Strategic Planning - Why Does It Fail?

Many companies have already put this year's strategic plan they worked on last fall up on a shelf, never to be cracked open until the 2013 planning season is upon us again. Why do so many people put so much effort into a project that is never used? Here are the top six reasons. See if any of these are true at your company:

1. No buy in at the top
   Strategic planning is very important, but sometimes it's treated as a necessary evil to be gotten out of the way so you can do your 'real' work. If the President, C-level executives and VP's are not completely aligned on the importance of and reasons for a strategic plan, it's doomed from the start


2. It's a secret
   This is the classic Dilbert cartoon scenario, where the pointy-haired boss refuses to divulge the strategy to his hapless employees. Many well-intentioned strategic plans are restricted to those who 'need to know'. It's vital that your plan to be clearly communicated to the whole organization so they can support its execution at all levels


3. No buy in at the bottom
   This is a variation on "It's a secret". The rank and file may know about it, but there's been no real effort to solicit buy-in, so the topic is accompanied by rolling of eyes and shakes of the head.


4. No one is accountable
   What gets rewarded gets done. Guess what happens when execution of the strategic plan is tied into executive compensation? Suddenly people are motivated to make it happen, and the VP's in turn will ensure their team members in turn have an incentive to help them make it happen


5. Poorly executed
   If you don't understand the game you're playing (market dynamics, channels, technology, end user issues and other external factors), what winning looks like, and have well-thought through strategy to win in attractive market segments, it's no wonder your strategic plans don't move you forward and may be viewed with scorn and disdain.


6. Not really actionable
   A strategy to become "The Market Leader" sounds nice but isn't really actionable. How do you segment the market? Are all segments equally attractive? Are you focusing on revenue or profit or growth or share position? Where exactly are you now and what measurable point do want to be at in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years?

Ask yourself whether your business is truly driven by last year's strategic plan, or whether it's gathering dust on a shelf. If the latter, you might want to think about modifying your process so that future efforts can have a real impact.

Event Planning Training - How To Become An Event Planner

Event planning is an interesting and fun filled career especially for those who enjoy going to different events and like to meet people. If you are one of them and want to adopt event planning as your career then you can achieve your goal by showing your skills by putting a little bit effort.

First of all search for a good and well reputed event planning training institute in your town and get admission in that. There you can to learn how to plan an event in a nice manner. If you do not have any institution near you place or your time schedule does not allow you to go to any institution, you have an option of distant learning classes or online courses, and by this you will get professional skills in your talent.

Find out your interests and strong points, see what your skills are and what kind of event would be better arranged by you, and then choose your line which you have learnt during event planning raining.

You should keep getting information about the events being held in the town, observe which dealer was given the task and who is the most popular caterer. There must be many people like you trying to establish in there fields so keep checking for upcoming vendors in the market and make contacts.

Always be well informed about new trends and fashions. Try to know what kind of music is popular and which band is liked by most people.

Keep searching for a job in the newspapers or inter net and apply for the job. Make your portfolio that has your information, your talent and skills along with the certificate that you were given by the event planning training institution; this will help you to get a good job. Or you can work as a volunteer for an event planner to get good training and experience which will benefit you in the future, and during this job you can make your contacts and your own network.

After getting enough experience you can start up your own business and for starting a new business in the field of event planning, you don't need to spend much amount. You just need to have good talent, responsible dealers to work with you and patient clients who have confidence in you.

So start searching for event planning training institution and get your skills polished then make contacts and be ready to step into the world of event management and planning.

How an Event Planner Can Capitalize on Mobile Marketing to Promote Events

As an event planner, you must focus on adopting innovative marketing tactics that will help you to attract more attendees. One of the rapidly evolving mediums for event marketing is mobile promotion. It is an extremely powerful medium that can help you to reach out to your target audience and increase event participation.

Mobile marketing enables you to target the right audience for your event. It is a useful medium that can help you to inform prospects about upcoming events even when they are traveling. Moreover, it is convenient for your attendees to share information about the event with their friends and colleagues. As a result, most marketers are going for this option to ensure that their event is a roaring success. If you too are thinking of selecting this medium to market your event, here are some tips that you will find useful:

Adopt a Strategy for the Campaign

To ensure the success of your mobile marketing campaign, you must adopt a detail oriented approach. Some marketers assume that sending messages in bulk helps to draw the attention of prospects. However, your prospects will not appreciate receiving the same message repeatedly. You must therefore plan the number of messages that will go out to prospective attendees. In addition, you should have a database of people who have attended your event in the past and also those who would want to attend.

