The 2015 National Education Conference (NEC) for the Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP) kicked off yesterday evening in Minneapolis.  The welcome reception was hosted in the Craft Bar and Lounge in the Minneapolis Convention Center.  The kickoff reception had signature Minneapolis food, a band called Viva Knievel, and fantastic photo opportunities.

The space itself was unique.  The band was housed in a circular room that had beautiful windows overlooking the street.  They truly added a rocking vibe to the reception.  Check them out here: http://www.vivaknievelband.com/

Viva Knievel at the Minneapolis Convention Center (SGMP NEC 2015)

There were great photo opportunities complete with props.  I'm a sucker for photo booths with props.  It's one of my absolute favorite things to do.  It's an opportunity to be silly, which is just not typically my nature.  I'm usually all business, all the time.  Letting loose with some fun props is incredibly fun and entertaining.

 

NC SGMP letting loose

There was one main thing that was amiss during this opening reception: the flow of the space.  While the planners of this event tried as hard as they could to space out the food and the bars within the space, the fact remained that there was just not enough space for the masses as we converged on the food and drinks for the evening.

Melissa caught a Danielle-fish

The desserts were the first thing we came to up the escalator, which was strange, but didn't stop us from indulging.  I can understand the idea behind this placement.  People might grab a dessert as they headed out.  However, in practice this wasn't the case.  We left down a side staircase and never went back by the desserts again. 

The next thing we came to was a line for an adorable makeshift food truck.  There was an alcove with food and a food truck f açade in front of it.  However, the line was long and jutted into the walkway and we tried - with difficulty - to bypass it.  We also continued passed the nacho stand for this reason.

Play Ball!

We then came to some baseball players doing photo ops.  We also bypassed these gentlemen too, but came back later for photos.

We opted to stop at the first bar, despite the long line that was forming.  There were two bartenders here and three bars total in the space.  It didn't feel like enough bartenders or bars for the event, but with the space constraints they made it work.

One great thing were the servers walking around with sliders.  We grabbed this on our walk to find a place to congregate. 

There was a table with some finger foods on it (we also continued on).  We stopped for some veggies, cheese, and meats.  Then found a place to stand and sit.  We took turns going back for nachos, fries, and Reuben sandwiches.

Everyone milled around and we even found ourselves on the dance floor briefly.  We eventually decided to call it a night and indulged in the funny photos on our way out.

Thinking about how your space is setup can really make or break your event.  The space was long and narrow and didn't provide a lot of flexibility.  However, I think the planners made the best decisions they could about trying to spread out the food and the bars.  However, because everyone entered at once it might have been better to move one or two food stations down the way nearer to the band.

As a whole, the reception was a success.  Many people got the opportunity to reconnect with old friends.  Although it was crowded at times, the food and bars were dispersed throughout the space, and Viva Knieval rocked!  The awards banquet is commencing this evening and I will be back tomorrow with a full report on how we do as a chapter!  Go SGMP!  #sgmpnec2015 #Minneapolis #NCSGMP