E-Issue 04 Newsletter for Florida Association of Meetings and Events Professionals Summer 2012

Letter From The ChairDear Members and Friends of F.A.M.E.

I hope everyone is still enjoying a busy season. The educational event held at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens was a great evening and wellattended. Sixty-one people came, of which there were 16 non members as paying guests. Our member’s admission fees were underwritten bythe F.A.M.E. treasury as well the food, soft drinks and wine for the event.

Beverley Citron did a “One Woman Show” as she had arranged it all with the Gardens, bought and/or prepared all the food, and then decidedon bringing her own silver platters to bring it up a notch, including her ice bucket! The room was perfect for the event, given to us for a voluntarydonation to the M.B. Botanical Gardens. We donated $100 at the end of the evening, well worth it! Be sure to see Beverley’s article covering theevent and enjoy the photos of a wonderful evening.

We are now planning a Mid-Summer family style event where members and guests can bring their children (and grandchildren). Sands HarborResort (Pompano Beach) is being considered as a good choice as it is on the Intracoastal Waterway, has a large pool and can provide us with agreat buffet-style meal. More to follow about the final details of this event but please see the “Save the Date” column and mark it on yourcalendar. We will send a flyer out as soon as the details are arranged.

In the meantime, enjoy being exhausted. We are blessed to be in this wonderful tri-county Destination which still attracts the many, not the few.

See you all out there

Judy Rosenthal

Current Chair of the F.A.M.E. Board

Editor’s Letter Hello Friends.,

Summer is here and the heat and humidity are already exhausting, the mosquitos that I have been told are Florida’s State Bird are as vicious asever and as much as we hate being dusted with chemicals the mosquito dusters are welcomed over our house. I do not like spraying chemicalsdirectly onto my skin either so I like to use lavender oil which seems to abate them a fair bit. A nurse gave me another great summer tip, seemsgood old fashioned Listerine mouthwash rubbed on to your skin keeps them away too!

This past week I enjoyed working a small part in a huge program that involved three DMC’s who were contracted to plan and implement thedifferent dynamics of a corporate event from the Meet and Greet to the Tours and the Events. What was great about it was seeing so manyfriends and associates helping to facilitate the program. For me personally it was fun to see and work with IC’s I have not seen in a long time andhear that they have all been very busy with a lot of work this past season. There is a feeling of more business coming back to our city and that iswhy it is so fabulous that we have some great new venues to offer our guests and I have written about two of them in the following newsletter.

Again I would like to ask our F.A.M.E. members for help in the writing of The Greeter by emailing me with an article or information about any newvenues and restaurants that you may have worked in or seen.

Happy Summer Everyone Beverley Citron

Miami Beach Botanical Garden by Beverley Citron

On Wednesday April 4th F.A.M.E. held it’s Spring Educational at the Miami Beach BotanicalGarden where over 60 guests attended to hear the story of the Everglades past, present andfuture. It was a perfect evening for a walk around the garden as we were blessed withwonderful weather. The evening sun was still warm in the clear blue sky and the smell of thejasmine wafted across the pathway into the heart of the garden.

Guests began to filter into the event room where theywere greeted and checked in by Marie Colongo andChristine Allen who as always did a great job at the doorofficially welcoming guests and giving out raffle tickets,

thanks ladies for a job well done! My personal wish was that all our members would feel special and cateredto (for a change) and so I took on the role of bar keep, serving glasses of wine and soda to everyone ratherthen the old “help yourself to a can from the cooler system”. Once our attendees had a drink in their handsthey made their way out into the garden to join Sheila Kelly for a walk around the gardens and a little lectureon the surrounding plant life, thanks Sheila you did great.

Around 7.15pm everyone had come in from the garden to feast from our sumptuous buffet, refresh theirdrinks, catch up with friends and network. At 7.45pm we took our seats, eager to listen to the main event, alecture on the Everglades Past, Present and Future. The first order of funwas the raffle, the number picked belonged to Joan Hearns and she wasdelighted to win a copy of Charles Kropke’s book “SOUTH BEACHStories of a Renaissance” lucky lady! After the raffle I introduced Charlesand he gave a wonderful talk on the Everglades, it’s history, it’sinhabitants and how man has tried to tame the Everglades and madesome huge mistakes that have had lasting effects on the wildlife and thewater flow. Most importantly we heard about the positive efforts beingmade to restore the flow of water in our River of Grass. We learnt a lotfrom Charles and when members and guests were invited to askquestions they enjoyed asking as well as sharing stories and experiences,Charles spoke of some magical places that were little known about inSouth Florida and had us all wondering if we could go take a tour there,so stayed tune as we try to organize something later on in the year, timepermitting for Charles.

F.A.M.E. Thanks you again Charles you certainly are an excellent speaker and held every-ones attention making this one of our most memorableevents in quite sometime.

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Dezer Museumby Beverley Citron

What a fun night this was especially because there were so many F.A.M.E.members, DMC’s and Business Associates in attendance all excited to seeanother wonderful Miami venue open up just off of Biscayne Blvd.

