Corporate Event Management is What You Need For Your Christmas Party This Year

This year you probably want to plan a Christmas party with your office staff. However, it can be very demanding trying to wrap things up for Christmas as well as trying to plan a party for everyone. This is where corporate event management comes in. You can hire companies who will be able to take care of everything including all bookings and all you need to do is give them a guest list and their fee.

This makes things a lot easier and also allows you to concentrate on wrapping everything up before you go on your holidays for Christmas. Sometimes it's all a bit stressful at the end of a year and everyone can't wait to get away - however, having a Christmas party means there's always something to look forward to.

Everyone will have worked hard over the last year and it's important to reward your staff accordingly. A nice Christmas party will allow everyone to relax and unwind ready for Christmas. However, it's a good idea to plan your Christmas party to take place shortly before you finish work for the year - otherwise everyone will wind down too early making it hard to get things done when you're back at work.

Ideally you should plan the party to take place about two or three days before the end of the working year. This way you allow for a winding down atmosphere on the last couple of days and this can really help your staff get into the Christmas swing of things.

However, if you're finishing work a while before Christmas then you may want to think about having the party after you all finish work. This way you don't have to worry about a thing. Just be sure to find the right corporate event management company so that you don't even need to worry about that.

Take your time to have a look around online and ask around to see if anyone knows of a decent corporate event management company that they've dealt with before. Take your time and don't be afraid to spend quite a bit of money on your party this year - you've earned it!

Corporate Team-Building Event Trends For 2009

Corporate Team Building Event Planning

Team Building Events consists of several event types such as Meetings, Product Launches, Tradeshows, Conventions, and Reward & Recognition Events. Along with the various corporate event types there are key components to all event planning elements. Here are a few things to consider:

·         When establishing the team building meeting agenda for a conference, event and meeting,  planners need to use the opening general session to have leaders reinforce the objective, recognition and key messages of the program.

·         Incorporate event elements that spark and engage the Five Senses - Taste, Sight, Smell, Touch, and Sound

·         It is important to incorporate corporate entertainment into the convention agenda - - this helps break up formal presentations.

·         Try to incorporate a Trade Show or mini Exhibition Hall into your Corporate Event or Convention. This can help networking for industry professionals and current and potential sponsors to mete and network. In some cases an Expo can help provide revenue for operating for the company organizers.

·         Creating fundraising events can maximize fundraising value if incorporated an element of an annual conference or convention

·         Finally Corporate Events should incorporate a closing evening reception. By adding this event element you allow attendees a chance to network and discuss the event.

2009 will be the Year for TEAMS to GO GREEN

An Grean Team Event is an event that takes into consideration the environmental impacts of the occasion as well as the social effects and bringing associates together for a common cause at the same time.  This includes everything from transportation, marketing material, to catering and travel. Eco-friendly Events helps differentiate a company from the others. It shows your commitment to the improvement of our environment and will make your organization stand out as a leader in your industry.

In order to achieve a Green Event, events should be organized electronically, minimize carbon emissions for travelling key guest speakers, delegates and executives. The goal is to save energy, practice recycling, and adopt environmentally-thoughtful measures wherever practical and possible.

 Some of the design basics for Green Events are as follows:

"Don't Rip it.....Click it"

Provide Online Registration for your guest instead of paper invites and RSVP's - online registration management systems can be totally paperless, preserving our trees and minimizing paper waste. Guest, key speakers, and organizers can receive all communications electronically, from venue location, to directions and maps, to all joining instructions.

"Keep the Scene Green"

Green Decor - For Décor, use rental items to reduce waste and L.E.D. lighting will help reduce energy.  Design arrangements will be more commonly taller and grander, due to the economic challenges people tend to stray away from conforming to the obstacles faced. If a company is going to invest in an event they will ensure they get the best for the dollar. Taller arrangements set a sense of elegance and grandeur. You should also consider utilizing a florist that offers the following:

·         Fair Trade Flowers

·         Organic and Edible Blooms from Eco-conscious Growers

·         Recycled containers

·         Incorporating elements such as fruit and herbs to your centerpieces (Organic Botanicals)

Green Corporate Transportation - With today's Automotive Companies taking a conscious approach to preserving our environment and producing a large number of fuel efficient Hybrid vehicles, there is a large number of luxury hybrid vehicles available for all corporate events.

Corporate Team Gift Bags - The key to a successful Corporate Team Building Event is creating a lasting impression of your company's brand and  associates, and what better way to achieve that but through offering corporate giveaways with your company's brand logo. There are many promotional Eco-friendly gifts that will incorporate a company's logo and still maintain the quality of a non-eco friendly item. These promotional items are made of recycled, bio-degradable, and/or energy efficient products.

Here are some examples:

·         Bamboo USB Drive

·         Solar Powered Garden Lights - These lights include a place for a company logo to be imprinted

·         Recycled Tote Bag

·         Water Power Desk Clock - No batteries required. The user just fills up the holding tank with a small amount of water

·         Note pad and pen made of recycled paper

·         Pen Caddy - A desk item that is not only eco friendly but stylish. It is made of bamboo with a zebra stripe design. The company made a whole line of coordinating desk accessories

·         Bamboo T-Shirt - This is just a sample of the apparel available out of bamboo. Company logos can be done with tradition silk screening or embroidery.

Team Building Events - Build Productivity and More With 5 Important Guidelines

Team efforts are an integral portion of any successful company. Whether it is a company with ten employees or a Fortune 500 corporation, teamwork builds companies. Without effective teamwork, productivity and profits suffer. While almost every business owner and corporate executive realizes the importance of team building, making it happen is often an elusive task.

Human resource departments are often the creators of team building events. Effectively creating these events is a task that sometimes has difficult parameters. There are no specific numbers or measurements to be placed on the results and there are no set venues for creating them. Key elements of successful team building events involves activities indoor or out that requires creative energies, innovating thinking, and tasks to build camaraderie. Results of effective experiences are felt throughout the participating groups and can last the life of the company.

So, how do you generate, plan, and coordinate effective team building events? There is no simple answer. Using creativity to come up with an original idea fosters unique activities bringing a team together for tasks at hand. Consider the following 5 tips when designing your team's activities:

• 1. Establish a business purpose and goals before planning your event.


• 2. If possible, hold your event offsite.


• 3. Mix up team members.


• 4. Provide opportunities for teams to compete against each other.


• 5. Consider using a professional team building service to build your event.

Let's look at the specifics:

1. Establish a business purpose and goals before planning your event.
Creating a business purpose before the event will work best. Determine your goals, and then structure the activities within the event so they help to accomplish the goals. If your company is already structured so employees share visions, purposes, and missions on a regular basis then an occasion to work together in an entertaining setting will naturally improve employee contributions at work. If you are ready to build employee relations, improve productivity, and establish more company loyalty, giving your employees an energetic, fun experience of working together will help in each of these areas. There are a number of ways to generate ideas and you can test the waters by having your own in-house event.

For example, create teams to come up with stress reliever breaks. Have each team implement their stress relieving methods for one month. At the end of the two months have employees vote for their favorite. Provide rewards for members of the winning group.

2. If possible, hold your team building event offsite.
One thing is certain, recent studies suggest that building an effective team with a specific activity occurs at locations other than the company facilities. Even when company directives are involved, to get together to plan strategies, assign team functions, and build team spirits, taking your people off-site works best.

3. Mix up team members.
As you assemble teams make sure to mix up the members. Don't use traditional managers, and groups to create the team. Make sure you have members of each team that don't normally communicate with each other. This helps to build bonds between departments.

Generating activities that are not centered on specific job descriptions helps to create anticipation and excitement. Creating fun, yet challenging objectives for these events gets even the most traditionally somber person into a different mode of action. While some of your employees may seem a bit hesitant at first, once they see other members of the team taking action, they will become more involved. The goal is to generate actions and input from every member of each team.

4. Provide opportunities for teams to compete against each other.
Teams competing against each other helps foster a winning attitude. This winning attitude automatically carries over into the normal workplace. Try planning a program that is easily followed up with meaningful workplace activities once the event is over. Implementing the use of newly acquired behavioral changes within the workplace is crucial to long-lasting successful change.

5. Consider using a professional service to build your event.
Another solution for planning a successful event that will meet your goals is to use the services of professional companies that specialize in hosting and planning team building events to suit your needs. This can often be the best solution to quickly improve production and relationships between employees. Companies specializing in these types of events can work with your unique needs to provide just the right mix of activities for the results you require. Don't expect dull and boring. More and more companies create motivating, challenging, and exciting events that get immediate action from team members.

Some popular events designed to get the most from employees are scavenger hunts, games, culinary activities and even a new trend called philanthropic team building. Events can be anywhere from lighthearted to more serious training session games. Whatever your needs, experts can help plan just the right event.

Leadership qualities, management skills, and the ability to work with others are the concerns of all companies. Giving employees positive, fun experiences motivates them, thus maximizing out-put. Developing goals for the event, finding an offsite location, mixing up team members, providing competition scenarios and hiring a professional are 5 guidelines that lead to successful events and ultimately more cohesion and teamwork among your employees.

First Steps For Planning Your Event

One you have decided why you are holding your event, and have investigated its feasibility, as an event manager, you have to start putting a plan together. There are many factors that have to be taken into account when planning even the simplest event, there are staff to arrange, venues to find, equipment to source and tickets or invitations to send out.

First things first - all good event managers make lists

Over the years - one of the most effective tools I have come across when planning for an event is a simple, handwritten list. Although these days I use my computer to schedule my tasks, sometimes it is still easier to collect my thoughts together with nothing more than a sheet of blank paper and a pencil. It doesn't really matter how you organize these thoughts, it may be chronologically or it may be by section of the event.

The Event Management Framework

Once you have established the initial plan of action, you should start to fill in the gaps and add detail to each of the sections. At the same time you can start to put the action points into an order of priority - with the most important elements first, followed by the less important ones.

This planning document will start to form the framework which will help you through the event planning process, and will guide you through how you are going to run the event successfully. This plan will be with you through the entire event planning process, the live event and the evaluation stages.

It is important to cover as many areas as possible in this first instance, as the more thought you give to the event at this stage, the more successful and stress free your event will be.

Have you managed this event before?

Many events occur on an annual basis, or are at least similar in some ways to events that have happened in the past? A conference for one client will have many similar attributes to a conference for a new client.

Unless you really have never done an event of this type before (in which case I seriously suggest you find a freelance manager who has) you should be able to look at the planning that took place and use many of the ideas and techniques from the last event.

Not only will this help you to save time in the initial planning stages (as you will have a pre-determined list of all the things you have to do) but it will also help you to ensure you do not miss any of the elements.

At the end of every event you should evaluate what you did - which will allow you to learn lessons from previous events.

These lessons should be both positive and negative - remember for every one thing that went wrong, ten things will have gone right - so learn from the good as well as the bad.

Who is going to do what?

Once you have decided which activities have to take place, you need to decide who is going to do them. For a small event, it may be that you manage many of the elements on your own - but on the day of the event it is usual for many more people to get involved.

When planning for you event, you need to see which skills you require, and recruit the right people for the right tasks.

Once you have the right people in place, you not only need to let them know what they have to do, but when they have to do it, where they have to do it and why they have to do it - so that they can see where their part of the planning process fits into the overall event planning process.

Planning is one of the most critical elements of event management - and the management of the planning process is even more important. Knowing that every aspect of the event is covered will make the event run a lot more smoothly, and be a lot less hassle for all event management and production staff.

Understanding Business Development Ideas For Event Management Industry

What is Event Management?

Event management refers to methods of outsourcing business occasions, social occasions, or a combination of both. There is no limit to the business development ideas for an event management business. It is possible to organize every kind of event ranging from wedding to a political rally. An event management team can be retained for any type of business meeting.

500 Billion Dollar Industry:

Last 15 years have witnessed a tremendous growth in the field of event management. If we add the amount of money spent on event management all over the world in one year it comes to a whopping 500 billion dollars. Gone are the days when we could do with hiring only a small catering team that supplies the food for a business event. If you wish to make an impression on your potential clients today, hiring a meeting management company is a necessity.

Events of Any Range Can Be Managed:

If you wish to start an event management business and you are looking for business development ideas for it then you will be happy to know that you can start this business for any range. It is possible to manage an event for only a small group of people. On the other hand, you can manage mega events for five thousand people and more.

People prefer to choose an event management team that is known for its expertise in this field. When you plan an event, it not only consumes your valuable time but also produces much stress. Event management business owners have contacts in this field and they can offer you the best possible services at the most competitive prices.

Manage Accommodation and Entertainment:

As an event management business, when you organize an event involving five thousand people for a whole day, you should not assume that catering is the most difficult thing to manage. Accommodation and entertainment are also very important for managing such large events. You also require sufficient and efficient staff for the event. Moreover, you also have to plan about the size of the room, seating arrangements, and the total budget of the event. If you do not have enough expertise to deal with all of these factors, you may face difficulties in running event management business successfully.

External Factors Affecting Event Management Business:

Several external factors also affect the growth of the event management industry. Some of these factors are the rate of the growth of economy, lifestyle, and changing characteristics of the people living in the area. Tourism and branding activities like festivals and corporate activities such as conferences, product launches, award ceremonies, and gala dinners are under the scope of event management business. Key factors for the success of an event management business are reputation, network, service promotion, links with the suppliers, and high quality managerial skills.

Event Planners - Why You Need These Specialists At Your Next Event

What does this person do?

Event organizers are either a person or company that takes care of promotional events. This job is made up of a number of tasks. It starts from the planning stage all the way to the actual execution of the event.

In the planning stage, the organizer will meet with you. He or she will discuss your event down to the last detail. You will have to work around your budget and figure out how much you are willing to spend. You can hold your event in a number of ways. Some companies like to hold parties while others might want to have a musical performance.

Once you figure out what you want, event organizers turn into logistic experts. They have so many contacts that they can find the right artist to fit your company's image. After all, you want to avoid alienating your audience. Do not hire a rock band when the average guest age is around 50. Hire a smooth jazz band instead. This is something you have to think about carefully when planning the entertainment portion of your party.

Aside from entertainment, event organizers can help you find the right caterer for your function. You cannot call it a party if you do not have food to serve. For an organizer, this is not a problem. They can find you a reliable caterer and wait staff for your party. It is important to keep the food and drink flowing throughout the proceedings. If you have prepared an Audio-Visual Presentation (AVP), part of their job is to find you a technical crew. It is important to have electronic technicians around. You have to make sure all your AV equipment are hooked up and working properly.

Event organizers have to be one step ahead of everyone else. Look for this skill when hiring a person or company for your product launch or party. Certain clients have specific needs or requests. Make sure you meet these so your guests can relax and enjoy themselves.

What other services do they offer?

During your party, you will see event organizers passing around questionnaires. Product launches make use of this response form, especially if a client wants feedback right away. Sometimes, the survey forms are just left on the table for guests to fill out. Once the party is over, the team of your event organizer will collect them.

Who has the final say?

As a client, you have the final say whether to push through with certain activities. For example, the band you hire will only perform four songs. In case you want them to sing more, it will cost you. You need to let your organizer know in advance. Unlike accountants, events planners are not concerned with costs. What they do is more along the lines of task administration and implementation. If you find some costs unreasonable, an organizer will suggest alternatives but not necessarily ways on cutting down expenses.

How much will it cost?

It really boils down to whom you hire for the job. If you go with a popular firm, expect to pay more. Experienced event organizers charge higher because of an established reputation. The benefit you get is their expertise and professionalism during your party.

For those who want to save, go with untested events planners. Since they are trying to break into the industry, expect to pay a lower price for their services. A lot of these new groups are eager to please since they want to increase their client contact list.

A memorable product launch or party is not complete without the right event organizers. Make sure you do research before hiring one. The Internet is a great resource if you want the latest packages. You can also ask family and friends as well. They might have worked with a good one before.

Enterprise Resource Planning - How ERP Systems Can Help Your Business

Businesses are constantly looking for ways to streamline their processes. The ability to unite the data from a range of business departments can work wonders in helping you plan your business processes going forward. Luckily, with the advances in computer technology this ability has become a reality. This article will highlight how ERP systems can help you plan your business.

Finance and accounting
One of the most important business areas to monitor is the finance department. You want to ensure you have a good overview of all the payments made to and from your business. ERP allows you to keep on top of your budgeting, cash management, receivables, payables, and more.

Customer relationship management
Probably the second most important consideration is the management of your customer relationships. After all, it is you customers that make your business what it is. With a good ERP system, you will be able to effortlessly manage your customer care and customer service strategies, as well as have a detailed insight into your sales and marketing strategies.

Manufacturing
Knowing exactly what goes into your manufacturing processes in terms of time and money will help you effectively plan and price your projects. With enterprise resource planning you can easily monitor workflow, the engineering process, and all of the associated costs that go into the manufacturing process.

Project management
As with manufacturing, knowing how your business currently handles its project management gives you a great insight into planning better strategies for the future. ERP systems allow you to keep an eye on all areas of project management, from the overall time taken through to all of the costing and billing associated with a particular project.

Human resources
Without efficient monitoring, your human resources department can eat unnecessary chunks out of your budget. By having an ERP system in place, you'll be able to monitor all of your HR processes, including training, recruitment, and payroll. You can use this data to help you plan your HR activity for the future.