Communicate a Powerful Message

The purpose of a mobile marketing campaign is to inform and induce the prospective attendees to sign up for your event. It is therefore extremely important to communicate a powerful message that will draw their attention. You must focus on creating a visually appealing message that will interest your prospective attendees.

Enhance Attendee Experience

Apart from using this option to promote your event, you can also use it to offer enhanced attendee experience. Your attendees can access complete information about their registration status and all the upcoming events using their Smartphone. This makes it convenient for them to procure all the details at the click of a button.

Create a Poll for the Campaign

Getting your attendees' views on an upcoming event will offer useful insights that can help you to plan your event effectively. You can create poll questions to know if your target audience is interested to attend the event that you are hosting. Based on the poll results, you can implement necessary changes in your upcoming events and ensure their success.

Add a Link to Your Social Media Profiles

Social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are extremely among people of all age groups. As an event organizer, you cannot overlook the potential of this medium to increase the number of attendees. Since the text message that you send to prospective attendees cannot provide every detail, including a link to the social networking profiles can help your participants to procure necessary information.

Mobile marketing is an upcoming trend with endless opportunities. Go for this option to make your event stand out.

To learn how mobile marketing can change the way you create, host and promote events check out this page.

Planning a Quinceanera? Let's Get Stated

Arranging a large celebration like a Quinceañera can seem to be an overwhelming project. Unless, you spend time in the beginning to outline your entire celebration the same way professional event planners do.

Professional party planners have their own methods and secrets on how to have a great event and stay in control of the entire planning process. .

The most important secret for having a great celebration is to make sure you use good planning and organization methods and tools. It might sound boring because celebrations are supposed to be fun. However, the best way for you to make sure you have your dream Quinceañera filled with only beautiful memories, avoiding the nightmare stories you hear people talk about. Follow the recommended steps and go for it.

Let's Get Started:

• It's a good idea to use a planner especially designed for a Quinceañera celebration. It will help make your planning work much easier. When you use a specially designed Quinceañera planner it will help prevent costly and embarrassing mistakes from happening.



• Next, set up a meeting with no distractions for the immediate family to share ideas, the budget, the size of the celebration, and most important what does the Quince celebration mean to each person in the family. (Incase you didn't get your Quinceanera planner yet- take notes during the meeting)



• The Quinceañera rite-of-passage celebration tradition dates back to over 500 years ago. Getting the family involved with the planning of the Quinceañera celebration will assist each family member to appreciate their heritage more than ever before and enjoy being part of the planning process.



• Once the budget, the amount of money available to spend on the celebration is decided. Then it's time to calcualte how much money should be allocated for each category. Refer to the guide below.



• Many Latino families follow the tradition of honoring God Parents, family members and friends by having them participate in your special day by gifting either money or items to be used your Quinceañera celebration. This tradition of sponsorship is helpful in today's economy. However, be careful when asking people to be a sponsor. More than likely they have their own budget challenges too.



• Use the following chart only as a guide as to how much money should be allocated for each category of your Quinceañera celebration:

52% - Food, beverage and banquet hall.

18% - Photographer and/or Videographer.

5%   - Flowers

3%   - Cake

5%   - Quinceañera dress and accessories.

 3%-18% - Music (depending on whether live band, DJ or both)

3%   - Invitations

5%-10% - Miscellaneous.

Each category can be changed. It all depends on your choices and services you decide upon.

Tips:

A great party isn't about how much you spend on it. It's all about how well everything comes together in the end. Careful planning is important, especially with a limited budget.

•  Good planning and good choices eliminate: disappointments,   heartache and wasted money.



•  Once you have your budget in place and you have an idea as to how much money you can afford to spend in each area. It's now time to set up meetings with vendors you want to check out.

Following and maintaining your Quinceañera planner might seem more  like a homework assignment. But, you will be very proud of yourself when your guests are leaving after your party is over.  And each guest says to you, 'your Quinceanera was the best celebration I have ever attended'.

