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...

What I Meant to Say at #604freelancecamp

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 ...

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 ...

Strategic Event Review: BC Lung Association’s RUSH

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 ...

Getting Paid

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 som...

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 ...

My Favourite Event Biz Blog

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 EventMan...

Event for Creatives

As you probably already know, Eileen and I host an annual creative conference here in Vancouver (annual is a strong word, last year was the first). Well, it went super-duper and we're doing it again. Here's the date announcement from CREATIVEMIX.ca: 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 ...