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

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

Big news! CREATIVEMIX is coming back for another round! Thursday, November 4th. Remember that. Write that down. Tell other people.

Now, you’re probably wondering what’s happening and who’s speaking . . . well, we can’t tell you that. There’s a lot we can’t tell you right now but not because we don’t know. Well . . . maybe it’s because we don’t know, or maybe it’s because we’re busy connecting and collaborating with a lot of cool peeps right now and it wouldn’t be fair to let the cat out of the bag. There will be interesting and useful updates every couple weeks from here on out so be sure to sign-up for our e-mail newsletter (or the RSS feed); that way you don’t miss anything. We’re aiming to launch the program and open registration May 1st.

We CAN tell you that we’re adding workshops and will be hosting a contest for the exhibition. Oh, and the conference will again be at the cool-n-funky Roundhouse Community Arts Centre! Helpful eh?

Follow at Twitter.com/CREATIVEMIXca

Today, I’m a guest blogger on David duChemin’s blog PixelatedImage.com and I tell a little secret about his success (musings of a manager). Check it out.

Posted by: Corwin Hiebert

Here’s a snipet from the introduction:

The days of the lone ranger are gone. The stereotypical life of a “professional” photographer is morphing from one of independence to one of dependence. Making a living from your passion can be hard work, and going it alone is tough, but your craft shouldn’t suffer just because you’re not a superhero. It’s time to put away the overblown expectation that you can do it all. You need help. Everyone does. Just let that soak in.

Turning your vision, of living off your passion, into reality can be a daunting task. Managing the demands of clients, projects, logistics, administration, and marketing is a ton of work and you haven’t even picked up a camera. The truth is that a vocational photographer is undeniably more successful when tapping into the creativity, relationships, and resources around them. The goal of this eBook is to help you to find simple, inexpensive ways to make your life and work as a photographer easier, and hopefully more lucrative as a result.

It’s here! Eleven and a Half is Corwin Hiebert’s tell-all event planning eBook. This 18 page down-loadable PDF is crammed full of insights, ideas, and action steps with you, the event planner, in mind.

Whether you’re an event “professional” or someone who self-inflicts events on themselves through entrepreneurial necessity, volunteerism, or an ever expanding job description this eBook will help you make your next event a huge success. Eleven and a Half is written in such a way that any level of event planner can apply these concepts and strategies to any type of event.

You can purchase Eleven and a Half for just $5 USD. Simply click the Add to Cart button at the top of this post to purchase this exciting eBook!

It’s also available to Amazon Kindle users:

Page examples:

9. Reduce and Reuse

Here’s an excerpt from the eBook eleven and a half:

Clearly we’re going to get to the idea of green event planning but I want to kick off this section with a simple plea: stop the noise. One of the underlying themes behind the recent trend of sustainability is the call to de-clutter and simplify as much as possible. The call to reduce the flow of useless information, both verbal and written, belongs at the core of any green or eco-friendly event planning strategy. The justification for this can be easily witnessed whenever someone says, “We always do it this way.” The new era of sustainable event planning is one that hails innovation and clarity of purpose. If something must be done, be sure to do it with as little spending as possible, produce as little waste as is manageable, consume little energy, and, for goodness sake, ensure it has strategic priority. You’ll see what I mean. Keep reading.

When I think about the sustainability of an event, I like to think about the reoccurring ones as they’re the most likely to have a stable audience. When an event happens at regular intervals, monthly or yearly, there’s a unique opportunity to plan in such a way that you’re engaging the new attendees and re-connecting with the returning ones. The event plan should take full advantage of the fact that you’re not starting from scratch all the time. There are countless examples but for now try this on for size: All signage should be reusable. Stop making single-use signs. If the signs are branded that’s fine but ideally a sign could be used for more than one event. Don’t bother with putting a date on the sign; if they’re people at the event they already know what day it is. If you need to put a bunch of content on it then do it up on a printed page so it can be removed. When it comes to sponsors, have a separate sign for their logos or, even better, find ways to recognize sponsors without signage. Now, let’s not forget that the materials used to make the sign should also be recyclable (I’m so done with corrugated plastic and vinyl lettering).

Now, let’s use this sponsor sign scenario to revisit the noise issue. Think back a few years. Yep, that’s right . . . 1999 is a good place to start. Brand recognition and logo positioning were everything. Companies paid big bucks to have their logo splashed on everything in order to get as many impression counts as possible. We do not live in that era anymore. Sponsorships are more about strategic alliances, partnerships, and, ultimately, relationships. A gigantic smorgasbord of sponsor logos communicates none of these values. When wanting to highlight sponsors, keep it verbal or, at least, digital. Shy away from stacking logos on pages or signs because all it does is decrease the impact of any one logo and homogenize the contributions. I know that most planners like to assign metal categories, like platinum, gold, and silver, and that the bigger the logo the more love the company gave; but come on . . . let’s get with the times.

Let’s talk paper. Most brochures, flyers, info sheets, PowerPoint notes, and program guides are absolutely useless and are of no value whatsoever to event attendees. When an event includes the spoken and/or written word (which is pretty much every event with the exception of parties and maybe street mime) the gathering should have valuable content that communicated with purpose. It used to be that printing on recycled or post-consumer paper was the latest thing; that’s now the bare minimum. What’s trendy, in my books, is no printing at all. Another case in point is the program guide. What’s wrong with a program guide you ask? In most cases, it’s redundant, as the content has already been published online. Republishing a website in print format is a total waste of time and money. Event planners need to organize events in such a way that attendees don’t depend on printed material. The cunning use of LCD projection or announcements is a start, or making a website viewable via a mobile device; these are ways to stop the printing press in its tracks. For a small conference you could easily save $5,000 by not designing and printing a program guide. If you’re worried about hanging people out to dry, set up some computer kiosks in the lobby with the event website as the home page (or as the desktop screen saver or wallpaper showing the schedule).

