Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Weinberg.
Hi Chris, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started my company, Chris Weinberg Events in 2003 to get back into work relevancy while raising 3 children. I saw an opportunity to start an event planning business after attending the celebration of a good friend who was working way too hard during her daughter’s bat mitzvah for 200+ guests and could have benefited from hiring an event planner.
I had a business background and with years of working for other companies, I decided to put my skill set to work for myself. I had at least 20 jobs that taught me the many skills I applied to my business success.
Growing up I frequently observed my mother entertain 100+ guests at lavish and fun parties in our home. I also spent countless hours in recording studios watching my dad entertain and produce music for a variety of musical artists.
My first event job at 22 years old, was the 14-day set up, production, and strike of the Miami International Boat Show. I worked for a large Bayliner boat dealer and we were tasked by the manufacturer with creating the largest indoor display of boats and small yachts for sale at the time, which also sold the highest volume of boats at the show.
After 7 years, I moved my home-based business into an office and hired my first employee.
Three years later, after almost leaving the industry from burnout, and working way too many hours each week in the business, I attended my first industry conference that specialized in the business of luxury weddings. There I learned the importance as a business owner of dedicating time to working on the business. I left the conference fully charged and rejuvenated with a road map on how to successfully stay in the industry and the modifications I would need to make to attract and work only with luxury clients and budgets that worked for my business model.
In 2015, I began scaling my business by hiring and training a small team of event producers who are still with me today. Shortly thereafter hired a business branding and sales coach; and web designer to create my first targeted campaign to grow her brand presence regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Being passionate about producing weddings, events, and celebrations and recognizing Miami and South Florida as popular destinations that attract a global market I decided to invest in the long game.
To further hone my skills as a business owner, I participated in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program that links learning to action and helps owners gain practical skills in areas that are not of our expertise but need to be known such as employee management, marketing, and negotiation. Skills that can immediately be put into action.
Shortly after these major moves, my company had its most profitable year ever. In 2020, after a pause for the pandemic, I reopened for business and moved into in a new office location. My company has been booked to capacity since the pandemic. Last year, Chris Weinberg Events produced over $4 million of events for 13 clients.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
All businesses have obstacles or challenges. One of my biggest obstacles included identifying and attracting the right clients, which led to my decision to invest in a full company rebrand, a new, targeted website, a social media strategy, and a marketing campaign.
Other major challenges that I was required to address included re-pricing our fees for services to both scale for growth and remain profitable; hiring, training, and managing an in-house team as well as growing a larger free-lance event team.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Chris Weinberg Events are premier event producer with 20 years of experience designing, planning, and managing luxury weddings, social celebrations, and corporate retreats in Miami, South Florida, and destinations worldwide.
Specializing in large group and multi-day events, the Chris Weinberg Events team assists their clients in thoughtfully planning, crafting, and producing their events with creative ideas, out-of-the-box thinking, and the attention to detail that they are known for. Chris Weinberg Events delivers innovative concepts, a hands-on approach, and attention to detail that has earned us a reputation for producing the highest quality events for our discriminating clientele.
The Chris Weinberg Events team provides our customers with quality, curated, and expertly crafted experiences and delivers them with creativity, empathy, trustworthiness, and generosity. The result is a compelling, best-in-class experience and client relationship that cannot be found within the mass market.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is the client and guest experience and our reputation within the industry. Upon leaving a Chris Weinberg Events-produced celebration I want guests to say and feel that they had an amazing time. I also want our creative partners to take pride in a job well done and want to work with us again and again.
Our team of producers works countless hours for months leading up to our clients’ events and the entire process from start to finish needs to be professional, client-friendly, and on budget. Reputationally, we are only as good as our last event, and a reputation of the highest caliber is always our priority.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chrisweinbergevents.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisweinbergevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisWeinbergEvents/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3307890/admin/feed/posts/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisWEvents
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisweinbergevents
Image Credits
Domino Arts, Suzanne Delawar Studios, Melissa Marshall, and Lukas G
