Short On Decor Money? Creative Tips for Event Lighting

By Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM, and James S. Rota

Have you heard people say they’re a right-brain or left-brain thinker? Right-brainers tend to be creative and instinctual, left-brainers analytical and logical. That’s how Beauty & the Brain was born. Ideally, James Rota’s creativity meshes with Christy Lamagna’s strategic thinking to bring a well-rounded approach to events, utilizing decor money, and these creative tips for event lighting.

From the Brain

One of the most transformative decor items in a strategic planners’ arsenal is lighting. Well-designed lighting can accomplish almost any decor goal. With a little creativity and a knowledgeable lighting designer from your production team, you’re on your way to understanding the power of lighting and how to use it. Some tips:

• Make a room look larger: Put uplights in the corners. You can also throw lights on the ceiling to brighten it. Both give the illusion of space.
• Add texture to a “flat” room: Scatter-pattern gobos are fantastic. Gobos (template slotted inside or placed in front of a lighting source) come in endless designs and can be customized, so you are limited only by your imagination. Gobos are inexpensive, reusable and great attention-getters.
• Make a sterile or blank room feel warmer: Use a warm color gel over uplights. Amber is a great starting point. It’s rich and warm without being too dark.
• Personalize a room to your theme or brand: Using LEDs or gels to match the colors of your theme or logo add instant pizazz with very little effort.
• Highlight centerpieces, auction items or other significant objects: Use pin spots. These tiny lights are focused on a single object. Their precise beam brings attention to the item without making the entire area itself overly bright.
• Lighting an unusual or out-of-the way spot: Use wireless LEDs. They are portable and can be programmed to change color throughout the night.

Want more ideas or talk more about these? Use the comment section below or email Christy.Lamagna@strategic.events.

From the Beauty

“… and on the third day there was light” … and it has changed the course of life ever since.

Lighting is instrumental in bringing any space to life. The jewelry industry, in fact, wouldn’t be where it is today if it didn’t use overhead lighting to make products pop, sparkle and look expensive.

As an event designer, there’s no other tool in my toolbox that offers me the ability to transform a room more. Dollar for dollar this is money well spent. Lighting isn’t an inexpensive option, but it can make a huge difference in the look and feel of an event. Make sure that you set aside at least 25 percent of your décor budget for lighting.

Here’s how lighting can transform a room. Color evokes emotions and changes our moods. Red, orange and yellow are warm colors. They can make attendees feel warm and comfortable or angry and hostile. It’s all in how they’re used. Did you know that blue, purple and greens often are used as a backdrop gel color for summits, sales meetings and high-profile events because they have a calming, spiritual, mysterious effect? These “cool” hues are most associated with trust and tradition. Be careful, though. Some variations also prompt feelings of sadness or indifference.

I learned from working with Elizabeth Taylor, yes, the Elizabeth Taylor. Whenever she was being lit, it was mandatory to use “Bastard Amber Gels” on the lighting fixture so that her skin would look its most radiant. Try it, it works. Remember there is beauty in knowledge!

Tags: Short On Décor Money Let There Be Light, Décor Money, Event Décor, Event Decoration, Event Planning, Event Planners, Strategic Planners, Strategic Events, Plan Your Meetings