Supply chain management
A good ERP system will allow you to keep an eye on all of those activities that happen around your business too. You can check up on purchasing, supplier scheduling, commissions, and all of your orders, helping you find ways to reduce your supply chain costs.

Access control and customisability
Finally, you can use enterprise resource planning systems to fully tailor your business processes. You can control who can access certain data sets and you can even use external programming companies to tweak your ERP so that it is in line with all of your business activities.

The Missing Link in Security Information & Event Management - Application Level Events Detection

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Security Information and Event management projects today is integrating application level data and events to provide detailed user-centric auditing, detect internal fraud and comply with new regulations. The ability to detect user behavior and application level events is not available with most if not all SIEM products and reduces the overall value they produced in comparison to their potential. In basic terms, Security Information and Event Management applications are looking at doorways and windows but not at the treasure room, your business applications.

Since basic application logs have insufficient data and are I/O heavy, a non-intrusive approach is required to detect, transform and route all relevant events to the SIEM applications in their required format. Providing non-intrusive event detection while offloading detection, formatting and routing from the business application server is crucial. Enabling behavioral pattern analysis using pre-defined patterns, existing SIEM logic and external data correlation for real-time detection and reaction will be the next big step to minimize internal fraud.

The SIEM market has been evolving rapidly proving its value in a complex organizational world built on a plethora of IT components of various types. The need to manage large amounts of data created by these components, document the data, archive it and detect problems and issues arising from the actual events has made SIEM applications necessary. However, for various reasons such as vendor line of business and integration issues, the focus of information gathering and correlation of events has remained on the technical components of the IT network: Routers, Switches, Firewalls, Servers, etc. There has been little if any emphasis on the actual business applications where relevant actions, business processes and potential damage and fraudulent activity can actually be performed.

The current situation with most SIEM deployemtns is indeed very problematic; all the peripherals are audited and guarded while the real honey pot, the "vault" with all the money in it, isn't taken care of. It is in the business applications that the actual actions are being performed, good or bad, and that is where the emphasis should be. Since organizations cannot dive into their application code and change it to log and route relevant events, and do it again and again when regulation or business requirements change, a non-intrusive approach is a must as long as it can provide in-depth, user-session level visibility to user-application behavior. This means application code needs no changes, log management is unnecessary, and application servers are not over-loaded by logging I/O operations which result in performance downgrade.

Additional challenges would be transforming the data before it is fed to the SIEM application to solve mapping issues and parameter definitions which must be determined to help the SIEM application understand the data it is receiving. Another main issue is the ability to deal with large throughputs for monitoring events from several applications per node, off-loading computation and I/O from them and routing and feeding events to relevant targets such as a SIEM application.

Only then will SIEM deployments be able to detect every event or specific behaviors based on predefined patterns and only then will SIEM applications fulfill their true potential. SIEM application can then gather critical, application level data and events, comply with tougher regulations and detect internal frauds by correlating this data with it existing data.

Planning a Promotional Event

Planning a promotional event requires a lot of time and dedication. It is important to allow ample time for proper planning as well as a good budget to keep your event on track. You may also want to enlist the help of an associate or friend to help keep you focused and on track.

The first thing you need to do is pick a date for your event. Make sure to check with local calendars as well as find out if there are any events going on at other businesses or organizations. You also want to make sure the day you pick is during fair weather months- it doesn't make much sense to hold an outdoor event in the middle of winter if you live in Ohio.

Once you have selected a date, you need to start working on the event schedule. Having a set timeline will make it easier to break down the tasks you need to accomplish to have a great event.

You will also want to do plenty of advertising. You can get Screen Printing done on banners to hang around your community. You can also create flyers. A Web site dedicated to promoting your event, or page if you already have a site, is a great way to keep people updated as to the progress of the event.

Be sure to have plenty of help lined up for the day of the event. If you are not using a catering company, you will need people to make sure your guests have everything they need. You also want to be sure your help is educated on the event schedule so they can answer questions about the day.

How to Choose an Event Management Company?

Corporate events are an important component of every business. It is a good venue for business individuals to gather together for a common objective - to collaborate ideas for business success.

The success of a corporate event gathering greatly depends on how you organize it - how it is planned so that everything runs smoothly and according to your plan. To achieve a successful event, you would want to hire an event management company to take care of some important tasks - organizing participants, hosting, setting-up the venue - while you focus doing the core objectives.

However, choosing an event management company could be a challenge to any business. The moment you decide to hire an event company, you will have to choose the most qualified - which one is the best?

Here are some tips aimed at giving you some useful ideas about choosing an event management company:

• Do some research - the Internet is a huge repository of useful information about these event management companies. You can start building your list of prospects with the help of the Internet.

• Validate research offline - when you have your list from the Internet, it should be validated offline. In other words, you have to verify if those companies really exist or have actual offices. You can do the verification process using business directories.

• Read reviews - reviews are an important basis in judging a company's reputation because these come from previous clients or from other individuals who want to share information useful to potential customers.

• Check history of complaints - it also helps if you check whether or not your prospects have history of complaints. More than one or two complaints should suggest something and should give you a reason to be more cautious.

• Ask for quotes - ask quotes and compare as this is an effective way for you to have a good picture of their packages and weigh if one offer is better than the other.

• Examine the facilities - many corporate events need facilities and equipment to make them successful. These could include the materials in setting up the venue (e.g. stage, chairs and tables), the technology needed, the lightings, etc. Check what you need and if the event company is able to provide it.

• Ask people - asking your relatives, close friends, and colleagues about certain event companies they know can also give you useful insight and will help you to choose the most qualified one.

25th Anniversary Party Planning - Keys To Success

Invitations: When deciding on a guest list, be sure to invite the couples' friends, family members and neighbors. Get as many member of their wedding party to attend as possible, and in the invitation, ask guests to bring photos to share with the couple. The invitations may also be an ideal time to reveal the theme of the party, as well as the dress code. You'll probably want some silver in the invitation (for their silver anniversary) and, if possible, you may wish to include the same colors that the couple used in their wedding invitations. Or, for modern design ideas, including invitations with pictures, visit the WeddingPaperDivas website. If you intend to have food at the party, be sure to ask everyone to RSVP in enough time to allow you to plan accordingly.

Decorations: A couple's 25th anniversary is known as their silver anniversary, so keep this in mind while choosing decorations. You may want to hang silver stars from the ceiling as part of a "romantic starry night" theme. You may purchase them in different shapes, sizes, and designs at StumpsParty website. Silver balloons, which can be personalized with the couples' names and date of their anniversary, as well as silver confetti, are also available at orientaltrading.com. Votive candles, especially in silver and navy blue, may be set around the room and lit when the couple enters.

Food: First, decide if you will be having a full meal or hors d'oeuvres. If you plan on serving appetizers only, accent tables with personalized silver napkins and cutlery. For a list of delicious and elegant recipes, look at foodandwine.com/articles/10-simple-hors-doeuvres. You may choose wine and other beverages to accompany each snack. Consider having small tables, each with a snack and wine pairing, so that guests know which flavors go best together. This will also encourage people to walk around the room and mingle with one another. You may also want to include a dessert table, with individualized anniversary cupcakes and other small sweets, such as heart-shaped chocolates.

Party Favors: For a unique and special treat, order chocolate dipped oreos with the couple's photo and wedding date on it. These are available in white, milk, or dark chocolate, and will be a memorable and tasty gift for each guest. Champagne gel candles or champagne candy jar favors are also a fun way to commemorate the celebration. Guests can then take these favors with them and display them in their homes. Finally, if the couple is particularly eco-friendly, consider sending guests home with plantable bookmarks, complete with the couples' name and anniversary date, as well as a unique or inspirational phrase that they enjoy.

Diva Entertains, Copyright 2010

Make Money Right Now As an Event Planner

Let's face it, companies and individuals are always planning events. They have to for a number of reasons. First of all, individuals like to throw birthday parties, anniversary parties, and other events. Then you have the business that throws seminars, meetings, and other events to help them promote their product or their service.

No matter what the occasion, someone has to plan these events and it might as well be you. You can make a pretty penny doing this sort of thing. You can consult with the individuals in charge of the event and plan everything from start to finish. You can cover every single little detail, assign jobs to those involved, arrange for catering, and so much more.

As for how you can get this going on as your business, you have to market yourself. This means a website, newspaper ads, and so much more. You need to do a great job so that the businesses and individuals you do work for will refer you to other individuals and businesses. This is important so that you can keep the business coming in.

So if you have a knack for planning things and getting them done, this is perhaps the thing for you. You can really get into it, make things work as smoothly as possible, and so much more. The people you do the work for will be very appreciative of the fact that they don't have to really lift a finger. The only thing that they have to do is consult with you so that you know what they want.

How to Ensure a Sell-Out New Year Party? 4 Great Marketing Ideas

This New Year you can ensure maximum footfall at your event by opting for online marketing in addition to the usual traditional advertising campaigns that you so religiously invest in every year. Perhaps the most important fact about online event marketing is that it is relatively less expensive and yet gives you tremendous exposure and visibility over a longer duration of time.

Today, there is hardly any organization that does not have some form of online presence on social media platforms. Social media happens to be the buzzword amongst marketing teams worldwide since they provide remarkable marketing opportunities for a variety of products, services, events or classes.

Here are 4 great marketing ideas to ensure that you have a sold out New Year party.

Posting on Your Facebook Wall

Introduce your company; share its history and milestones along with an update on the upcoming events. It is very important to build up mutual trust and compatibility before you opt for a hardcore, promotional strategy. Gain acceptance from social media users and be honest in your post. Write interesting content about your New Year party and how anyone can easily register to have a fabulous time. You can also provide the online registration link along with attractive photos of your past New Year events and video clips to arouse genuine interest amongst people.

Tweeting About Your Events

Mention about your New Year party registration and payment processes, etc. on Twitter, the leading micro-blogging site. However, while tweeting, ensure that your tweets are appealing to people so that they respond or re-tweet. Also, it is better to limit the number of tweets per day to say maximum of 5 to avoid confusion with too much event information and ideas.

Maintaining an Online Calendar

To ensure maximum event attendance, you should create and maintain an online calendar. These calendars will normally contain the description, date, and timing of your upcoming New Year festivals. Audiences on a global scale can easily stay updated about your programs since only a small section of the interested people can actually make it to your office to check what programs you are organizing to welcome a grand new year 2013! You can also add your event registration hyperlink with each event detail on a web-based calendar for maximum sign ups.

Update Your Website and Blog Friends

At the cost of marketing your New Year party on social media, you must not ignore the loyal website visitors and blog readers. They should be targeted seriously as you never know which of your loyal followers may be equally eager to participate in your New Year bash.

The Business Model Canvas - Is the New Approach Really Better?

I've come across references to a "new" strategic planning tool called the "business model canvas" in a few places recently. As with other "new" tools, it does offer a different way to structure how you think about your business. But how new is this tool, really?

The most common approach to the business model canvas is to segment your thinking about your business into a small number of topics - such as customer segmentation, channels, customer relationships, value proposition, key resources, key activities and key partnerships. In some ways, this appears to match up to Porter's Five Forces model, though it can - and will, in practice - ignore key environmental forces. This limitation saves critical time in the process of assessing and communicating strategy, but may lead to critical errors in strategy formulation in industries where environmental forces are in tremendous flux, such as health care.

Customers vs. Channels

The basic business model canvas - correctly - places great emphasis on the flow of value to the customer. Interestingly, channels are treated entirely separately from customer segmentation, despite the fact that the value proposition may be more advantageous to channels (fitting into a retail channel's distribution strategy, for example) or to customers (offering a superior product or service regardless of how well it works for any channel). Failure to assess these advantages holistically can be crippling. A product which flows smoothly through a specific channel may have very low appeal to customers, and risks rapid displacement if other channel concepts become widespread. Similarly, a product which has high customer appeal may still stagnate if the dominant channel architecture does not fit key attributes of the product. In many industries - manufacturing or service - it is the holistic compromise embodied in your value proposition which really determines your success or failure at any given time, and separate assessment may create a blind spot around this phenomenon.

Strategic Competency; the Importance of Differentiation

I find the canvas approach to assessing "key resources" and "key activities" to be interesting. In Strategic Planning, we began a practical application of Prahalad and Hamel's concept of Strategic Competency, which has become a cornerstone of the most successful strategies of recent years. In practice, using the canvas categories, you would likely find your strategic competency somewhere in one of these two boxes - but, unfortunately, other strategic assets might be mixed in with competency in "key resources" and the core competency may or may not be recognized as the focus of the most important "key activities". Still, many companies may find they can correctly identify strategic competency using this categorization, so it may be useful. Indeed, it may be a useful tool for identifying strategic competency in a more thorough strategic planning process. That being said, a thorough examination of strategic competency backed up by market data is a far better way to approach this critical part of the strategic planning process. Most importantly, I would contend that the fact that most people have approached strategic competency incorrectly, and failed to adequately use the tool to build clear differentiation is the main reason why people like to back up to a more simplistic approach such as "critical resources" and "critical activities". There is no substitute for competency-based differentiation, and true differentiation of a focused competency is the single biggest factor in strategic success.

Adaptability to Changing Business Conditions

One of the main advantages that has been touted for the business model canvas is the ability to "pivot" your strategy and rapidly change the structure of your business to fit new strategic realities. The very simple analysis of a few key strategy elements may indeed be useful for some companies in this area, although deployment and execution aren't really a strong suit of this approach. Certainly, a strong, objective, competency-based strategic plan can be a much more useful tool for rapid adaptation to environmental change, especially since the business model canvas can be used to dangerously skirt critical issues. Part of any strategic planning process should be a rigorous monitoring process which allows for course corrections when business conditions change. Monitoring is key to the success of any strategic planning process. At best, the business model canvas is a novel tool for business model innovation in industries where certain environmental variables (regulation and technology, for example) are more constant. As a replacement for a simplified model of strategic planning and execution, it shows many shortcomings.

Have you used this tool in your business - or wondered how you might change your approach to innovation? Please let me know your experiences, both good and bad - it's the best way we all can learn about tools that can aid the strategic planning process.

Online Party Linen Rentals Make for a Fun, Affordable Event

Unless you run a large-scale event planning company and have access to endless storage space, chances are high that you'll have more luck saving if you get your napkin and tablecloth rentals online. In addition to offering a larger selection than locally owned party linen rental companies, you'll find that online linen rental is cheaper, simpler to order and, like all online shopping, much less time-consuming than looking for local businesses and dealing with people directly. While a number of local establishments that offer table linens for rent will provide you with great service, they can't match the selection of online vendors. Here's why.

For Party Linen, "Rental" Means No Cleaning and No Worries

Unless you have professional experience with large scale cleaning, you probably have no idea what cleaning a room's worth of table linens. For rentals, this isn't an issue. The vast majority of tablecloth rental businesses that operate online (or at least the majority of the ones who are worth the money) offer cleaning services and set-up. Smaller operations are often shorthanded, so even if you find table linens for rent from a smaller company, you may need to pay more and do most of the set up work.

You Can Come Up With Your Color Palette Far in Advance

Because online linen rental companies tend to post their entire inventory online, you'll have a much better chance to examine their offerings and decide on your preferred color palette weeks, or even months, before your event. By deciding on your tablecloth rentals online, you'll be able to make other critical decisions, including your cutlery, flowers, and even what to wear to the event. In many cases, online party linen rental companies even include algorithms that make suggestions as to which table linens you should rent, matching napkins to tablecloths and even to centerpieces. Compared to going to a warehouse and sorting through linen swatches, scrolling through a selection is much more efficient and allows more creativity.

Finding Coupons for Online Tablecloth Rentals is Easy

It doesn't matter what the occasion is-saving money is always welcome. The internet is known for its great deals, and searching for promo codes and other offers is incredibly simple. You can either do a search or simply go to the online linen rental company's website. During certain seasons, you'll be able to save quite a bit of money, leaving you with the means to go all out on catering and other event essentials. Look for bundle deals-discounted napkins for every order of party linen rentals, discounts when you order a certain number of table linens, or coupons for future rent services.

Event Planners - Sit at Home and Relax at Your Own Special Event

Are you thinking to host any party or event in the most fascinating, stylish and vibrant city of New York? Planning any event require lots of concentration. New York event planning requires proper management and planning. Whether it is small personal event or big corporate event, it requires lots of work. It is a subject of hectic and proper management. Event can be any event such as personal party, corporate event, birthday party, wedding ceremony, etc. Every event requires lot of attention on every arrangement be it small to big. It is difficult to plan event in New York because everyday lots of parties are held there. Therefore, it is tough to make all the arrangements on the time.

In that case, you should hire professional NYC event planners that are able to plan your event effectively. There are various features of event planners such as:

o Resource Knowledge: a good event planner has good knowledge of goods and its prices. They know the perfect price and quality of goods and services. Like, they know from where to purchase everything from wedding cake to marquee. It save lots of your precious time.
o Stress relief: a perfect event planner make you feel relax and stress free. They can do all the arrangements on the time and suitable as per the event. They can also supervise every arrangement during the party or event.
o Ideas: a professional event planner offers you unique ideas to make your event memorable. They have new and imaginative ideas for decorating an event. They have enough ideas that you can never think of.
o Scheduling expertise: a good event planner knows how much time the florist, decorator, pastry chef, and caterer are likely to need. They can arrange perfect venue for your special event. They know how other factors can have an impact on your event schedule.
o Contract expertise: they are familiar with your event contracts. A professional event planner knows what is standard and what is not. It can save lots of money.

