Cherry
Picks

The hottest
The coolest
The newest

Just for
“A List”
major
media

Just for
the products
we pick
 

THE EVENT MORNING

Our video and production crews begin dressing the stage (where the press will gather) and setting up the Green Room (where the winners will camp out) on the night before the event. We aggregate the pieces we’ll need – titling slides, Green Room table signs, award tiles, collated clipboards, etc. – and try to get a little sleep.

Our extended crew gathers in the morning, including the models we hire to welcome vendors and press and get them into the right places.

We serve Continental breakfasts separately in the show room and the Green Room. Crew people brief the vendors on how the system works: each will be brought to an on-deck area, wirelessly miked, then do a 45-second product presentation while looking at both the press pool and a countdown timer. Marty stops them if they go over their time.

Marty Winston – who acts as emcee in the show room – goes to the Green Room to let the winning vendors know about the special extra people who are there – the QVC buyers (many past Cherry Picks products have already found their way onto QVC), people who can help companies without retail distribution get there, perhaps some investment funding people – then he congratulates them on winning and heads back to the showroom.

In the Show Room, Marty tells the press people to get their last cup of coffee while he stands in the presentation position to let cameras get their framing and focus. He gives a brief preamble, announcing the number of winners. He then does his sponsor introductions, followed by the sponsor presentations.

The room goes dark. We roll a 75 second animated musical intro as the first presenter comes on stage. Each presenter gets 45 seconds on stage (“cosponsors” at $2000 get listed on secondary signage and enjoy a longer 90-second slot for their products). We keep up that pace.

As the final presenters come on stage, we cue the venue to roll lunch into the Green Room. Following the final presentation, Marty takes the stage again, congratulates the winners, salutes the sponsor and sends the press pack to the Green Room for one-on-one time with the products and for lunch.

At that point, while press and vendor people can come and go as they like, Green Room mingle time tends to last about an hour and a half.

We anticipate 120-150 press attendees at Cherry Picks 2010.