Themes can be a key to unlocking an event’s greatest potential for an unforgettable experience.
By customizing your event with a theme that resonates with your audience, you’ve tapped into the secret to crafting an engaging experience that will most certainly wow the crowd.
The right theme sets the foundation for architecting an event that is more focused and intentional.
When a focused theme is a driving force behind the event elements and the overall purpose, the planning comes together more synergistically.
And when it’s “showtime”, the event experience will be more engaging, more inspired, and, undoubtedly, the one most remembered by your attendees.
Top 10 ways a theme can boost your event experience:
Supports and defines the goals and objectives of the event.
Directs the planning with more ease and more focus.
Provides a guide for more interesting content.
Brings your team together with a more creative purpose.
Creates buzz and enthusiasm.
Generates more connection and engagement from the attendees.
Engages all senses and is visually more captivating.
The Global Experience Team at Miller Tanner Associates masterfully works in partnership with each client to plan and deliver an impactful event theme that will boost their attendees’ overall experience.
We planned a corporate event in Key Largo drawing our inspiration from the alluring Caribbean capital of Cuba to create an experience that captured the essence of the culturally-vibrant city, Havana.
The Havana theme was infused in every detail of the evening. At the lively “Havana Nights”, attendees enjoyed traditional Cuban entertainment and the artistry of local artisans as well as mingled amid the tropical-inspired decor, which made for a truly memorable experience for the event participants.
By implementing a few creative measures with an inspired theme, you’ll design an event that generates more excitement and connectedness among your attendees and one that transforms your event experience.
Our Global Experience Team can take any idea and transform it into a memorable event.Contact us to discover a new way of looking at your event.
The Miller Tanner difference is our people. That’s why we want to introduce you to our team of superstars that brings our corporate meetings and events to life for our clients. Today we introduce you Vivian Thompson, billing manager for Miller Tanner Associates. Vivian brings her 30 years of accounting know-how to the Finance Team.
Meet Vivian Thompson
Tell us about your current role with MTA. What are your primary responsibilities?
As the billing manager, I audit all of the bills from an event, completing the event budget and ultimately handing all clients a very detailed bill.
How long have you been with MTA? Almost 10 years!
What did you do before joining MTA? I have been in accounting for 30 years everything from retail, small business, construction and government contracts. By far, MTA is the most rewarding.
What do you feel are the most fulfilling aspects of your job?
I love a mystery and each event holds a mystery – I just have to find it!
What makes Miller Tanner Associates stand out as an event planning company?
MTA offers white-glove service from start to finish. Our staff is the most amazing, talented group I have ever encountered.
What do you do for fun? I love spending time with my children and grandchildren. I love to cook, garden, read, and cross-stitch.
Where do you live and what do you love most about your state/city?
I live in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Murfreesboro is a college town with plenty of shopping and a vast array of activities weekly. If interested in history, the National Battlefield and the Cannonsburgh Village are both great to visit; the downtown square has shopping and music on Friday nights, with plenty of great places to eat. It’s well worth a visit!
What do you enjoy most about the MTA annual workshops?
It is a wonderful week of catching up, learning, building closer relationships, laughter, and HUGS! It is second only to Christmas!
Miller Tanner Associates (MTA) would not be the event planning company that it is today without the incredibly talented individuals working tirelessly behind the scenes to create memorable experiences for our clients.
At each annual MTA Workshop, our company’s internal global meeting, we recognize those distinguished team members for their outstanding contributions to Miller Tanner throughout the year. Our theme for our 2019 Workshop was Depth 2x, as we focused on how we can go deeper as a team and as a company to meet the needs of our clients. This year’s award winners demonstrated this quality of depth that we all strive for each day at Miller Tanner Associates. Our 2019 winners include:
2019 Gift of Service Awards: Caroline Drummey and Tomas de Dominicis
This year’s Gift of Service Award recognized two outstanding associates, Caroline Drummey, Global Experience Specialist (GXS) and Tomas de Dominicis, Global Experience Designer (GXD), for their exceptional dedicated service to both our clients and their fellow Miller Tanner colleagues. Both Caroline and Tomas displayed a level of dedication and initiative that represents MTA excellence.
The Global Experience Team responsible for corporate events comprised of Molly Suggs, Director of Global Experiences (DGX); Gracie Fisher, Global Experience Manager (GXM); Jenny Decker, Global Experience Designer (GXD); and Melissa Eggert, Global Experience Manager (GXM) received the Theme Award. This team was recognized for their stellar event design and implementation of the 2019 Workshop in Montebello, Canada. This planning team knows how to wow the crowd with their creative finesse and attention to every detail.
2019 Saver Award: Lisa Clifton
Lisa Clifton, Accounts Payable Analyst, was awarded the 2019 Saver Award for her commitment to ensuring a quick turnaround time for reimbursements and billing for a large event series. She worked diligently to meet all deadlines post-event and managed her responsibilities like clockwork.
2019 Marnie Award: William Morton
Creative Manager Bill Morton was awarded the 2019 Marie Award for his role in masterfully rebranding Miller Tanner Associates in an effort to better exemplify and distinguish our brand within in the meeting and event industry. His creativity has shone throughout the year while designing a new look for MTA and our newest proprietary event technology – EPIC and Attend.
Story of the Year: Gemma Plans, Emoke Szoverfi, Diana Reed, Lisa Clifton, Carla Mahlberg, Heather Cheng, and Richard Chalmers
The 2019 Story of the Year was awarded to the following team members: Gemma Plans,Sr. Global Experience Manager (SGXM); Emoke Szoverfi, Global Experience Specialist (GXS); Diana Reed,Senior Key Account Manager; Lisa Clifton, Accounts Payable Analyst; Carla Mahlberg, Technical Projects Lead; Heather Cheng,Director, Global Experiences (DGX); and Richard Chalmers, Global Experience Designer (GXD). The collaborative efforts of this team resulted in a very successful program for our client. This team skillfully managed a seamless event using our latest innovative proprietary event technology – EPIC and Attend – to enhance and streamline all meeting details from paperless agendas to digital reimbursements.
We’ve curated a corporate meeting mash-up of some of our best blogs with our tips for creating a successful internal corporate event. Supercharge your internal events, meetings, and trainings with expert advice using these strategies from the Miller Tanner Team.
From an events industry perspective with two decades of event planning experience, Miller Tanner offers three innovative ways to boost your company’s brand internally. Full article
As a contribution to our corporate meeting mash-up advice, we asked our team of event pros why internal meetings matter. Our team members share their perspectives on how internal meetings can be beneficial to the overall health of an organization. Full article
Behind every successful company is an equally successful training program to drive them forward. Give your training a tune up and navigate a new route. Here are 5 ways that you can drive your training ahead. Full article
We recently planned a product launch for a company which included product and branding training for their sales team. Here are 3 ways that you can create a memorable experience at your next training. Full article
The Miller Tanner difference is our people. That’s why we want to introduce you to our team of superstars that brings our corporate meetings and events to life for our clients.
Today, we introduce you to Ingrid Easter, Special Projects, Director, for Miller Tanner Associates (MTA). Ingrid’s ability to transform “big picture ideas” into achievable details coupled with her exceptional, supportive skills in strategic development and training has proven to be invaluable to our team.
Last week Miller Tanner Associates (MTA), was honored to be selected, by a panel of judges, as one of 3 national finalists in the Diversity Alliance for Science (DA4S) “EIGHT THAT INNOVATE” program which showcases how diverse suppliers are using novel ideas to drive value within the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. We were recognized for our innovative event software, EPIC TM, that provides value to clients, and differentiates MTA as a leader within the industry.
EPICTM, Event Planning In Control, is a proprietary event planning web app designed to control and manage the lifecycle of your events, essentially merging all of your event’s details into one user-friendly system.
EPICTM integrates data for:
Event spend
Attendee reimbursement
Travel and logistics
Communication
All event data is available in real time, using single sign-on, and is accessible in traditional or mobile format.
We’d like to introduce you to our latest event technology, now recognized by Diversity Alliance for Science as an innovative event tool. We look forward to bringing more creative technology solutions to your events! Contact us for a demo!
We can’t say it enough – When you take the time to customize your event in a way that speaks to your audience, you’ve tapped into something special that will make your event memorable for years to come.
Our Miller Tanner Associates (MTA) team recently planned a stunning product launch in Charleston, South Carolina. With input from our client, our event planners used their creativity, expertise, and problem-solving skills to create a customized product launch for the company’s sales team.
Here are three equations for a memorable event experience and how our team perfectly executed these strategies:
1. Branding + Theme
Do you want to customize your event in such a way that makes it more memorable? Tie the branding together with an event theme for starters.
“At every meeting, we are telling a story, ” shares Marnie Battistini, CEO of Miller Tanner, explaining that one goal of any meeting is to get important messaging across to your attendees. Having a theme is one way to help accomplish that.
How we did it: Our Miller Tanner team took inspiration from the product’s branding and ran with it! The branding set the stage for the event’s theme and our planning team used it as a foundation to weave throughout the entire event. From gifts to table decor to sweet treats, the rainbow-colored branding was used to pull together the details and create an outstanding event.
2. Customized Gifting + Choice
We’ve learned from experience that customizing the event gifts is a popular trend. Give attendees the opportunity to select what items are most meaningful to them personally tends to be more appreciated by the attendees.
How we did it: Our team designed the concept for “The Shop” and created the display structure that housed the gift selection. Attendees had the opportunity to browse and choose their preferences. Each day “The Shop” featured new items and sweet treats to enjoy. Again, we used the theme to connect the gifts. All of “The Shop” gift ideas as well as the edible treats, that the talented pastry chef provided, carried the rainbow-themed branding.
