Full Service Event Management: CORPORATE, SOCIAL & NON-PROFIT
Social Media, Strategic Planning, Public Relations & Marketing Company
"...Infinity Relations helped make today a big success. You contributed in many ways and assisted with so many details. Each thing you did added polish and professionalism to what resulted in a very, very successful event. Your efforts are much appreciated. I look forward to working with you again."
- Bert Cunningham, SVP Corporate Communications, New York Power Authority (NYPA)
"Cindy is a delight to work with and carries a bright cheery aura in her persona; something you have to see to experience...With her extremely energetic personality, Cindy is certainly an enabler and does not sit back on the sidelines...she is proactive, very helpful and looks to help others (a trait not commonly followed these days) When the opportunity presents itself, I highly recommend working with Cindy!"
- Andrew Hazen, Founder & CEO, Prime Visibility
"Infinity Relations was well organized and took all the anxiety out of the events, they assisted us with. Having a GO-TO company that knows how to execute makes all the difference. Our events were successful as a direct result of Infinity Relations diligence and focus."
- Mark Fogel, Corporate Vice President Human Resources & Administration, Leviton Mfg. Co
Published/Quotes:
Photo credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa | Cindy Mardenfeld, of Infinity Relations Inc. in Hauppauge, networks at a business summit at the Inn at New Hyde Park on Thursday. Last week she went to four such events in just one day. (Nov. 3, 2011)
Event Planner's Busy as a Bee
by James Bernstein
Published in Newsday on November 4, 2011
Go to just about any business event on Long Island and there is one person you are virtually assured of seeing: Cindy Mardenfeld. The owner of Infinity Relations Inc., event planners in Hauppauge, seems to manage to shake every hand in the room, pass out her business card and make a new contact or two.
We bring up Mardenfeld because a week ago she set an amazing pace. She was at four events in a single day: a breakfast sponsored by North Shore-LIJ; an awards lunch held by Telecare, the Diocese of Rockville Centre's television channel; a Melville Chamber of Commerce trade show; and the annual Taste of the Harvest celebration by Island Harvest.
Oh, and there was a business meeting in between. How does she feel after such a day? "Tired," Mardenfeld admits. But she adds, "I'm a very social person."
After graduating from SUNY Cortland in 1993, she bartended for a few years and then went into fund-raising for the next 10 years. She got into event planning and started Infinity in 2003.
Mark Fogel, chief human resources officer for the Melville-based accounting firm Marcum Llp, has known Mardenfeld for years. He recalls when his former company, Leviton Manufacturing in Melville, held a large event with the U.S. Green Building Council. Mardenfeld was one of the planners.
"Everybody wanted the limelight," Fogel said. "The press was there. She worked the event like a coach, making sure all the kids got playing time. Everyone got their two or three minutes."
Pitfalls of putting on a show
by Gregory Zeller
Published: July 13, 2011, LIBN (Long Island Business News)
From the supermarket ribbon-cutting to the Steve Jobs-headlined tech-a-palooza, the promotional event remains a staple of the marketing world.
Giveaways, special guests, sneak peeks, all geared toward a captive audience hypnotized by whatever’s being pitched – it’s marketing nirvana. But only when done right. A poorly planned promotion can backfire badly.
Cindy Mardenfeld, president of Hauppauge-based marketing company Infinity Relations, believes the best way to avoid a promotional disaster is to start at the end. Mardenfeld, who’s planned promotions for 15 years, advises clients to start by listing their goals, then strategically planning the event from there.
The goal of most promotional events, of course, is increased sales. That’s exactly what the Law Office of Kyle Norton had in mind when the Islandia-based firm started hosting free seminars on the intricacies of bankruptcy, foreclosure defense and trust/estate protection. Kevin O’Rourke, who manages the firm’s marketing, pitched the events idea specifically to encourage new business.
The firm looks at public lists featuring foreclosure decisions and other “distressed borrowers,” O’Rourke said, and circulates invitations. Anywhere from five to 15 guests attend the weekly seminars, which are followed by free consultations with senior attorneys. “It absolutely has been very successful in building business,” O’Rourke noted. “We get clients out of this.”
A marketing event’s effectiveness often comes down to the guest speaker(s). A venue is a venue; balloons are balloons. The variable is the person or people charged with engaging the audience and driving home the pitch, whether the event revolves around bankruptcies or the iPad2.
In Kyle Norton’s case, O’Rourke is the speaker, and he’s certain to lead with the same disclaimer every time. “I’m not an attorney,” he said. “By no means is this meant to be legal advice. I’m just sharing information. What really make these events successful are the free consultations afterward. Most attendees take full advantage of that.”
It’s a clever setup, with an in-house speaker intimately familiar with the wares being peddled. But most event organizers look outward for experts, and therein lurks a danger. The challenge, according to Professor Michael Driscoll of the Adelphi University School of Business, is matching the right speaker with the right audience.
Businesses and organizations mining academic institutions for guest speakers should always start with a director of communications, said Driscoll, who’s been tapped as a guest speaker at marketing events and as an expert commentator by media outlets including Bloomberg, CNBC and The Wall Street Journal. The communications director should then get with the dean of a particular school to select the most engaging speaker for the matter at hand.
“Any university or college has available speakers, some better, some worse,” Driscoll noted. “But good teachers don’t always make good speakers.”
One common guest-speaker pitfall is choosing speakers who lack real-world experience “You really need a speaker who can connect with people, not just someone who’s used to lecturing students,” Driscoll said.
“The audience needs to be interested in what the speaker has to say, and the speaker needs to understand the needs of the audience enough to say something that interests them.”
Mardenfeld agreed people have to be able to take something away from the speaker for an event to succeed.
“Whether it’s a free event or guests are paying for it, whatever that person is claiming to deliver, he or she had better deliver it,” Mardenfeld noted. “Is it a booklet? Is it a strategy? Whatever people are expecting to take from that speaker, if the speaker doesn’t accomplish that result, your organization is going to lose credibility. People aren’t going to come back.”
Her definition of success is “when the attendees love it and talk about it and promote it to all their friends.” And the selection of the right speaker is not the only risk to that reward. Mardenfeld lamented companies that cut corners. “A lot of companies are being more careful about how they spend their dollars,” she said. “But if you’re going to do it, especially if you’re only doing it once, you’ve got to do it right.”
Mardenfeld hypothesized about a company that goes all-out on a promotional event, but refuses to rent out the venue in advance to test out sound systems and projection screens.
“It’s going to cost a few hundred dollars extra to rent the venue the night before for a dry run, but some companies see this as a chance to save money,” she said. “And then, of course, there are AV problems during the event. In the grand scheme, that’s just not forward thinking. When you don’t spend that little extra and then you have an AV problem, it just doesn’t look professional.”
To maximize the benefits of a marketing event, follow-up is essential, Mardenfeld said. “You can have a great speaker and a great event, but if you don’t follow up and you’re not ready for what comes next, you lose.”