In the midst of all the planning, we event managers often have the difficult task of leading the marketing effort for our projects. Generating demand for an event is no simple task, but it’s even harder when we spin our wheels promoting the wrong thing. When advertising efforts focus on registration (and ticket sales), they are a liability rather than an asset to the marketing plan because they require the most difficult type of commitment from our target audience: a financial decision.

Continue read Corwin’s latest post “For Events, Promote the WHY” on the Eventbrite Blog.

I had a GREAT time at the inaugural Freelance Camp (604-style) today at The Network Hub. I had the privileged to host a session called “How to Manage a Creative Project” which was a lot of fun. I wasn’t ‘teaching’ it but in the classic un-conference-like fashion I shared my thoughts and feelings on the subject and then simply tried to ask decent questions and respond to queries and comments from the group. Now, I did come somewhat prepared but the session seemed to roll along with out me really looking at my notes; so, in the spirit of transparency – here’s what I meant to say, or at least what I “officially” planned to say.

Posted by: Corwin Hiebert

How to Manage a Creative Project

Do you remember the A-Team? It was a T.V. show from the 1980’s and I loved it! My favorite character was Hannibal and I really got a kick out of his signature phrase, “I love it when a plan comes together.” He was right. There’s nothing better than a good plan.

Now it’s true that a creative professional’s day-to-day work looks a bit different than the A-Team’s (you’re probably not apprehending gun smugglers using 2×4’s and a jack-in-the-box filled with gasoline) but my guess is you’re doing a lot of planning. Planning for an upcoming creative endeavor, a project for yourself or a client, or preparing for your next marketing effort. Your day is made up of a whole bunch of to-do items there can be a lot of things to get done in a very short amount of time, and not too mention, enough detail to make your head spin. One of the best ways to save time is to throw away the checklists, post-it notes, and inbox-jamming emails and start managing your work like a collection of projects. And you, you’re the project manager. When your work is well planned, the chances are that you, and everyone involved, will have a great experience and the good guys will win. See, I did learn something from all that T.V.

Side Note: So often when people think of project management they think of gantt charts. Gantt charts don’t usually work for creative people or projects; not that understanding dependencies and such isn’t a good thing, but the visual representation of minutia in a linear and data-crammed way can scare people off.

I recommend treating everything you do in terms of projects. To some this may seem obvious but the truth is that everyone plans and works differently and many people, especially, creative people, feel that too much planning sucks the life out of them. I don’t feel this way. I find creativity within the spreadsheets and agenda items; sometimes I find creative inspiration only once I know the details are properly planned. The truth is a creative project is rarely planned in isolation; clients, staff, suppliers, family, friends, volunteers, or other stakeholders are involved. Sometimes, a big part of your job is to plan and organize these people. Creatives often make the mistake of holding onto tasks too tightly (maybe it’s the perfectionist within us); don’t fall into that trap. If you spend half as much time managing people as you do completing tasks, you’ll be thrilled with the results.

When it comes to the tasks, make it easy on yourself: write down each parent category—like if you are a photographer you’d start with: a shot list, locations, rentals, post-production, website, marketing—and then start drilling down to the major and minor tasks that need to happen in order to achieve success. Each task should fall under a parent category, be broken out into detailed subtasks, and each subtask should include information about cost, the people involved, its status, and, if you really want to get funky, percentage complete. This makes for a very robust project plan and, although it’s a ton of work early on, makes for a smooth, professionally planned project. Why do all this work? You’ll sleep better, trust me. You’ll also find a lot of repetition between projects, and you’ll have a template to work off making your job easier and saving you time. Considering you’re likely not billing for that preparation time you’ve just given yourself a pay raise for every gig you work.

