Apptera sponsors rollicking party at iMedia Summit
Some people may turn their noses up at karaoke, but let me tell you it can do wonders for your brand and for networking.
We had one of our most successful events yet at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coconut Point, Fla., recently. We hosted the Monday night cocktail party, and given the fact that we were following the Sunday night event from AOL-Platform A, we had a lot to measure up to!
But with the pressure on, we had a rollicking event with an open bar—a great night to meet up with colleagues, prospects and partners. And to sing…well into the night. Since it was just before the Oscars, we went with the Hollywood Karaoke theme (more about our invitations in a bit).
The evening started off with our own sales guy Matt Porreca, who was brave enough to be the first singer to be, let’s say, critiqued by the crowd. Fortunately for Matt, he got mostly cheers for his rendition of "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon," originally by Neil Diamond. After people heard Matt, they realized that even if they sung off key it wouldn’t matter. Not to say that Matt sang off-key, but, you know what I mean...
What followed in the next few hours was mighty fun. It included some fantastic singing by our lady guests, including Paige from WD-40. Who knew that WD-40 had a lovely songstress in their marketing department? (Did you know that WD-40 products are in one of every 2.2 households in the country? Now you know.)
Other memorable karaoke performances included Melinda, a 28 year-old blonde from A&E Networks, who wore jeans and a cowboy hat. It was fitting, then, for her to belt out “Wanted Dead or Alive.” She pretended she had a lasso and was riding a horse. She was very much into it, as was the mostly-male crowd. She got us all shouting out the chorus: "Wanted, dead or alive!"
That was followed by a duet of Chris Cunningham and Danny Fishman, who did the song “Copacabana” by Barry Manilow. Chris played Lola (she was a show girl) and the Danny played Rico (he wore a diamond). They jumped off the stage, pictured on the right here, and started acting out the song as the entire audience clapped 
and cheered their antics.
All this happened in a room with a red carpet entrance, popcorn machines, movie posters and a stage festooned with cutouts of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. Singers on stage, standing between Dean and Monroe and lit by a spotlight, made for a very compelling "voice and visual" effect, pardon the pun.
Of course we didn’t miss an opportunity to tout our voice and visual advertising approach. Party invitations—faux Academy Award envelopes with blue wax seals—contained a description of the evening with the words “Hollywood Karaoke” emblazoned on Hollywood Hills.
Invitees were asked to prepare for party by playing our interactive trivia game, which asked three questions about the upcoming academy awards. We gave them two answers up front (the answer to question one is “Revolutionary Road,” to question two it’s “The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen). People were encouraged to call our number 1-800-HOLLYWOOD to log their answers. (The game’s still live, and you can play it by dialing that number). 
At the party, I had list of mobile phone numbers from all the people who answered all three questions correctly. Standing on stage, I chose one number randomly, and, in the back of the room, someone’s phone went off. That was the first of five winners we chose that night, each of whom got $50 movie gift certificates. Here's a pcture of me with one of the winners, Tara Meyer - a director at Comcast.
We were having such a good time, we were able to "play, just a little bit longer" (the promoter didn't mind and the roadies didn't mind...) We ended the evening with Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.” The three singers on-stage (along with James and Marilyn) encouraged the nearly 100 people left at the party to come up close to the stage, lock arms and belt out the song together. And so we all sang at the top of our lungs:
Sing us a song, you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And you’ve got us feeling alright…
And yes, we were feeling alright. Despite some throbbing heads the next morning, there were many people who thanked us for such a fun party and said it was one of the most memorable "business events" they’d ever been part of. Rock on!
Below are some pictures from the event from my Flickr account (including some bigger versions of the ones above).
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