3. Activities & Outings + Variety
Variety is the spice of life and events. Offering attendees a variety of activity options is an excellent way to engage your attendees and create a more special event.
How we did it: Our attendees were offered a choice of different activities including a historical carriage ride, golf, and spa time. We also planned dinners throughout the city, where the group was divided into smaller more intimate dinner parties. This is a great way to customize your event according to each attendee’s interest to make it a more memorable experience.
If you need ideas for making your corporate event a memorable one, reach out to our event planning experts at Miller Tanner Associates.
Today we are celebrating our 22nd work anniversary at Miller Tanner Associates (MTA)!
A lot has changed in the event industry over the past two decades since MTA has been in business and we’ve strived to adapt as the times shifted and innovate as the opportunities arose. Our goal continues to be one that makes your events, regardless of the format (F2F, Virtual, Hybrid or repurposed event content) more engaging, more efficient, and more impactful.
On behalf of MTA, thank you for the continued opportunity over the past 22 years to be of service for your meetings and events across the globe.
The Miller Tanner difference is our people. That’s why we want to introduce you to our team of superstars that brings our corporate meetings and events to life for our clients. Today we introduce you to Christina Serra, Global Event Director. Christina has the ability to juggle and problem solve any event challenge that comes her way. She’s dedicated to providing only the best service to our clients and event attendees.
Meet Christina Serra
Tell us about your current role with MTA? What are your primary responsibilities?
As a global event director, I work closely with our clients to ensure full understanding of their event expectations and goals. Then, along with an amazing team of MTA colleagues and our vendor partners, I work to ensure each aspect of the event is managed and implemented efficiently and flawlessly both during pre-planning and on-site.
How long have you been with MTA? I have been with Miller Tanner for 4.5 years.
What did you do before joining MTA? Prior to joining Miller Tanner, I completed a master’s degree program while working as an event manager at The Georgia Museum of Art – Georgia’s official state museum of art.
What’s the best part of your job?
I love that my job looks different every day based on the event on which I am working or team with whom I’m working. Of course, it is always nice when things go smoothly; however, I really love working through the logistical hurdles that come with being in the event industry. I love problem-solving and find it very rewarding any time I am challenged to look at a task with a new perspective in order to find a new solution or approach.
What’s been your favorite event destination as an event planning professional?
For most of my career with MTA, my event destinations have been domestic US cities. My favorites would be a tie between San Diego and San Francisco. Both are such walkable cities and for me, being able to sneak in a quick walk during a long day on site is the greatest treat. For smaller events, San Francisco offers several unique, historic hotels that are a fun change of scenery from a typical conference hotel.
What’s been your most memorable event to date and why?
During my first year with MTA, our team was working on a major global event series. Each event averaged 300 – 600 attendees and the series touched nearly every region of the world. Each event was logistically more complicated than a typical event, which forced the team at large to think outside the box and to really hone in on our individual strengths in order to develop greater efficiencies for our clients, our attendees, and the team members working on each event. I loved the challenge and hustle of these events and it was truly a team effort to get from start to finish each time. For the events in this series, it was pretty amazing to watch each event come to life seamlessly time and time again knowing all that went into the pre-planning.
Do you have a few great travel tips that you could share?
Less is more! You truly don’t need much and so I usually will lay out everything I plan to pack and then put a good bit away before packing my suitcase.
Having a good piece of luggage also makes a huge difference! I travel with an Away carry-on suitcase and am amazed each time I travel how much I can fit inside.
I read recently that if you do not eat during international travel, you are less likely to experience difficult jet lag. I tried it on my last international trip and felt significantly better and found it much easier to adjust to the new time zone.
What do you do for fun?
I have a three-year-old who keeps me on my toes. Aside from spending time with my family, I love practicing yoga, spending time with friends, and am a self-proclaimed podcast addict.
Where are you currently located? And what is it about the area that you enjoy most?
I grew up north of Atlanta. I currently live in Athens, GA – about an hour outside of Atlanta. I never thought I would love living in a small town, but living in Athens is magic. Athens is a university town, which offers so many free cultural and educational events, workshops, lectures, etc. Additionally, Athens has historically been home to a strong music scene, which in turn has attracted a large artistic community who have chosen live and work here. I love that I can experience the charms of small-town living, while also having easy access to great food, music, and art. And when you start to get a little stir crazy, Atlanta is just a quick drive away.
Any favorite spots that you would recommend to tourists?
What makes Miller Tanner stand out as meeting planning company? What’s your favorite aspect of MTA?
I love that MTA is a forward thinking company. The team at large is always looking at how we can make processes more seamless and efficient for our clients and the attendees and how we can utilize technology along the way. I worked in events in other capacities prior to my time at MTA and I can truly say that the people who make up MTA are unique. It is a team packed full of brilliant minds and kind hearts, which yields spectacular support for one another, our clients, and our attendees.
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