Unless it was past your bedtime, you watched one of the most amazingly bizarre endings to an awards show in recent memory. If you turned in early, there’s no doubt you have read about Warren Beatty channeling Steve Harvey and erroneously giving La La Land the Oscar for best picture.

The matter was cleared up but, wow. That’s a pretty big stage on which to shit the bed.

So where did it all go wrong?

For many of our clients, events are a huge piece of their marketing strategies. For us, events are in our blood. So when we saw Warren Beatty struggling to make heads or tails from that card, we knew someone slipped up.

The Devil is in The Details

Event management must deliver peace of mind to your partners with end-to-end event management services. So even though it seemed like they had their bases covered, the event team that ran the Oscars will be remembered for fumbling on the goal line. This is an event that ran into the millions to produce. How did this happen?

This was not an event put on by Karen in Accounts Payable. She does a great job with Thirsty Thursdays, but The Academy Awards are kind of a big deal. There is little doubt that every second of the broadcast was planned to the second. But somebody forgot to coach Bonnie & Clyde. Beatty was handed the wrong card and panicked. Looking less like the guy who walked into a party like he was walking onto a yacht and more like Jay Bulworth, he read what he was handed. Beatty clearly knew it was wrong, but lacked the direction to correct the error. And what about the envelope itself? This is the biggest award show in the world. How in the world did the accountant not know what order to hand the envelopes to the actors? Counting should come easy to an accountant. Unless the event management team made it hard.

So what can you lean from this debacle? It’s a tired, old adage but the notion that hiring an amateur will ultimately cost more than hiring a professional is totally accurate. Do your due diligence. Look for vendors that are able to act as an extension of your business. Find seasoned professionals that are eager to act as a sounding board for your business plan. A consultancy. A true partner that wants to see you succeed.

And pay attention to the details.