Party Poops Planner

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Carl Terzian is in something of a quandary.

The public relations specialist always urges his clients to do something special and meaningful to mark their business anniversaries. Yet Terzian has done nothing yet to mark his own. He started his eponymous company 40 years ago on May 1, so his anniversary date already has passed.

“We’re still scratching our heads,” he said.

For his 25th anniversary, Terzian hosted parties for three evenings at the Regency Club in Westwood. About 700 of what Terzian calls “friends” clients, acquaintances and associates attended each party. He asked each guest to bring 12 business cards, which were distributed among guests so that each one went home with a dozen cards. Terzian challenged each guest to contact the person on each card. As a result of all the networking, board positions were filled, jobs were found and friends were made.

How about an event like that for his 40th?

Terzian shook his head. “We have many more friends now,” he explained.

Beyond that, a simple reception seems a bit low-wattage for Terzian, who is locally famous as the king of get-togethers, hosting some 800 networking meetings each year. (In fact, Terzian counts 19 marriages that resulted from chance meetings around his table over the years, including the nuptials of the daughter of Art Linkletter.)

He said that he’d like to do something to help local non-profits, since that is an area of emphasis for him and his firm. Beyond that, he’s unsure exactly what he may do.

As for the passing of the actual anniversary date, Terzian is unconcerned. “We think of it as our anniversary year,” he said.

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