Tassimo Smart Talk event – an inside view

A few weeks ago, Candice Shirreff, Sarah Roger and I shared our experiences with our new Tassimo beverage systems that we each had the good fortune of winning either on Twitter or by entering to attend the TASSIMO Smart Talk event in Toronto as Candice did and won the opportunity to attend and walk away with her own machine. I caught up with Candice and asked her to share her experience.

Candice, you won tickets to a TASSIMO smart talk event in Toronto with Sarah Richardson and Nik Manojlovich. What did you think? Did you leave feeling pressured to discuss the event or the Tassimo system?

Being a big fan of Sarah Richardson, I was really excited to attend this fairly intimate event about interior design and entertaining – although I have to say that leading up the event I did not really know what to expect. How many people would attend? The invitation said bring your questions so I thought it would be a relatively intimate setting but it ended up being bigger than I thought. Also, the invitation said the event would last from 1:00-4:00 p.m. – what were we to do for 3 hours?

Anyway, here is what really happened:

My guest and I arrived at 1:00 p.m. or shortly after and was greeted by several Tassimo staff who directed us to the ticket station where my guest and I were signed in. My guest was given a ballot for a chance to win the $10,000 Bosch kitchen. So, we proceeded to the Great Room and immediately saw a huge sign at the other end of the room that read Ballot Here (or something of the like). So that is where we headed.

Afterwards, we noticed that there were a series of Tassimo stations where staff were brewing everyone drinks. Unfortunately, the lines were too long and the brewing took too long that my guest and I gave up and grabbed some water before heading into the auditorium to grab a seat. We figured we also would have lots of time to test out the machine after receiving the free machine at the end of the show. Needless to say, we needed a little more time to get our own Tassimo beverage – but water would do since I didn't want to miss Sarah Richardson.

After waiting a few minutes for those who decided to wait for their Tassimo beverages to finish brewing in the Great Room – Nik Manojlovich came out to introduce himself and his history with Tassimo - which all started at a cottage a couple years ago. Throughout his introduction and chat with Sarah Richardson he would give out Tassimo products and Tassimo staff would brew selected products for audience members.

The chat itself was great – the only downside for myself was the fact that audience members brought their personal decorating questions along. I didn’t think those were the types of questions the event planners had in mind – but Sarah did a wonderful job of generalizing her answers so that they could apply to anyone.

When the event ended, and before it did, people began running back to the Great Room to get their free machines but before everyone left, Nik Manojlovich encouraged everyone to share their Tassimo machine and its beverages with friends and family – but by no means did I feel any pressure to “sell” this product to others.

My guest and I then made our way to the Great Room, which quickly turned into a bit of a mess with the usual pushing and chaos that happens when things are free. This is coming from someone who avoids sales for that very reason. I am about enjoying my purchasing experience, or this case - free experience, rather than saving 10%. Anyway, I quickly got my beautiful burnt-orange Tassimo machine and made my way out in amongst a sea of people trying to trade machine colours.

Thank you Tassimo for a great event and fun take-home prize!

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