International Special Events Society Orlando Chapter

International Special Events Society - Orlando.
2008 Graduation Event

The industry's finest event planners and professionals gathered for the 2008 Installation event, the year's induction of new board member designations.

Congratulations to our esteemed new board under the new direction of Christine Logan. We look forward to a wonderful year!

The event was planned by the amazing Program Committee, under the leadership of J Michael Hicks- VP of Programs, in the perfect surroundings of the Isleworth Country Club -Thanks to Laura O'Keef and her team for the hospitality. The yearbook photos were provided by Tish Burgess of PowerSnaps, and if you didn't attend this event, you missed out! See you at the next meeting!

To learn more about our community, members and the society.. visit us at:
ISES Orlando

Check out the candid and fun photos...

FSAE and Kirklands Destination Management

This July we partnered up with the South Florida division of Kirkland's Destination Management Group.

The Occasion: The Florida Society of Association Executives were in town for their 2008 annual Conference Committee at the Breakers Palm Beach luxury oceanfront hotel.

The Kirkland Events team hosted the group's reception at the Ritz Carlton Palm Beach. Kirklands transformed the reception space into a A Great Gatsby 1920's themed room, complete with flapper girls, and our black leather intrigue furniture collection and natural steel coffee tables to match. Lot's of food, music and fun!
We look forward to many successful events to come with Kirkland's!

We also received great appreciation from Kirkland Event & Destination Services' owner, Paget Kirkland for our assistance with the event...

I wanted to say a quick but, HUGE thank you for assisting us with our program in July! I foresee quite a bit of business from it and assure you anything we do get from the hotel OR the event we will absolutely call you for as you have proven to be an integral partner.

Thank you again – we look forward to working with you.

Industry Partners- Clegg & Sons/C&S Themed Events

Partnerships... Its a old world business approach, yet a successful and still valued strategy in today's competitive world of business. In order for companies to excel and flourish, partnerships are definitely needed to enhance each other's business capabilities.

A true example of a great strategic partnership is Unique Option's relationship with the prop masters, and scene creators with Clegg & Sons. Dennis Clegg - a talented craftsman and artist- Dennis and his talented team of fine artists and constructors can bring any theme to life with an intensive constructed and designed backdrop with customized props. Clegg & Sons, has the largest inventory in the Southeast of props and backgrounds which lead them to form their rental division- C&S Themed Events.

Our capabilities together are AMAZING! Check it out...

Unique Option's Commitment to our Clients

Orlando, FL - July 15th, 2008 - was an exciting and dynamic day for the entire team at Unique Option.

Our amazing Sales Manager Penny Macioszek played host and moderator for our quarterly sales retreat at the Unique Option headquarters.

We had a full house! Our entire staff from South Florida, Orlando and our newest Account Executive from Tampa were all in attendance.

During our sales retreat we laughed, we learned and enjoyed great food-- the fabulous cake was created and made by our very own Dianne Honel, Unique Option now offers custom cakes, if you have the need and budget, we just might be able to package it in your next order! (just kidding, although if you are interested, you can reach Dianne at: dianne@unique-option.com

The cake was delicious! Thank you Dianne!

Our warehouse and logistic team also got into the fun.. Check out the pics...



Unique Option is going through some exciting changes, great new initiatives are on the horizon - along with the ongoing efforts to fully maintain the founding Unique Option client commitment- fulfilling our clients needs with the best pricing, best service and the best quality in rental furniture and decor, an absolute promise and commitment to all our clients.

In addition to the exciting perspectives and agenda with our sales retreat- we created a warm welcome to the new additions to the Unique Option family... Drum roll please.. Allow us to introduce:

Our Tampa Account Executive..

Christina Houston- Tampa native and all around Miss Popularity among the Tampa & St Pete local professionals, Christina brings an impressive background of media sales, real estate and community activism to the Unique Option team. We are enthused and welcome Christina to the family...

Our Central Florida Account Executive..

