Importance of Effective Communication for Group Leaders in the Event Planning Industry

In service industries such as event planning, the work is very hands on and on severe time restrictions before and at the day of the event as a successful party, wedding, conference, needs to be planned and the job is not done until the last person leaves the event.

If you are in a management position, you need to able to communicate your ideas effectively to carry the plans your team has decided on in time and in an orderly manner. This is true not just for the day of the event but also if an emergency occurs such as the date of the occasion being pulled back, the leaders still have to run a smooth process by telling the appropriate departments what needs to be done. In the event when you might have to do emergency conference planning for your team you need to make sure that you are delivering ideas effectively and adequately so the team understands within the least amount of time what tasks are to be completed.

If the people running the show (the main event managers) are not good at effective communication then there are high chances that the entire process of putting the show together would fall apart. Hence, any person looking into getting in with a career in event planning not only needs to consider organization, creativity, and effective time management but also needs to learn how to deliver his or her own ideas in ways that other people can easily comprehend and carry out.

How Effective Is A Mobile Beer Cooler Fridge To Event Planners and Organisers?

No outdoor event is quite complete without refreshing, ice chilled beer. For many individuals, clearing extra space in the kitchen refrigerator or filling a pack of coolers with ice will suffice for a backyard barbecue or other household event. Event planners however, are usually better off through a less ad hoc approach of storing and cooling beer, like a beer cooler fridge.

It can be appealing to simply use many coolers with ice as an inexpensive solution. However using such ice coolers can present serious limitations. For example, many of the coolers on the market have a rather limited storage capacity that is further decreased by the need to keep it stocked with ice.

So for all but the smallest functions, it may be necessary to alternate the coolers, considering it can use up to 20 minutes to chill bottled beer adequately. This act of repeatedly cycling and reshuffling the coolers with the chilled beer and leaving those with the beer still cooling adds a significant organisational difficulty to the catering team. In a busy event, the odds of the rotation system breaking down increase greatly, triggering a situation where no cold beer is available at all!

It is therefore much preferable to have on hand a large beer cooler fridge. The capacity of such iceboxes is far larger than most ice-based cooling systems, so restocking it can be spaced out at much longer intervals. Using a beer cooler fridge does not essentially dismiss the use of Ice coolers either.

Most event coordinators realize that the sight of beer bottles on a bed of ice is rather aesthetically appealing. It also saves the catering workers time, because the patrons can see exactly what is available and simply take the product that pleases them. As the ice bed runs low, shifting the already chilled beer from the beer cooler fridge is not challenging, as the bottles will already be chilled.

But what about rotation? It is much simpler to monitor what beer is already chilled and which is not. Rather than going cooler by cooler, the catering team can simply take the chilled beer from the lowest rack in the beer cooler, and then replace them with warm beer.

As they work their way up, they can continue to substitute the chilled bottles with warm ones as each shelf is cleared. As soon as the top rack has been used, they can start at the bottom again. Considering that even mid sized beer coolers usually hold more than 50 bottles per shelf, by the time they have worn down the supply of chilled beer, the replacement bottles ought to be totally chilled.

So for reduced weight, ease of transport, and simpler stock changing, a mobile beer cooler is clearly the most effective solution for coordinators of large events.

Unique Corporate Gift Ideas Are More Meaningful to Employees When They Are Personalized

You are on the team that is in charge of planning a corporate event, such as company picnic, corporate anniversary bash, or office holiday party and have been assigned the task of choosing personalized unique corporate gifts for holiday giveaways. Perhaps you would like to select a trendy idea to entertain clients yet provide promotional items & keepsakes for them that have a practical yet personal and unique use at home as well as the office.

Tempered glass unique corporate gifts can be an excellent choice for those planning such events. Several tempered glass retailers found online offer the ability to accept a photo and then that photo can be used to personalize the gift for the gift recipient in a way that no other gift item can.

Tempered glass gifts are virtually indestructible. Furthermore, with the ability to personalize each gift selection tempered glass gift items are appropriate for Fortune 500 companies, schools, sporting events, fund raising events, awareness events, organizations, small business, government agencies and many other venues. It should be fun and inspiring to see how many thoughtful ways a unique corporate gift can be given.

Since sincere and hard working employees are the real assets of an organization so it is very important to motivate the employees from time to time and boost their morale on a regular basis. Employee gifts can serve to improve productivity, decrease employee turnover and encourage teamwork in the workplace. The following tempered glass gift ideas may help employers choose thoughtful unique corporate gifts for their employees. These gifts are offered online by several retailers.

Perhaps the person receiving a gift would really appreciate a personalized glass coaster set for home or office. A tempered glass refrigerator magnet with the company logo on it in recognition of completing an important milestone can be a clever gift item. Put a picture of a memorable event on a glass art tile that comes with a stand and the employee will proudly be able to display that very thoughtful gift for years to come. Hand out tempered glass ornaments that an employee can display on their festive tree.

Create a personalized trivet that can be used as a hot pad in the kitchen. Give a tempered glass cutting board as a gift item. The tempered glass cutting board can easily be personalized and the person can have a memento to proudly display in their kitchen.

The Benefits Of Using Event Wristbands

Using event wristbands while organizing or sponsoring an event has a number of utilities and benefits, ranging from brand promotion of the organizer or sponsor to smooth management of the event. This explains the popularity of event wristbands with event organizers.

Every experienced event organizer knows how helpful it is to use a particular wristband for the event, as it largely helps in the smooth conduction and management of the event. Whether it is a small office party or a music show, arranging for event wristbands will always be a smart decision for you.

Some key ways how wristbands help in the smooth running of an event are as follows -

An Effective Promotional Tool

Wristbands will act as an effective marketing and promotional tool for the company or organization which will arrange/sponsor the event. Issuing customized wristbands to guests/invitees/visitors - with the name of the organization clearly written on it - will make the guests/visitors know about the organizer/sponsor behind the event, of course unless they are not already aware of the same. In any case, the wristband can always act as a powerful branding tool, as the guests/visitors may show the bands to their friends/relatives/acquaintances while sharing with them the experience of attending the event.

Moreover, if the visitor keeps the wristband in his collection, then he will remember the event (and its organizer/sponsor) every time he will have a look at it.

Smooth Entry For The Guests/Ticket Holders
Issuing wristbands for invitees and guests and/or ticket holders can be highly beneficial. This will enable the gatekeepers or bouncers to easily identify them and also spot the gatecrashers and other unwanted elements. Besides, the invited guests and even ticket holders can enter the venue straight away, instead of being stopped at the gate for showing the invitation cards/tickets, etc.

Age Identifier

There may be certain arrangements or spots at the event venue where the access to minors will be restricted (for example stalls selling alcoholic beverages). The organizer might issue customized or special wristbands to minors to ensure that they can be easily identified by the bouncers and other staff, and prevented from entering those places where they are not permitted to enter.

Child-Parent Protection

Twin wristbands can be issued to ensure that parents of a child can be easily identified in case the latter gets isolated from the former. The wristbands will enable event organizers to identify whether a person claiming to be the guardian of a child is telling the truth, instead of handing over the child to a wrong person.

Functional Smoothness And Better Security

It will be a great idea to issue wristbands to staff members working at the event. Given the fact they are easily identifiable, they can have smooth access to authorized areas. This will ensure functional smoothness, which is otherwise likely to get affected if the staff get stopped for identification every time they have to visit any sensitive place, even when the event is going on in full swing.

Given the key benefits and utilities that event wristbands offer, you can pretty well understand how fruitful it will be for your organization to use them.

Special Event Planning - Party Planning!

Party Planning needs particular efforts and creativity to prepare the best. All the preparations about any occasion or party depends upon the specialty of event. All is dependent upon the significance you connect to the particular event and the results you expect as the out put.

Earlier than making any preparations you might want to know the type of event. What's the theme of party? A party or event could have any kind like a birthday party, Anniversary party, theme parties, star nights, kitty parties, music events, vogue shows, ramp reveals, DJ nights, Rock show Disco parties, Orchestra bands, laser exhibits, magical reveals, get-collectively parties, company parties, private parties, annual days capabilities, new yr parties, any live performance or seminar etc. All preparations needs to be carried ahead by conserving in thoughts the kind of event.

You will need to look into the issues of fixing a correct date, arranging the leisure that suits the theme of your party, inviting particular visitors, preparing invitations to invite all of the visitors, catering issues, transporting your visitors, decorations, the logistics of leases and equipments etc. You will also want to rearrange the parking facilities in your guests and cleansing up of the venue.

Lately there are number of event planning firms that can allow you to in organizing your special event. Party planners can make all of the preparations as per your taste, requirement and budget. They may hearken to the aim of your particular event. They may give you an entire analysis of you're your event like its price range, venue fixing and arrangement of rentals and catering affairs. They'll keep in mind the purpose of your event and might make all of the arrangements accordingly.

Price range for occasion performs an vital half in organizing any event. So, to start anything first set up budget. How much you want to spend in your special party or occasion? An occasion planner makes all the preparations inside your determined budget. At all times explore all your concepts and themes in front of the occasion administration company you're going to hire and in addition discuss about budget in order that the event planner can provide you finest companies as per your style, requirement and budget.