Side Note: I recommend reading the following books:

• Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality – Scott Belsky
• Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity – Hugh MacLeod

Militant project managers can be found in many industries, such as construction, software development, and aerospace to name a few. For the independent creative professional, creativity only takes you so far, and instead of relying on being able to make sense of the chaos that can easy ensue during a creative project, why not plan in such a way that chaos isn’t even in the picture. The truth is that I’d be out of a job if everyone used this methodology and a couple simple online tools; however, I’m confident that creativity will always win out and that someone is going to be stuck with the details, enter manager.

ACTION ITEM: To manage yourself, use Smartsheet or ActionMethod or BaseCamp. Track the details of each task, assignment, and budget item online using a secure site that can function like a virtual office. Once you invite them to view your worksheet, stakeholders can be automatically notified of changes or reminded of due dates specific to the tasks they’ve been assigned. I’m a big fan of Smartsheet – so, if you want to give it a spin, click on the affiliate link below to sign-up for a free account: http://www.smartsheet.com?u=EV1006152

Note: This content can also be found in Corwin Hiebert’s ebook: Growing The VisionMonger, 10 Things a Manager Can Teach You About Running & Growing Your Business - which is available on Craft & Vision for just $5.

Online event registration has often given the illusion that it will streamline things on the event day but I rarely see it in action. Why is it that a registered and paid attendee still ends up waiting inline to “check-in”? Oh man that bugs me!

Okay – so let me play “opposite George” on this one and see if I can defend the value of the event-day check-in: How else will we know if they’ve arrived? What about their name badge? We have to get them their name badge! We need to give them their welcome package!

I can’t do it. I can’t defend the check-in. In short, it’s a pointless bottleneck. As an event planner, if you insist on giving away stuff, make it voluntary (staff a station and let people come to you), or if you have no shame, put stuff on peoples chairs. If you insist on using name badges then set that up near the coffee station (don’t worry, they’ll find you). Don’t make people line up to enter an event to collect something that’s not imperative to their experience. Besides, line-ups kill the mood every time. I think I’m grumpy today.

Download for FREE on iTunes

Enter my savior. Eventbrite Easy Entry offers eventholders a sleek digital replacement for traditional paper check-in. Yahoo! Now, this isn’t new technology but it’s now crazy affordable, check that… it’s FREE, and it’s connected to one of the simplest and cost-effective event registration systems out there.

The app features a digital list that grabs attendees as they register. It also syncs regularly with Eventbrite’s server, so you can offer multiple entry points for an event and each iPhone will be updated. And it allows you to review orders, so you can see each attendee’s payment total and method. It’s more reliable than a clipboard and simple to use!

Features:
- Log in with your Eventbrite user account
- Review orders for your event as they are placed
- Check in attendees at the event
- Sync attendee status across multiple devices
- Wirelessly updates attendance status in your Eventbrite charts and reports on Eventbrite.com

I’m over the moon about this app and I can’t wait to test drive it November 4th at CREATIVEMIX (bummer that I have to wait that long). If you’ve used it at your event let me know how it went!

Posted by: Corwin Hiebert

In preparation for this year’s conference we’ve been brainstorming on ways to spread the word and continue building the brand of CREATIVEMIX. Some of the questions we’re asking are: Should we do the 100% recycled coffee sleeves again (they were cool, useful, but were a lot of work to distribute)? What about posters? Facebook ads are so 2007, should we just tweet our blog posts instead? How can we generate love and web traffic for those who help spread the word? Do you think people would join an affiliate program if we give them $10 for every ticket they helped us sell? How much is a colour ad? You’re kidding, right? And so on, and so on.

Now, for whatever reason, my brain got sidetracked the other day with all of the things that I HATE about events (and event-related marketing) and I went OFF on a mental tangent that produced some totally useless but funny images (at least to me, I giggled as I photoshoped). So, I’m going to call this a little window into everything that I think is sick and wrong with respect to events. Here’s some event promotion FAIL items that I’ve received in the past when attending an event, conference, or tradeshow; a couple at the end are just for fun – I got carried away.

