News from ISES Denver: January

Happy New Year Fellow ISES Members,

It is with mixed feelings that I say goodbye to 2009 and the last decade. There certainly have been times wrought with stress, uncertainty, and emotional turmoil; however we have made it through and are stronger for having done so! Not to mention there were some darn good times in the last 10 years of the event community in Denver. We have seen our industry grow and flourish as well as mature & develop into a very polished event destination city! So I say let's raise our glasses to a ROCKSTAR 2010!

While doing so I would love to take you on a little ISES journey down memory lane. Here is the 2009 year at a glance in ISES Denver Chapter events. As I take a look at all that we have done I am reminded of lots of great memories and fun had with all of you and I hope you also feel some nostalgia.

January 2009 began with a fabulous Wedding Showcase event at The Chateaux at Fox Meadows, complete with Fantasy Tables, and a wedding vendor tradeshow. Catering By Design provided wonderful food stations. We had the very smart, witty, & beautiful Lovelynn Jensen - Wedding Planner extraordinaire join us to discuss marketing to Gen Y (AKA - brides)!

February was our 3rd annual teambuilding event at Infinity Park Event Center in which we let our creative juices flow playing games and designing our putt-putt golf holes provided by Fun Productions. Tony Rosacci's served up some fantastic golf course fare.

In March we all came out to support our joint industry conference and tradeshow put on by MIC (the Meetings Industry Council). What a great conference of national educational speakers right here in our own backyard at The Colorado Convention Center. Don't forget that your ISES membership includes a membership to MIC, please take advantage of the great events hosted by MIC twice yearly.

April was of course the ever popular "ISES PROM '09" definitely a very fun event hosted for ISES by The Magnolia Hotel in their absolutely beautiful ballroom.

For the first time ever and certainly not the last we joined forces with the Colorado NACE chapter for a look at "Farm to Fork"; local, organic, and green vendors in May. We can't forget what a very cool and unique space, hosted by DSC in their offices.

June was our very special annual dinner. It marks a very special time for our board in which we change hands and positions, etc. when we induct the new board. The Warwick provided an amazing space and a great dinner. Our silent auction for the first time became a "live auction of experience packages". We also held our first annual awards gala. Please do not forget to start planning for your awards submissions for this year's gala and save your pennies to bid on some of those incredible packages.

We started the ISES year off in July with a free and fun networking event at Root Down in The Highlands. Boy did the ever make some fantastic cocktails.

In August we hosted our second annual Members Only Town Hall Meeting at Dave & Buster's. I was a bit nervous. You may notice I am not the world's best public speaker and I had the stage for a good chunk of the meeting, eek, I hope I didn't scare anyone away. We discussed ISES as it relates to the entire organization, the benefits, and our plans for the year. We hope that this meeting serves you well to get the most for your membership.

The September meeting at Earl's downtown was another fun after hours networking event. It is great to have some time to just chat and get to know other ISES members.

For the first time in a very long time, we hosted a lunch meeting in October at Cielo Castle Pines. Our delicious lunch was provided by The Food Guy. Our speaker sparked a lot of internal thoughts and interesting debates and discussions. Dr. Dennis Wittmer from the Daniels School of Business discussed Ethics in business; I for one took away some tips and new processes for decision making.

In November we took time off to support the giant "Network for the Needy" luncheon benefiting Food Bank of the Rockies hosted by MIC at The Merchandise Mart.

Which brings us to last month's networking and Toys for Tots toy drive at PalazoVerdi. The food provided by Epicurean was fabulous. We also had a quick session on memory retention, including a fun little memory game provided by Kurt Venekamp from Freedom Personal development.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed the year's meetings and events and I honestly hope that your membership in ISES has done for you what my membership has done for me. I have learned so much, have such great relationships, and become a more profitable & professional business owner through my 8 & ½ years as an ISES member.

But the fun & education is not over, oh no don't you worry, we have so much in store for the next 12 months that you will NOT want to MISS.

Please join us for another absolutely amazing Wedding Showcase Event on January 26th at the Mile High Station to kick off 2010 right! Please do not miss the opportunity to showcase your company in either the vendor show or the fantasy tablescape competition.

Remember, I really want t o meet you if I haven't yet, please say hi at the next meeting!

All my best wishes for that ROCKSTAR 2010,
Dawn Abbott

Dawn Abbott

ISES Denver Chapter President 2009-2010