Client Testimonials

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“While many of the meals I create and serve are paired with wine I have never really been much of a wine lover. After learning Laurie’s Wine Sandwich(tm) method and the wine pairing strategies she shared in our joint seminar, things have totally changed for me! Now I see that I had just never noticed how the right food paired with the right wine made it taste better and how the wine enhanced my dish as well. I highly recommend Laurie’s events and seminars especially her wine sandwich^(tm)!”

~ Carla Hall, Alchemy by Carla Hall and Bravo’s Top Chef All Stars

 

 

“The feedback has been great. Everyone said that they had a wonderful time at The Wine Coach event! Your knowledge and great personality really resonated with the group.”

~ Micki Sever, Event Planner, eBay

 

“We had a great event that led to some excellent bonding and relationship development with our customers. Our event was a huge success and we received some sincere and heartfelt ‘thank yous’ from our customers because they enjoyed it so much. Laurie does an excellent job of ensuring the satisfaction of all attendees. She circulates often to mingle with the audience and answer any questions that arise. Laurie’s cheerful and approachable personality puts guests at ease and helps everyone (whether wine novice or expert) thoroughly enjoy and learn from her events. We look forward to including Laurie in future customer appreciation events.”

~ George Trenchard, Senior Client Executive, MetLife

 

“Thanks again for a fantastic Wine Coach® event! The guests LOVED hearing you speak and learning over lunch. Many have since asked for your contact information so they can do it again! Your wine tasting feature really enhanced the value of our client meeting and boosted potential sales. I have recommended you to other meeting planners and hope we can work together again soon!”

~ Stephanie Olivero, Event Manager, MetLife

 

“This Wine Etiquette luncheon was one of our best programs of the year.  We enjoyed your showing us the different ways to order wine and follow the etiquette of wine-tasting. You are a great teacher and many of our members told me they learned things they did not know before.  Thank you for a very enjoyable afternoon.  I hope we can do this again in the future.

I am having a great time reading your wonderful book.

~ Vicki Miller, President Click Here to read the letter from The Congressional Club

 

“For the last two years, we have worked with Laurie on a wine tasting luncheon and the feedback that I’ve heard is that people really enjoyed the wine tasting. It adds an additional flavor and learning experience, beyond just a typical business lunch. Laurie does a great job keeping the audience engaged and trying to teach them the basics of wine tasting. She works with us on event objectives and ensures that the food and wine selections are perfectly paired. We know going into the event that things will run smoothly when we work Laurie.”

~ Suzanne Gibbs, MetLife

 

“It was truly a teambuilding experience. Laurie promoted a lot of group discussion and created a very light and “at ease” experience. It is clear that Laurie is extremely knowledgeable. She was able to answer all of the group’s questions which was quite impressive. I thought it was also great that she tailored her discussion points and even her demeanor to fit the group. She was able to pick up on it quickly. Truly an entertainer!”

~Amy Schultz, Event Planner, Booz Allen Hamilton

 

“Having our event hosted by Laurie gave McCormick and Company another option to provide our customer-guests with a memorable and educational experience. We have used this event more than once and find it to bring us closer to our customers with a common experience. Two and three years later, our customers are asking when we will provide a repeat performance.”

~Mike Nelsen, Director of Sales, McCormick & Company

 

“We used The Wine Coach® to help forge a bond with our new sales team. At the beginning of the evening, we knew very little about each other or about choosing wine. By the end of the evening, we considered ourselves experts on both. What a great night and a great way to enjoy time away from the office with your team. I highly recommend a session with The Wine Coach® to laugh, learn and connect.” ~ Amy Johnston, Sales Executive, Bristol Myers Squibb

 

 

“Laurie did a great job creating an enjoyable wine dinner for our clients. She was able to convey to all of our clients something new about wine, even those that are more experienced wine drinkers. She has a very fun and lighthearted approach in talking about wines which made the evening much more interesting than just a simple dinner with our best clients”

~ Valerie Campbell, Asst. Vice President, Merrill Lynch

 

“The Potomac Chapter of Meeting Professional International March Learning Event. The event hosting 100 attendees from the hospitality industry. Fields ranged from hotel executives to meeting planners.

 

The chapter received great feedback from all of the attendees. They all expressed how much they learned and how they could directly apply that to their jobs. As planners, selecting the right wine is often critical to the success of an event. Laurie’s tips and tricks for selecting the right wine for the selected meal and how to spot great wines at great prices proved to be invaluable to the attendees. There is so much to learn about wine and how it works to compliment a meal. But also not to take it too seriously. Wine is to be enjoyed!

 

We wish we could have had more time with her. She was a pleasure to work with and the event had one of the highest attendance’s for 2010.

~ David McKennon, Vice President Meetings Management Events

 

 

“Events before we worked with Laurie were pretty vanilla. We usually feature expert speakers in healthcare but none that were this much fun. The survey results were outstanding. Attendees appreciated the fact that we were sharing an educational and serious message about their heart health but lightened it up with Laurie’s knowledge of wine and advice on living well.

 

We’re so glad we invited Laurie to join us for our Women and Heart Health event. Even though we had more than 20 inches of snow that weekend, more than 400 people attended. They were excited to learn more about the benefits of red wine for their heart health and they had a terrific time.

 

Laurie has a terrific presentation style. The audience appreciates her knowledge and she is quite entertaining. We’re so glad we incorporated drinking red wine in moderation and living well with information about heart disease prevention and treatment. What a great combination!