Finger Food Catering Ideas

Is it time to plan the company holiday party? Maybe your boss is finally retiring and you want to be sure you send him out with a bang? Regardless of the occasion, party planning can be a struggle, as there are several moving parts to the process. While many things can be solved relatively quickly, one aspect of a party that will take quite a bit of planning is the food. Party catering can help you save time and money, while adding a certain professional feel to your gathering. More importantly, you want to be sure that there is a little something for everyone. Finger food catering is the perfect solution for this dilemma, and by looking at the options and finding the perfect company fit, you will be assured of one thing - everybody is going to have a great time and eat some incredible food

Each party-goer's appetite will be different, and finger foods eliminate the prospect of wasted food. When a larger meal is planned, many will load up plates that end up only half-eaten. Employing the use of a finger food catering firm will allow each person to enjoy small snacks throughout the event.

Variety is Important

Party catering is all about variety, and when you are thinking about the food, nothing is more important. Finger foods are perfect as it allows for a table full of various options. Is an attendee a vegetarian? Perhaps someone is allergic to garlic? All of these contingencies can be planned for by simply utilizing a service that specializes in delivering variety to your gathering.

Enjoy the Party, Let the Caterers Handle the Business

Most finger food catering companies will provide a small staff, sometimes even a single person that will remove serving trays when they have been eaten and re-stock popular items. This allows you to focus on the task at hand of having a good time. While some may not offer a clean-up service, finger foods require very little in terms of cutlery, which will make the final act, namely the cleaning, a simple task. Asking each person to bring a dish can be burdensome. You will need to coordinate several different people and hope each individual comes through as they promised. However, this is another contingency that is easily addressed by contacting a party catering service to handle the menu and delivery.

Use the Catering Company's Expertise In Planning

Many catering companies you come across are not party planners. However, who knows more about the food options for a party than a caterer? Use this expertise to your advantage by explaining your budget, the number of expected attendees, and the nature of the event - is it casual or formal? They can help you create an action plan that ensures that all details are handled long before the party takes place, giving you the ability to relax and enjoy yourself instead of running around the entire time making sure everything is going as planned.

Finger food catering companies can help make a simple gathering take shape, and because the various foods are easy to eat, there will be little need for cutlery or extensive clean up. The staffs are generally quite small as the nature of the food served requires very little assistance. All of this is perfect for keeping costs low and allowing you to make the most of your party budget. The next time you are tabbed to plan the office Christmas party, remember that with a few simple phone calls you can set the tone for the best party your co-workers have seen in years. When everyone begins to ask how you did it, simply smile and say "it's the least I could do." They won't know any different.

Hospitality Marketing Materials Targeting Family Reunion Groups

What enables one hotel resort to thrive while another wanes in the background even when both are in the same vicinity? Much has to do with the efforts in target marketing and the precision of the advertising campaign. While advertising to individuals might draw in some potential business, the most effective method that produces a much larger draw from the market are campaigns targeted at groups.

Targeting Groups

The hospitality market is divided into many groups of consumers with varied needs, wants, backgrounds, incomes and buying habits. That said targeting groups that seek ideal venues to satisfy those particular needs is the key. While there are a number of groups that can sustain a hotel/resort each season, there are a few that are dependable year round. The following is a quick list of seasonal groups typically targeted by a hotel/resorts marketing team.

• Family Reunion Groups

• Corporate Vacation Groups

• Wedding Party

• Club Members

• Sports Teams

Promote Local Attractions

Local attractions in the immediate vicinity of the resort have much to do with the decision to book one hotel/resort over another. That means the potential guest will see both the lodging facility and surrounding area as their "destination". Nearby attractions are a high priority to these groups and this should be a prime consideration when designing marketing materials. Therefore the key to successfully marketing your hospitality venue has much to do with promoting these hot spots in your materials.

Promoting Group Events

While some hotels and resorts focus on cosmetics and quality services others go a step further, choosing to specialize in key niches of the market in order to establish a competitive edge. Doing so can only improve market penetration and draw in more seasonal clientele. Still, how a marketing team accomplish this? Let's focus on the growing interest in family reunion event planning and see how presenting more personalized marketing materials can draw in more and ever larger groups. We can then see how other niche segments of the market can be penetrated.

Family Reunion Event Planning

Often family reunion event planners/coordinators or committees must consider narrowing down a list of possible locations to host the event. This has much to do with the theme and activities selected Reunion planners will often take the time to do research regarding possible locations and visit these. How can your marketing materials draw in more of these visitors? Design materials that lend assistance to the decision making process of family reunion planners and committees. The material should focus on listing a variety of reunion themes and associated activities. The material should allow the reader to determine the facilities most compatible to the themes and activities selected.

Make Use Of Event Planning Guide Books

One hospitality marketing department saw the target marketing potential in a particular family reunion planning guide. While a number of popular guides exist, this one contained several personalized keepsake features.

A book ownership signature page, an event details page, a journal, recipe record and genealogy research form. The Book helps the planner/committee go through every step of planning the family reunion narrowing down possible locations according to the themes and activities selected. All that was needed was a slight modification that would present facilities, amenities and nearby attractions ideal for that particular groups needs. This was accomplished by simply slipping in a brochure between the pages of the book. The hotel/resort manager chose to add a personally signed letter attached to the first page of the guide book. Additional content can highlight amenities that fit the profile and demographics of attendees such as the following:

• Park Venues

• Museum visitations

• Festivals and other outdoor events

• Boating Tours

• Fishing

• Dinner Theater Shows

• Symphony Orchestra Shows

• Jazz Concerts

Promoting "Keepsake Event Planning" Marketing Materials

The resort hospitality team may give away the guide as a gift to clients who visit and choose to rate/review the facility. The event planning guide can be compiled in eBook or PDF form, ordered at online bookstores or made available at local retail bookstores. The guide can be designed for the individual planner/coordinator or the event planning committee. Such a personalized keepsake gift given to a group touring the facility can do much to win the clients business as well as build gratitude, confidence and resultant customer loyalty.

Event Registration - The 6 Biggest Problems Event Planners Have and How to Overcome Them All

Let's face it, setting up and operating the registration process for events and conferences is one of the least favorite things on most event planner's list of things to do. There is a lot of repetitive and mechanical stuff to do to make sure that everyone gets notified and signed up on time.

The Biggest Problems with Manual Systems: Mail, Fax, Phone, Email

1. Illegible handwriting on registration forms

2. Mistakes in transferring information from registration forms to your database.

3. Having enough time to register people by phone, process credit card charges and still organize a successful event.

The Biggest Problems with Intranet Systems (In-house)& Internet Systems (web-based)

4. Getting Your IT Department to get you what you need on time and make the changes you need when you need them.

5. Figuring out which of the 45 online systems on the market will actually do what we need done at the best price

The Biggest Problems with All of the Above Systems

6. How to make the process easier for the registrant and how to get maximum attendance.

How Can I Remedy These Problems?

The best way to overcome all 6 of these problems is to use an online registration system that is designed and built to address each problem independently. For Example, a good online registration system will enable you to quickly customize the registration forms, adding your logo and other identity info, so that your new registration website looks like a custom system and is the easiest possible for attendees to use in signing up.

What's the Real Benefit to Me?

A good online system can reduce the time you spend on the entire registration process by more than 80% and give your attendees the ease and flexibility they love by enabling them to register anytime of the day or night. No more mailed or faxed in forms to deal with. No more telephone calls from attendees to get registered, book their hotels or, order merchandise. It's all done online, faster for the attendees and zero time for you and your staff.

How Long Does It Take and How Much Does It Cost?

Setting up an online registration system for your next event can take as little as an hour and, you'll have a registration site with your own logo and identity so your guests will recognize your site immediately. You'll be able to make changes to any of the forms, schedules or dates anytime you wish because you are in complete control of the system at all times and, you'll know exactly what your costs are because most web-based registration systems charge a fee per attendee (from $3.00 - $10.00), depending on your number of attendees each year.

Easy Finger Food for the Green Party

Yes, just a few days away and the luck of the Irish will be with you. Just in case you are hosting a St. Patrick's Day party, I thought I would give you some easy finger food ideas to serve at your event. And of course, since it is St. Patrick's Day, you can easily theme your party as the green party everyone has to attend.

Let's first look at how to make the green party work for you and the environment. Three easy words in keeping with this theme are reduce, recycle and reuse. Here are some easy steps you can take to fulfill this theme:

* Create a compost heap in your backyard with the food scraps from the party and flowers once they wilt
* Use bio-degradable silverware and plates
* Set-up a recyclable trash can for all your bar bottles and cans
* Use Evite for your guest list
* If possible, have your guests carpool to the party

For tabletop decor, use succulent plants or natural greens such as rosemary. You can create a rosemary wreath with wire and rosemary and then place a pillar candle and hurricane glass in the center to give the table an added glow.