Thirteen Mistakes To Avoid When Planning Your Event

Familiarizing yourself with these common mistakes will help you become aware of problems you can avoid when organizing your event.

1. Short marketing cycle. Be sure to give yourself ample time to promote your event. A good rule of thumb is at least 90-120 days for a medium-sized event with about 75 attendees.


2. Competing with yourself. Many promoters become their own competition by putting on multiple events occurring close together. When your audience receives marketing for different events they are confused.


3. Not delivering on your promises. Being true to your word will maintain your credibility and ensure future success. Create checklists of each offer you make in your marketing so you will not forget to follow through on your promises.


4. Overpaying. Keep your costs down by shopping around for hotels, etc. Make sure the audio-visual team is aware of the specific hours for each day so there are no surprise charges. Keep your staffing to a minimum; you should be able to run a 4-day/75-person event with yourself and 2-3 others. Negotiate ahead of time to get the meeting room free when you satisfy your room block.


5. Losing control of the room. Maintaining control of your audience is necessary for staying on schedule and running smoothly. Holding questions until after will help.


6. Not running on schedule. Controlling the schedule helps control the room. Start on time in the morning, continue promptly after breaks, and end when you say you will. If you are behind schedule, stop and ask whether they'd like to stay longer to finish the material or end on time.


7. Poor scheduling at your event. The order in which you place your speakers has a big impact on the success of your event. Other factors are involved, but in general it is better to place speakers selling less expensive products before speakers selling higher priced product. Consider when certain topics are covered and make sure refreshments are not served while speakers are on stage.


8. Being cheap. People paid good money to attend your event. Make sure they get what they expect, like complimentary refreshments.


9. Hiring the wrong coordinator. It is best to work with someone who specializes in information marketing.


10. Close your office. There is no good reason to close down your office; you are only losing money and frustrating your clients who are not at the event.


11. Miscalculating. Be accurate with your calculations and have realistic expectations. If your list includes 1,000 people you should not expect to get 500 of them at your event.


12. Mismanaging the event. Good management ensures a successful event. Things like time management, traffic flow, and having enough order forms are small things that can be overlooked by poor management.


13. Not selling enough. Many promoters think they should just educate the attendees; they feel bad about selling. Bottom line: you are there to make money. There are ways to give valuable information and sell product at the same event.

It's easy to become overwhelmed when planning for event. Staying organized and thorough will help you avoid mistakes, but expect to make some. Small mistakes are inevitable even if you are a seasoned event planner; learning from your own experiences and talking to others about their experience will help you become effective at this process.

Top Tips on Selling Tickets Online Safe and Easy

Buying and selling tickets online can be hassling unless you buy them from a safe vendor. You might get into some Scam or credit card fraud if you are not very sure of what you must look for in online payment matters. These days with the advancement in Digital Technology, you need to be careful how you use the online platform for ticket selling purposes for an event or a meet. The robust solutions that are mainly cloud based, PCI compliant solutions have the ticketing operations that make it a very free and easy affair. You can create websites that can be customized to make it your events and ticket selling page. You can also accept online event registrations at a meager cost. And what's more? Through this breezy process you can have the event attendance growing and a steady increase in the ROI too.

It is a very easy online ticketing system for the event planner or for the corporate bosses who can get friendly with the system of online event registration within minutes. Everything happens at the click of a mouse. You can start selling tickets for any type of events like the basketball event, a Christmas Party Charity events, a Gala Corporate event, Bowling League, Boxing tournaments, Charity event registration, College events registration, camp registration, Holiday Parties, Movie Screenings and so on. You also get marketing and promotional tools for increasing the sale of tickets online.

After setting up the customizable page you can look for a theme to match your brand, your business or your Non Profit theme. You can have the forms customized for multiple field options. With these features you have the group registration feature also. This allows many attendees to register with one booking option for a single transaction. The participant's information can also be collected from all the attendees who register as group.

You can manage the registrant data and the data is available 24/7 on the internet. Reports on sales, attendees and registrations can be received and this is inclusive of all taxes. All major credit cards can be processed, and payment can be made through Checks, Orders, PayPal and so on. Selling and buying tickets on a hassle free cloud based platform is the safest way we can go about the job, which is an integral part of online event management for corporate or for non profits.

So, more and more event planners are relying on these event planning software to have complete attendee satisfaction and a rocking event.