The work of planning any special occasion lies in the hand of someone involved with event. There are lots of event planning companies in New York that offer the services to organize your event properly so that your event becomes memorable for everyone. Your guests will not forget your special event as the time fades away. Each and every aspect of your event can be supervised properly such as decoration, catering, lighting, seating, entertainment, etc. If you hire an experienced event planner, it means you give away all your tensions, frustrations and problems. The experts of events planning can make all the arrangements as per your event requirements.

One thing you should always remember that your New York event planning company should be cost effective who can make all the arrangements according to your budget.

Public Speaking - Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Have a Signature Speech Ready to Deliver Now

Public speaking is one of the most powerful forms of marketing your business. In fact, if you don't have a speech ready to present on a moment's notice you could be missing out on golden opportunities to market your business to audiences filled with your ideal target market. Don't miss out! Create what I call a Signature Speech and you'll be positioned for success.

1. Other Speakers Cancel: Speakers are people, too. They have lives and sometimes have emergencies and need to pull out of speaking engagements at the last minute. If event planners in your target market know you have a Signature Speech ready to present on a moment's notice, your phone will be the first to ring and you'll get the opportunity to speak to that audience.

2. Event Planners Procrastinate: Event planners are people, too. They are busy with lots of tasks to handle. Often event planners for the types of groups who need regular speakers are volunteers. It can be easy to let a volunteer duty fall by the wayside. You'll be a hero if you can be available to speak with just a few days' notice.

3. You Get a Call from a Decision Maker: The last thing you want to do when an event planner/decision maker invites you to speak is to hesitate and have to "get back" to that person, even with plenty of notice. While you're trying to decide if your speech is ready, someone else is saying yes to the spot and you'll be, as the old saying goes, "a day late and a dollar short."

4. Use it at Networking Events: Often at networking events, attendees are invited to stand up and say a few words about their businesses. You can use a few of the details from your Signature Speech to give the other attendees a taste of what your speech is about and tell them you're available to deliver it to their groups.

5. Use it in Your 30-Second Intro: Do you panic when someone asks, "What do you do?" When you have a Signature Speech ready, you can confidently answer, "I deliver speeches to audiences of [insert your target market here] about [insert the topic of your speech]." That will get the conversation started-- and possibly get you invited to speak!

Having your Signature Speech prepared can help you achieve your goals faster by giving you more credibility, getting you more clients, and providing you more cash flow from public speaking.

So You Want to Become an Event Planner?

If you desire an exciting job with a high salary, and an urge to use your creativity, then event planning is the right business for you! When people consider the role of an event planner, they usually envision a job with a lavish life, working in a luxury hotel, dining on a connoisseur feast, and traveling to far-fetched destinations. But what they overlook is the time these planners invest to produce a detailed orchestrate of the program throughout their struggle. When choosing to become an event planner, you must choose a domain to specialize in. For instance, a bbq catering company is known for the quality food it provides, whereas wedding catering are one of the best marriage planners in town, preparing the best food for your wedding.

The profession of event planning is growing on a global basis, and is in demand all around the world. If you are entering this industry, you will have a wide range of options available. Before choosing this field, there are some things that you should consider. These points, which should be kept in mind, are as follows:

• When starting an event planning service, keep in mind the start-up costs. However, these costs might vary according to the services that you intend to offer. In the beginning, some of the things that you will definitely need include laptop, business cards, a dedicated small team and a small organization of some sort. Other necessities might vary as per your specialized domain, for instance if you are starting a catering service, you might need a kitchen and related utensils, etc.

• The work of an event planner is not as glamorous as it looks. You will often have to spend time managing small meetings in a conference room or a hotel. You will be surrounded by binders, notes, phone calls, immediate meetings, and thousands of e-mails. What you need to possess is strong organization expertise, and the ability to apprehend quickly what your event guests would want.

• Develop the best skills related to event planning field by taking courses and receiving certifications. This way, you will gain some experience in different areas, with marketing, management and sales, to be specific.

• To become the best event manager, you need to present a professional image of yourself. This will not only help you gain popularity, but also help you market your newly formed company. Make sure that all your e-mails, cards and invoices bear your company logo and have a good visual presentation. Within few days, you will probably see some good results as the network will expand, and many people will be joining and recommending your company for managing other events.

• Develop a website and fill it with a lot of useful content which will give you a high ranking in search engines and provide you with a powerful marketing tool, so that your business gets promoted. This is one of the strongest methods to promote your business and will take your business at its peak. Make sure that you include all your e-mails and correspondence in your website, so that visitors can easily contact you when they visit your website.

The Personality of an Event Venue

If you build it, they will come. Unfortunately, this axiom does not necessarily work in the event venue world. Not all conference spaces are created equal, nor are they branded equally - or effectively, in many cases.

A successful event venue has a defined "personality" and ably addresses a need or void within its space. A branding process is vital, especially when establishing new conference space. This article addresses five steps to creating an identity and securing an audience for an event venue.

o Create a visually appealing brand

What a conference center communicates through its outbound materials helps define the experience attendees' will have. For instance, is the space better for interactive meetings or educational symposia? Does the facility have more appeal to corporate executives or to customer service staff? Will attendees be treated to a plush experience?

Don't forget the power of the Web to communicate a venue's "vibe" as well. A custom-built website allows event planners to learn about the facility and its configuration options. A great website is a key marketing tool, with the ability to provide updated facility news, including floor plans and photographs, and interactive tours of the facility.

o Identify the audience

The best meeting space matches its attendees' needs perfectly. To get to that point, a venue must identify primary users of the space. If the key audience is IT professionals, the venue should have the latest technology: wireless hot spots, great A/V and more. If the audience leans toward scientific groups, ensure the conference center has breakout rooms, poster presentation areas and lecture-style auditorium.

o Illustrate value to prospective audiences

Technology, design, flexibility - a great conference center offers many things to many people. As with any investment, showing a positive return is important. Does the technology inside a venue meet the needs of the most demanding presenter. With so much competition for events business, building great technology and design into a conference space and delivering a positive work environment to attendees is vital for "state-of-the-art" venues.

o Communicate an identity

Having a great facility and attracting qualified meetings to it are not necessarily linked. Event planners have an array of tools to identify meeting space that fits their specific criteria. With the Web, industry publications, trade shows, advertising and direct marketing, there are many ways to find a facility and many ways to market one.

Using a multi-pronged approach of direct marketing, public relations and advertising, an event venue can saturate key audiences with news before and after a facility has opened.

Marketing initiatives to communicate a brand include:

o Conducting "hardhat" facility tours during its construction phase to build pre-opening interest.

o Building a direct marketing database.

o Creating partnerships to add to the richness of the venue's offering and to create a referral source community for the facility, by targeting collaborating with continuing education programs, hotels, travel agencies, destination management companies and exhibition companies.

o Participating in meeting industry trade shows.

o Hosting charity events and industry association events, especially those that attract potential users of the space.

Public relations initiatives target meetings publications by securing venue listings and placing news in industry association publications, such as Meeting Planner International's Meetings.

o Ensure structure exists to support the offering

It's vital to deliver on what you promise. Managing an event facility is time consuming. Having the proper support systems in place, and automating as much as possible, eases the operational side of venue management. Administrative details to firm up before attracting an audience include:

o Determining pricing for all audiences and types of functions (day vs. night, poster session vs. lecture series, corporate vs. non-profit, full facility use vs. partial, etc.)

o Creating catering packages

o Identifying additional elements, such as security, staffing and parking

o Building a comprehensive sales kit and contract

o Selecting venue management scheduling technology

o Deciding whether to keep A/V technical staffing in-house, or to outsource it

Great branding isn't the only strategy that makes an event venue work, but it certainly helps create an individual personality to drive success.

Treasure Hunts For Corporate Events

There are plenty of different styles of treasure hunts for corporate events that you can use to liven up a team building day that you are organising. In fact, treasure hunts are fun no matter what you have as prizes. Whether you'd like to make a fun indoor treasure hunt, or one that is a bit more traditional, all of your guests are bound to enjoy it and join in enthusiastically.

Before planning your event you have to decide whether you'd like to use GPS units to seek out the treasure. If your event is just in your office building, perhaps a GPS unit is not needed! But if you're sending your guests out and about, each one or each team is going to need a GPS unit in order to hunt the treasure that you have hidden around town, around the park, or somewhere else.

Once you've made that decision it's going to dictate the size of your treasure hunt, as well as where you have it. Remember, it can be a lot of fun to pair strangers up together to send them out on a treasure hunt. If you want a simple one, make it in a park close by.

