The Red Wagon

Guest Post on Eventbrite Blog

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. Conti...

No More Lineups

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 welco...

Promo FAIL

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 ...

Be Prepared for Your Next Event Emergency

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 tabl...

FREE is a Dirty Word

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 ...

Pecking Order

The days are long gone when a person's title meant something; not everyone agrees. Sure I'm willing to concede business titles such as CEO, CFO, COO tend to carry some weight but even they are prone to fall short with respect to helping communicate "what" a person does. And that's the point - a job title should say something, it should hold some meaning, otherwise it's not helpful. I find this to be true in the event industry. When meeting other event professionals I've come across many diffe...

Business Uses for Twitter

Update: Want to get the most out of Twitter? follow Darren Rowse or visit www.twitip.com Article: I highly recommend this article by Jodi Mardesich (Inc.). I think it's important to understand the value and limitations of social networking tools with respect to event marketing. Many people cram event promo down their friends digital throats and that is the exact opposite of how Web 2.0 works. Authentic conversations and newsy content sharing is at the heart of this medium; event produc...

The Trouble with Sponsorship

The most common question I'm asked by emerging event planners is: why are sponsors so hard to find? My answer is simple (and hopefully helpful): Sponsors are hard to find when there's no relationship in place. If the right relationship has been established then the ask should be tailored and simple. There's only two reasons to pursue sponsorship: 1) the need for revenue, and 2) the need for an audience. A sponsorship "ask" implies that an organization wants to, or needs to, share their hard e...

Business Building

This is my favourite time of year as an event producer. The big rush of summer is over and all my large annual projects are behind me and I can focus on the non-urgent but very important items of business that just don't make the "A" list during the busy times. This coincides with the best time of year for me: Fall. Autumn is not only beautiful in Vancouver (warm, sunny, and colourful trees) but it's also my wedding anniversary so it's nice to have some downtime. I'm a pretty wired guy though an...

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

Way back in grade six I was a huge fan of the A-Team... so big in fact that I even had the lunch box. Watching Faceman and B.A. Baracus mess-up those bad guys was a great way to unwind from a stressful day in the classroom and the pressure of practicing my Corey Hart lip sink act for the all-school air band competition. However, it was Hannibal (Col. John Smith) who made that show one of my all-time favorites (Knight Rider and Air Wolf were #2 and #3). What inspired me about his character was th...