Top 5 Reasons Why Faith Based Organizations Use Feature-Rich Event Management Solutions

One of the top priorities of faith based organizations is to raise funds on a regular basis. By boosting fundraising initiatives, such organizations spread their cause and get more members in the most effective manner. Significantly, due to the growing number of faith based organizations across the world, it has become essential for these organizations to adopt effective strategies that make their mission successful. Fundraising events enable such organizations to promote their cause and attract more donors and sponsors.

Managing fundraising events is a major challenge for the faith based organizations. To assist them in hosting successful fundraising events, a wide range of comprehensive event management solutions have arrived in the market. These event management solutions offer several benefits to these organizations. Some of these benefits include the following:

Online Registration

For event organizers, the key challenge lies in inducing prospective attendees to sign up for the event. Simplified online registration facilities aid in drawing more registrants. With a click of the mouse, registrants can complete the registration process within a few minutes.

Marketing Capabilities

One of the key factors that determine the success of your event is promotion. Cutting edge event management solutions come equip with powerful marketing tools that help in event promotion. Organizers can create customized emails to spread awareness about their upcoming events. In addition, these solutions support social networking sites that have become popular platforms for creating a buzz about upcoming events.

Customizable Registration Pages

Understanding your attendees properly helps in putting an event together successfully. As an event organizer, you should have a clear understanding of what your attendees expect from your event to cater to them. With customizable registration pages, you can select the questions for the registrants and procure relevant data. Moreover, you can design the pages according to your corporate brand with your own logos and graphics. This makes your registration pages more professional looking.

Reporting Features

To gauge the success of their events, event planners depend on a wide range of reports that provide an at a glance view of the number of registrants, attendees, and more. Comprehensive event management tools offer excellent reporting features. You can access various reports such as attendee reports, sales reports and check in reports to have complete control over your events.

Simplified Payment Management

With an objective to streamline payment processing, advanced event management solutions offer excellent payment management services. By opting for these solutions, you can easily monitor all financial transactions, process refunds and reconcile transaction. Most of these solutions support multiple payment gateways and offer a comprehensive view of all the financial transactions made for the event. As a result, both registrants and administrators find it easier to deal with payment processing.

In addition to these benefits, feature-rich event management solutions enable faith based organizations to reduce administrative workload and focus on improving efficiencies. Notably, cost effective event management solutions are available for all kinds of events, irrespective of their scale and budget. These solutions provide high a ROI and assist in exceeding expectations.

Keeping Event Management Costs Down

In this current economic climate, event management is often focused on keeping costs down but without compromising on quality. So how exactly are you supposed to deliver the same or more while sticking to budget. Given the competitive nature of the event management industry, this is a challenge as if you can't deliver within the budget, the customer will most likely go to another event management company that says they can. Despite these challenges, there are ways that costs can be cut or kept to a minimal level.

Five Tips to Lower The Costs Of Planning And Managing Events

1. Decide on a budget and stick to it - this is the key first step and one of the most difficult. For example, if you find a dream venue that is outside the price range it may be tempting to go for it anyway but this will mean you will have to compromise another area of your event or go over budget. That is why proper planning and a priority list are important.


2. When you have decided on a budget, put things in order of importance and then work out how much you want to spend on each item from this list. This will help to make sure you don't spend a lot of money on something that isn't very important and don't leave enough money for something that is.


3. Install event management technology - this can automate processes such as registration and hotel booking as well as producing reports and storing all the necessary data in one place.


4. Take advantage of technological innovation - after you have invested in event management software, there are other new technologies on the market you may want to look into. These include free software to build branded website; free press release distribution sites; free image libraries that you can take advantage of when creating event literature; virtual conferencing technology that can allow you to hold face to face meetings from within the comfort of your own office which can help cut down travel costs; and third party survey websites that will create and manage the survey for your and analyse the results, which is particularly useful when creating post event reports to investigate the success of the event.


5. Shop around - don't just take the first available deal but negotiate on prices. If an event is taking place in the off peak season, then venues will be very keen to get your business so may be willing to lower their prices. The same goes for suppliers such as caterers and furniture providers.

If you follow all of the above then this will significantly help you deliver a successful event on a lower budget that still meets needs and enhances your reputation in event management.

