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This past weekend, I spent some time in our kitchen going through our cupboards and making plans for Christmas. I found out that I'm hosting part of my family for Christmas this year, and have been hunting down family recipes, making schedules for cleaning, baking, and cooking, and generally just making plans. I know that I'm going to have to hunt down a turkey for the big day, make perogies for the day before, and bake enough scuffles, shortbread, butter tarts, buns, and stollen to feed an army. I find making plans is a good thing—it keeps me sane.

While I was going through the kitchen, I realized that I don't have a platter that would hold a turkey. The last time I cooked a turkey, it was just me and a roommate and we picked what we wanted off of an 18 pound bird (which is WAY to much turkey for 2 people, lesson learned) before we cut the rest up and put it in the freezer. That won't fly this year. I'm going to need a platter to serve the bird. I'm also going to need a way to deliver the delicious desserts that my family desires and deserves to the table. That calls for another platter. Luckily, we sell platters.

When you see a turkey on tv or in a movie, it's always a golden brown bird on an oval platter. National Event Supply sells three sizes of oval porcelain platters: 18 inches, 20 inches, and 22 inches. They're made of the same high quality porcelain as our Quadrato and Hotelier Dinnerware, and are perfect for a commercial setting. They are the perfect platters for delivering a turkey to the table.

Sometimes though, you want to shake things up. You want to be a little edgy, yet still have elements of the traditional. If you're looking to go a little unconventional, we have 3 large rectangular platters that could easily handle a turkey or a nice roast. The largest of these platters is 12.5"x19", the medium sized platter is 12"x18", while the smallest is 11"x17". While they don't have quite as large of a lip as our oval platters, they'd still be awesome for bringing the bird to the table.

For delivery the goodies to the table, I'm thinking about grabbing a round porcelain platter. We currently have three sizes of round porcelain platters (14", 16", and 18"), so you can pick a round platter that's just the right size for whatever you're serving. Our round platters are just as strong as our oval platters and are also perfect for a commercial environment.

Sometimes though you need a larger platter. If you're looking for a larger platter, take a look at our Melamine line. With round, square, and rectangular options in a variety of sizes, these platters are perfect for serving a large group. They are also dishwasher safe and work well in a commercial environment. The one thing to keep in mind, however, is that you can't cut anything on the Melamine platters as you will leave knife marks.

Top Image courtesy of Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So everyone, we have an announcement: we’re starting a new series on the last Friday of the month, to offer up a different kind of blog post.

Every month, National Event Supply stumbles across articles and blog posts that we think are fabulous and could add value to your business so we thought we’d share them with you on a regular basis!

With social media a mainstream marketing tool to reach new markets, it’s no longer a marketing channel to ignore. But without the right tools and no idea where to start it can be an overwhelming project to tackle. Check out this article on Social Media Marketing for Caterers—which gives you a lowdown on the lingo—and practical tips to help you avoid a social media breakdown.

Via Catersource Magazine

The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) created an awesome and inspirational video entitled “I AM A RESTAURANT.” For a little pick-me-up and entertainment in your day – regardless of whether you’re a restaurant or not – check out this new film telling the story of the CRFA industry and the many ways in which restaurants nourish communities across Canada.

Via The CRFA

There’s nothing better than your phone ringing off the hook but to ensure that you’re customer service skills and phone techniques it never hurts to brush up on your skills – especially as it helps increase customer loyalty, build a better business and increase profits. Rental pulse has a valuable webinar on December 5th – Oh Darn! It’s the Phone Again! – Nancy Friedman, president of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training helps us get back on track with our customer service in 90 minutes.

Via Rental Pulse

It’s a lot of work keeping clients for a lifetime – so often we focus on the new clients and can sometimes be complacent about the existing clients. This article explains how event rental pros keep longtime clients utilizing a range of enticements and strategies.

Via Special Events Magazine

Check back in a month for the next favourite finds! Until then, have a great weekend!

Samsonite Folding Chairs. Poly Folding Chairs. Plastic Folding Chairs. Whatever you want to call them, Plastic Folding Chairs are a universal product for event rental/party rental companies. Everyone has them. They may be white on white, black on black, brown on tan, or any number of other colour combinations, but everyone has them. They are the chairs most commonly rented for events and are the most cost-effective rental seating option out there. Unfortunately, they aren't known for being the strongest chair in the marketplace. And buying plastic folding chairs based on price can lead to embarrassing failures as the cheaper materials aren't strong enough to hold society's expanding waistlines.

We get asked a lot of question by new and existing customers when they're looking at our products. One of the questions we frequently get asked is how much weight our chairs will support. NES Reliable Plastic Folding Chairs are have been tested by BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association) and have passed a six inch drop test at 225lbs. For this test BIFMA takes a 225lbs weight, suspends it 6 inches above the seat, and then drops it. This is useful information to know, but many of our customers and potential customers want to know if that means the chair will collapse if a 250lbs person sits down.

