Finding real estate in Yorkville during TIFF is extremely challenging which is why one event planner chose this fabulous rooftop parking garage. Absolute was there to help transform the space into a gala party fit for the stars.
Archive for the ‘party rentals’ Category
TIFF Rooftop Party Tent
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011Special Event Rentals at Polo For Heart
Friday, July 29th, 2011The weather and crowds were amazing at this year’s Polo For Heart charity fundraiser. As sponsor and official tent supplier Absolute provided these two 40 wide clear span tents along with many others. There were corporate tents, beer tents, silent auction tents, vendor tents even a Maharajah’s VIP tent along with countless bistro tables and umbrellas.
Inspire Awards & Gala Party Rentals
Friday, July 29th, 2011The Inspire Awards were held at Casa Loma this year and Absolute was a proud
sponsor and a witness to an awe inspiring evening gala. The award winners who would become Grand Marshals at Pride Toronto were chosen that evening.
Mississauga Tent Rentals – Company Party Tents
Friday, July 29th, 2011
Absolute supplies tent and party rentals for hundreds of events each season including this amazing company picnic. Mississauga party rental equipment is in high demand throughout the event season.
Toronto Corporate Events – Tent and Party Rentals
Friday, July 29th, 2011This gala party and fundraiser was a huge affair with close to 1,000 guests in a roomy 80 x 150 high peak pole tent. The dramatic roofline of this event tent is close to 40 feet in the air announcing to the world that “there is something going on and you don’t want to miss it”.
Elegant Wedding Tent
Friday, July 29th, 2011
This beautiful tented wedding setup in the sprawling countryside was simple yet elegant and tasteful. Absolute carries all kinds of wedding rentals and specializes in wedding tents. More and more couples are electing to celebrate at a family or friends property. Well if you have the room, why not?
Tent Rentals – Party and Tent Rental Information (Segment 1)
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011How to Choose a Tent for Your Event
If you plan on renting a tent or tents for an upcoming event it’s a good idea to get up to speed so you’ll know what you can expect unless of course you like surprises. Tent rentals are a must for outdoor events, not only do they offer protection from wind, rain, or even too much sun, their size announces your event from afar and often helps to create a celebratory mood. So rental tents are handy but here’s what you should know.
Frame Tents
40' x 60' Frame Tent
40' x 60' Frame Tent
These are a popular choice of rental tents. What is meant by a frame tent? It’s a tent that has an aluminum or steel frame built into the roof. Clean lines, neat and simple design, this is how one would describe the newest generation of Frame Tents. With no centre poles the structure offers unobstructed views. Perfect for an evening of entertainment or when room is at a premium.
They commonly have a hip style roofline meaning the peak is tapered and does not continue along the full length of the tent. Less common is a gable style with the peak running at the same height throughout the full length of the structure.
Special Features
Heavy gage aluminum or steel frame
No centre poles
May be weighted or staked down
Sizes
Frame tents are available at 10′ wide, 15′, 20′, 30′, 40′, 50′ and the length can be 10′, 15′, 20′ increasing by 10′ increments to 300′.
Colours & Construction
White tops and walls are most common (striped, coloured or clear vinyl to a lesser extent)
Premium blackout vinyl - cooler and more comfortable (some manufactures offer lighter semitransparent vinyl)
Wall Height is 8′ – 10′
Peak Height is 10′ – 20′ depending upon the width of the structure.
Anchoring Methods
There is added versatility with a frame tent as you have an option of staking or weighting the tent. This feature allows frame tents to be used on rooftops and in situations where surface and underground obstructions prevent staking.
Pole Tents
40' x 150' Pole Tent
40' x 150' Pole Tent
Majestic and regal, pole tents add real luxury to the look of your event with dramatic peaks and valleys as the vinyl is stretched tightly over towering tent poles creating impressive rooflines. The main characteristic defining a pole tent is that there is a centre pole or poles.
Special Features
Higher more dramatic rooflines
Lofty interiors
Ideal for any scale event
Particularly good in high winds
Pole tents rentals not as common
Steep tops reduces snow buildup making them a better choice as winter tents (up to 40′ wide)
Sizes
Available in – 30′, 40′, 60′, 80′, 100′ wide and the length can be 30′, 40′, 60′, increasing by 10′ increments up to 300′.
Colours & Construction
Pole Tent Interior
They’re found most often with white tops and walls however some manufacturers produce striped, coloured or clear tops.
