Pierce Communications

09/21/2023

Over the past few months, we've been working closely with Volvo Cars on the 2023 Customer Service Conference. Last week, close to 700 people from the US and Canada attended the conference at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE. We are proud to play an integral role in this event and support this amazing brand with sourcing, project management, online registration, a mobile event app, production, staging, and so much more. It was a blast!

📸:

07/01/2021

Live events are back! This past weekend, Pierce helped Volvo Car USA launch their first annual Midsommar Open House, celebrating their new corporate headquarters, Swedish Midsommar, and the 60th anniversary of the P1800.

We were happy to help with online event registration, food & beverage, signage and more as Volvo welcomed over 250 loyalists to show their vintage (or not so vintage) Volvos, test drive the Battery Electric XC40 and Polestar 1 & 2, and of course, dance around the Swedish Maypole.

We’re already looking forward to next year!

06/21/2021

Top 5 questions when sourcing an event venue:

1️⃣What’s the purpose of your event?
Is it an incentive for high performers, a working session, or maybe a splashy launch? It’s important to source a venue that fits your needs and vision for the event.

2️⃣What’s your ideal location?
Looking for the energy and activity of a downtown spot, or something more relaxing - like the beach? Need proximity to air travel for quick in and out? Sometimes it's a balancing act between convenience and your goals.

3️⃣What are your space requirements?
Often the true capacity of a hotel can be hard to gauge and ballroom seating charts can be deceiving. Make sure you're including space for AV and décor. Also gauge how much room you'll need for
breakouts and make sure the property can accommodate.
4️⃣Where are your attendees traveling from?
"Airlift," or the total flight capacity into a particular destination, is a key consideration. A remote destination may offer advantages in either hotel rates or tranquility, but may be hard for guests to get to. Again, it's about assessing your needs and striking the right balance.

5️⃣What are your must-haves?
Having a spa can be de rigueur for incentive trips. Having suites available may be a requirement for your execs. Street-level access to the ballroom may be important for displaying large products. Be sure to take time to list the things you can't do without and plan accordingly.

🎉Bonus Question! Why not call Pierce to help with you with venue sourcing?

06/09/2021

Yesterday Len Addison ()and Emily Thompson () were welcomed as new members of the Meeting Planners International (MPI)() Marketers and Experience Designers community.
According to Emily, “We had a great time getting to know other members from across the US and Canada via zoom. We talked about some of the challenges facing event professionals as we emerge from the pandemic, including venue contracts, safety protocols, rethinking event layouts, F&B strategies and more.”
Thanks to MPI for welcoming our team. We look forward to more opportunities to share experiences and talk about the issues we’re facing in the months ahead.
.
Photo of Len and Emily on a 2018 site visit at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN.

06/03/2021

A Throwback Thursday to 1999 with a shoutout to Kathy Kalb of KAKreative, one of the best graphic artists in the business and a long-time Pierce collaborator.

05/25/2021

Charring peppers and building teams last week for Volvo - with Food Network veteran Chef Plum.
🌶
Shout out to the good folks at Virtual Xperiences for their great work helping pull off this five-session hot sauce-making event.
🌶
With in-person recognition and incentives still largely on hold, the training team at Volvo Cars tasked us to craft a virtual gathering to reward some of their top dealership performers. was just the ticket. It was an engaging hour filled with cooking tips, funny anecdotes and good vibes. Plus we all produced a couple of bottles of very tasty hot sauce!
🌶
https://tryhungry.com/virtual-events

05/20/2021

Throwing it waaay back to 1992 this Thursday. Pierce partners Dave and Len making it happen for Petry Television at the 1992 NATPE convention, in New Orleans.

05/11/2021

Missing the vibes of renting out a big night club and dancing to a DJ? Hire a DJ and host a virtual dance party! Special event playlists can also be shared with attendees to get them pumped up for your event. Let's compare musical notes!

05/06/2021

Throwback to the year we brought Volvo's crash-test dummy to life for a hilarious live promotion at the National Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE) in Las Vegas.

04/29/2021

Back to the Caymans - and back in time! The Cayman Islands have always been a favorite destination for our corporate clients and we're very excited to be bringing another trip there in November. Here's the Pierce Crew looking spiffy on a Caymans incentive 25 years back!

04/23/2021

Cue the orchestra! OMG, this was a fun one. March, 1999 for Toys "R" Us at the Meadowlands Convention Center in East Rutherford NJ. The main event of a 15-city tour rolling out a new store concept. That's dinner and a show for 1,800 TRU associates. Speeches from management, sure, but also pyrotechnics, Toy Story characters,
sing-alongs, swag like you ain't never seen and yeah, this live orchestra on a rolling platform.

04/21/2021

Sometimes there's no substitute for an in-person event. Of course, this winter that was tricky to say the least. An automotive client was launching a new vehicle. They wanted to cast the widest net, but at the same time control the attendee flow. That's where our conference management chops came into play. We produced a set of polished customer-facing websites to share details of the new vehicle, manage appointments and generate a ton of actionable CRM data.

04/15/2021

25 years ago this week Pierce became early-adopters of one of the first all-digital non-linear video editing systems. Our new Media 100 "gives us video and multimedia power like never before," said partner Dave Finn in a press release that day. "Because it's non‑linear, you can cut and paste just like a word processor. So many things that used to be difficult to achieve are now just a click of the mouse."

That's great, Dave, but what's a word processor?

04/08/2021

Celebrating Throwback Thursday and the opening of baseball season! This week eleven short years ago, we did media and programming for a wall of interactive touch screens in the Verizon Studio at Citi Field. After an on-screen registration, fans watched Verizon-branded content and were entered to win Mets tickets. Best memory: the thrill of being in an empty Citi Field the night before opening day.

04/06/2021

Especially in a year where in-person production was limited, we were glad to be able to leverage our expertise with character animation. In addition to the Adobe suite, the on-line tool makes animation fast, efficient – and frankly a ton of fun. Most recently, we were tasked to produce media in support of a training session for one of our long-time financial services clients (think: may I have the envelope please…). Forty minutes of finished animation from scripting to final files in less than a month? Done! Our friends at brought the technical muscle to manage eight separate remote VO sessions with some of our favorite pro voice talent. And our editorial team led by pulled it all together in style. Reach out if you'd like to have a look.

03/31/2021

Is it just us or did Women’s History Month mean a little more this year than it ever has? We were psyched to help organize Volvo's first Female Technician Forum in Charleston, South Carolina. Yes, there are female technicians! For a historically male-dominated industry this felt like a great step and we were honored to be part of it.
We handled all the logistics including online registration, travel, hotel, even Covid testing.
Charleston is one of our favorite and most frequented destinations as it's the home of Volvo's amazing new factory and it's just a fun town to tour. The centerpiece of the event was a Leadership Forum where we brought together technicians and executives from across the Volvo organization to discuss their experiences as women in the auto industry.
The ladies were also treated to four days of intense hands-on training to become certified in Battery Electric Vehicle repair. Power up ladies!

02/05/2021

Virtual conferencing is here to stay! Our conference management tool lets participants make their own schedule, jump from session to session, participate in group video chats, watch keynote presentations and more. It's the best of live meetings, right from your home office. Facilitate discussions with Q&A and live polling, provide downloadable content and on-demand viewing.

11/05/2020

We recently held a very successful three-day virtual conference for a long-time client. Over 650 attendees from 47 states registered through a custom event website and their engagement was off the charts. Hundreds of questions were asked in the live Q&A, one breakout had more than 400 attendees, and surveys showed a 98% overall satisfaction rate for the event!

Looking to host a virtual conference or add a virtual component to your in-person meetings? Let us help!

08/25/2020

Raise your hand 🙋🏻‍♀️ if you’re participating in this week! The world’s largest meeting and event technology conference has gone virtual with over 35,000 attendees participating from around the world!

08/11/2020

Sails Up!
⛵️
Looking forward to sharing experiences with all our friends and clients in person soon. Until then, let us help you with all your virtual meeting needs!
⛵️
What is something you really miss about in-person meetings right now?!

07/23/2020

Do you remember the last time your flew?
For me it was in February, just before Covid-19 hit the US. I headed down to Tampa, FL and it was totally normal! But 5 months later, air travel isn’t the same. Here are a few travel tips for you as the states begin reopening and we start traveling again.
✈️
1️⃣ Wear your mask. Most airlines now require a mask to be worn at all times - from boarding through deplaning - except when eating or drinking.
2️⃣Ditch the TSA bins. Place everything from your pockets in your carry on to avoid cross-contamination.
3️⃣BYO hand sanitizer and wipes and use them regularly. TSA relaxed its liquid rule for hand sanitizers and allows travelers hand sanitizer as large as 12 ounces. Take antibacterial wipes to clean your seat, tray table, armrest and other areas around you.
4️⃣Bring your own food and drinks. Many airport restaurants still have not opened, so make sure to pack some snacks.
5️⃣Sitting by the window reduces the number of people sitting around you, and further from those walking down the aisles.
6️⃣Open the air vents to improve circulation.
✈️
SAFE TRAVELS!!

07/13/2020

07/07/2020

At Pierce, we are Cvent Certified! We hold certifications in Event Management, Venue Sourcing, and Mobile Event Apps.
-
Continuing education is so important to us, and maintaining our software certifications is essential to helping our clients.
-
During the pandemic, we’ve been using our time to brush up on some of our event planning skills by getting re-certified and participating in webinars on the state of the business, and new and exciting changes for future events!
-
For more information on how we can use these skills to help you with your events, email us today!

06/25/2020

More and more we’re turning to virtual solutions to share information and network. And it seems like virtual meetings and conference may be the way of the future for some time. Let us help you find the solution that’s right for you and your programs! Contact us directly through the email link in our bio.
📸: