Red Wagon Management » Events

Promo FAIL

Red Wagon Management — Wed, 05 May 2010 22:04:10 +0000

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]

Eleven and a Half

Red Wagon Management — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:30:05 +0000

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.

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Page examples:

Pecking Order

Red Wagon Management — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:29:20 +0000

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 different titles but the most common seem to be:

Coordinator
Planner
Manager
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:

Coordinator – tasks are assigned to them, check-list oriented work, heavy on the logistics and event-day operations
Planner – facilitating tasks and people, delegating, some decision making power
Manager – developing project strategy and direction, leading key elements like goal planning and marketing
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.