Premium blackout vinyl - cooler and more comfortable (some manufactures offer lighter semitransparent vinyl)
Wall Height is 8′ – 9′
Peak Height is 12′ – 29′ depending upon the width of the structure
Anchoring Methods
Pole tents are tension structures a require staking at all times. 30″ or 36″ stakes are used and can be driven into grass, gravel, sand and asphalt surfaces. It should be noted that underground utilities and obstructions may prevent the safe installation of these tents
Tensile Tents
20' x 20' Tensile Tent
20' x 20' Tensile Tent
This is a hybrid tent combining the best of both a frame and pole tents into one creating an elegant high peaked roof with a structure that can be weighted or staked and has no obstructing centre poles. The centre pole is suspended by cross cables overhead.
Special Features
Heavy gage aluminum frame
Centre pole(s) are suspended overhead
May be weighted or staked down
Sizes
Available in – 10′x10′, 10′x15′, 10′x20′, 15′x20′, 20′x20′, 20′x30′,
Triangular and hexagonal tents are also available in limited sizes.
Absolute carries 20′x20′ Triangular and 34′x40′ Hexagonal Tents.
Colours & Construction
Tensile Tent Interior
White tops and walls are most common (striped, coloured or clear vinyl to a lesser extent)
Premium blackout vinyl - cooler and more comfortable (some manufactures offer lighter semitransparent vinyl)
Wall Height is 8′ – 10′
Peak Height is 10′ – 20′ depending upon the width of the structure.
Anchoring Methods
The same anchoring can be used as a on a frame tent with the option of staking or weighting the tent. This feature allows tensile tents to be used on rooftops and in situations where surface and underground obstructions prevent staking.
Clear Span Tents
Clear Span Tent
Clear Span Tent
These structures are next best thing to a building with heavy duty aluminum or steel beam perimeter frames. These heavy beam frames support sturdy ceiling structure that spans the width creating a clear open area, hence their name “clear span” For large scale special events and particularly upscale corporate events, the Clear Span tent is the best temporary structure available.
Special Features
Ideal for any scale event
Particularly good in high winds
Inspiring ceiling heights
Clean rooflines
Unobstructed interior sightlines
Requires no tent straps creating a clean looking exterior
Sizes
Available in – 20′ wide, 30′, 40′, 50′, 66′, 132′, & 164′ and are available in 15′ lengths and is unlimited.
Colours & Construction
Clear Span Tent Interior
White tops and walls are most common (striped, coloured or clear vinyl to a lesser extent)
Premium blackout vinyl in white or black tops
Clear tops are also available
Other options include – Glass doors, Clear Walls
Wall height is 10′ – 20′
Peak height is 12′ – 56′ depending upon the width of the structure
Anchoring Methods
Clear Span tents may be staked or weighted, however a substantial amount of weight is necessary requiring concrete as opposed to water barrels used on frame and tensile tents.
Pop Up Tents
Pop Up Tent
Pop Ups are the only tents that a tent company will offer you without professional installation. These tents take only a few minutes for first time users and as the name infers they simply pop up and into use. The frame comes fully assembled and only needs to be spread out, install a top and you are in business. They are a very popular choice for festivals and exhibitions and can be fastened together creating long lines.
Special Features
Frame comes fully assembled
No centre poles
Sizes
Pop ups are generally available in 5′x5′ (change tents), 10′x10′ and 10′x20′
Colours & Construction
Popups come in many colours however white is the most common choice as it is cooler, clean and more comfortable. Lighter nylon is used most often for top and walls. Walls are installed separately with the option of using any number necessary.
Anchoring Methods
These tents may be weighted or staked into the ground.
Tent Accessories (All Tents)
Power, lighting, climate control options
Centre & perimeter pole drapery, ceiling liners and custom drapery
Flooring Systems
Event Deck - Modular floors
Custom wood sub-floor
Variable height flooring system
Isle walkway
Carpet & vinyl floor coverings
Side Walls (Frame and Pole Tents)
White Walls
Clear Walls
Mesh Walls
French window Walls
Side Walls (Clear Span Tents)
White Walls
Clear Walls
French window Walls
Glass Wall Panels
Additional Options:
Entrance Marquees
Covered Walkways
Isle Walkway
Performance Stages
Elevated Tents
Double Decker
Platform Tents
Sky Boxes
Covered Grandstands
Glass Railings
Rain Gutters
Our Tent Rental Professionals can assist you with and questions or to place an order. There are so many options for party tents or wedding tents, you are limited only by your imagination.
Stay Tuned For (Segment 2) – Tent Installation Rules and Regulations
Please be sure to check back with us regularly for our Party and Tent Rental Information series.