~ Diane Gallagher. Marketing Director at Reading Hospital, Reading, PA

 

 

“Laurie Forster delivered the Weird Science Wine Dinner and it was a huge success!! I have two employees who are only scotch drinkers but by the end of the evening they even had found a wine they liked! It was amazing! Everyone was coming up to me thanking me for hiring Laurie. Thanks Laurie for making me look great and making our offsite a huge success.” ~Lynn Holgate, Event Planner at High Performance Technologies, Inc.

“Thanks again for the home run experience yesterday! In this morning’s debrief on yesterday’s learning, there was ‘beaucoup’ energy on the wine experience. The memorable learning of jelly beans and walnuts, coupled with the utility of words to describe an experience that enhances communication/learning were but two of the many takeaways!”
~Rick Corcoran, RJ Corcoran & Associates LLC, consultant to the US Chamber of Commerce

“Events before we worked with Laurie were routine, predictable, and relatively staid. Laurie made our banquet a dinner to remember! She added fun and flair, while educating us about the fascinating world of wine. Laurie engaged each person and each table, ensuring that no one was left out of the experience. We will be talking about Laurie and what she taught us for years to come! Laurie knows how to take a predictable and formulaic evening and turn it into something surprising and fun for everyone in the room! We are all better off for the fundamentals of wine tasting that we learned from Laurie. I would highly recommend Laurie for your next event! If you are looking for a way to make your next group dinner one to remember, Laurie can make that happen.”

~Alexander Nunez, Constellation Energy

“Our guests had a fabulous time at our wine tasting events. Even though t hey are self-proclaimed wine experts, they learned new things and tasted new wines with Laurie. They raved about the experience! I would love to have Laurie do a tasting with our group again. Laurie stands out from the crowd in her attentiveness to detail and responsiveness to our questions. The little touches were fabulous too. Thanks Laurie!”

~Kristen Weber, Event Planner for the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery

“Laurie provided an evening reception on creating food and wine pairings. It was a great topic after a tough day of sessions and over 100 attendees stayed for the evening reception, which is 25% more than last year. Laurie provided a high energy session that had everyone buzzing about wine and the food pairings, and how different things tasted as a “wine sandwich.” If you want to have a great experience with wine and food, contact The Wine Coach®, Laurie Forster. She will provide you with great information and you can have a great deal of fun at the same time.” ~Karen Bellesky, RD, LDN Chase Brexton Health Services, Inc

“Historic Hampton Inc. started wine tastings 2 years ago to promote the history and culture of Hampton. This year, Laurie introduced us to five early champagne vintners (1850 or earlier). Laurie researched and entertained us with knowledge and enthusiasm. Her knowledge of the champagne taste specifics was as interesting as her history and her energy was inspiring for all who attended.” ~ Ann Haggerty Boyce, Owner of Ann Haggerty Architect & Associates

“We have a monthly Wine Flight attended by approximately 180-200 persons. We have been hosting these events since 2004 with continued and growing success. Part of that success is keeping the presentation portion of the evening interesting, lively and informative. Our April 1 Wine Flight was hosted by Laurie Forster and was one of the most well-received events we have ever held. Comments after her presentation confirmed my initial feeling that she would be a great person to have host the evening with her ability to talk to – not “down to” – our guests. We would love to have Laurie return to present on our panel again next year!”

~Susan Sternberger, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

“At Great Gatherings; we have monthly events that inspire friends and family to connect more often in the home. We have had party planners, mixologists, chefs, etc. Our clients were grateful that we had Laurie present at our store. The result is Laurie brought back previous clients and also brought in new customers to our store. The result is more exposure and very positive “word-of-mounth” advertising. Laurie’s presentation was energetic, interactive and educational. Laurie was a great compliment to our store and represented us very well.” ~Eric Stalzer, General Manager at Great Gatherings

“Bringing Laurie into Pittsburgh was a great boost for our company. We received press both before and after her presentation. We have done many wine events here and it is always great to have a new wine voice speak in front of our customers. Her approach gave a fresh new look to wine for our customer and the buzz is still going. We are now searching for new fun places for events. Having Laurie speak at the Carnegie Science Center brought a whole new client base to us.”

~Deb Mortillaro, co-owner Palate Partners and Dreadnought Wines

 

“I worked with Laurie to create an evening event for a group of nutrition professionals in Maryland. The event was a fantastic way for the group to network and learn about food and wine pairing. The group attendance exceeded our expectations and the feedback from the attendees was all positive. Laurie and the event were phenomenal. I would not hesitate to use her services in the future or recommend her to professional colleagues.”

~ Erika Sheffield, Registered Dietician

“The crowd really enjoyed Laurie. She made wine a fun and easy subject to learn. I received a number of compliments from our guests on Laurie. Folks said Laurie was “entertaining,” “friendly,” and “she made you feel comfortable about a complex subject.” Personally, I would hire Laurie again for another event. She keeps the crowd engaged and makes parties more fun! As a professional event planner, having entertainment during a party is a must! Hiring Laurie is a guaranteed crowd pleaser!”

~ Tiffany Ball, Event Planner

“Laurie Forster is an incredible speaker and would be GREAT for YOUR next event. She spoke at last night’s NEWH DC Chapter’s annual Scholarship Fundraiser. Guests came out to her her demystify WINE! Thanks Laurie!”

~ Lynda Welte, Blueprints for Green Design