Banners and Signs for Events

Event planners, party throwers and community event coordinators all over have found and understand the importance of using banners and signs for their events, and for good reason. Banners and signs have several important benefits that make them great for multiple events, but it would be impossible to talk about them all. It is however important to know why they are useful in some of the most popular events they are used in, including parties, community events and business sales.

Banners and Signs for Parties

Parties of all kinds are very popular for banners and signs to be used at them. Birthday parties can use both, for example - a banner to advertise the guest of honor and party theme, with smaller signs to be used for games and activities, or even where to put gifts and food. Anniversaries and graduation parties could use banners for a the same purpose or as a timeline to the guest of honor's married or academic lives, and then use signs to point guests in the right direction to the party or drinks and so on. Parties of all kinds can make use of signs and vinyl banners of all kinds, as a general rule.

Community Events

At community events it is important for banners and signs to be carefully planned out, but they can be just as useful as with parties and special occasions. Running events and street fairs are two great examples of community events that incorporate both signs and banners into their workings. Runners will probably follow signs to registration and to find their way throughout the course after starting off under a huge identifying banner. Street fairs may use very long banners to give a timeline of upcoming events and activities while using signs to help locate food, music, craft vendors and kids' rides.

Business Sales

Businesses are perhaps the form of use for banners and signs that are most common, particularly because every business wants as many customers as possible for their product or service. Grocery stores, for example, use signs to advertise particular brands or weekly sales, while using large outdoor banners for bigger sales and street-side sales on occasion. Many charitable businesses or organizations use banners to advertise the different sponsors and organizations that participated in the event and supported it. Other uses related to business sales may be to help locate business sales conferences or conventions that help bring businesses together in marketing strategies.

Tips for Renting Limousine Services

We all have events in our lives that standout. We want to make these events special and memorable. One way to do this is to rent a Limousine. Arriving at a Prom, Birthday, Wedding or other special event in a luxurious Limousine would make those events even more special. When booking a Limousine service there are several useful tips you can follow that will save you money and ensure you hire a quality service.

Hire a Company that can Provide the Right Car

When hiring a Limousine service you want to hire one that has a large selection of different luxury vehicles. Depending on the event you are attending you may want different types of cars. For instance, you might prefer a luxury SUV for a bachelor's party, then a Rolls-Royce for the wedding day. If you are throwing a sweet sixteen party for your daughter you might prefer to rent a stretch Limo. You also need a company that can provide a wide selection of Limos to ensure they have one that will accommodate all of the people in your party.

Modern Cars

Cars, even Limos, have advanced a lot over the last few years. Make sure the company you hire has updated cars. Their cars should feature all of the most modern conveniences such as satellite radio, DVD players, and HD stereo systems to name a few things the cars should have. Another thing you need to do is ensure that you and your guests have control of all of the entertainment systems. Do not depend on the taste of the driver. With many Limo rentals only the driver can control the CD player, DVD player, and other entertainment devices. You do not want to listen to another person's music for an entire trip, make sure you can listen to the music you want to hear.

Pre-Plan your Rental

One of the key things you should do when renting a limousine for a special occasion is book your Limo as far ahead of schedule as possible. This will allow to get the best deal and ensure that you get the car you want for your event. Planning ahead will also give you more options when talking to the rental company. You can plan the route you want to take to your destination, the beverages you want served during the trip, and any stops you would like to make along the route. There will also be other plans you can make, renting your Limousine at the last minute could limit your choices.

Hire a Quality Service

Possibly the most important consideration when hiring a Limousine service is to hire a company with a good reputation. You have to consider that their driver will literally have your life, and the lives of your party members in their hands. Before you hire any company or sign any contracts ask the Limo company to show you proof of their licenses, insurance, and other paperwork. If any rental company declines to show you this proof you should walk out the door and find another rental company to work with.

Online Registration Analytics Tips for Event Planners - Hand Out Cookies!

It's not the goal of this article to explain the technical details of what cookies are and how they work; all you really need to understand is that cookies are small files than can be created by web pages. The files are stored on a user's computer and can be accessed later by the website. Cookies are generally harmless, but like anything (software, cars, guns) when people use them inappropriately, they often get a bad name made for them.

So what does all this mean to meeting planners?

