I HAVE JUST RETURNED from my company's “editorial summit” — a fancy way to describe a 2H-day meeting for all the chief editors from the more than 70 publications that my division produces — a chance for us to get together and share best practices. While it's never easy to make the time to get away from Special Events (and working on Special Events is a lot more fun than working on just about anything else), it was a stimulating experience.
The editors there offered up plenty of good ideas — you'll be seeing us adapt some of them to better serve our readers. And it was amazing to me to see how some ideas that make perfect sense for Special Events came from publications that are so different from ours. (Electrical Construction & Maintenance magazine has some great ways to collect and share information — who knew?)
In many ways, a trade magazine is simply a way to share best practices. We work to find examples of some of the best-looking, best-planned and best-executed special events out there to present to you. This issue takes you to a great Hollywood party (see page 17), great children's events (see page 23) and, in our cover story, great event tours (page 26), including the event producers' secrets of success in staging these demanding traveling shows.
At the editorial summit, I heard one editor complain that she is having more trouble lately getting interviews, and that's bad. Of course, every business has its sensitive spots, but a reputable trade magazine makes it its business to focus on the facts that matter, and to get those facts straight.
More important, sharing best practices is a way to elevate an entire industry. When event professionals share the techniques they have honed through their experiences, the result is special events that are better — more strategic, more compelling, more cost-effective. And that makes special events a more attractive investment for clients, whether those clients are corporate hosts or social hosts.
On behalf of the team here at Special Events, I'd like to thank all of our interviewees who over the years have shared the stories behind your special events with us. Your generosity in giving of your expertise, telling us about the good stuff and the bad stuff that came up during your events, makes our magazine stronger and, more important, our profession stronger.