Real estate developer and collector Michael Dezer fulfilled a longtime dream whenhe opened his extraordinaryautomobile and memorabiliacollection, the Dezer CollectionMuseum and Pavilion, to thepublic. Encompassing over250,000-square-feet, themuseum features more than1,000 of the most unique andeclectic vehicles held in any

private collection in the world.

The museum’s nine exhibitions are positioned within lifelike dioramas that depict the historicalperiod and origin of the automobiles on display. Guests can trace the evolution of the automobilethrough exhibits showcasing American classics from all eras, rare European classics, militarycars, electric cars, micro-cars, bicycles, classic motorcycles, and more. Noting his passion forcollecting began with his first vehicle — a Vespa given to him by his father at age 16 in his nativeIsrael — Dezer today owns the largest collection of Vespas worldwide.

The museum’s nine exhibitions are positioned within lifelike dioramas that depict the historical period and origin of the automobiles on display.Guests can trace the evolution of the automobile through exhibits showcasing American classics from all eras, rare European classics, militarycars, electric cars, micro-cars, bicycles, classic motorcycles, and more. Noting his passion for collecting began with his first vehicle — a Vespagiven to him by his father at age 16 in his native Israel — Dezer today owns the largest collection of Vespas worldwide*.

IPic Theatersby Beverley Citron

Laura Levi has always been very resourceful in discoveringunusual places to go in the South Florida area. I was veryhappy when she invited me to join her for the GrandOpening of South Florida’s first state-of- the-art iPic movietheater located at the Mizner center in Boca Raton. What afun and an interesting concept where you can literally lieback, relax and enjoy yummy cocktails and dinner whilewatching a movie.

The new iPic Theater, offers a restaurant, lounge services and a premium-plus level seating option that comes withelectric reclining seats and unlimited popcorn.

Moviegoers can pick from two types of seating. Premium level tickets, which are $12 on a weekday and $14 on theweekends, are spacious leather seats near the front of the theater. Premium ticket holders can order food and drinks,such as flat-bread pizzas, sliders and salads from the Tanzy Express counter upstairs and munch on the food in thetheater.

Premium-plus seating, which ranges in price from $18 during the week and $24 on the weekends, gives moviegoers areclining seat with a pillow and blanket. Premium-plus ticket holders also get unlimited popcorn and access to a waitstaff that will take orders and bring food and drinks to the seats. Each seat comes with a call button for service. Thewait staff who are dressed in black are very discreet and in fact our server told us he was a “Ninja Server” and thatgiving efficient quiet service was optimum at the theater.

I cannot wait to go back with my family.

South Florida a Back Drop for the Moviesby Beverley Citron

What better place then sunny Florida to make a movie, after all we do have it all, okay no mountains and snow but we are lucky to live in one ofthe best areas, geographically speaking. What with our natural water theme park made up of sparkling oceans, long intercostals, hidden bays,inlets and islands, glorious coastlines and eternal sandy beaches. There’s no end of footage that has included our amazing Everglades with itsopen grassy river spreading out to the horizon where snowy white birds dance amid the cattails in search of fish. An airboat speeding across thewater in hot pursuit of a perpetrator, a canoe silently paddling through the dusky Cypress forests are all regular spectacles featured on the bigscreen.

Our ever-morphing skylines of both Downtown Miami and Fort Lauderdale lend themselves to the movies in a way that gives us that chic, fastpaced feel enjoyed by the hip, the young and the restless. Of course we also have some of the most diversified collections of opulent waterfronthomes often used in movies and some really great abandoned warehouses that film crews have blown up in the past. Yes, South Florida doeshave it all.

I was moved to write this article after being totally enraptured by the new serial MAGIC CITY featured on the Stars Channel. The writer MitchGlazer was born in 1953 on Key Biscayne and attended Miami Beach High so although he was barely six years old during the time depicted buthe definitely did some great research.

I know many people have been raving about Mad Men and I’m probably one of the few who has just not been able to catch it. Like the awardwinning Mad Men, Magic City is set in the late 50’s and I have to say I love the special effects, the lighting, that gives off a soft golden hue, thecostuming, the nostalgic set designs and soundtrack, it all identifies with the 50’s.

Magic City is about a wealthy hotel owner, Ike Evans and his beautiful new wife Vera, an ex showgirl plus Ike’s three kids from a previousmarriage. Ike’s dream was partially financed by a mob boss, Ben Diamond aka “The Butcher” a deal that comes with a high price as Ike fends offthe unions, crime rings and some pretty seedy characters who all threaten to derail his Miramar Playa hotel and harm his beautiful family.

The details of Glazers script are certainly impressive, in fact during the first episode it’s New Years Eve 1959 “ What fresh hell is this?” Ike sayspassing through the hotel restaurant that is void of staff and food because all the Cuban waiters and chefs are standing around a radio in thekitchen listening to the news that Fidel Castro has overthrown Fulgencio Batista. In another scene, while standing in the lobby Ike asks a Bell Hop”Why do we keep it like a meat locker in here” most of our historians/tour guides know that piece of trivia. The ladies loved to dress up during the50’s and that included looking glamorous in little fur stoles or jackets so the hotels were kept very cold to validate the need for furs. In the thirdepisode the characters are on their way out for a night of music and salsa dancing at the Latin Quarter, a true nightclub that was built on PalmIsland and owned by Lou Walters, father of news journalist Barbara Walters (20/20).

I could not help but chuckle at the beach scene where all the grandmothers are wading out into the water holding on to a rope that is attached tothe lifeguard stand and stretches out into the ocean, a “Necklace of Bubba’s”, Ike says to his son and so it goes on with lots of reaffirmation thatthe scriptwriter had firsthand knowledge.

The stage set, a huge re-creation of a hotel you will recognize as the Eden Roc, complete with a Staircase to Nowhere, was constructed in a supersized warehouse above the Bertram Yachts Boat Yard located on the Miami River where much of where the filming is done. When the scenechanges to the pool area we are looking at The Fontainebleau Hilton and of course we get to see shots of a digitally altered Ocean Drive withiconic white wall tired Cadillac Deville’s gliding along past the palm trees of Lummus Park. I have a feeling it will get pretty grizzly soon since themob is involved. Also make sure the kids and grandkids are not peeking as it had adult content.

‘Burn Notice’ and ‘The Glades’ are all filmed in and around Dade and Broward and quite a few scenes have been shot in the W Hotel so from timeto time we see film crews buzzing about. The short lived ‘Moon Over Miami ‘ featuring Billy Campbell shot some scenes at my old home on MiamiBeach which sadly I think it ended up on the cutting room floor because the location manager was super disappointed that I re-painted the whitewalls bright white and spruced the place up before they came to film. I missed the point that they wanted something dilapidated. What can I sayI’m house-proud! However that was my 15 minutes of rubbing shoulders with the movies!! Filming at my home on Miami Beach.

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Actor:

Billy Campbell

The GreeterBeverley Citron Executive Editor Laura Levi Creative

Save The Dates!F.A.M.E.’s Upcoming Events

Saturday August 11 F.A.M.E’s Mid Summer Family Party

Monday October 29th F.A.M.E’s Annual Get Working - Networking Event!

More details to be sent out shortly!

Introducing Our F.A.M.E. Board Members

Chair Person - Judy Rosenthal

Membership - Judy Rosenthal

Treasurer - Larry Procaccini

Corresponding Secretary - Lori Chandler

Educational Seminars - Linda Conner

Public Relations - Marie Colongo

Parliamentarian - Joan Hearns

Palm Beach Representative - Lori Chandler

Social Committee - Roberta Cella Mortimer,

Beverley Citron

Board Members - Jean Bowdren, Ed Beaman

Christine Allen, Linda Roberts

PAGE 6www.fame-florida.com

What’s New Ft LauderdaleVery Accommodating:

TComing soon to Hollywood Beach, a 349-room, Margaritaville Resort along the Broadwalk at Johnson Street. Opening in 2014, A revamp of theBroadwalk’s famed Bandshell amphitheater and a new lawn for events and concerts are planned.

TThe newly renamed Bahia Mar Fort Lauderdale Beach is now a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel is an iconic, oceanside retreat undergoing an enhancement program of its 296 guest rooms and suites.

Very Sporting:

TCricket fans in South Florida and across the U.S. will finally satisfy their craving for first class cricket, as the West Indies cricket team will face New Zealand at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill on June 30 and July 1.

TFort Lauderdale will be hosting National Championship Association of The American Tennis Association. More than 3,000 African American amateur tennis players are expected to gather July 29-August 4 to participate in the landmark 95th National Championships.

Very Oohs and Spas

T Lauderdale Spa Chic, available September 1 - 30, 2012. The "S" in stress is replaced with an "S" in savings with easy and affordable treatmentsfor only $99.

What’s New MiamiVery Yummy

TCoral Gables Restaurant Week Monday, Jun 04, 2012 - Sunday, Jun 17, 2012 With more than 30 participating restaurants, the 5th Annual CoralGables Restaurant Week is back. Each restaurant offers specially priced, three-course menus for lunch and dinner with at least a 20% savings off the regular menu prices. There's something for everyone, so take your pick and make your reservations. For more information, visit the website. http://www.coralgablesrestaurantweek.com

TRedland Summer Fruit Festival June 16-17 Enjoy the fruits of summer at Fruit & Spice Park's showcase of local agriculture and tropical fruits. Vendor booths will feature local wines, yummy foods, and rare fruit samplings

TMiami Spice Restaurant Program 8/1/12 – 9/30/12 don’t miss a chance to savor some of our area’s most spectacular cuisine.

Very Oohs and Spas

TMiami Spa Month 7/1/11 – 8/31/11