Don't forget you can organize the day by either using vehicles such as limo's or your own private cars if you prefer not too walk to far! Or if you fancy taking in a little more of the local history and seeing the town in more depth then go for an on foot treasure hunt.

Keep the items that you're hiding interesting, and try to keep one participant in the park to keep an eye on the treasure. Remember, others are going to be using the park as well, so you will want safety mechanisms in place for the guests as well as the treasure.

Remember also, to be flexible concerning your treasure hunts. Some people may not be able to stay the full length of the event, and others may show up late. This means you might need to be switching teams around, so make sure that you add these contingency plans in case you need them.

If you do not own the GPS units but still want to put together a GPS treasure hunt. Take a look on the internet for a professional event company who will organize the whole event for you.

A treasure hunt for adults will have your adults acting like children and having an enthusiastically good time before you know it. Make it a small treasure hunt if your party is small, or make it a large GPS unit treasure hunt and they'll have plenty to discuss when they get back.

Understanding the Detail in Corporate Event Planning

There are several misconception concerned when it comes to the details concerned in corporate event planning. Ignoring detail has contributed to the failure of many important corporate events.This planning is often thought of in terribly simplistic terms with inexperienced individuals focusing on top line factors like who, what, where, when and why.

These of course are the most relevant topics in the view of the company surroundings that typically results in complications when the inexperienced planner runs into the various smaller issues that are revealed when designing a corporate event. What is often overlooked are the amount of the small number of tasks need to be completed when corporate event planning. It will become devastating for your events objectives if you over look these details.

To completely understand why this misconception of this planning is so dangerous it is necessary for a company or individual who is going to be involved in the planning stages to understand what goes into the process. For instance, the venue is of course a key component of corporate event planning that several corporations recognize.

What they do not look carefully into are the finer details of the venue, the extra inclusions or add-ons that are available, the elements you will need to bring in that are not covered by the venue, the flexibleness in bump-in and bump-out times and how to get these included without paying extra. This is one amongst the area which will prove to be damaging for the business event's budget as an individual who is new to the this planning field could simply overlook this issue.

This is only one sample of the great amount of detail that is concerned in this planning process. With inexperience there's the risk of the event being not the success one had hoped and on top of everything you may probably discover that you'll be spending additional cash, more than you'd have originally budgeted.

Only after this experience will one realize that you may require professional services and avoid the random selection of any internal personnel to arrange the event. Turning to a expert this event planning company you will have the flexibility to layout what you need from the event along with the budget you want to establish. A professional corporate planning company can then tell you what's available to meet your budget and detail what you'll accomplish with their corporate event planning services.

Event Planner

We organize Event Planner for corporate and individuals on different occasions such as wedding anniversary, birthday, on any certain individual achievements such as promotion, inauguration etc. These parties can be planned as per the themes decided by the clients.

o Celebrity Management
o Award Nights
o DJ's Parties
o Cultural Events
o Birthday Parties
o Bachelors Parties
o Ceremony Functions
o Logistics Management
o Exhibitions

Understanding the client requirements, we plan and organize musical concerts, keeping in mind the budgetary constraints. With the assistance of our talented professionals we always try to create an ambiance, wherein we make sure that the musical concert organized by us is an unforgettable experience for the audience.

The entertainment shows that we organize and Event Planner also gives platform to the budding artists in the singing field. It provides them the desired exposure to bring their talent forward to the world. While organizing the musical concerts, we ensure that the checks on audience security and comfort are dully made.

We are responsible for organizing in various cities as per themes specified to us. Our talented team of professionals of Event Planner make sure that the event is planned in accordance to the client and takes an approval on the concept prior to its execution.

We understand the budgetary constraints of our clients and therefore accordingly plan out the entertainment, be it event shows, Party Organizer, road shows,Event Planner musical concert or wedding and entertainment. We aim at delivering the best of solutions and services and ensure the entertainment are carried out in a stylish, systematic and seamless manner.

Glitter Fashion Shows Aiding Event Management Company

In contemporary world of each and every company crave for visibility. Portraying oneself on large platform give out healthy impression of the organization.

Events are organized to gain huge public attentions. These are medium to reflect oneself in clear way and desired publicity can be gained. If you run a company and crave for promotion of the company as brand name, then its depiction in the market is extremely vital.

There are many event management companies which can work for your company. Many fashion shows take place around us are coordinated by various these companies.

Full-fledged advertisement campaigns are carried on by the event organizers for high scale visibility. These advertisement campaigns are carried in series which are targeted to the audiences. These campaigns incorporate research work to promotion focused to take the company to wide level.

Event organizers are doing great work in fashion industry. This industry is highly glamorous and marked by the presence of several eyeballs. Fashion events management are acted on with high sensitivity and single thing is eyed with extreme precision.

Fashion events management demand high responsibility and experience as the activities are marked by highly suave people who are their scrutinizers. So its vital not to starve their expectations. Besides, media also eye on the fashion shows and any lack may result in ruining of the reputation.

There are also numerous technicalities which are linked to the shows. Placement of the stage, ambiance matching the required theme, fashion photography, position of audience etc. There are several technicalities which can only be looked by the experienced event management companies.

Amongst many, fashion photography stands out the rest due to many reasons. Photo shoots take place in the outdoor location as well which requiring high details. Shooting at outdoor locations demand several things which can be fulfilled by the various equipments.

There are various event management company which can be explored online which can take care of events. These event management companies are units of experienced people who are involved into making up of events at large scale.

Top 9 Ways to Improve Your Fundraising Event

Try to promote your fundraising event to as many people as possible. Utilize the latest online strategies to host an affordable, yet influential fundraiser for your organization.

Allow me to share with you the top ways to improve your fundraising event in 2012.

Plan Your Fundraiser Properly

The earlier you plan your fundraiser, the more is the chance of raising lots of money. You will get a lot more time to reach out to people, both offline and online. Although it's never too late to launch your campaign, planning a bit early offers you ample time to get organized.

Create a List of Potential Donors

It is very important to shortlist potential donors who can be approached at the earliest. You should invite the shortlisted donors first and then proceed to other attendees in your list.

Have a Personal Fundraising Page

Try to provide a personal fundraiser page to each of your attendees. The page should contain your messages, event schedule, and previous event images. Your potential donors can open the fundraising page to see the amount they can donate as well as post favorable messages in support of your campaign.

Online Registration Software

You can take the help of online registration software to streamline your signing up process. The registrants no longer need to be physically present at the venue to fill up the donation form or pay the registration fees. They can access the registration pages online and fill up their personal information anytime, 24x7.

Simplify Payment Options

The online payment management software lets you send and receive money via major credit cards, PayPal, and standard payment gateways (Authorize.net, CyberSource, and others). The software offers a secured, trusted way of online transactions, eliminating the chances of credit card fraud.

Get Hold of an Email Communication Module

Most of the online event management solutions come with an email marketing module. You can use this module to upload your own set of customized lists for marketing and invitation purposes. The list will grow automatically as you add more and more email IDs of potential attendees to it. Thus, the module helps you easily import, edit, merge, and manage your attendees' email list.

Use Different Social Media Tools

Event organizers can use social media tools to promote their fundraising events online. It helps you reach out to more people, thereby increasing the scope of enhanced event attendance and higher profit.

Online Silent Auction

Web-based silent auctions allow your donors to submit an item for auctioning directly on your fundraising website. Individuals interested in buying those items can bid as well as buy them through online money transfer.

Add a Sponsors' Page

A sponsors' page helps fundraising event organizer collect money for the advertisement that went in the fundraiser ad-book and banners. The page offers a cost-effective mode of payment collection.

With all these tips, your next fundraiser event is going to bring lots of donations and support for your cause that you have been fighting for.

Event Planning Careers - Help Planning Corporate And Family Events

If you have indulged yourself in making arrangements of any event then you would be aware of how much hard work and stress it takes to make the event come to life. A location has to be decided that is affordable yet approachable for the guests, a food menu that has to be picked up and delivered on time, decorations have to be made at the place of event, catering and lighting services has to be hired and the list goes on. All of this cannot be handled by an ordinary person unless he is skilled in event planning.

And to become skilled you need to have a good experience and some certifications in this field. Therefore, most people do not arrange parties or business meeting on their own; they appoint event planners who organize their event in the best manner.

Some events are really important for people that they want to make them last forever. For example, wedding is a type of occasion that has to happen at least once in everybody's lives and they all want it to be memorable. They want every arrangement to be perfect, the cake, food, lighting, catering etc if anything goes wrong the whole arrangement is ruined. Besides that, many parents wish to make their kids' parties exciting and fun but unfortunately they cannot as they are so busy in their professional lives that they do not get enough time to do so. In today's world there are millions of companies that have expanded so much that they need to keep organizing different events time to time so that they can maintain their status. All these people depend on event planners because they trust their capabilities and become relieved that because there work in the hands of professional, it will become successful.

