Our own Andy Ebon has been on a traveling tear… In the last 30 days he has made presentations in Silicon Valley, Trinidad & Tobago, Reno, Irvine, and Raleigh.

His next stop is The Platinum Hotel for the Las Vegas Wedding Network. Andy will give a preview presentation from his forthcoming book: How To Avoid Weddings Of Mass Destruction.

In September, 2009, Andy gave this presentation to more than 1000 attendees at Wedding MBA and rocked the conference. And he will reprise it at LVWN with an updated rendition.

Andy Ebon

The presentation peels back the layers of the wedding industry: Brides, budgets (or lack thereof), selling, and the various interactions (functions and dysfunctions) of the wedding day participants (bride, groom, family, and wedding vendors).

Andy will discuss issues that most people just whisper about. His perspective comes from personal participation in close to 1000 weddings, as a DJ Entertainer, and close interaction with wedding industry businesses over three and a half decades.

His recurring theme..

“What’s in the best interest of the bride?”

… will resonant with you, long after the meeting concludes.

The presentation will be provocative, politically incorrect, and will surely give you pause.

Come to LVWN at The Platinum Hotel … invite an industry friend. Maybe two or three.

• When: Wednesday, September, 7, 2011 – 6pm – 8:30pm
• Where: The Platinum Hotel, 211 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV
  

  The Misora

• Host: Nicole Mehlhaff
• What: How To Avoid Weddings Of Mass Destruction – presented by Andy Ebon, The Wedding Marketing Authority
• The Menu:  Totally Amazing (details to come…)
• Click Here to Register
  

Anyone who reads the newspaper, TV news, or gets their information from the internet is bombarded by statistics. Polls, projections… you name it.

I suppose most statistical information is relevant to someone. But each of us needs to filter the data for ourselves.

For example:

Total Facebook Users: Over 500 million – That’s a largely irrelevant statistic, from a practical, applicable standpoint.

Brides on Facebook: About 1.6 million (75% of all brides – 2.2 million). That’s actionable information that demonstrates a reason for participating in Facebook, and utilizing it to connect with brides.

Next time you hear a statistic, ask yourself if it passes the “So What?” test.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

Last night, after a long day of work, I settled in for a little Sunday night TV. My usual appetite for Extreme Home Makeover wasn’t there, so I started channel surfing.

I stopped short when I reached CNBC, as a program was just starting: Crackberry’d: The Truth About Information Overload

Information Overload is a topic I’ve spoken about, in reference to brides (Bridal Attention Deficit Disorder), and is a challenge confronting wedding industry and general business professionals. My 2011 mantra of Focus & Hustle has be dialed in to soak up everything related to limiting distractions, thereby allowing greater concentration.

As explained by a neurologist, the notion that we are multi-tasking is just not accurate. What we are doing is rapid task switching. Young adults seem to pride themselves in multi-tasking, and think they are pretty good at it. This collides directly in the face of brain research that conclusively demonstrates that the human brain can focus, clearly, one task at a time.

Distractions to the bride’s awareness occur everywhere, in everyday life. From her computer to cell phone to the cacophony of a bridal show, overwhelm is in full effect, clouding your wedding marketing messages.

In this segment, from the documentary, the crew sets up shop at a college campus plaza. Students are walking in all directions, many of them with cell phones to their ear or texting. A loudly-dressed clown on a unicycle is introduced to the scene, weaving in and out of the students. Watch the video to see what goes on, and how much they notice.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

A Special Comment from Andy Ebon, The Wedding Marketing Authority

Judging by the page and video views, as well as comments, my most recent post, The Worst Kind Of Wedding Marketing Disinformation and Propaganda – Part 1 has struck a raw nerve in the wedding industry.

The video, shown, was telecast almost one year ago. I held back from bringing a focus to it for several months. The full-fledged retraction from Bella Pictures never developed, as promised to the American Disc jockey Association. This, despite the extremely hard work and follow up of ADJA’s President, Dr. Drax.

What’s worse is that the original interview still resides on the Fox 5 Chicago website. So, the disinformation still is there for the taking by unsuspecting engaged couples. (NOTE: AS of 1/4/11, the video had been taken down).

Weddings and receptions are rarely complete without important contributions from small and micro-businesses. All too often, their important participation is overlooked by larger businesses and minimized the bride herself.

Primarily, I believe this situation exists due to the ‘near impossible’ job for the bride of processing and assimilating an incredible volume of information, and the making hundreds of correct choices.

It’s bad enough that in any industry, one finds inexperienced, unethical and incompetent vendors. However, when alleged professionals intentionally or unintentionally mislead the bride and groom, it sends me over the edge.

Whether the bad information stems from ignorance, or a planned, self-serving agenda, the result is the same. The chance of major failure on the wedding day increases dramatically.

ENOUGH!! I’ve had it with businesses that help create scenarios for failure.

Every bride and groom should have realistic expectations and high quality information to develop a winning formula.

I’m ready or a fight. If you have information on unethical or simply incredibly stupid business conduct, please be in touch. You have a voice, your trade associations have a voice. And i will leverage your voice, too.

Rant over! Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to spread the word.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority.

As I write this post, I have presented in two cities on Website Usability and Design. Tomorrow and Monday, I will give the same presentation in two more cities.

As part of my preparation, I will have reviewed over 200 websites, in advance. As part of the presentation, I use those same websites and samples of the good, the bad or the ugly. At first, people are intimidated to have any portion of their website critiqued, in front of their peers.

I remind them that their site is being critiqued, every day, by brides. They vote with their eyes, their inquiries and their check book. If your site is subpar…. or if it stinks, you are in trouble.

To me, the worst situation is a great business with a second rate web presence.

If you need a website evaluation, and you want someone to tell you the truth about what changes should be made to improve, then contact.

If you already know that you need to completely redesign your site, then contact me for referrals to website designers who provide excellent service AND know the wedding industry.

Be in touch!!

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority