You guys!!!  I am so pumped that our first Kismet PR class was such a success!  The tickets sold out, we had some amazing sponsors and holding it at E Madison was the best idea ever!

Lyndsey took care of all the content for the class and I focused on planning it.  While I party plan for my family, I’ve never wanted to plan other people’s social events.  I have thought about producing larger scale events in the future so this was a great opportunity to get my feet wet and get some real experience.  I was able to use my relationships with local businesses and PR companies I have worked with on various blogging projects to put on a nice little class.  I first need to start with E Madison.  They could not have been more accommodating.  They set up the area for the class and even facilitated a plasma screen rental for the class presentation.  And to top it off, they offered the gals a discount on merchandise.  I can’t wait to host another event there!  Next let’s turn to Meringue Bake Shop.  Most of you know the amazing Push Cakes and cupcakes that Kristin creates.  But she is SO much more than that I was so excited to share this side of her with the class.  With her food and the gorgeous styling by Lauren, our eyes and stomachs were super happy.

Because the class was scheduled to begin around dinner time, Kristin wanted to make sure that everyone would be full and able to focus on the class.  She made the most amazing bread salad with ham and fontina cheese.  I’m really hoping she will share the recipe with you all!!!  I’m dying to make it again.  She also made a smoked salmon dip served with bagel chips, and served goat cheese, arugula and tomato on crostini.  As a sweet treat, she brought some of her mini pies (if I only had to eat Kristin’s pies for the rest of my life, I would be so happy) and a new favorite, glitter cookies.  You guys.  I really wish you could all taste the glitter cookies.  Total melt in your mouth amazingness.  The spread was rounded out snacks provided by SunChips and drinks provided by Izze.

As the class went on, Kristin wowed us with some salted caramel coffee.  Yup.  SO good!!

Lyndsey brought it!    I learned a ton about working with PR companies and the process of pitching ideas to them.  Now I just need ideas to pitch…The class was about 3 hours with a break midway through for refreshments, questions, mingling etc.  The format was great.  It was casual and free flowing where she followed her set presentation but would take questions or comments any time.

I especially liked that she gave us an exercise to do during class.  I’m sure I am not the only person who learns better when actually doing something personally so to have that opportunity was awesome.  This is one of the reasons that Lyndsey likes to keep the classes small.  When we finished, whoever wanted to could run it by Lyndsey to get her feedback on how we interpreted her information.

I don’t know why I enjoy a good gift bag so much, but I really do.  I reached out to some great brands to contribute items and think this gift bag turned out awesome!!!  The bags included a recipe by a local cooking instructor, Jenny Warner, Lauren sewed and painted these awesome bags with social media phrasing on them, each person was given a free class of yoga or pilates at The Sweat House, JR Watkins sent their lemon creme lotion (have you smelled this?!  It’s so good!), SunChips gave every participant a bag of chips and recipe booklet, Tera Rae Stephens sent over hand-made hair ties, Skin So Sweet supplied information on their amazing facials and other services,  ShopModerne.com sent shirts for everyone and a discount code for more online shopping, Yasso gave everyone coupons for free frozen greek yogurt bars, Lauren made super cute gift tags with her fantastic calligraphy, Lyndsey provided branded note pads, and Tiny Prints is providing each student a coupon code for free business cards.  Boom.

A huge thank you to Lyndsey for letting me be involved in this great workshop!  Thank you to each and every sponsor that participated and, of course, thank you to all the students who came!!  We are gauging interest on holding another class in the spring as well as one in San Diego.  If you are interested in finding out more about future classes, please email me so I can put you on the list – cupcakesandcutlery at gmail dot com.