Dianne Honel- Detroit, Michigan born and bred, Dianne comes to Unique Option with over 20 years of sales experience. Between Real Estate sales and a thorough knowledge of building sales in the recycling industry, Dianne is no stranger to the right formula for success for client relationships and partnerships. She holds many achievement awards as well as, designations for continued and higher education. Her formal education started in Business Management and then ended up in Interior Design. She credits her success to the wonderful "team" environment she as been blessed with in all of her employers, as well as, her drive, competitiveness, and her commitment to exceptional customer service. She is a valued new member of our team.

That concludes our introductions... for now, that is, and our retreat ended with a great conclusion, which brought up another interesting topic of discussion..

To view a portion of the Q&A from the Sales Retreat, click play below...

Weddings Unique

As we are on the topic of amazing wedding planners, another valued partner and client is the lovely Ms. Heather Snively, award-winning Wedding Planner, who is known for infusing style and personal touches into every event she plans. Based in Orlando, Florida, the Weddings Unique team produces weddings in Florida as well as destination weddings around the world.

Some of our fabulous photos are courtesy of Heather's team at Weddings Unique... We provided her the popular white eccentric couches and accessories for her star studded wedding of Backstreet Boys' Howie Dorough and his beautiful bride and now wife - Leigh.

Click above to read more about Heather's celebrity designed wedding for Howie & Leigh as featured in the December 2007 issue of OK Magazine.

We are so thrilled for Heather and all the partners involved with the amazing coverage she recieved in the Summer 2008 issue of InStyle Weddings Magazine. We were honored to be a selected vendor and look forward to more exciting weddings with Heather and the Weddings Unique team!

Additional Thanks goes out to Damon Tucci for the always amazing photos!

E-Events & Unique Option

E Events, a true partner with Unique Option on providing furniture & decor to amazing weddings. As they boast- Effortlessly Elegant and Undeniably Chic- Offering graciousness and style, E Events is poised to design an event that is an extension of your true personality. Enviable, efficient, extraordinary, and exquisite are the words which will describe your fete when you select E Events. Permit us to inspire you.

Very special thanks to Lisa Konecny for the fantastic collection of photos that truly showcases our collaboration together. These photos most certainly display an outstanding exhibit of our capabilities together...

Photo kudos & credits go out to the very talented photographers at the following studios here in Orlando, FL- Liga Photography, Damon Tucci Studios, NuVisions in Photography, & Garrett Nudd Photography.

Additional props go out to our creatively talented friend- Lindsey Luxa of Dragonfly Custom Designs, who created the lovely passport invitations one of the wedding parties and the awesome floral on the Asian inspired wedding photos- Greenery Productions- much thanks to Tommy Murphy.

What you've been waiting for... Unique Option New Product Additions...

You've been asking about it... And we are delivering... The question all our clients have been asking lately-- Where are the new products Unique Option has to offer?

Here they are in Technicolor for your viewing pleasure... Interactive for your enjoyment: Click below on each square to view our latest and greatest additions.

Call us Today to discuss how these new items can be debuted at your next event!
800-254-5280
websales@unique-option.com

The Weekly Unique Option BlogCast

Keeping up with new technology and to add a personalized touch to our site, we are embarking on a new Unique Option initiative- Our weekly BlogCast segment which will be brought to you by the people here at Unique Option.

This is the first installment of many to come, this week, our Reporter-in-Chief- Awny Khashoggi addresses an inquiry that we got from one of our clients, colleagues and friends.

This week's topic- Inventory.... Check it out....

HOT! HOT! HOT! The use of our furniture in ad campaigns...

Damon Tucci Photography Studios- http://www.damontucci.com/, An amazing photographer and his right hand woman, and Marketing Director - Rosy the dynamic duo, both true gems to the talent here in Central Florida. We cannot express and emphasis enough, the creativity and talent for this young man and his photography work.... A picture is worth a thousand words- that saying definitely speaks truth, a couple of weeks ago they did a photo shoot with Rachel of Elase Medical Spa here in Orlando for their upcoming ad campaign and once again our highly popular Eccentric White sofa appeared in the shoot, with a beautiful Toni Braxton look-a-like gracing over the sofa. This shot truly shows our items having diversified usage and can be functional for even a high power, sexy photo shoot...