Another natural tabletop decor idea for the green party is to use fresh artichokes as votive candle holders. Just take the artichoke, hollow out the center and then place a glass votive holder in the center with a tealight. Easy and fast to make with minimal cleanup! Finally, purchase some green colored and decorative fabric, which you can reuse during the December holiday time, to add a bit of dimension and more color to your buffet.

Now for the easy finger food menu. So many of these food items you can purchase already prepared thus making your party set-up time minimal.

- Green Vegetable Crudit矇s with Spinach Dip
- Green Olive Tapenade and Goat Cheese Canap矇s
- Mini Corned Beef Sandwiches
- Green Goddess Chicken Salad served in Lettuce Cups
- Split Pea Soup served in Shot Glasses
- Mint Brownies
- Butter Cookies Dipped in Green Sugar Crystals
- Green Apple Bites Covered with Caramel

Here is a hint to make one of these easy finger food desserts, the butter cookies with green sugar crystals. Just purchase the already made butter cookie dough and follow the cooking instructions. While the cookies are baking, place regular sugar in a glass bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together blue and yellow food coloring to create green and then add it to the sugar. Stir the sugar until all of it is green and be sure to stir it well so that it dries and is not clumping together. Once the cookies are finished, take them out of the oven and while they are still warm, dip the top side of the cookie into the green sugar to coat the top and then cool the cookie on a baker's rack. Plate and serve with your other desserts.

I hope you picked up an idea or two with these easy finger food ideas for the green party you may be hosting for St. Patrick's Day. Until next time, remember the Budget Bash mantra: make it simple, stylish, fun and economical to all!

Getting Into the Event Planning Business

Event planning can be a great career option for anyone who is organized, social and outgoing. For the right person, planning an event can be a creative experience as well as a lot of fun. So if this sounds like something that you would like to do, then pursuing a career in event planning can be the right venture for you.

To get into the event planning business, you don't really need a college degree or any other specialized certificate. As long as you are good at organizing, and have the creative skills to plan and execute events you can make it big in this business.

Having said that keep in mind that this business is not going to fetch you over night success. It takes hard work, effective marketing and time before you can taste true success. Remember no legitimate business will offer you quick success.

What you should know about event planning

There are a lot of resources available that can guide you or inform you about how you can go about setting up your business. And although these days anyone with a little working capital and internet connection can easily start a home business, if you want to get established in this business it is going to take a lot more than just a website or a few business cards. Remember people are going to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in an event, and as an organizer or event planner it will be your job to ensure that their money is well spent.

So go forward only after you have researched, re- researched and gathered all relevant information about your industry.

Starting small is always the best option. You could start by organizing birthday parties for kids in your neighborhood or community. Or look out for church or a charitable institute events. Don't just pick up jobs that pay; sometimes the best way to gain experience and build up a reputation is by volunteering or offering your services for free. You might also want to work with an already established event planning company, gain some first hand work experience before taking the plunge.

Whether the event is big or small, you will have to deal with responsibilities such as selecting venue space, organizing and engaging vendors, selecting menus, taking care of seating arrangements, creating itineraries, selecting insurance, managing billings and drawing out legal contracts among other things. So as is obvious, this is not an easy job. You will have to painstakingly go through each and every detail of your planning as well as run through your execution list a zillion times before the "D" day.

Event Planning Certification - How To Write An Event Planning Proposal

An event proposal is one of the means of advertising your event services to a particular customer. You have to include a number of details in your proposal to make a good impression on your client. Following are the things that you need to mention in your event proposal.

Appearance of your proposal:

Remember, this is a part of official letter so do not make it very fancy. Your event proposal must be formal, simple, with proper language, divides into sections, in paragraphs, and with heading. Take out more than one copy so that you can provide it to multiple clients with ease.

Teaser:

The first page of your proposal must tell the details of the event very briefly. You have to make the teaser very attractive so that you can gather people's attention intensely. Start with a poetic phrase or a line that touches the heart of the people. Then tell what the event is all about and who are invited.

Date of the event:

In the other paragraph, you have to write the date, time and venue of the event that is has to take place. If there is a registration for the event then you have to write some guidelines like last date for buying registering, fee for registration etc.

Supplementary information:

If there are, certain guests or entertainers invited in the event then you have to mention their name and what is their recognition.

Your personnel:

You also have to mention your personnel in the event proposal because people need to know about other people who are involved in organizing your event. Like you have to mention or services who are cooking the food, catering, lighting, decorating etc.

Specialization:

Event planning is a vast field and it has many categories. Clients would want to know the areas where you specialize. You can mention the types of event that you handle for example if you good at organizing wedding, then you will talk about that, write down your experience level and if you had chance to work for any famous personality then it will be a plus point for you so you should definitely write that.

Financial statement:

In the end, you will have to write down your financial statement divided into three sections revenue, expense and balance. You have to propose the estimated plan so that your clients can have clear view of your finances. In revenue section, you have to right down the money that you will be earning, in expense you have to write down how much money you will spend in paying the staff and for other expenses and then lastly you will make a balance sheet in which you have to tell how much profit you will get.

To learn more about event proposals you should acquire an event planning certificate so that you become more familiar with it.

Your Free Halloween Party Planning Guide

Get a free and easy Halloween Party Planning guide to give you some simple, but fun party ideas...you won't have any nightmares trying to plan your Halloween party when you read our Halloween celebration planning guide. It will be sweet dreams all the way. And these guides are free.

It can get so busy when you are trying to plan a party and you will find these tips and ideas so helpful. Find easy suggestions and free ideas so you can organize and prepare for your gathering in a timely and efficient manner.

These free guides will show you the steps of party planning along with check off lists of the supplies you will need and you will also find a manageable timetable to show you when to do what. These free party guides will help to keep you organized and that's half the battle when you are planning a party.

Pick your party theme, pick the time and date of your event and finally choose a location to have your party. Then get no nonsense food ideas and recipes. Find simple menus to serve up delicious food that is quick to prepare. Get some fun and scary Halloween food serving ideas to thrill and chill your guests.

Decorating Ideas? Decorating is not a problem when you have a decorating supply list. Check off each item as you get it. You can see at a glance what supplies you still need. These check lists help you keep what you have and what you still need right in front of you. No confusion or frustration, just a clear and easy to read check list. Halloween decorating ideas are simple as can be with this free Halloween party guide.

Party activities...what fun is it to plan an event without any fun games, crafts or activities? Find the kids craft projects, fun activities like free coloring pages and activities like a ghost hunt or Halloween scavenger hunt using your theme to entertain your guests. Keep those kids entertained the entire afternoon and you will have successfully planned and hosted the most fun kids Halloween party of the season. It will be all tricks and treats at your get together when you use our easy to print, free guide books and the ideas in them. There are several party guides for you to choose from so whether you are celebrating a birthday or a holiday, like Thanksgiving or Christmas, you will find just the right party guide for you.

Web-Based Event Management

The easiest and most effective way to manage your events today is using web-based event management software. If this sounds like it's going to cost you a fortune then just wait - we have a solution that is not only really effective but also 100% free.

Event Software

The event software we recommend for your web-based event management is Web 2.0. This is not only free but you have over 60 different multimedia applications at your disposal to make the promotion of your event, as well as the different aspects of management really simple and fun.

You can create your own promotional web page with photos, video, music and many other elements free and easily. Customize it as much as you like to be the perfect match for your event. Add a countdown timer, polls, a comment wall to get people excited and interacting.

Once your promotional page is ready then send out emails to all those you are inviting and tell them to respond online. Once they have done so you will also easily be able to see who is coming, who is not coming and who still needs to decide which is great for working out numbers for catering purposes, printing notes for conferences or anything else where numbers coming are important.

Not only will you be able to see who is coming, but your guests will too and they will even be able to start networking online before the event.

Event Management

Apart from promotion, another aspect of web-based event management is, of course, the management side of event planning - delegating tasks, sticking to a budget and maybe keeping a record of what happened for those who will be planning next year's event (or to help you improve on this year, if possible).

Ok, so you have a team of volunteers lining up to help you (oh how we wish most of the time!) and you need to delegate tasks to each of them. We have included a free task manager tool in our web-based event management system that allows you to easily manage this and ensure that everyone knows what they are doing and that they do it.

You will notice that we are talking free tools here, that is because budget is often a very important factor in event planning and management and we know that. Our budget manager allows you to easily keep track of your finances and what you have allocated to each specific category of expenditure. This assists you in sticking to your budget (and even, perhaps, beating it).

As for record keeping, this needn't be boring and other people may even be interested in the record keeping we recommend. During the event we recommend a live video feed being sent to the web page, as well as other video clips being taken which will help to record the event for the future. You should also ensure that plenty of photos and notes are taken that can also be displayed on the web page. Then when someone (maybe you) needs to organize the event next year they can simply go and visit the web page and see what a great job you did.

Complex Event Processing - Becoming the Keystone for Application Performance Management

An explosion of event traffic has appeared in the business sector since the late 1980s. In electronic terms, an event occurs whenever:

• A message is sent from one person to another.


• A message is sent from one application to another.?

The complexity of processing events is enhanced by the fact that there are so many IT layers through which events pass. There are networks to facilitate the distribution of information, not only between people, but computers. Typically, the business has a middleware layer so it can integrate information from discrete applications both in-house and from external sources. Add the enterprise service bus, the standard messaging software engine and data flowing in from website, and you face a business environment that is buried in event information, but without an overall comprehension of how these events impact the business.

Ultimately the question becomes, "How do I know what I should pay attention to?" There is a way. Complex Event Processing. This technology is able to rapidly scan enormous quantities of data for patterns and is able to discriminate the events that will have business impact from the ones that only have import to IT staff. ?That is why complex event processing (CEP) is such an important core component of application performance management.

When all the network administrators were looking at was network loads and flows, event processing was quite simple. Once the internet exploded on the scene in the late 1980s that all changed. Events began coming into a business from all over the world. Keeping track of messages and transactions and not losing an order could make or break a business. Timely execution could make the difference between closing a deal and losing it to another business. The failure of the business processes comprising these transaction to both run correctly and on time, could result in non-compliance to government rules -- and result in severe penalties.?

Complex event processing began as a way to extract patterns from a veritable cloud of events? which quickly turned to vapor once they were processed by existing IT toolsets. While initially used in algo trading, it has since found a home elsewhere, most notably as the correlation engine for business transaction monitoring.

For financial businesses, complex event processing provides a way to identify when financial transactions are running with business normal efficiency or veering toward business abnormal. It can also be used to identify suspicious transactions, verify that accounting processes remain in compliance with government policies, etc.

For manufacturing businesses, CEP can assist with smooth assembly-line upgrades, for example, or help track down bottlenecks that delay the receipt of orders from customers. CEP of course helps these same businesses also manage the financial aspect of their business more efficiently as well.

CEP's greatest potential is in the area of developing application performance and business transaction monitoring capabilities within an enterprise. Because a CEP engine can take thousands of real-time events and make them visible and traceable, it is possible to evaluate the performance of multiple applications within the IT structure.? Unlike custom coded programs that are designed to focus on a single problem, CEP engines can be designed to focus on multiple problems.

CEP is so vital to the management of multiple applications from a central location. This has brought about what one the major developers of CEP technology, Nastel Technologies, has coined as one of their slogans "360簞 Situational Awareness."

Having a centralized view of the entire IT enterprise allows IT to quickly find and fix problems. AutoPilot M6 and AutoPilot MQ WebSphere provide this view. The CEP engine at the center of Nastel's AutoPilot allows IT to evaluate the health of the entire IT enterprise from one central dashboard. Not only is problem identification enhanced, the Auto Pilot complex event processing capability predicts and prevents problems.

Data collection is automatic. Real-time analytics make tracking normal versus abnormal simple. Compliance to business rules (policies and SLAs) is assured. These are just some of the benefits AutoPilot promises through its complex event centered designed. This is a technology that is worth investigating.

Catering Advice From a Caterer

Some folks think catering is only for expensive dinner parties and special events. While there is some truth to this statement, it doesn't have to be the case. As catering costs have decreased substantially over the past few years, almost any party or event can be catered.

Your Private Party

Simply said, catering is a tradeoff between your time and money. You can spend a lot of time planning, shopping and then cooking or you can call upon a catering company to do anything from total event planning to food catering for you.

Think about this point for a minute. If you have ever thrown a party, you already know how exhausting it can be. While you may have thrown a great get together, you most likely didn't get to enjoy much of it if you handled all food and drinks yourself. Hiring a professional lets you offer your guests good food and the unlimited pleasure of your company.

Business Catering

Catering for the office is popular. And for good reason. How many companies have the facilities to cater their own food? Very few. And besides, in most cases, time spent on the task or in the meeting is far more important than the cost incurred for a catered breakfast or lunch.

If you're on a tight budget you can save a few buck by picking up your order on the way in to work or order nearby for low delivery costs. If the catering company charges for extras like cups, disposable plates, and napkins, you may consider getting your own.

Saying that, there really isn't any way around catering a corporate event. I can just see the office staff trying to prepare a BBQ cookoff, or a gourmet meal for hundreds of their colleagues. This is just unrealistic. The best advice I can offer for this situation is, get three catering quotes and compare them. You'll soon understand which catering service is offering you the best catering.

Wedding Reception Catering

Your special day is coming soon and you want everything to be just right, including the food. But your nervous about the cost of the catering because, we all know, food is the largest expense for a wedding besides the honeymoon.

There are many ways to cut costs for your wedding without making it look cheap. The highest infrastructure expense for any caterer are the chefs and staff. Limit the serving staff or get rid of them entirely and you can save a lot of money. How?

Having a buffet instead of full service catering instantly makes your wedding reception less expensive. Consider taking it a step farther and see if your brother, sister, teenage niece, nephew, or cousin will take on the task of serving food or keeping it looking clean. This really cut expenses.

One Last Word Of Advice

Having catered a lot of parties, events, companies, and private parties, the the biggest misperception about catering lies in price. If you are looking for catering service that can cater your event within a reasonable budget, they exist. Like I said beforehand, ask several different catering companies to give you a quote and you will have a better idea.

A Biltmore Wedding: Remember To Consider A Local Wedding or Event Planner To Maximize Your Budget

This time of year many new brides are considering where to have their dream wedding. One of the most popular wedding sites in the Southeast is the Biltmore Estate in Asheville North Carolina. While the estate itself is a wonderful venue, there are a great many choices of locations for the wedding and activities for your guests.

One thing that many brides don't consider until the last minute is guest activities. Your guests most likely will be traveling to attend your wedding. Planning some excursions and activities will make the trip even more memorable. Here are some options:

Outdoor Activities. The Biltmore Estate and Asheville area have a great selection of outdoor activities for your guests including bike rides and tours along estate trails, horseback riding, river float trips and carriage rides. For those who want an off-road driving adventure there is also the Land Rover Experience Driving School where, regardless of your skill level, you can drive the latest Land Rover vehicles on an off-road course.

Wine Tasting. Biltmore Estate has its own award-winning winery and wine tasting is a popular thing to do while at the Estate. Your guests will enjoy the guided tour of the Winery at Antler Hill Village. Originally a barn, this is one of the most popular 'to do' items on guests attending a wedding at Biltmore House.

Guided Tours. There are a number of guided tours available to those coming to Biltmore Estate such as:

Audio Guided Tour of Biltmore House. This tour allows guests to tour the house at their own pace with a digital audio guide that discusses many aspects of the main house.

Rooftop Tour. The rooftop tour takes guests to unrestored areas of the house as well as showcases unbelievable and vast views from the top of Biltmore House.

Behind-The-Scenes Tour. Your guests will learn the many facets of 'running' the largest single home in America including it's technologies, the Butler's Pantry and the roof that overlooks Winter Garden.

While the choices are many, any bride considering having a Biltmore wedding should consider using one of the local, Asheville-based, Biltmore and Asheville wedding planners. These professionals are expert at helping you maximize your budget while providing you a wonderful wedding complete with giving your guests an experience they will remember for a lifetime.

They have a proven list of various vendors including caterers, florists, musicians, photographers and other suppliers that are key to making your wedding the best that it can be.

Five Great Corporate Awards Ideas

Corporate awards are a great way for your business to recognise the efforts of your employees as well as motivate other staff members to improve their productivity, increase their skill levels and help your business be successful. Corporate awards can include a whole range of different things, including trophies.

Trophies

Trophies are a good representation of success as they are purposely made to put on display and can be engraved or hold a plaque with the name of the recipient and the details of the award itself included on it. Trophies can be large or small, expensive or cheap, and can be made from a variety of different things. For something cheaper you may want to go with a plastic or wooden trophy. If the award is particularly special and money is no object you can present a trophy made from glass, crystal, silver or even gold. Some well known trophies awarded for success in sporting events, such as top ranking tennis matches and car races can often be made from gold or silver. The Olympic Games are a perfect example of trophies, or medals, that are made from gold, silver and bronze.

Gift Vouchers

A corporate award can also include things like gift vouchers. Whether you choose a large retail store, a voucher to a supermarket or to a specialist store, a gift voucher is always appreciated and you can choose the value of the voucher based on your budget for your awards for the year. Gift vouchers are more useful than a trophy, which can sometimes end up in a cupboard.

Trip Away

If you aren't limited by a budget your company may want to reward employees with trips away. It could be anything from a weekend away to a full week spent in luxury. This sort of award is something that employees will really aspire to and is a fantastic way to motivate staff. This type of award would be something that you would award annually as it would offer great inspiration to staff throughout the year.

Day Spa

Everyone enjoys being pampered, whether it is facials and other beauty treatments for the women or massages for the men. Relaxation is something that most people don't often get enough of and it can be a great reward given for a job well done. Day Spas are especially luxurious and not something that everyone can afford, so for an unforgettable experience treat your award recipient to a bit of pampering.

Tickets

Another great corporate award idea is tickets to a special event. Whether it be movie tickets, if your award is fairly informal, or even tickets to the football or other sporting match. For a really special award tickets to a much anticipated theatre event or concert by an international artist would be much appreciated. You want your award to inspire and motive staff and something like this would certainly do this. You can also personalise the award and choose something that you know the recipient will really enjoy.

Creating Your Own Candy Buffet - 4 Useful Tips for Building a Sweet Buffet

You may have noticed something new at today's weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and other special events. It is called the Candy Buffet - and it is all the rage! Event planners love them, because they can create amazing displays without breaking the budget. Guests love them, because they get to partake in the candy madness! There is no doubt that a candy wonderland in the form of a buffet adds fun and color to any large event.

There are many ways to arrange your own buffet. From tall, wide containers to tiny, clear jars, whatever your personal style is, is the way to go. Focus on colors and theme, but do not lose sight of what your event is all about!

Although doing it all on your own can be stressful, it can also be a blast! Here are a few quick tips for a successful and easy candy bar at your next event:

•Utilize your event planner- If you have an event planner; ask them to assist you in purchasing, organizing, and setting up the candy buffet. Yet, if you do not have an event planner, no worries! Planning a candy buffet on your own is a relatively simple task.

•Try out the set-up before hand- Do mock set-ups of containers and candy so there will be no surprises on the day of the event. Include your decorations in this set up so you can mentally picture how it should all look put together.

•Clearly label the candy at the buffet- Labeling the candy at your event is very important. The reason for this is so that anyone with allergies can know whether or not they can have the candy you have out.

•Buy both scoops and tongs for the candy- Scoops can be used for small candy, such as chocolates and hard candies. Whereas tongs can be used for things like gummy bears and licorice!

Building an candy buffet should be a fun experience. The purpose of a candy buffet is to create something beautiful that is edible while also serving as decoration. If you can remember the fun aspect of this, then the rest will come easily.

Once you feel like you have taken care of the majority of the "Dos" for a candy buffet, you can start building your buffet. Even if it is months before your event, it is never too early to plan. So go ahead, grab a piece of paper and a pen and get to work!

The Importance of Follow-up After Your Marketing Events

Why do businesses spend so much time and so many resources into event production, then only to forget about the attendees when the event is over? It's understandable that this is often the case: the promoters are worn out from planning and operating the event, and upon getting back to work, there's the usual amount of regular work waiting for them. If the event planners don't have a follow-up strategy in place, the task of contacting event attendees after the event to say thanks and follow-up is a secondary priority, and soon forgotten entirely.

Those savvy planners who engage in smart follow-up contact will see their return on investment improved. A loose poll from my client pool indicates that only about seventeen percent of event attendees will make the next move in the buying process; the remaining eighty-three will expect the event organizers to make contact. Your post-event communications may be:

* A personal email, postcard or letter. After spending the money on getting this person to your event and getting a good lead, don't simply send out a bulk email which starts out with 'dear Sir' - personalization of your communications can really improve rapport, and this person's contact info should be known to you by now.

* The objective of the event should relate to the message content. If the event was designed to strengthen the bond between important prospects, a simple 'thank you' should be sufficient. However, if the goal was educational related to a specific product, remind the attendee about what they learned and the benefits that were discussed. It can also be a good opportunity to gather feedback by supplying a brief feedback form.

* Use a cover letter to outline follow-up materials. Literature which comes with a letter outlining the publication and sections within is more often read and acted on than just a big book in the mail. If a lead has indicated interest in a particular area, the letter can point to specific areas within the supporting material.

* Relevant and punchy subject in an email. Some descriptive phrase such as 'important info for you, sent by Group A at your request' will increase the percentage of those that are opened and read.

* Try specialty advertising. Pens or magnetized calendars are things that attendees will want for themselves, and keep with them - with your name, contact, and toll-free number always ready for their contact. Also include a business card whenever possible.

* Send a paid-postage response form. Make it simple for leads to ask for further info from you, while indicating their timeframe for making a purchase. The answers that they provide can help qualify your leads.

Also extend communications to those who did not end up attending your event. If these people replied to your promotions but didn't actually make it, don't take their info out of your data base. The simple fact that they indicated interest is important, and some emergency or other pop-up may have prevented them from coming, even if they wanted to. Contacting these people with an offer of an archived version of the event is a good idea, by referring a web address.

Many event organizers prefer email communications, as it is immediate, non-intrusive and less costly than most mail-out options. However, a heavy, glossy brochure has a certain level of prestige which email does not. You may like to use a combination - an email and a snail mail; one to reply to immediately, the other for them to show their boss at the next meeting.

The telephone is a very effect method of follow-up, particularly for your hottest leads. By thanking the attendees and gathering their responses to your event, you may uncover what the next step is, and many sellers prefer the telephone as it allows them to feel the subtleties of tone in their leads' reactions. It's best to use the method that your customers have indicated is preferable for them that also works for you.

Always do the follow-up immediately after the event. This means you'll need to have a plan in place before the event begins - make sure your materials are all ready and correct in advance. Following-up after an event is not always easy or convenient, but it can help your leads say yes to sales that you've worked hard to achieve.

Corporate Event Organizers For Planning Events Abroad

Nowadays entertainers who are high in demand have very busy schedules, are difficult to contact and may not always be willing to deal with people they don't know. Moreover, companies that book performers for corporate events know when and how to bargain for the best prices. In such a scenario, an individual can hardly get the services of the best talent in the entertainment industry without the help of corporate event organizers.

Huge amount of time and money can be saved by these corporate event organizers on entertainment. People with little or no connections in the entertainment industry naturally find it extremely difficult and time consuming to get in touch with busy musicians and comedians. To add to this, the best acts do not list themselves in the Yellow Pages.

People hardly know whom to call in order to get hold of those elite entertainers. More importantly, the artists and performers have to know who is calling them, or they would never take their calls seriously. Even worse, they might try to charge exorbitant fees for their services. This is where corporate event organizers play an active role.

A corporate event planning mechanism has to cater to a lot of important details, viz.

1. Negotiating with agents, managers, and bands themselves to get the suitable entertainers whether it be music or comedy or some other field.


2. Ensuring that the event guarantees a lot of fun and at the same time is always geared towards the attendees and the desired theme of the event.


3. Suggesting celebrity entertainment that is appropriate for your guests and your corporate personality.

A great benefit of using seasoned corporate event organizers is that they are well versed in the ability to read audiences. Using experience gathered over a steady period of time, they can easily figure out crowds in order to give them what they want. Doing this allows them to provide just the right entertainment, the perfect theme, and activities that everyone will enjoy.

Interestingly hiring corporate event organizers, some of whom might also have experience in organizing events abroad, for your corporate party planning needs, outdoor festivals, or fairs, can also bring in higher profits. Since they have connections to top-notch artists and can negotiate well, it helps in promoting an event in advance to build momentum and encourage early ticket sales, increasing demand which, in turn, increases publicity. Profits are a natural outcome of this build-up.

Corporate entertainers offer far more to an audience than you would think at first glance. A celebrity band or sports figure may be onstage just a few feet away thrilling your attendees. Motivational speakers might be able to offer inspiration or impart wisdom to your company's best asset - people from a stone's throw distance. Comedians can help your attendees to unwind after a long day of meetings or break the ice among strangers. Whatever be the objective, using the services of a corporate event organizer provides more structure and authenticity to organizing an event. It's a necessity you cannot do without if you want to make your event successful.

Seven Event Management Tips for Fundraisers

Staging a special event is a reliable method for fundraising and a good way to publicize your organization and your cause. This article contains some practical advice for event planning, promotion and management.

1. Decide on the Right Type of Special Event

There are several types of special events. Each has its own purpose and can be very effective if used for that purpose. Confusing the type of event can result in disaster. There are fundraising events, in other words, events that are run to make a profit for the organization. People pay to attend, buy something at the event, or gather pledges and then participate in the event. Similar to these types of events are what is often called third party events. These events are staged by someone or some organization other than the charity for the benefit of a charity. Another form of event is used for cultivation of prospects, recognition of donors or volunteers and to make announcements, such as the launch of a campaign. The purpose of this type of event is not to raise money at the event but to publicize the charity and inform potential donors about something new, with the intention that they will follow-up with a donation.

2. Make Appropriate Decisions Based on Type of Event

If you are running a fundraising event, you need to decide how you will make money with the event. This may seem obvious, but it is sometimes overlooked. Ask yourself if the funds will come from admission tickets, sponsors, sales of items in additional to the admission cost, a silent or live auction, door prizes, and so on. For third party events take these things into consideration. If you are working on the charity side, make sure that you have an understanding of what your role will be. It is easy to get asked to do more than your organization may have the resources to do. If you are the third party, understand how exactly how your event will benefit the charity. If the main purpose of your event is to make announcements and cultivate prospects, you will make more if you offer something for free and make the request for a donation later. Pay attention to how the media are managed at the event

3. Planning the Event

Cover the basics first - secure the venue, have enough food and drinks, book entertainment or speakers, look after details like parking, coat check, security, and washrooms. Prepare a budget based on these basics then adjust as more things are added or sponsors are secured. Prepare a detailed checklist of everything you will need - invitations, RSVP, who orders what and do it well in advance. Make a timeline working back from the day of the event and mark the deadlines for getting invitations out, placing ads in media, payments of deposits, to suppliers and entertainers, and when the RSVP must be received. Walk through the venue and imagine how people will move as they come to the event. Anticipate people's needs and if at all possible, don't have people waiting in lines at any time, get them a drink ASAP, and get them seated or involved.
Double check everything.