We can see many famous event managers who have done splendid jobs that is why, more and more people are diverting towards appointing event managers instead of organizing their events themselves. Event managers can transform their events into something that they never imagined. They can create an impressive image on their guests and provide them excellent experience. Whatever your budget is an event planner will try to fix everything in it because he has all the knowledge that is needed. Thus they also save your precious time.

Event planning careers have become highly reputable and demanding, so if you want to pursue career in it then you should not hesitate do so. However the requirement is that you need to be systematic, creative and interested in this field.

Event Planning Careers - What To Do To Become A Successful Event Planner

The current trying economic times are providing the perfect opportunity for many to tap into their entrepreneurial spirit in order to effect positive change in their lives while doing something that they love. For many either because of the loss of a job or the realization that they can no longer waste any time working at a job that does not give them a sense of fulfillment, event planning careers may be something to consider. If you wish to become your own boss and become a success at event planning, here are a few tips to remember.

Event planning may be the right career for those looking to write their own checks and is also a great home based business for those who wish to have a career without depriving family of their time and presence. For the person with the right personality, event planning can enable them to make their wildest dreams come true.

Event planners can specialize or can do a little bit of everything. Some would prefer selecting a niche such as weddings, corporate events, birthdays, etc, and you should do whatever works for you. Others may start off planning all kinds of events and then specializing as the business grows.

Contract

While verbal agreements can work and some may even stand up in court, a written contract is a better option in all business transactions. As an event planner, contracts will be necessary when a band or DJ is hired, for a caterer, the venue, suppliers, etc. A contract will usually detail what is expected of all the parties who have entered into an agreement. A contract will help you protect yourself in case the terms of the agreement are not fulfilled.

Suppliers

Good and reliable suppliers are important for a successful event planning business. A successful event planner needs to maintain good relationships with suppliers which will enable them to go out of their way to assist the event planner in planning a successful event.

Most people usually only go out of their way to help another when they like the other person. Being nice to suppliers is a great way to ensure success in event planning careers. When an event planner can count of suppliers, it reduces the amount of stress in this area and the event planner can focus on other aspects of planning the event. While contracts with suppliers are important, suppliers will usually come through for the event planner and his or her event when there is a good working relationship. Building good relationships is very important for an event planner.

Organization

When considering event planning careers, it is important to determine how organized you are. Planning a successful event requires organization. Keeping all the information you need for the event organized will allow you to properly manage your time when you do not have to look everywhere for the information you need since you will know where everything is.

Being organized will allow you to stay on top of tasks and though you can expect hiccups every now and then, organization will help you meet every challenge encountered when planning an event. Being organized will also make you look professional. Being organized will allow you to have a back up plan for everything and there will be few surprises and you will be on top of all the event planning details.

Venue

A huge part of a successful event is finding the right venue. A venue can make or break an event. Some aspects to consider include ensuring that guests will be able to find the venue easily. The location is very important and will help to determine the level of attendance in some cases. The venue should also have an attractive appearance.

How to Start an Event Management Company

Event Management is considered to be a sunrise industry today. The industry is growing dynamically due to the sudden gush in Live Entertainment Shows, corporate events, exhibitions, carnivals, festivals, seminars and conferences.

The industry started with the multinationals poured into the global market in the late 80s. Today, industry segments like music, sports, culture, fashion shows, award ceremonies and cultural gatherings have become the fundamental growth drivers in the event management sector.
Events are considered to be a power tool for marketing, advertising, promotion and communications mix for all companies. It has become the most significant part of any marketing strategy. A large number of companies are looking forward to good event management companies as a means of building a brand image for them.

This calls for a demand of event management companies in the business sector. These companies require specialization in planning, visualization, creativity and venue management. Personnel of these companies should be skillful, talented and creative to organize and execute any kind of private or public event.

If you are really willing to earn big and live big, then event management career is the right option for you. Don't sit in a corner of your room and ask yourself, 'how to start and event Management Company', rather ask yourself, 'when should I start learning and practicing'?

Learning and practicing simply involves learning and understanding the basic concept, fundamentals and benefits of starting this company. You can get into event management by joining a firm that will help you gain experience and learn client specific requirements. After a year or tow, when you feel, you have gained enough of understanding and experience of the industry, you can go ahead and open the veil of your own future for name and fame.

Starting the right business you need business resources, equipments and a laborious workforce. So, the day when you finally decide to start off with your own business, first hunt for few personnel who can be a part of your organization and help you in promoting your business. Keep one thing in mind while hunting for the workforce, education cannot open doors to creativity and imaginations. These qualities are inbuilt.

There may be cases where you might get highly qualified personnel, who may lack analytical thinking, creativity, good communication skills and other skills and abilities essential for the business. At the other end, there are people who are just a graduate but have good analytical skills, wild imaginations and a strong networking as well.

The fundamental qualities required for starting any event management business or hiring personnel for your business are good analytical thinking, client service orientation, good negotiation skills, ability to work under pressure, teamwork, planning and good networking.

Analytical or critical thinking is essential to acknowledge and solve any problem obstructing the business potential. Client or customer service orientation helps in meeting and fulfilling the needs of the clients as well as customers.

If you want to become an astute minded businessman, then it is needless to say that teamwork, good negotiation skills and good networking skills are the basic requirements for any business to start off.

How to Plan a Miami Bachelor Party

Assuming your group isn't working with a tight budget, Miami is a great bachelor party destination... However, best men planning a Miami stag need not only be prepared for some serious spending (and fund collecting from other groomsmen!) but also some serious planning.

Here is a step-by step guide for planning a Miami bachelor party:

Step 1: Answer three questions about the type of bachelor party you will be planning:

1. Will this be a clubbing-focused stag?
2. Has the groom (or his bride-to-be, as the case may be!) given the okay for strippers at the bachelor party, and just how "okay" is he with this as a source of entertainment?
3. Will this be a sports-focused stag?

When you are visiting a place widely believed to have hottest nightlife scene in America, you might think you would be an idiot not to hit up some clubs. Well, you are right. Miami's nightclubs are not cheap, but they are varied... And however much you may think you have 'been there and done that', you have not been to South Beach's nightlife! As its claim to its increasing bachelor party destination fame, it would be a shame not to visit at least a few nightclubs, beachclubs, lounges or bars during your stay.

That being said, if the groom really wants to go to Miami, but actually isn't that into clubbing, this does not have to be the focus of the itinerary... See why below in Step 2.

Step 2: Narrow down some specific bachelor party ideas.

Not to downplay Miami's renowned nightlife scene, but to open your eyes to other activities that would help you create a well-rounded itinerary, here are just a few other ideas that could be the main focus of your stag:

• You could still be a best man that passes with distinction by planning a bachelor party that focuses on strippers and steak (in some venues, you can even find both) as well as the area's renowned Cuban cuisine for evening entertainment.


• You could plan a sports-focused bachelor party including tickets at one of the many games or sporting events that are very likely to be happening around the time of your trip.


• You could plan on a couple of early nights and going on a drive to see gator wrestling at the Everglades, or on renting or chartering a yacht or boat for an early morning fishing trip.


• It should be no surprise that the options for daytime activities here are as endless as the sun, so take advantage and rent some jet skis, wave runners or scooters, or enjoy a round of world-class golf at one of the areas many top-notch courses.


• If you want to turn heads among Miami's many monetary-minded locals, an invitation to a luxury yacht would definitely be the type of thing to float posh Miami women's boats. Nonetheless, it never hurts to avoid being a group of strictly guys if you are doing this ultimate (or any) form of cruising for girls, so if you want, arrange for some escorts or models for accompaniment prior to cruising along the Miami beaches... *

* However, note: As much as its great that the bride-to-be and girlfriends aren't there, obviously make sure that your "unsupervised" fun in the waters is supervised by a sober and trustworthy guide (or several), and that drinking, etc., doesn't go overboard-unless, of course, you want to find out where that expression came from.

Step 3: Determine the duration and date of your trip.

4 days is an ideal amount of time to experience most man-musts for a trip to Miami (without raising too much suspicion or irritation with the ladies waiting at home!). You definitely want these details planned as soon as possible, as it will help finalize your guest list (very important for a pricy bachelor party destination like Miami!), and help you determine which bachelor party activities you will be able to enjoy, from attending one of Miami's many festivals to sporting events, etc. Obviously, stick to the date you will be returning, because women at home will be watching the clock as avidly as you will be watching the bikinis, and will take any change of plans as basically an admittance of guilt.

Step 4: Plan your accommodations.

Miami has some of the world's highest quality, stylish boutique hotels and luxury villas, so don't underestimate the importance of planning the right Miami accommodations for the bachelor party.

Step 5: Figure out your mode(s) of transportation...

... And by that I mean: plan to rent a car.

Miami's diverse attractions-both nice and vice-are very spread out, and the city's public transportation, which consists of train (mostly suited for work commuters) and a somewhat lacking bus system, will not be a sufficient plan for getting your group around... Whatever the focus of your bachelor party, you will want to plan a varied itinerary in this multifarious, multi-ethnic Mecca, and whether bachelor party ideas you are considering involve a trip to Key West, one of South Florida's casinos, the strip clubs, sporting events, deep sea diving, or a variety f other activities, renting a car is a must for proper Miami bachelor party planning. You can try to rent a more affordable or luxury car, depending on your bachelor party budget, and if you are planning on experiencing Miami's notorious nightlife, you should really also plan on either cabs (considerably affordable and available here) or a limousine, which is definitely a must for making an entrance amidst the high profile party scene of SoBe.

As you can see, planning a Miami bachelor party requires not only an ambitious budget, but an ambitious amount of preparation, so though planning the bachelor party is ultimately your responsibility as best man, this is the type of epic trip that will require help for researching, determining, and finalizing bachelor party activities and travel arrangements. Therefore, its strongly recommended that you enlist the help of either fellow groomsmen or others for help with input and planning to compensate for the swollen size of this already somewhat intimidating best man duty.

How to Use Craigslist to Plan Your Wedding

Are you planning a wedding on a budget? If so, you want to have your dream wedding, but you may be limited on costs. Luckily, there is a way for you to plan your wedding while on a budget. That way involves using Craigslist.org.

How can the popular classified website help you plan your upcoming wedding? In more ways than you could have ever imagined. To get started, lets cover the basics.

Your wedding dress. Do you already have a wedding dress? If not, you may want to save money by opting for a used dress. Not all brides save their dresses and most are in pristine condition. In addition to finding wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses are also commonly listed for sale on Craigslist. If you want, you can use the services of a local tailor to ensure the dress properly fits or to customize it more. In fact, you can also find a local tailor on Craigslist.org too!

The tents, tables, and chairs. When many brides and grooms are on a budget, they opt for an outdoor wedding, usually in the backyard of a close friend or family member. If you opt for this approach, you will need a tent, tables and chairs, as well as other rental equipment. The good news, you can usually find these items listed for rent on Craigslist!

The DJ. What wedding is complete without great music? You will need a DJ for the wedding reception. Although you can turn to your local phonebook, you can also find a DJ on Craigslist. Many of these individuals operate on a part-time basis. Since they may not be full fledged DJs, you are likely to find better rates. Just ensure you are able to work with the person to choose the music for your reception.

The wedding planner. If you are on a budget, you might assume that an event planner is out of the question. Due to the poor economy, many Americans are now looking for additional ways to make money. You can find these individuals on Craigslist. You don't need to hire a professional event planner. In fact, a bride who just finished planning her own wedding will do. She has the experience and is likely to charge a very fair rate.

Why Green Events Are Increasingly Becoming the First Choice Amongst Organizers?

Nowadays, with sustainability dominating the charts across majority global issues, an increasing number of event organizers are planning to go green with the events that they are organizing. This helps them to move up a step ahead in the path to reduce environmental burdens. The motive behind green events is to eliminate the negative impact on the environment. Usage of energy efficient materials, proper treatment of food wastage, usage of recyclable materials, etc. are some of the elements that need to be taken care of whilst organizing a green event.

Though events bring together thousands of people and contribute to the local economy but environmentally and socially it leads to creation of tons of waste, use of exorbitant amounts of electricity and increase in carbon monoxide emissions. As per reports put forward by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, tourism's contribution to climate change accounts for approximately 5% of all carbon monoxide emissions. Organizers must therefore strategize on serious efforts to reduce carbon emissions and play a part to a greener and better environment.

Let me now outline some of the benefits of organizing green events that are increasingly making it the preferred choice amongst modern day event organizers.

Contributes To Environmental Protection:

Green events can contribute greatly towards overall environmental protection. By incorporating and implementing sustainable practices while event planning like choosing an energy efficient venue, ensuring composting of food waste, usage of recyclable materials can greatly ensure preservation of the planet.

Improves Company's CSR Responsibility:

Going green largely reflects the organization's commitment towards ensuring a sustainable environment. In a company's Corporate Social Responsibility lies its duty to ensure welfare of the host community and the environment as a whole via basic elements of event planning, implementation and its evaluation. Going green add to the element of welfare for both, thereby enhancing the company's CSR.

Cost Effective:

Green events are quite cost effective since the bulk of the necessary equipments used are either biodegradable or can be re-used for future use. This allows companies to reduce waste and cut costs thus allowing organizers to gain a significant competitive advantage.

Increase Awareness amongst Participants

These sustainable events can pave the way by example a brilliant stage and great means to spread the message of reducing environmental burdens amongst the attending participants and staff. The benefits of such events initiate more awareness of the greening process amongst attendees. This will help participants to become a part of more long term solutions therefore altering their environmental practices and the decision-making process. Such consciousness also helps them grow into better human beings and contribute greatly to the environment.

These are some of the benefits that organizers can enjoy once they go green.

How to Plan Corporate Events That Rejuvenate and Strengthen Your Business

Organization development activities such as team building events are an effective way of strengthening the business organization. These corporate events may come in the form of corporate parties, company picnics or other form of group activities. If you own or manage a small or large business, it is important that you conduct relevant organizational development activities to ensure that your company's human resources are operating at optimum level of performance.

These team building events are conducted to strengthen the organization by giving the opportunities for the members of the organization to find ways to work as one cohesive team. The critical areas of improvement addressed by these organizational development activities include communication, employee motivation and skills. In Texas there are Dallas corporate events and Dallas team building events planners who can plan the whole event for you and your firm.

The members of your organization can participate in such activities as mystery contests and treasure trails. They are given the opportunity to enjoy fun activities while learning essential techniques in time management, control, leading and delegation. There are also group dynamics that take the form of a game that hones the selling skills of a sales team. These group activities are what comprise corporate events that are designed to prepare top level management, middle level management and the rank and file employees as they try to hurdle the challenges of a potential multi-million dollar sales deal. These team building events are what you might consider as the company's training camp prior to a big fight.

The activities that are done by the participants during these kinds of corporate events are designed to foster stronger relationship among all the members of the organization. It is one great opportunity for top management and supervisors to interact with the other members of the organization. These approaches of group dynamics build up trust and respect within the organization. It is imperative that professional relationship within the organization is anchored on trust and respect among all members.

The team building events staged by organization also takes a social dimension as they may take many forms. For instance, an evening theater presentation and dances can have a social element on top of the group dynamic elements that are incorporated in the corporate activity. Management can also incorporate other events to add variety and excitement to their corporate events. They may stage evening awards ceremonies to give commendation and recognition to members of the organization who have exemplary performance.

As a general rule, corporate events are planned well in advance. There are instances that these corporate events are even planned online. There are corporate event packages which are offered online and are classified based on the type of activities, events, number of participants and the catering requirements. It is imperative that you pick out the best company who can offer the best corporate events proposal based on relevance and affordability. In certain instances, there are pre-planned corporate events with standard requirements. Such event packages are fairly simple and can be mounted on short notice. You are advised to closely study the proposals and packages to come up with the most appropriate corporate events package for your company.

Company Event's Organizers - Efficient Event Management at Your Doorstep

Organizing an event serves several purposes for the organizations in several ways. Advertisement and overall publicity are the primary reason that pushes companies to get in touch with the new customer base that could be the next potential buyers for them.

An event is a great help for the organizations to increase its customer base and augmenting its revenue feasibility. To cash the opportunities sprinkled in the event management segment, a number of organizers are now offering their cost effective and reliable event management services to the customer's across the world. Their reliability and task mechanism process is making the things transparent enough for the companies.

These easily available company event's organizers have enough abilities to execute the entire process of event management with concentrating on the deadlines. Their experience allows them to involve several innovative processes in the process to run it smoothly and without any hassle thereafter. A number of company event's organizers are now offering their services online with an aim of making event successful and memorable for times to come.

Online event management service providers offer you updated information about various event related issues time to time. Cherished after seeing the huge advantages of these providers, all the organizations, commercial establishments, hotels, clubs, charities and educational institutions are asking for the services of the organizers to organize their event online.

Event organizers are doing online promotion of the events for captivating and catching the mass appeal. These unique online processes of event management offers huge sum of benefits for the companies. It's easier now to get registered for the events without concerns of manual registration process. You may also book or cancel tickets from the single platform right from now.

Size of your organization is hardly any issue for these organizing professionals since before putting hands in the task they make good analysis of various issues pertaining to the organization. They do consult with the bosses of organizations to analyze the basic needs and requirements of the company. It not only helps them to get the exact nature of your event but also helps them in making budget settlement, event concept development, support and event marketing.