Where do you seek inspiration? How do your translate your ideas into reality? On August 1, 2013, fourteen Event Management Students showed the industry and the public just how creative they could be.
The event, entitled Inspired Spaces, is an annual tabletop competition showcasing the talents of the students in Seneca College’s Event Management – Event and Exhibit Design program. The event was hosted at the College and was well attended by both the public and special event industry. Industry judges were invited to attend and evaluate the students on a number of criteria.
Inspired Spaces is about creating experiences for clients, guests, event attendees, customers, and event organizers. “This competition isn’t just about how pretty the table looks,” says Professor Scott McAllister. “Students are required to research venues, develop budgets, pitch proposals, plan catering and build floor plans. All of this is taken into consideration when judging their tabletops.”
The industry judges chose Brittany More’s Start Your Engines to be the best tabletop display in the show. Her event was an opening night dinner to celebrate the Honda Indy Races while raising money for charities of the drivers’ choices. Steel accents, tire rims and auto parts played an integral part of the décor.
Sarah Kearns earned the People’s Choice Award as voted by the general public at the show. Her Southwest Bohemian Wedding was a favourite with attendees. The décor boasted hand-crafted dream catchers, tee pees, barn board tables, hand-wrapped elements and rustic accents. Sarah also placed second in the scoring of the industry judges.
“Our event management program is unique in Ontario in that we focus specifically on design and décor for the event industry,” says John MacBride, Coordinator of the Program. “Students learn the fundamentals of event management including logistics, marketing, budgeting and human resource management; but they also study event design, floral design and audio-visual. Our grads work for event planners, event designers, florists, décor companies, venues and suppliers.”
Feedback from the event industry was extremely positive. “We are incredibly proud of our students and the calibre of work they produce,” says Gitte Hansen, Academic Chair of the program. “In our eyes, every one of them is a winner.”
For pictures of all of the tabletop entries, please click now