Stress Squeeze Toy	Silly Putty
Logo Launcher	Game Cube
Frisbee	Credit Card
Snuggie Blanket	Pack of Smokes

Now I have to get back to work. The moral of the story is: cut out the crap. We’re going to continue with what we did last year: keep things simple like not giving people a name badge or a printed program and making everyone use ceramic coffee cups filled with Ethical Bean Coffee – that kind of stuff. How we’re going to get people there is still being worked out. Chime in if you like.

So if you’re planning an event do the world a favour and don’t destroy the earth one tchotchke at a time. If you need gifts or giveaways for your event be smart and order it from Saul Good Gift Co.

Posted by: Corwin Hiebert [This post can also be seen on CREATIVEMIX.ca/blog]

Fundraising events are a tough gig for both the organization and the event planner who has to make it all happen. Most great events take a lot of time to plan, cost a lot of money, take a huge amount of man power, and when it’s all said and done the fundraising value can easily fall short. We’re surrounded by countless causes and endless heart-breaking stories – it can be a lot to take in much less respond with our time and hard-earned dollars. Designing a great fundraising event is a difficult task for sure – but it’s a lot easier if you know what you’re trying to accomplish. The almighty dollar isn’t as mighty as it used to be and non-profits need to think more strategically when it comes to their event campaigns, and dare I say take a chill-pill on the hardcore fundraising tactics.

Okay – so, we likely agree that fundraising is hard… but instead of being cynical I want to highlight an event that I believe is doing everything right. The BC Lung Association’s newest event The Rush: Race & Urban Scavenger Hunt (Vancouver, June 5, 2010) is a great example of a new, innovative, exciting fundraising event that is sure to to rally to the cause. They’ve recently launched the RUSH campaign and they’re knocking this one out of the park. So in the spirit of support I’m doing a shout out in the shape of an event review. This event deals with some of my most entrenched concerns when it comes to the strategic design of a fundraising event and I figured I’d share my take on why RUSH is being planned perfectly right out of the gate.

Event Overview: RUSH is a brand new event that’s run by the oldest charity in Canada. It’s pretty simple, teams of two scour the city on foot and by public transit to complete a required number of Checkpoint Challenges within a 6 hour time limit; the team who finishes first wins an amazing trip for two around the world! “Think of it like an intense, one day version of TV’s Amazing Race,” said Events Coordinator Marissa McFadyen. “Participants will be asked to do and try things they’ve likely never done before.”

1) The event fits with the current brand and message of the organization. The activity directly correlates with the cause. Participants will be enjoying the fresh, West Coast air while they’re running around their beautiful city, they’ll be experiencing and promoting lung health simultaneously. It is not a disconnected or disjointed event, which to many fundraising events are, and it fits with their other events: The Stairclimb for Clean Air and their Bicycle Trek for Life and Breath. What’s great about RUSH is that it’s not as athletic-oriented as some of their others and pretty much anyone can do it.

2) RUSH isn’t saturating the pre-existing donor base with yet another event (or another gala for goodness sake), it’s reaching out in an attempt to bring awareness to a younger demographic. For such a large organization I can only image how hard this would normally be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m often a proponent for bringing current donors into the mix, mostly because events need that core group to be successful, but in this case, because of the history of the BC Lung Association, reaching out to a new, younger generation is the right way to go.

3) Even though it’s a fundraising event the primary message is fun. FUN! We’re not stupid, we all get it: the event proceeds go towards lung health and air quality research, education, and lung patient support programs, but they don’t beat you over the head with it. Thank you.

4) The only element that I feel could go either way is the $200 minimum each pair has to fund raise. I’m still undecided when it comes to the long-term success of minimums; however, they’ve said that’s a team-minimum (only $100 per person) and they didn’t bury this info deep in the registration detail (upfront is good). If I have to pick a side I’d agree with the BC Lung Assoc. on their minimums because the event will have some significant costs due to all the logistics and activities and without a high level of commitment it could be to difficult to make it a success. It’s a good fit; let’s go with it.