4. Promoting Your Event

Brand your event. Even if it is a relatively small event, a unique name, slogan and logo can help to sell the event. Consider building a special website for the event, with a link from your organization's website. A unique URL can help to brand the event and this can also make tracking registrations easier. If you are sending invitations to your mailing list, usually about six weeks to a month is an appropriate time to mail invitations. Use email lists and email invitations and have people register for the event on your website. If the event is open to the public, advertise in the media, using the media that will target your audience. As an example, if your event is upscale, advertise in business media or if your event is family oriented, advertise in community newsletters. Issue press releases when the date of the event is set, about a week before the event and just after the event.

5. The Day of the Event

Rehearse the program - time speakers and make sure they know where to stand and what to say. Test the audio visual equipment and have backup systems in place. If you are doing something that requires some technical skill, like a video presentation or sound feeds for media, hire a technician to be on standby. Always have a contingency plan for bad weather, late speakers, and emergencies.

6. If You Are in Charge of the Event

Never forget that you are working. It can be easy to relax with a few drinks and get into the mood of the event, especially if things are going well. Never forget that you are working. Be prepared to deal with the unexpected. Keep review your check list. Remember that key people - celebrity guests, speakers, entertainers - want to be taken care of and told what to do. Never leave them alone or ask them to decide something. Meet people where they arrive, assign someone to be with them at all times and respond to whatever they request. The most common breakdowns at an event are poor venue (too small, inadequate parking, not enough washrooms), poor food service, a/v breakdowns, and key people who don't show up or show up late. Try to anticipate these problems and solve them if they occur.

7. Wrap - up

Do a final accounting for the event as soon as possible. If a fundraising event, take all costs and revenue into account but also all take other benefits into account, such as an assessment of the value of the publicity you gained, new people you met and so on. If the event is for an announcement or donor cultivation, make sure you have follow-up planned - follow-up calls and letters to participants and to media. Get thank-you letters out to sponsors, suppliers and volunteers as soon as possible.

Manage Students With Effective Class Management Solutions

Effective coordination between faculty and students ensures full attendance for your classes. By managing your students and instructors efficiently, you can prevent miscommunication. This, in turn, helps you to view and manage all students effectively. Considering the significance of student management in overall class management, a growing number of organizations are going for advanced solutions that come equip with special features. These cutting edge solutions provide a host of benefits to the users to aid them in effective student management.

Some of the features offered by these sophisticated solutions include the following:

Track Past and Current Enrollment

With a comprehensive class management software, managing an unlimited number of students is extremely simple. These comprehensive solutions enable the users to monitor current enrollment as well as enrollment history for all students in the database. As a result, organizations save costs and resources to manage data. Moreover, since the process is automated by smart solutions administrative workload is reduced to a considerable extent.

Performance Analysis

By opting for an efficient class management solution, organizations can monitor the performance of each class. These solutions provide reporting options to offer a number of useful reports with necessary data. By analyzing these reports, organizations can easily find out about the performance of each class and thereby adopt necessary strategies to achieve full attendance.

Additional Information Available at a Click of the Mouse

Inclusion of emergency and allergy info provides instant reference for the users. Special student info including age, cell phone numbers, and special notes are provided to get an at-a-glance view of all the past and current students

Communication Facilities

To boost communication, these integrated solutions also enable users to send email newsletters to all the students and contacts. In addition to, integrated class management solutions also enable the students to access relevant information whenever and wherever they want. Users can create portals to aid their students to access necessary information on the go. Some of the key benefits offered by student portals include the following:

繚 Students receive their own email address and password to login and access data

繚 They can update information, modify billing details, view past transactions, make payments and sign up for classes within a few minutes!

繚 The option of private community enables organizations to help students, parents and instructors to exchange information via a safe and secured platform

Responding to the increasing demand for comprehensive class management solutions, a large number of sophisticated tools have been introduced in the market that can be customized to meet the specific requirements of the institutions. Notably, these solutions deliver excellent returns to the users. As a result, organizations of different scales are seen going for these options.

Cutting edge class management solutions are gaining popularity and offering tangible benefits to the users. Apart from streamlining the process of class registration and payment processing, these solutions provide marketing facilities to ensure that no seat is left empty on the day of the class. Just choose the right solution to take your classes to another level.

Caterers - Fine Dining and Event Planning to Make Your Social Occasion a Success

If you are planning an event but not sure of what to do with the food portion, a professional catering company can help you with the menu planning and can take all the worry out of preparing the food on your own. These caterers have the experience and resources to make your social event a success by customizing your occasion, whether large or small, to you desired tastes. Some of the ways this catering company can assist you with your event includes providing:

• Table setting
• Flowers
• Entertainment
• The site
• The theme
• Food
• Lighting
• Transportation for guests
• D矇cor

Another benefit of hiring caterers at a well-established and professional catering company is that they may also have chefs that can prepare just about any cuisine in any setting. Some of the food, beverage, and menu choices you may be able to receive at this type of catering company includes a brunch menu, boxed lunches, breakfast menu, buffet menu, gourmet deli, hot chafing dishes, classic carvings, hors oeuvres, themed buffets, side dishes, desserts, subs, sports menus, salad selections, and much more. The professional staff at this company will also be able to pull all the aspects of your event together with flair and can make your social occasion memorable and occasion for everyone attending.

If you are in need of off-premise catering, you can call the professional caterers to see if they offer this service. You may be able to get the food brought to your location, to include full service drop off and pick up options. You also have the benefit of receiving restaurant quality food and beverages to include adult-friendly beverages. These full service event specialists may even be able to arrange for any rental equipment you need for the presentation and meal. Services offered through this company like technology accommodations in the areas of screens and projectors, custom floral arrangement, valet parking, transportation, security, ad photography service, all work together to make your event a success.

You can receive flexible and comprehensive catering services from caterers that will not only supply you and your guests with delicious food, but can offer you full service catering. This means you will have all the details of your event taken care of in order to make it a success. You can visit the catering company's website for additional information about the catering services they offer or you can call and give a professional staff member a chance to answer all of your questions.

Outsourcing Corporate Event Planning

No matter what type of event your company may sponsor, it is important that it runs smoothly. Poor organization can ruin your event and reflect badly on your company. To ensure that you host a successful gathering, consider enlisting the help of professional corporate event planners. These highly skilled individuals take care of all of the details involved in planning and executing a productive and entertaining event.

A corporate event planner provides planning services for meetings, conferences, and other events related to your business. They work behind the scenes to plan and create a successful event catered to meet the specific goals of your organization. Before the first reservations are made these individuals will help you determine your objectives and vision for the day. Once realistic goals are set, your event planners will begin to create an experience that will be entertaining as well as profitable for your business. They are there to take care of every single detail, from conception to completion and everything in between.

Planning an event can be stressful and time consuming. Giving this responsibility to one or more of your employees who may or may not know anything about the process is unfair. These people have jobs and do not need the added burden of event planning. Often, these employees will settle for a simple solution just to get the task off of their to-do list. This approach often results in an ineffective gathering that provides little meaning or benefit to the organizers or guests.

The primary advantage to hiring a professional corporate event planner is that you are enlisting the expertise of an individual who is experienced at planning and executing successful engagements. As an outsider to your organization, your planner can offer a fresh ideas and an innovative approach to your next event. He or she can help you set realistic goals and then find solutions to meet your specific objectives. Taking care to be sure that planning and logistics come together to make your event happen on schedule is the expertise of a professional event planner.

Another advantage of outsourcing is that you will be working with an individual who can guide you toward an acceptable budget needed to fulfill your objectives. Because event planners have spent time cultivating personal relationships with various vendors, they typically are able to secure venues, catering, and other necessary elements that are guaranteed to be affordable, reliable and professional. Often, planners can negotiate lower prices with these vendors because of their working relationship. They work carefully to ensure that there are no surprises to blow your budget.

Finally, utilizing the help of an event planner means that you never have to worry about the small details, or any details for that matter. These professionals have experience in not only preventing possible problems from happening but also finding acceptable solutions should something out of the ordinary occur. Their attention to detail ensures that your event will run smoothly, from beginning to end.

The goal of a corporate event planner is to create an extraordinary experience that will meet the goals of your business while providing a fun event for your guests. Outsourcing to a third-party allows you to sit back and enjoy the moment while the professionals take care of all the details.

How To Host An Unforgettable Backyard Outdoor Movie Night

Have you ever wanted to re-live the experience of a summer night spent at a drive-in movie? A backyard movie event is the perfect chance to enjoy a movie under the stars with friends and family, without even needing to leave the comfort of your own yard. Here is how to create an unforgettable movie event in your own backyard.

Theme
What type of event do you want to host? A date night to celebrate an Anniversary, a neighborhood block party, a birthday, family reunion or graduation are just a few occasions you can celebrate with a backyard movie night. A regular family film night can even be made extra special by making it into a backyard movie night with an inflatable movie screen.

