The President's Corner

Looking back over the past year, there is much my family and I are thankful for. We are of course, thankful for our family and good health, we are thankful for our team of dedicated professionals who strive hard to delight our clients, maintain excellent relationships and continue to improve their respective skills.  

I take this first of our newsletters to say - thank you!  

Allin Foulkrod, CSEP - President, Creative Visions     

The Best Event for a Non-Profit Organization was a culmination of a successful University Campaign fund raiser. The event design involved a backdrop of 100 spheres, three to six feet in diameter, floating at various heights on the football field. Dynamic lighting was altered throughout the course of the evening to provide illumination and evocative effects for a successful evening.

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In an effort to make every event the best it can be, Creative Visions recently invested in a pair of 70" LED monitors. The objective of this purchase was to use the new 70" monitors as teleprompters at an event in Reynolds Coliseum.

The larger monitors, placed on eight foot stands, allowed us to position them a full 75 feet away from the stage, at the back of the audience. The presenters were able to see their scripts with ease. Typically, teleprompters are placed at the foot of the stage, causing presenters to periodically look down toward their feet instead of out at the audience - not a great way to maintain an engaged connection with a large crowd!

Since their initial purchase, Creative Visions has used the 70" monitors for dinner and award shows. In the future, we hope to develop new and innovative ways to incorporate these impactful visual pieces into our set designs.

Creative Visions was honored to produce several events for North Carolina's Governor Pat McCrory - including his Inauguration and swearing-in ceremony.  

Although the event was one we were extremely proud to produce, there were a few 'behind the scenes' challenges - not an uncommon occurrence.  As the advance preparation unfolded, the pantone color selected for the stage steps was not the red color anticipated (actually closer to pink!). With a few ninja moves, Creative Visions came to the rescue and provided red carpet instead of using the paint!

CV also designed and printed an enlarged duplicate of the State seal captured from a cellphone image.  The seal was originally only to be used on the podium, but CV thought a fabricated duplication of the seal would enhance the attendee and television viewpoints and add to the excellent location in front of the State Capitol.

An on-camera statement from one of the television anchormen covering the event was, "... they did a great job of staging, like we have not seen in the past; this was created for television".  

Our clients are fascinating! We thought it would be interesting to take a close up view. We appreciate and value each and every one of our clients. Thanks for working with us!

In this edition, we're thrilled to shine the spotlight on: 

 Ellen Klingler, Director of Chancellor's Events at North Carolina State University.

Ellen has been the Director of the Chancellor's Events at NC State University for over 6 years.  She was highly involved in President Obama's visit to NC State University in 2011 - where there was 72 hours from notification to actualization of the event (gulp!). Ellen admits there were many changes and logistics to deal with - and she even slept with a paper/pen next to her bed to make notes as they occurred to her! She was the key organizer for the resulting 10,000 person event.

When we asked her to share a couple of surprising facts, Ellen revealed that she is Google "challenged". Although an extremely resourceful professional, she admits to being "the only one in the world" with difficulty sourcing topics via Google! Another huge claim to fame for Ellen is that, growing up in PA, she was actually Mr. Rogers' neighbor!

I had an internship at our local PBS station on a kid-focused science program.  I learned a lot about the pre-planning of live TV and helped secure props for the segments.  A memorable highlight was bringing in enough food for a 2-ton elephant!  He just fit into the freight elevator, but we had to remove all of the ceiling lights, as his trunk tried pulling them down.

I love to travel. During college I spent a year in southern France, and after college, I taught English in Japan for two years.  I've traveled extensively through SE Asia and Europe and have a black belt in Kempo martial arts.

My most creative project was an after-hours party in Orlando. We transformed a hotel parking lot into 1950's Hollywood, complete with Rat Pack and Marilyn impersonators, hand-rolled cigar patio, and sound and light show dance floor. Guests entered the 150' tent on red carpet, and enjoyed a party atmosphere into the night.

For 2013, I'm most excited to offer media production services to our clients.  From engaging tribute videos to character animations to cutting edge display technologies, our services are only limited by our imaginations.

I returned to CV in 2012 after a brief stint away.  I am thankful to be back with my skilled and dedicated colleagues who challenge me with new requests, and support me wholeheartedly.  Together, we produce great events and always strive to be better.