5) Just by its nature a scavenger hunt is exciting and adventurous which means that participants will have a very unique experience. Thank goodness! There are to many same-old-same-old events out there. Creating a memory that will last a life-time is a lot harder than planners think. This highly participatory, activity oriented event will make for some great laughs and a wonderful sense of accomplishment for everyone involved. And with teams only needing two people it can be super easy to get a buddy, partner, or co-worker involved.

In the end, from the way I see it, raising money needs to take a backseat to building awareness through a connected and participatory experience and RUSH looks to do just that. The funds will come if the fundraisers have the time of their life and I’m very confident that RUSHers will love their experience and be fans and followers of the BC Lung Association for a long time to come.

For more information or to register visit www.rushvancouver.ca. Got a question? Contact Destin Haynes, Communications (haynes@bc.lung.ca) or Marissa McFadyen, Special Events (mcfadyen@bc.lung.ca).

Starting a small business is tough and the hardest part for most entrepreneurs is managing their cash flow. One thing I’ve learned in starting my own event management company is that when it comes to cash flow you need cash, without it there’s no flow. I’m hilarious. The trick is getting paid! If you’re not a small business owner you might not find that statement all that profound but for those of us who “live the dream” and are making a living one contract at a time it’s epic.

Here’s some advice with respect to getting paid:

Don’t work for free. Don’t do it. Ever. FREE is a four letter word that should be removed from your vocabulary. What you do is valuable. I’m convinced that the most offensive word in small business is “FREE”, especially to those in the creative sector. Unless you’re new to capitalism, I think you’d agree that the word “free,” more often than not, communicates a lack of value. Whether or not you can manage with a non-billable project is beside the point. When no monetary value is associated with work effort it creates an unstable environment for the sole proprietor, and client alike. Money is the single most commonly used method of assigning commitment and when it’s relinquished it makes for a strained relationship because it lowers everyone’s expectations. If you’re trying to grow your business then charge something, something is better than nothing. The growth potential of your career will depend on your reputation and if your reputation is that you work for free then you’re not building on a very good foundation.

I realize why sole proprietors work for free, they do it for practice, to build their resumes, and they believe it helps them get their foot in the door. The first two reasons make sense but I think that honing your skills and developing report is better served by doing personal or independent projects. However, in the attempt to score a new client you offer your services for free then their first impression of working with you is that you’re free: Client “1”, small business owner “0”. If you’re working for someone else then they’re a client and they should ante up, period. The exchange of money helps communicate a professional level of commitment and you need that.

When it comes to budget constraints, if a potential client says they have no budget know this: They’re wrong. Everyone has some budget. It may be only a few dollars but it’s something. If you’re in the creative industries, your creative and technical contribution should always be associated with monetary value. At minimum make sure that if you’re working for free that it’s truly just your time that is free and that you have zero expenses (gas, parking, meals, rentals, phone calls, whatever).

Don’t be so quick to discount. Discounts are dangerous business. I understand that fear, that some money is better than no money and in order secure a gig you feel you have to provide a discount on your services. Well, first of all, I’m assuming that you’ve appropriate priced your services – discounts on over inflated rates will only work for so long, eventually the bubble will burst. Secondly, if a discount is the only way you’ll be able to land a shoot then try this, request non-financial benefits. If it’s for a charity, request sponsor recognition. If it’s for a business, ask to receive a gift card towards their products. If it’s a service company ask to be added to their marketing material as a preferred supplier.

If you’re looking for some inspiration as to how to set your prices and understand your value I’d recommend Alan Weiss’s Value-Based Fees: How to Charge and Get What You’re Worth. It’s an intense book and I guarantee it will push your paradigm with respect to earning money but sometimes it takes an extreme perspective to get things on the right track.

Bill on time. This is the important business building strategy: bill on time. First of all I have to say that too many small business owners don’t send bills, I don’t get that. I’m a huge fan of sending bills. When you send bills you get paid. If you’ve already received your payment then sending a bill after the fact shows your professionalism. Always send a bill, even if it’s for $1. And send it before you do the work, or as early as possible in the project. It’s a great way to make sure they take you seriously and the quicker you invoice the quicker you get paid.