The rise of the eco-conscious event industry has been much slower than one would hope. Events are by and large still grossly wasteful and the planners who bring it all together are often ill-equipped or inadequately empowered when it comes to making the decisions necessary to bring sustainable practices to their event project. When I say “your father’s eco-friendly event,” I mean that there’s already old school eco-planning and we should not fool ourselves in thinking that we’re doing something good by doing the basics. The basics are not good enough anymore. Blue bins, bottle recycling, name badge drop boxes, printing on 10%post consumer paper, or even reusable trade show bags are not bad in of them selves they just don’t make an event sustainable. Single-use items are major waste makers; just because you recycle them doesn’t actually account for a whole lot. Oh, and don’t get me started on branded gift bags!

Cut out the crap and simplify.

Want it all? Download the event planning eBook eleven and a half ways to help make your next event a huge success for just $5.

Make Some Money
Passionate about social networking? Got a thing for event planning too? As a Red Wagon Management eBook Affiliate you can quickly and easily make 30% from every sale of Eleven and a Half that you refer. So, you promote our eBook(s) and we pay you. It’s that simple. Click the link below to get started:

Join our Affiliate Program!

Step-by-step Sign-up Process
Need some help getting started? Here’s how to sign-up as a Red Wagon Management eBook Affiliate:

1. Log into your existing E-junkie account OR register for a new account if you don’t have one
2. You will arrive at Affiliate Admin;
3. Click Get Affiliate Code;
4. The Select Merchant menu lists the affiliate programs you have joined;
5. Select from the menu which link codes you want to get;
6. Click Get Affiliate Code, then select Common Hop Link (redirects to RedWagonManagement.com) or Direct Product Link (add to cart button for your own site) – the Common Hop Link will also work for future eBook offerings on this site;
7. Paste your link code into the HTML source of your own Web page;
8. You can click the Contact Merchant button to send them a message;

Questions: If you have any concerns or issues please contact Corwin Hiebert (info@redwagonmanagement.com).

Getting Paid
Affiliate commissions (30% of each purchase you refer) are paid out monthly in lump-sum payments via PayPal in the middle of the month following a completed sales month (e.g., commission for sales made in January would be paid out by February 15th). Make sure you have entered your PayPal email in Affiliate Admin > Edit Profile!

When meeting other event professionals I’ve come across many different titles but the most common seem to be:

1. Coordinator
2. Planner
3. Manager
4. Producer

I’ve ranked them according to levels of responsibility – at least how I see them. I realize that most people in the event industry wear multiple hats; of course that could be said of most careers these days. However, I’ve been encouraging students of the event industry to be sure they know which type of role they’re looking to fill. To focus on ones’ strengths is huge when involved in bringing an event project to a successful conclusion.

Now, I’m not saying that we should heap new demands on a dying descriptors but I do feel like it’s important to say that roles and title do come into play from time to time. When considering the list above I see too many event planners call themselves event planners when in fact they’re taking on the responsibility and liability which I feel constitutes the title of producer. It’s not that I want to have a fight about semantics but the event biz would benefit from working with consistent terminology. These titles do carry some weight, some level of ranking, that would suit our business well if we operated under uniform definitions. In my view there’s a pecking order when it comes to roles and their are benefit of clarifying the position one carries. There are different levels of leadership (and ownership) with respect to an event project. Here’s how I would describe these roles:

1. Coordinator – tasks are assigned to them, check-list oriented work, heavy on the logistics and event-day operations
2. Planner – facilitating tasks and people, delegating, some decision making power
3. Manager – developing project strategy and direction, leading key elements like goal planning and marketing
4. Producer – the boss, idea maker, initiator, content planning, the final authority (aka Jesus Jr.)

The normal chaos of events can be significantly limited when the event professional(s) know their role. I’ve used these titles as the starting point for an event team (paid or volunteer) for nearly three years now and I’m glad I have.

“This was a day of mind-expanding learning experiences. I’m glad I came. Thanks!” – Mary Mahon Jones

“Working in a creative field is one thing, but learning how to connect with other creative people in other fields and getting to broaden your experiences in an overall creative community is something quite spectacular.” – Ewan Johnstone

“It is a collaboration for generating and indulging in new ideas! It is a way to connect yourself to your creative passion and with others who share it.” – Cecilia Daude

“CREATIVEMIX was an awesome mish-mash of creatives from all over Vancouver doing all sorts of things that you wouldn’t expect you could make a living doing. I got so much inspiration and I loved the approach that was taken.” – Colleen Keith

“We attended CREATIVEMIX for some “inspirational disruption” and were happy we did! It was a great reminder that as creative professionals we’re part of a vital, interesting community, and that it’s important to not only stay connected with this community, but indeed reach out to foster new relationships.” – Ryan Thompson

“Vancouver has been starved for this kind of conference that happens here and is about here. We need to stop identifying ourselves just with our amazing geography and start sharing how the creative mix of people are truly this city’s killer app.” – Darren Roberts

“The quality of speakers was impressive, the topics engaging, the organization outstanding, and registrants were taken care of at every turn. From the flowers to the fruit to the lounge, it was like you were at a friend’s house. Everything was comfortable, well thought out, and my brain is still processing the plethora of images and information. I am definitely looking forward to next year’s conference.” – Carol Fergusson

CREATIVEMIX is proudly produced and hosted by Red Wagon Management. To learn more please visit creativemix.ca.

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