Also, you won’t want to miss some of our own events being profiled here in our Special Events Inspiration series.
Leveraging Event Publicity To Gain Sponsorship (Part 2)
Saturday, May 14th, 2011The Four “To Do’s” Before You Ask For A Dime
1) Fact Sheets
Compile all pertinent information about your company. A sponsor wants to know if you are reputable. Also, they’ll want to know as much about your event as possible, so if you’ve had a survey done make the information available. If you haven’t you can estimate as long as you warn them that it is an estimation. They’ll want to know number of years in existence, attendees, demographics etc to see if it reaches their target market. Here is the CSEME event information that clearly tells us what the event is all about.
2) Funding Needs
Get an initial quote on your vision for the event and determine your shortfall.
This helps you set a goal for your funding campaign.
3) Create a Proposal
Outline benefits and deliverables that are attractive to sponsors. List all the things a sponsor may see opportunity in.
4) Determine Levels
Sponsorship recognition programs are most effective when they are simple, flexible, attractive and multi-tiered. Often sponsors name their levels. For example, Bronze, Silver and Gold. They assign a value to each level and treat monetary and non monetary donations similarly.
Make it easy for your sponsor to review and decide if this is something that they want to be a part of.
Sponsorship is Work
It’s important to remember that sponsorship means more work especially the first year you implement your new strategy, however it does have rewards.
Sponsorship Application Form
Many suppliers create a form to identify an organizer’s needs and what sponsorship recognition opportunities may be available. In any event its always advisable when pursuing sponsorship to:
- Keep a record of what was discussed
- Apply Early – Between October and April as we need time to review a request so if interested get your submission in early.
Opportunities For Sponsorship
Ultimately a sponsor wants their effort rewarded with future business. Marketing their products to potential customers may translate into a return on investment down the road.
- At Fundraisers there is obviously a lot of potential here, everyone loves a good cause. A company benefits
from name recognition through positive community relations and publicity campaigns. We sponsor our fair share including the Heart and Stroke, Diabetes Association, Polo For Heart - Festivals….. there’s one in every neighborhood and for every culture.
- Sporting Events attract huge numbers, a marathon for example may have 5,000 or more participants alone.
- Tradeshows & Conferences are great especially if it involves a sponsor’s targeted market and it’s also very easy to determine.
- Corporate Events…. always great opportunity here for supply side sponsorship. Even single company events such as an Annual General Meeting has potential. At an AGM, a sponsor can market all company divisions at once to reinforce their brand and possibly find new opportunities within the same company. Other types of sponsors may want to come on board. What coffee service or printing service do you use, they may want to sponsor?
- and Parties, not often but we have even seen private parties sponsored in the past. I believe Vita Water sponsored a party during TIFF.
Both Sides Win
It’s very important that everyone wins, otherwise it may not happen again. If the arrangement too heavily favours one party it doesn’t work.
- Follow Through With The Agreement It’s really unfortunate when one side doesn’t live up to their end of the bargain. It’s always a good idea for both sides to review the agreement, check off each item and inform the other that you have done so. All too often promises made aren’t delivered due to time constraints.
- Value Added – No extra charge Value added is when a sponsor supplies equipment or services not bargained for and at no extra charge. This may be to promote the particular product or to demonstrate their “good will”.
Depending upon the event particulars, equipment needs, and brand recognition opportunities you’ll find that with sponsors your operating budget will go further, making your event more vital. You can be proud of the relations you’ve forged and the event that you have produced. Your suppliers will be working that much harder to ensure clean, quality, reliable products and ultimately your function will benefit from a whole new level of customer experience.
Please be sure to check back with us regularly for our Party and Tent Rental Information series.
Also, you won’t want to miss some of our own events being profiled here in our Special Events Inspiration series.
Eco-Friendly Film & Event Rentals
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011ABSOLUTE’S GREEN INITIATIVE
Dear Customer:
In 2005, Absolute was a founding member of the Toronto film industry’s, ‘Green Screen Initiative’. This initiative was aimed at lessening the collective carbon foot print created by the local screen based industries and the footprint of its many and varied suppliers. As a major supplier to the film industry, it gave us cause to look more closely at our own business practices, to see how we could improve service delivery and lessen our impact on the environment at the same time.
While the simple act of ‘renting’ embodies the 2nd tenet of eco awareness, ‘reducing, reusing, recycling‘, we felt we could do more. We struck a staff committee that meets monthly and what follows is some of their recommendations put into practice.
