she's seen your work at your client's wedding, and you've stayed in touch with her and kept yourself on top in her mind, it will make it that much easier to get that commitment from her when she really begins to look for her wedding professionals.

So don't be a stranger! Make sure you send Facebook friend requests to your clients' wedding party and friends. After all, those friends may someday need YOU and your services!

~Marino

Image courtesy JEANNEMARIE VIGGIANO/Jeannemarie Photography

SEO Seminars for Hawaii Wedding Professionals

On the heels of Jeannemarie Viggiano's upcoming Social Media 101 Workshop on April 20 comes seminars on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by Ben Marumoto, OWA member and owner of Hawaii Web Pros & Hawaii SEO Seminars. Ben's seminars will be on May 5 at the Dole Ballrooms.

There will be two seminars: a FREE, one-hour introductory seminar in which Ben will introduce the basics, possibilities, and business potential of SEO, and a second value-added full seminar that will get more in-depth. Click here for more info on each seminar.

The free introductory seminar is from 8:30-9:30am on May 5. The full seminar is from 10:30am-4:00pm and includes a one hour lunch break and time for questions. Seating is extremely limited.

A discount of 20% off your investment in the full seminar is available for OWA members; contact Ben Marumoto or OWA Past President Dave Miyamoto for the discount code.

If you've always wanted to improve your search engine rankings and even get on Google's Page 1 above the fold, then Ben's seminars will definitely be worth your time.

Click here to register for the Hawaii SEO Seminars.