Pick the Movie
Once you decide on the type of event you want to host and the guest list, you can choose an appropriate film. If you are celebrating a birthday or graduation, let the honoree choose the movie. For a romantic date night, choose a favorite romantic film. If you are having kids at your backyard movie night, be sure to choose a family friendly movie.

Equipment
Once you have decided on a motion-picture, it is time to make a budget and get in contact with a local outdoor movie production company. Many audio / visual production companies work with a wide variety of clients; from individuals who wish to host a small event at their home, to clients who need huge inflatable movie screens to accommodate thousands of guests.

The outdoor cinema production company you choose should have a screen size just right for your backyard flick night. The company should also be able to provide you with a projector and sound equipment to make your movie night an unforgettable, stress free experience much like a drive-in movie or movie theatre.

Food
It's not movie night without food. You have several options here. You might make your movie night a potluck and ask everyone to bring a favorite movie snack to share, or you might provide snacks or a light meal like popcorn, hot dogs or movie theatre style candy. To really get the drive-in movie experience, you might even consider renting concession equipment like a popcorn or hot dog machine. You could keep the snacks simple or have a little more fun with it. Consider themed snacks to go with your film; chocolate to go with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" or a meatball appetizer with "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs".

Set the Scene
Decorating and setting up your yard are other areas you can have some fun. Use lighting like Tiki torches or even Christmas lights to set a pretty scene and make it safer for guests to walk around in the dark. Consider heading to a local party store or putting your craft skills to good use and setting up themed decorations to compliment your movie. Lanterns, for example, would add an extra special touch to a "Tangled" backyard movie night. If you have a pool, a poolside movie is just right for a hot summer night. You might host a late afternoon pool party and barbeque, followed by a relaxing poolside movie night.

Seating
There are several ways to set up the seating for your movie night. For kids, blankets or bean bags are a fun choice. Adults might prefer chairs or comfortable cushions. If you do not have enough chairs for all of your guests, you could either rent chairs or ask guests to bring a favorite chair. Consider low chairs like beach chairs so that everyone can see the movie.

Whatever the size, theme or reason for your backyard movie night; taking the time to carefully plan the details, decorate and choose the perfect movie will help ensure your movie night is one that will leave you and your guests with special memories.

Starting Out In Event Management

Event Management and Wedding Planning are both big business. Huge shows, sporting events, charity events, as well as a memorable occasion for that 'special day', have made Event Management into a multi-million pound industry.

Humans are sociable creatures. We all love a good 'get together' - whether to celebrate an event such as a birthday, wedding or anniversary; or to promote something such as a product launch, political party or new season's fashions. An event can also be educational in nature (conference, meetings, graduations etc.) or even an opportunity to remember someone special via a funeral or memorial service.

Whatever the occasion, if you enjoy socialising, are hard working and good at organising, it can be a highly lucrative career running your own Event Management business.

Becoming an Event Manager or Wedding Planner is a marvellous opportunity to make money and have fun at the same time. It can be genuinely glamorous, and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are there to make people happy. In today's fast-moving world, people don't have the time to organize their special event, so they increasingly rely on event management professionals to do it for them. Yet good Event Managers are in real short supply, even though the demand for special events is growing all the time.

So what does Event Planning involve? It's a massive topic, but you need to consider things like background research, creating a theme, finding a suitable venue, arranging good quality food and entertainment, arranging transport, sending invitations, organising event staff and supervising on the big day.
And it's not even over then! Post-event, you will need to conduct a thorough evaluation of how things went.

A useful way to start on a new career in Event Management or Wedding Planning, is to sign up for a distance learning course on the subject. By studying in your own free time, you can gain a considerable amount of knowledge and learn important kills that help you on your way to becoming a successful Event Planner and Manager. The distance learning (or 'home study') course will also give you practical advice about starting up in business and how to 'sell' your business to potential clients.

If you do go down this career path, whatever the occasion, the real challenge as an Event Manager or Wedding Planner is to make sure your event is such a success it will be remembered for years to come. What could be more empowering than that!

Conference Planners: 4 Ways to Increase Exhibitor Participation at Trade Shows

Convention and conference planners understand that with tight budgets, the advent of web meetings, and more companies than ever before hosting their own customer events, conference trade shows have taken a bit of a hit. Some conferences have vanished, while others have had to combine with other shows in order to stay alive. True, there are some conventions that are still robust, yet the footprint of many companies at those shows has been reduced.

Despite cutbacks, one concern that affects a company's decision to exhibit at a show is whether they receive a quantifiable ROI from their participation. While conferences do make money from attendees, they also make a huge amount from exhibitors via exhibiting fees, sponsorships, and advertising opportunities at the show. Therefore, it would be in the conference planner's (and conference management company's) interest to aid exhibitors in receiving that ROI. The following are a few things that meeting and conference managers can do to make that happen:

1) Non-Conflicting Show Hours:
Probably the largest complaint from exhibitors is having the exhibit floor open while there are sessions running. Oftentimes, the traffic is light to non-existent and exhibitors view this as a waste of time.

Conducting sessions concurrently during exhibit floor hours forces your attendees to choose between attending sessions (for educational credits, personal interest, etc.) and visiting exhibitor's booths. Depending on the industry, you may be required to supply a certain amount of educational hours. However, don't keep the hall open at those times. Instead, start the sessions earlier or open the hall later. Possibly hold a session or two in the exhibit hall. This gives attendees the freedom to attend the session, while others can visit the booths.

2) Lunch is Not Hall Time:
Some conference planners still insist on having lunch in the exhibit hall and then starting up sessions shortly thereafter. By the time attendees have gotten through the food line and have eaten, there needs to be time for those attendees to visit the booths. Try to keep the hall open - with no conflicting sessions - for an hour or more after lunch. This not only helps your exhibitors, but also aids your attendees, as they do want to spend quality time with exhibitors without being rushed.

3) Talk to Exhibitors:
Make sure your staff actually visits all of the exhibitors - not just the large booths - and asks them for feedback. Make sure that the staff listens and backs up those conversations with viable actions.

4) Trade Show Police:
While every booth should adhere to the rules, don't go overboard and run the show like it's the military. I have seen small exhibits attacked for minor infractions, while larger booths get carte blanche. Remember, this is a trade show where companies are competing for the time and attention of attendees. While some companies spend money and time creating ways to attract attendees, others do not - and these are the exhibits that do most of the complaining. Again, there are rules, but they need to be flexible. A trade show is not a library or a high level meeting room. There will be noise, contests, attractions, and attendees in the aisles. As long as the noise is not overbearing and the aisles are relatively clear, then let the companies do what they do, which is compete.

Following these simple steps will aid your exhibitors in realizing a higher ROI from participating at your conference. While they seem simple and logical, many conferences planners and convention planners do not take them into consideration. Hence, why many companies have lessened their footprint at trade shows or have decided not to go at all. As a conference or meeting planner, it's important to take all parties of your event - attendees and exhibitors - into consideration. After all, both are your customer, and part of your job is to help them to come together - so that all may benefit from being at your show.

Streamline Your Event Payment Collection With CyberSource

Almost all organizations, big and small, look for various ways to streamline their event(s) payment collection to accelerate the process of funds transfer. The majority of online event and class management solutions offer easy payments processing via CyberSource, a leading payment gateway. You too can, therefore, start using this gateway to restructure your event(s) payment collection, thereby saving time for doing other vital event-related tasks.

Organizations, at all levels, can resolve their money transferring issues as well as bring about greater transparency in handling refunds and charge-backs by using CyberSource. Most of the online event management solutions come with an integrated PCI-compliant payment platform to facilitate secured transfer of funds via various online means. It eliminates the hassles of manual cash handling and, as such, saves a good amount of your precious time and energy.

The online payment management solution lets you easily accept payments sent by using the credit cards, PayPal, CyberSource, and other standard payment management solutions. This Cloud-based solution also lets you collect registration fees and donations via Authorize.net and more. Event organizers can, therefore, start using this standard payment gateway to streamline their day-to-day financial operations in a secured environment. This leading payment gateway also helps you easily sell all your concert or fundraiser tickets, easily and at a faster pace.

Event Registration Forms

CyberSource-integrated registration forms facilitate instant sending of registration fees and donations via your registrant's credit/debit cards.

24x7 Payment Processing Option

You can easily use this leading disbursement platform to offer real-time authorization and processing of money.

Reduction of Fraud Risks

One of the major drawbacks of online money transfer is related to the credit/debit cards fraud. Cyber criminals are increasingly targeting individuals and associations trying to engage in financial transactions over the internet. In such a situation, sending money via CyberSource proves highly beneficial at a time. This leading payment source lets you easily send and receive funds in a safe and secure environment, thus eliminating any kind of risks associated with online disbursement.

Easy Refunding of Money

This payment platform lets you instantly refund any amount of money to your event registrants in no time. You can handle all kinds of charge-backs as well as reconcile any form of transaction with your registrants, partners, sponsors, or vendors using the easy-to-use this payment entryway.

Fast and Secured Checkouts

Event registrants are no more required to provide shipping or payment information separately, as all information can now be given easily via this process.