Other items in our collection were featured in the shoot, more photos to come....

Unique Option & The Daily Buzz!

Partnerships, partnerships and more partnerships...

Drum roll please..... Unique Option is delighted to announce our furniture's silver screen debut on the nationally syndicated morning news program- The Daily Buzz.

July 1st, 2008, marks the day, we are proud to be featured on the set of the Daily Buzz. Our orange sofas and Topaz Maple coffee table & end table appeared on the show today and will be a staple on the set for the next couple of months till our new rotation arrives, and hosts, Kia Malone & Andy Campbell gave rave reviews... Check out the video...





We at Unique Option are so thrilled about our new relationship with the team over at The Daily Buzz. Our President, Awny Khashoggi was all the "buzz" and commented on the new partnership:

"Our business is about being seen. No greater platform can top- the hip and happening Daily Buzz Studio. I just love their energy." - Awny Khashoggi, Unique Option, President & CEO.


The Daily Buzz is a produced in Orlando, Florida at Full Sail University by ACME Communications shown mostly on The CW or MyNetwork affiliates. The show is one of the fastest growing syndicated shows in America. The three-hour program is broadcast every weekday morning. It is currently carried in 147 U.S. television markets, some of which only broadcast two hours of the program. Many stations carrying the show are affiliates of The CW Television Network.


**To watch The Daily Buzz direct, be sure to check your local listings! Or, you can watch them online at DailyBuzz.TV.

Special Thanks and appreciation to- Sandi Gehring, Mike Dryburgh, Kia Malone & Dale Dees.

2008 BOMA International TOBY Award Winner

Our office building is an award winner too!

Another award to add to our bookshelf! In addition to our past industry awards- ISES Esprit Award & Silver Addy Award we are proud to announce our office building was just awarded on

Tuesday, June 24th, the 2008 BOMA International TOBY (The Office Building of the Year) Award, in the Industrial Office Park Category- for our business office park-- Sunport Center, Orlando, Florida.

Special recognition and credit to our property managment group- EastGroup Properties.

Our office park previously competed in Orlando and then against seven other states in the Southern Region of BOMA before moving on to this International competition in Denver, Colorado. The competition for this category included properties from LasVegas, NV, Houston, TX and Windsor, CT.

“The TOBY is the most prestigious award of its kind in the commercial real estate industry, honoring the buildings – and men and women who own and manage the buildings – that exemplify the excellence in building management. This year’s winners truly represent the best of the best in our industry. They continue setting new standards of excellence that encourage all of us to operate our buildings – from energy efficiency and emergency preparedness to tenant retention and community impact - and serve our tenants at the highest level.” - Brenna S. Walraven, RPA, CPM, Chariman and Chief Elected Officer, BOMA International.

CONGRATULATIONS SUNPORT CENTER AND OUR NEIGHBORS!

Stonewall Festival South Florida- June 22, 2008

Unique Option believes in Community and being involved with causes that matter and that make a difference in the ongoing fight for equality. When presented the opportunity to work with Hot Spots Magazine- Florida's largest & oldest gay weekly publication in sponsoring their booth for the 9th annual Stonewall Festival in Ft. Lauderdale, we were definitley interested.

Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale hosts the annual Street Festival to celebrate the Stonewall Rebellion on New York's Christopher Street in June of 1969, which is recognized as the catalyst for the modern-day movement towards LGBT rights.

This year, the theme was entitled- Sizzling with Pride! An estimated 40,000 people attended the two-day event the organizers were thrilled with the results and noted the event as a success, we were excited to be involved.

Check Hot Spots magazine-http://www.hotspotsmagazine.com/

A FABULOUS new addition of media partners to the Unique Option team!

The pictures for the event included...

Special Thanks to Peter Clark & Joseph Green of Hot Spots Magazine