ISES Minneapolis - St. Paul - Minnesota Star Awards

» General Information

What are the ISES Minnesota Star Awards?
The ISES Minnesota Star Awards began in 2004 as a way to provide event professionals in Minnesota with an opportunity to gain recognition for the fabulous events they create, plan, manage, and execute each year.

Who can enter the awards?
Anyone who has produced events (or components of events) within the state of Minnesota OR that works in Minnesota, but produces events in other locations. You do not have to be an ISES member to enter most of the award categories!

Why should I enter the ISES Minnesota Star Award?
By entering the ISES Minnesota Star Awards, you are able to demonstrate the amazing things that you and your company are doing! This is your opportunity to show people what you can do and what makes you stand apart from your competition. Imagine being able to tell your clients that your company is “award winning!”

Who judges the awards?
B In order to maintain fairness in the judging, the ISES Minnesota Star Award submissions are entirely anonymous and are judged by event professionals from another region of the United States. All entries are delivered to a third-party law firm for pre-judging. Once the law firm has determined that the rules are met, all qualifying entries are sent to another ISES chapter in the United States for judging. The results of the judging are returned directly to the third-party law firm, which supplies the information about the winning entries to the awards company. All of the entries must be anonymous (no mention of names or company names are allowed in the entries). No local ISES members or event professionals are involved in the judging process or knows the winners prior to the ceremony.

What if I have questions?
If you have questions about the process, or run into problems, please send an email to starawards@ises-msp.org and someone will follow up with you.

2010 Minnesota Star Awards

Once a year the International Special Events Society Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter hosts the event of events where the community unites to celebrate individuals and organizations for the outstanding events they design, create and execute each year.

Please join us for a latin-inspired evening. This year's celebration promises to be an unforgettable night of Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican cultures combining to create a hot fusion of sultry surroundings.

Eat, drink and dance the night away to the sounds of "Salsa Del Soul", the Twin Cities-based orchestra performing various styles of Latin American rythms including Bachata, Cha-cha-cha, Plena and, of course, salsa!

Thank you to everyone who sent in a nomination. We're excited to announce the 2010 Nominees! Drumroll please...

Friday, March 26, 2010
Hyatt Regency
1300 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis MN 55403
612.370.1234

7:00 - 8:30pm Reception
8:30 - 9:30pm - Awards Ceremony
9:30 - 11:00pm - After Party

*Please RSVP by Tuesday, March 23, 2010. There will be a $10 surcharge for anyone who registers after this deadline. Cancellations after Tuesday, March 23, 2010 and No-shows will be billed.

It is the policy of the ISES Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter that all registrations be guaranteed by Credit Card.

Hyatt Hotels is pleased to offer a courtesy rate of $149 Single/Double Occupancy for the ISES Minnesota STAR Awards. Reservations are based upon availability. Rates are subject to change. Each additional guest is $25 per person.Room tax is 13.4%.

Call Hyatt Hotels at 800.233.1234 to make your reservations. Make sure to say that you are with the ISES 2010 Star Awards to receive the special group rate. Deadline to reserve rooms at the special rate is March 12, 2010.

» 2009 Minnesota Star Awards

Everything one could dream of and more!
By: Amanda Fretheim Gates, Managing Editor and Marni Ginther, Assistant Editor, Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal

Attendees were in for a treat at the ISES Minnesota Star Awards on Friday, March 20. The event was held at the Children's Theatre Company, a very pleasant venue for this type of event. After registering in the main foyer of the CTC and MIA, guests went upstairs for a pre-ceremony reception of passed hors d'oeuvres and champagne. The expected crowd was 300 people (up 100 from last year!), and in this space you could really tell. But the mood was sunny and bright, with many fun, glam outfits, which definitely made up for the rainy weather outside.The ceremony was held on the main stage of the CTC. Comfortable, roomy seating with great sightlines of the stage. The presenters, all familiar faces within the industry, were very well prepared and seemed relaxed to be up on stage. The winners gave thoughtful, and short, thank-you speeches, and they too seemed genuinely touched and not nervous to be on stage. In this regard, the Star Awards topped the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys!

Throughout the ceremony, little breaks were taken for entertainment. Either the envelope was presented in a unique way (on an alpaca (um...?), an ISES member rising from beneath the stage), or a fun Circus Juventas presentation of acrobatics and high-flying marvels. These touches definitely added a bit of a "wow" factor to the ceremony. One of the best parts of the ceremony was when, for the final award - Best ISES Team Effort - the Immediate Past President of ISES International and the President-Elect of ISES International were on hand to not only to help present the award, but to say some pretty wonderful things about our MSP Chapter. If you don't already know how on the cutting edge our event professionals are in this state, the fact that they're so on the International radar should tell you something.

But let’s face it. The real reason for being there was the party, right? OK, that’s not true. It was a very special night for all the deserving nominees and award winners. But when you throw a special event planned by people who, you know, plan special events for a living, it’s got to be pretty top-notch. And was it ever! The party, themed “Surreality: Behind Closed Eyes,” led guests through nine different “dreams,” each one a room with a different theme, designed by a different event design company. This was a great way to showcase the services offered by different companies while giving guests something new to look forward to around every corner. It felt like nine parties in one. A few favorites:

All in all it was a fantastic night and it really upped the ante from the Minnesota Star Awards of yore. I don’t know how they’ll top this next year but if anyone can, it’s the folks from the ISES Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter.

*Watch for our ad and layout in the special section of the June issue of Twin Cities Business.

Thank you to all of our partners:

Media Partner:

Diamond Sponsors:

Platinum Sponsors:

Check out the video from the 2009 MN Star Awards

» Testimonials

"A world-class presentation by a world-class ISES chapter. Clearly the
display, staging and presentation elements combined to demonstrate the
difference between events and SPECIAL EVENTS."
Dave Herman, Big EventProductions, LLC

"What a phenomenal demonstration of the tremendous success that can be
achieved by collaboration. I am proud to be a part of such a talented
group of minds!"
Jessica Woodward, Event Program Manager, metroConnecitons

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