Big Event Fail: A Mistake on the Dance Floor
Ali Saladin-Valerio
Event professionals know that one of the keys to a successful event is attention to detail. It would be an unfortunate mistake to forget a dining table, food station, or decoration request that the party host expects from your venue.
However, there are times where a group may assume your venue includes an amenity that had not been discussed. Ali Saladin-Valerio, Senior Event Sales Manager at Max’s Wine Dive, recalls her event fail story when a group incorrectly thought that the venue had a dance floor in-house.
“For this particular private event at Max’s Wine Dive Underground, the party hosts had been clear in all requests except for the idea of a dance floor for the event. The hosts arrived at our venue on the day of the event to realize that we did not have an in-house dance floor for private events like they had assumed. After hearing this news, the guests were extremely disheartened because they had envisioned a dance floor for the big bash.
“My team and I quickly put our heads together and reached out to all surrounding vendors and hotels to see if anyone had a portable dance floor. Unfortunately, none of the other venues had anything available on such short notice. We then moved onto our next option and cleared the event tables to set cocktail tables up along the perimeter of the new ‘dance area.’
“The party hosts were not thrilled with the situation as it was not what they had expected, but they were understanding to the fact that there was a misunderstanding and incorrect assumption on their part. They appreciated that we did the best we could to solve the problem for them as quickly as possible. Ultimately, the guests never knew the difference between a real dance floor and our makeshift dance floor, so all attendees enjoyed the event.
“After this incident, I learned that I must always be very specific in my BEOs. It is important to be completely clear to a host that if it is not on the BEO, then it will not be at the event. Mistakes may be made and misunderstandings occur, but now I know that I will never make this mistake again.”
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