Helpful Tip: Use FreshBooks. Why you ask? Because its users get paid on average 14 days faster; my business is living proof of that fact. It’s a secure, online service that is free to use if you have three clients or less (if you have more clients there’s a nominal monthly fee). It does more than just make you look organized, you ARE organized. Invoices can be sent by email (links to a PDF, or you can have FreshBooks send them via regular mail). At your discretion your clients can have online access to their invoices and account history – very cool. You can generate invoices based on time, expenses, and fixed cost services/items or any combination thereof. And, they’ve got a great desktop widget and iPhone app.

If you want to try it out for free click the affiliate link below and we’ll both get some love.
Affiliate URL:
http://www.freshbooks.com/?ref=3da3294b42008-1

Posted by Corwin Hiebert

Whether you’ve planned one event or hundreds it’s happened to you: someone runs up in a panic because they need _______ and they think you’ll have it because you’re the event planner. That’s right, __blank__, they’ll ask you for anything and everything and they need it NOW! Thumb tacks, scissors, glue, a hammer, needle and thread, batteries, or Tylenol – you name it and as far as they’re concerned their crisis is far more important than anything you could be dealing with at the registration table or backstage. Well, after a few instances like this I decided to make sure the next “ask” would be met with an assuring “yes”. So I created THE EVENT KIT. It’s an emergency kit that has everything anyone could ever ask for while at an event. Exhibitors, performers, caterers, attendees, limo drivers, and volunteers – I’m ready for all their 9-1-1′s.

This was the most fun I have had shopping in a long time. I went on a shopping frenzy to Staples, Home Depot, and a few other stores (spent about $1,000 in total) and prepared the most amazing emergency event kit that I’ve every seen. We’re talkin’ the grand daddy of event kits here. I started off with a Pelican Case because I wanted something durable (I also have a bit of gear envy and this was my way of trying to be cool like my photographer and A/V friends). I bought some small organizers to make sense out of the little bits, and then I tackled the extremely difficult task of making it all fit. Now, when I show up on event day I feel armed and prepared to help everyone with their mini-emergencies.

Someone asked me the other day if I got the idea from watching The Wedding Planner (Jennifer Lopez) and I laughed out loud right in their face. I felt bad. Nope, I didn’t steal it from a movie. I don’t really remember any sort of brain wave – inspiration didn’t really come into play on this one. I’ve seen other planners with kits before but they’ve always been small tool boxes or sewing kits and I just wanted to take it over the top.

If you want to know what’s inside then download the PDF checklist below.

Posted by Corwin Hiebert

I’m convinced that the most offensive word in the event business is “FREE”, specifically when it refers to free admission for an event. Unless you’re new to capitalism, I think you’d agree that the word “free,” more often than not, communicates a lack of value. Whether or not an event can handle a zero-dollar ticket is often beside the point. What is, in fact, being communicated when no monetary commitment is required for an event is that expectations should be low.

When someone registers or plans to attend an event that is free they automatically assign that activity the category of “maybe.” If they are not liable for not showing up then it’s no big deal in their eyes. But it’s a big deal for you, the event planner. Your event plan can be seriously impacted when attendance is such a variable.

Consider the poor success of a Facebook invitation. I haven’t seen any official statistics but, in my experience, it’s a miracle even if 1% of the confirmed attendees from a Facebook event actually show up. Sure, there are the exceptions, such as mass bike rides and water gun fights, but event promotion via social marketing tools invokes little to no commitment. And when the commitment level is low it is that much easier for someone to bail.