We've decided to take writer's axiom that it's better to show your audience something than to tell them about it and modernize it for the digital age. Dennis and Jonathan went into our warehouse and made a video starring a Black on Black NES Reliable Plastic Folding Chair and a pallet of 20kg bags of road salt. Behold the fruit of their labours!

With 2012 wrapping up, Special Events Magazine ran an article appearing in the November/December issue of the "30 Top Rental Companies". One of the articles in the magazine asked about the trends that the biggest and brightest event rental firms were encountering as a forecast to what the event rental/party rental industry might encounter. Let’s take a look at what seems to be trending going into 2013!

Top trends for tabletop include over-the-top gold flatware, cut crystal, platinum and gold rim china, copper and hammered serving pieces, big and bold 22-ounce stemware, nature-inspired items, rustic chargers, trays and accouterments

Trends in events includes making it custom—as Peterson Party Center states "We are bringing in new items on a more 'request' basis now as opposed to us deciding what to bring in on a seasonal basis. Home interior design is really driving the design of our tabletop and linen inventory."

Forecasting for 2013 includes—a tremendous increase in corporate and social business revenue—special event companies who keep a close eye on costs and watch operations overages should be able to do well in this market.

It's great to see that top event rental companies continue to see upward growth as they head out of 2012—the economic outlook seems to be improving which is sure to help all the party rental companies into 2013.

As 2012 winds down and into 2013 be sure to keep National Event Supply in mind to work with us on a custom order for an upcoming event or check out our new Serenity Crystal stemware line—sure to impress even the most critical eye.

Tuesday evening was the third CRA Ontario event/meeting of the fall season. Dennis and I attended the meeting which was hosted by Uniquip at their Ontario location located at 2625 Meadowpine Drive in Mississauga, just off of Highway 401.

Uniquip is one of Canada’s premiere suppliers to the equipment rental industry providing a wide range of products including generators, pressure washers, flooring equipment, construction, and compaction equipment. Uniquip has been in business for over 35 years, and has been owned by the John Brooks Company since 1996. John Brooks will be celebrating their 75th year of existence in 2013 and recently merged their Canadian operations under the Uniquip brand to provide better service and support for the rental market.

The meeting drew quite a large crowd, probably one of the highest turnouts in recent years. It was great seeing Tony and Michelle from D & D Party and Tent Rental. They provided tables and linens for the CRA Meeting at no charge. It's great to see such comraderie and makes us proud to be a member of such a great organization. Upstairs in the conference room, I ran into Kim and Shannon from Muskoka Party Rentals in Bracebridge, Ontario. It was good to see them, especially since it is quite a long trip for them. After a short conversation, we were invited to take a tour of the Uniquip Warehouse.

The Uniquip warehouse has about 60,000sq feet of floor space and a very impressive clear height that allows for 6 levels high of racking. The warehouse includes lots of racking for product storage, a staging area for orders, a product assembly area, and a testing area.

Click to enlarge pictures.

After the tour we were taken back to the conference room where Mike Maltby (President of the CRA Ontario and owner of Ingersoll Rent-All Inc) talked about the schedule of upcoming events, the most significant of which will be the 2013 CRA Ontario Tabletop Show which is to be held at Nottawasaga Inn Resort in Alliston, Ontario on Saturday, January 19, 2013. The Tabletop show is a great way to see all the leading suppliers to the party rental and equipment rental industry in one location and to share stories with your peers. After the Tabletop show there will be an evening banquet dinner followed by some great entertainment.

We then proceeded to a great buffet dinner that was prepared by Teatro Conference & Event Centre in Milton. We were served roasted to perfection roast beef and a collection of incredible side dishes. It wasn't until we were eating our dinner that Dennis and I realized we were sitting at our 60" round plywood folding tables. When we usually see the tables, they're stacked on a skid waiting to be shipped to one our fantastic customers. It was a great opportunity to see some of our products in action!

After dinner we were entertained and informed by Joe Ellers on 'How to Make it Happen with Proactive Sales Strategies'. Joe has more than 25 years of sales experience and talked about ways every one of the businesses in attendance could do simple little things that would dramatically improve company’s sales. The highlights of Joe’s presentation were:

1. Define what you want more of—This of course would be SALES! But make sure you are specific with this Goal.
2. Put together a Target Account list that includes both your existing Customers and New prospects
3. Set up outbound calendars—this is so your staff schedules calls: phone or in-person. And it doesn’t have to be only for your sales people.
4. Start Tracking Your Opportunities—You can’t grow what you don’t track or measure.