This list is by no means exhaustive and is a constant work in progress, but what follows is just a sampling of what we have done to leave this earth just a little bit greener than in which we found it. The next time you are planning an event we encourage you to consider renting, rather than consuming, so that we can all live:’
- Our renovated, turn of the century warehouse has been fitted with energy efficient T8 and T12 compact fluorescent fixtures.
- Through the use of large windows and the installation of countless sky-lights, we use daylight most often to light our work spaces.
- Interior rooms without windows have lights on motion detectors to help save energy.
- We installed 30 circulating ceiling fans at a height of almost 50′ to better distribute heating and cooling down to the shop floor.
- We maintain office/warehouse temperatures of 18/16C respectively in winter during operating hours.
- Overnight temperatures in our office/warehouse are allowed to fall to 14/10C in winter.
- We distribute mock neck Absolute uniforms to staff, intended to be worn under their street clothes to compensate for the lower than normal interior temperatures.
- All HVAC is on smart thermostats that adjust temperatures throughout the day and on weekends.
- We have installed ‘freezer’ blankets to help keep heat in the warehouse when overhead doors must be opened.
- We use radiant heat, rather than forced air to heat our warehouse. We warm people and things, not spaces.
- We use a ‘man door’ rather than overheads for small warehouse pick ups and returns.
- We work toward 100% waste diversion and run all but organic recycling programs in our work place.
- We host a waste and recycling transfer facility on site, so that our film/event customers can dispose of waste and recycling responsibly. (for a fee)
- We have replaced most of our fleet of trucks to newer, more energy efficient models.
- We have replaced our fleet with high crew capacity trucks, so that as many as 7 crew persons can travel with the load to save on sending multiple trucks to an install.
- Our used office paper is cut into quarters, and the reverse is used as scratch pads.
- We run an afternoon shift and grave yard shifts so that ‘energy hog’ equipment such as washers/dryers and dish washing machines are run in off peak hours.
- We use eco friendly cleaning products and have banned the use of phosphates in our cleaning processes.
- We try to ‘buy smart’ inventory. A well made plastic item will frequently win out over a less robust wood or metal product.
- We are cognisant of the fact that Canadian made is better and so we try to buy locally whenever possible. This is becoming increasingly difficult with Canada’s manufacturing base moving off shore.
- We use glass, china and linen and company events. Partly because we own it and mostly because it is a better choice than paper or plastic.
- We are replacing many of our old halogen and tungsten lights with low energy consuming LED fixtures.
- Damaged vinyl from large tents and marquees is taken apart, resewn and recycled into smaller wall panels.
- We have installed solar panels so that much of our fleet of high-end portable rest-room trailers will now operate on solar energy alone.
These are just some of the ways that we are trying to make our footprint just a little less large. If you have any suggestions on how we can further improve our practices, please let us know.
Paul E. Kenyon
Managing Director
Please be sure to check back with us regularly for our Party and Tent Rental Information series.
Also, you won’t want to miss some of our own events being profiled here in our Special Events Inspiration series.
Top Ten Ways to Save On Equipment Costs
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011Get more “bang for your buck”?
These are proven strategies that will help with supply side savings while still producing memorable events. By keeping these tips in mind during the planning, sourcing, scheduling and execution phases of your event and you can expect measurable results.
1) Do as much as you can yourself. It’s not always practical or possible to do everything, but by doing what you can, you’ll see savings.
2) Get volunteers and interns where possible even if your event is for profit. When you do have volunteers be sure to manage them efficiently.
3) Have your suppliers drop ship equipment and install yourself where possible.
4) Hold your event off season for reduced equipment costs. Gear in July is always costlier than in January.
5) Sponsorship recognition – have suppliers buy-in to your event. This is invaluable so don’t be afraid to use it.
6) Hire a Specialist – Outside ‘contract’ planners may save you money so it’s worthwhile to explore that avenue.
7) Advance planning, commit early and stick to the plan. Last minute changes may cost you.
8) Multi-year deals, quick pay, or early pay allows you to negotiate a better deal.
9) Grants – even “for profit” may be eligible depending upon their cultural and economic impact.
10) By using a full service equipment supplier;
- Everything ships together
- Single delivery charge
- Logistical coordination
- One contact, one call, one invoice, one responder
- Same crew for a coordinated installation
Please visit us again for other cost saving segments.
Please be sure to check back with us regularly for our Party and Tent Rental Information series.
Also, you won’t want to miss some of our own events being profiled here in our Special Events Inspiration series.