Discounts are dangerous too. I come across this one all the time. As an event planner you know that fear, that gut-wrenching feeling, of having empty seats and you’ll do anything to fill them. Too often, prices are hacked and slashed to get people in the room. If you discount remaining tickets, you’ve got a couple liabilities on your hands. First of all, you’ve just filled the room with people who have lowered expectations. These low-paying people can skew survey results, create a negative vibe in the room, and may not be the right people for the event. The second liability is that your pre-existing registrants will go berserk on you and demand refunds, thus lowering your overall revenue and negating the funds you just earned by bringing in the cheapies. It’s a trap. Don’t discount. Add value, don’t lower it.

Helpful Tip: Offer deals to event registrants only. When trying to increase attendance, focus on the people who have already registered for your event. By providing a discount on additional passes, they’ll be motivated to bring their own friends.

This blog post was originally published on the Eventbrite Blog on January 19, 2010.

I used to be a preacher. Bet you didn’t know that. Okay, preacher is a strong word but I was once a Youth Pastor (an evangelical version of a priest without the collar, and in my case, very little training and an unhealthy addiction to ping-pong and foosball). Being a man of the cloth was a ton of work but the hardest thing was the preaching (aka teaching). It wasn’t the public speaking – I loved that part. It was the content. Preparing a sermon, talk, or lesson that had a personal and/or spiritual impact on the listener was a difficult task, especially on a weekly basis. What I learned from that experience was this: content is king. I talk more about the value of great content in my event planning eBook Eleven and a Half.

And now for something completely different.

I’m really picky when it comes to conferences. Most conferences I find completely unnecessary but I’ll save you the rant and plug a conference I like instead. On April 7th, here in Vancouver, F5 Expo is taking place and I’m convinced they’re going to knock this one out of the park – you won’t want to miss it. It’s going to be an amazing conference for one simple reason:  they’ve got great speakers who are tackling relevant topics. They claim that: Technology is everywhere; F5 will be your filter. Your guiding light. Your inspiration. It will de-program “old, out-dated” ways of thinking and help you bring refreshing ideas for even greater success within your business. And, I think they’ll deliver on that promise. The content of this conference looks to be top-notch (yes, even spiffy and skookum) and considering Malcolm Gladwell is one of the keynotes it’s pretty much a given it will be a home run (I have all his books – Blink is my favourite).

I’m not going to re-post their website or roster here – check it out for yourself – but know this, the panels, workshops, and talks they’ve got lined-up are definitely worth the full meal deal at $260.

If you want to put your hat in the ring for a free pass to see Malcolm Gladwell make a comment on the “freebie” TechVibes post.

Posted by: Corwin Hiebert

I get asked this question a lot: Are there any good event planning blogs out there? My answer is short: Yes, there’s one. Okay, clearly that’s not true–it can’t be. The event business, like nearly every other industry, is flooded with blogs, discussion forums, and the like; but the reality is that I haven’t come across many that I feel are helpful, interesting, or well written. I have not searched the Web exhaustively but the one that stands out to me as the best event industry blog is EventManagersBlog.

There’s not a lot of event people talking, sharing, helping other event planners. Julius Solaris is the main man at EventManagersBlog and whenever I spend time on his site I feel he’s making a big effort to lend a helping hand. What I particularly like about the blog is that he’s got a team of contributors that also jump in (here they are, twitter links and all): Julius Solaris, Anne Thornley-Brown, Kena Siu, Jeff Hurt, Greg Ruby, and Brett Petersel. There’s a good cross-section of perspectives, interests, and experience represented by this group of collaborators and their posts compliment one another.

My 3 favourite posts on their site are:

1. Event Management Toolkit v.2
2. 15 Free Ebooks about Event Planning
3. 10 Alternative Business Models for Events

My bias here might just be because Julius calls himself an Event Geek and based on my propensity to preach about techy things (online event registration, e-mail/sms marketing, authentic viral marketing, and such) I figure we must be cut from the same cloth.

Now, let’s not leave it at that. If you know of a great event industry blog, one that is helpful to vocational event planners and managers, please let us know by leaving a comment below (or tweetit) – I’m @corwinhiebert.

Posted by: Corwin Hiebert