"Use Your Own Merchant Account" Service

The PCI-compliant online payment management solution lets you easily create, activate, and maintain one or more merchant accounts. In other words, you can, at anytime, utilize the "Use Your Own Merchant Account" (UYOMA) service for collecting online payments by using this industry leading payment gateway.

Utmost Payment Security

With CyberSource, you can successfully perform all transactions without revealing any financial data to anyone. Thus, this popular payment gateway offers you easy data storage and retention in a protected environment.

Bring Your Corporate Evening Events To Life With Xbox Kinect

Once again a brand new technology has hit the streets this week with the release of the Xbox Kinect console and corporate clients looking for the next new thing for their evening entertainment need not to look any further!

Most people have experienced the more traditional entertainment such as horse race nights, fun casinos and quizzes but few have seen or experienced the upbeat competitiveness that the Wii or Xbox consoles can bring to their evening entertainment event.

Everyone likes a competition and what better way to get your office team or invited clients together and battle it out in an Xbox Kinect event where the guests can experience this fantastic new form of entertainment that involves nothing but their own bodies and energy!

The technology scans the players body shape and uses this image as the control for game play, so as you start to run on the spot, so does the character on the TV screen! No more controllers or wires, you become the controller!

Imagine a corporate event with your teams lined up in front of a tv screen all running as fast as they can or jumping in the air to beat their fellow competitors in what has to be the most interactive and amusing upbeat event available to date.

If you have a group of guests that love nothing more than getting off their chairs following a corporate dinner and having some fun then this new Xbox Kinect event could be exactly what you are looking for. The event can be run on the same format as you may have seen in a Wii Olympics competition where the guests are split into teams and rotate around a set number of pre-selected sporting games before going head to head in a finale to decide the winning team.

There are also no barriers to this event as it can be set up in most locations and will entertain all ages and genders, whether your pre-dinner drinks need a lift or your conference needs energizing this Xbox Kinect team event will surely prove to be the best dinner entertainment you can experience at any corporate event.

New Survey Suggests Event Planning and Organisation Will Increase in 2010

A recent study showed that 78% of all event managers are planning to hold more events this year than in 2009. Since the recession took hold of the UK in 2008, the event industry has seen a steady decline in both the volume of events being held and the volume of delegates attending events. These latest results will be sure to be a boost to the event industry, in what has been a difficult two year period.

Many event managers stated that they intend to make the use of technology and software to help streamline the planning process and to increase the return on investment for both event host and for delegates. One of the key ways of becoming more efficient is through the use of online marketing and online tools to organise and promote events.

One out of three event managers surveyed stated that they wanted to make more use of email invitations, email marketing and online registrations. With more focus on an organisations carbon footprint, moving the promotional side of event planning online is not only more cost effective, but will reduce the impact on the environment.

Many event management software solutions include email marketing tools. These email solutions enable event managers to produce and send marketing emails regarding their events as well as invitations. One of the main benefits of email marketing is the ability to gain instant meaningful metrics regarding a mailshot. Data such as bounces, email opens, click through and unsubscribes all help to contribute to the success of future events - by learning from past campaigns, event managers can hone their messaging to ensure the highest return in terms of delegate registrations. Obtaining this kind of data from direct mail is near on impossible and with the added costs of postage, event managers are increasingly turning to event management software tools to take this process online.

With the increase in planned events, event managers must also ensure that they have the capacity to manage an increase in delegate attendance. Technology and event management software solutions have continued to develop throughout the recession, and many event management companies are now understanding that the tools and strategies they used pre-recession in 2008 are no longer up to scratch. With the development of social media and the increase in use of online tools, delegates expect more from their event hosts. The ability to register and pay, securely, online is something that should now come as standard as part of all events.

Again, event management software solutions should all contain the ability to create registration pages within the hosts website, and allow them to take payment online in a secure setting. It is vital that prospective delegates are taken to the hosts website, rather than that of a third party; directing traffic to the host website is now part of an integrated event marketing plan. From there, event managers can direct delegates through customised 'funnels', guiding them to the pages of importance and giving them a managed, controlled message at all times.

Although the UK is now officially out of recession, it is important that event managers continue to be aware of the limitations and restrictions on their events and their delegates. Utilising event management software tools will help to streamline the planning process and will also automate many of the smaller, more mundane jobs, freeing up managers to concentrate on more effective, strategic tasks.

Driving down the cost of planning and hosting events is important if the sector is to bounce back from the recession. The cost of attending has always been an issue for some delegates but even more so since the economy began to fall in 2008. Keeping costs of event planning low, and transferring this cost saving onto the delegate will help to boost the industry and its return to peak from the recession.

Event management software tools are now becoming one of the fastest areas of growth within the event sector. The reasons for this are clear; with more events being planned, event managers must utilise all tools available to create efficient, effective and successful events. Those companies not using event software will soon find themselves left behind.

Corporate Sports Hospitality Package - Its Importance To Your Business

Regardless of the nature of any business, loyal customers are hard to find. They are like pieces of jewelry which must be regarded with utmost value. The same is the case for top performing employees. There are many ways by which you can share quality time with these important people who keep your business running. One of which is availing a corporate sports hospitality package. It can either let your treasured business partners enjoy playing or watching a game with you and their other co-clients or co-workers.

Moving forward, you can also take potential clients whom you want to convert into loyal customers to events covered by packages like this. Having a first-class location in the game's venue or a private use of a sports site can allow you talk about business while enjoying a leisurely time with your prospect patrons.

In order to make the most out of this opportunity, there are some considerations which must be observed. These aim at picking the right corporate sports hospitality package to ensure great time among your attendees and to avoid waste of funds on your part.

Firstly, know the interest of your would-be guests. Would they love to watch a football game or play in a mini-golf tournament? After you have decided on the initial step, your next concern will be the date and venue of the event. If you plan to bring your guests to a finals game, then there would already be a set date and venue. All you have to do is inform your attendees of the details beforehand so that they would never miss it. If you are organizing a tournament for your guests, mark a date when they all would be available and a central location that is accessible to everyone.

To make corporate hospitality events such as this successful, you must take the effort to personally invite them to the occasion. Sending emails would definitely disseminate the information a lot quicker. However, it cannot ensure perfect attendance from the recipients. A few of them may opt not to attend but with a little persuasion from you, they might just change their minds. As you invite them, remind them of important details like observing the proper dress code so that they could enjoy the event more.

As you want your guests to feel valued, ensure that all the meals and refreshments they need are included in your chosen package. You would never want them to be paying for anything on that special day, right? If there is more time to spare, think of additional activities your company can host after the main event that you have set.

Holding corporate sports hospitality events on a regular basis could be the best tool for you to network and expand your customer base. These give you the right time and venue to find clients and new contacts. Additionally, these can attract highly competent people to stay or join your company. Yes, they come at a certain cost but they come with worthy rewards as well.

Tips to Effectively Survive Networking Events

Networking events are primarily organized to meet business and social networking needs of enterprises. Hundreds of professionals participate in networking events held at different points of time to make new contacts, generate effective leads, and develop business opportunities.

Networking is hard and very few are adept at this game of generating quality contacts. For most individuals such occasions tend to be full of situations which may be monotonous in nature and small talk. Every professional should be aware of the formalities and the etiquette in order to mingle with attendees to achieve their business goals. Let's talk about some tips which may prove to be effective and would help you make the most of these events.

Walk into the Room Smartly

Don't just stand still after entering the room where the event is being hosted. You can either look for your friends who are already there or else go to the registration desk to find out the whereabouts of the speaker or the host. Instead of heading straight towards your seat or the bar, it is good to meet up with your friends or join a group of people discussing the latest market trends or stock exchange reports.

Introduce Yourself

When meeting up a new person or a group, you should introduce yourself first, and then tell them a little about the company you work for, your designation and most importantly how being associated with you can benefit them. Don't just wait for others to ask what you do, etc. You should frame a small introductory paragraph in your mind which should ideally comprise of phrases that should easily catch the attention of your new friends. However, do not try to dominate the over the group and ensure that it doesn't sound like a speech.

Have Honest Conversations

It means you should participate in a conversation healthily and smartly - it should not look like you are forcing yourself to chat or trying very hard to butt into an interesting dialogue going on between some of the people. In case an individual asks you about your role you should explain it in plain, easy to understand terms without being too technical about it. Remember, your goal is to allow interested individuals to be acquainted with you and not listen to a sales pitch.

Give Your Business Card plus Collect Other's Cards

After a successful introductory phase and participating in useful discussions, it is now time to give your business card to the ones who in your assessment may be interested in doing business with you and your company. You should approach potential contacts and in turn ask them to give their cards for future follow ups. In this way, you can establish a personal and professional rapport with prospective clients and business associates. Also, you should note down their social networking link ups to be able to add them to your friend list.

Follow Up Post Event

Your research and physical presence in a networking event will go to waste unless you follow up with your contacts after the event! You should communicate with your target contacts at least 3 days post the meeting. It is better to email the person rather than to call him or her on the first instance. Once your target responds, find out the best ways to keep the conversation going!