Online registration software packages have recently started to include the ability to track visitors throughout the entire registration process. This is accomplished through the use of harmless tracking cookies that are placed on a registrant's computer. These cookies allow you to answer questions like:

How many potential registrants viewed the form?

Where did the registrants come from?

How long did they take to fill out each part of the form?

How many visitors actually became registrants?

Where in the process do most of the visitors leave the form?

As you can see, this is valuable information to know about your form. Online registration saves you time by automatically sending out confirmation emails to your registrants, processing payments online, running and emailing reports and much more, so that you can concentrate on improving and adding value to your event.

This added information allows you to use the time saved using the software to improve your registration form. Reevaluate the spots where registrants get stuck, find new partners via referral stats, or provide incentives for your promoters to send you more registrants by running your own affiliate program.

Clearly, the addition of cookie technology to online event registration software for the purpose of tracking visitor behavior is very valuable. Even if you've never used web tracking software before, it is very easy to get started and the potential rewards are very high for those willing to take advantage.

Should I Start a Party Planning Business Or an Event Planning Business?

Samantha wanted to start a party planning business in Las Vegas. Actually, she told everyone she was starting an event planning business. "It sounded so much classier," she told me.

Well, classy or not, it didn't work. A party planner is not an event planner. Samantha was getting calls from people who wanted her to arrange corporate getaways, group cruises and month long grand opening events. Those are all very legitimate business niches, but not for a party planner. Those belong to an event planner.

Let's look at this way. An event planner like Jenny O'Neil will plan a large convention in Las Vegas. She will manage the hotel connection, plan the kick off bash, arrange for VIP treatment, ensure that all permits are in place, that all electrical wiring works, and keep the whole kit and caboodle running smoothly. Samantha, the party planner, will plan some of the individual parties going on all over the place, making each and every one of them a unique success.

So the event planner made more money, right? Not necessarily. Jenny has probably been working on this event for many months, perhaps a year or more. She has hired a staff to handle a lot of the detail work. She has set up a whole computer system to track expenses and billing for this event, making sure that the right people are billed, and that they pay on time. She actually lives in New York, and has had to make several trips to Las Vegas herself, as well as transport and house her staff.

The party planner was probably brought a month or two ago to plan the individual parties. Samantha is local to Las Vegas, and knows the caterers and party supply places and staffing companies to use. She may have brought in a contractor or two to handle some of the work, especially if she is doing a number of parties at the same time. But basically it is a one woman show.

The event planner's bill was a lot higher. But so were her expenses. The party planner sent out smaller invoices to a lot more companies, and had much lower overhead.

So it is probably a toss up on which one made more money. It is probably safe to say that the better negotiator did better. More importantly, they both enjoyed what they did.

Samantha didn't travel. She stayed near home, and operates her business from home - many party planners do just that. Taking on shorter term assignments gives her a lot more flexibility in her personal life, and still allows her to stretch her creative side.

Our event planner enjoys the international travel, and the opportunity to meet some very high profile people, so that really is the job for her. She is incredibly detail oriented and works well as a ring master to all that is going on.

Whether you plan to start a party planning business or an event planning business, focus on what aspects interest you. What works for your way of life? Neither is better or "classier" than the other. Both fields are dynamic, creative careers, with tremendous profit potential.

5 Ways to Ease Group Event Registration

A recent study shows that more than 35% of event attendees register through some kind of group registration process. Yet group registration is one of the most overlooked parts of event management. In fact, most group registration processes are difficult to maneuver for registrants and difficult to manage for event planners.

After an extensive usability study, "The Five Keys to Easier Group Registration" were identified to reduce registration headaches for event planners and attendees.

Key #1: Handle group registration in normal registration process. It's all too common for event registration systems to handle group registration with a separate, often confusing process. This technique requires special instructions on the front page that are often ignored, leading to frustration for registrants and organizers. Group registration should be handled using the same track as standard registration. Though, it is very important to make sure users are made aware how and when to enter multiple users.

Key #2: Orient your registrants throughout the process. When a registrant gets lost in your registration system it leads to frustration, dissatisfaction and abandoned registrations. To better orient your customers you should display a progress bar at the top of every registration screen, letting them know how many steps they've completed and how many are still to come. In addition, a good group registration platform will always display the name of the person currently being registered by the user. These simple additions will reduce anxiety for your registrants, and you'll reduce errors that lead to confusion for your event planners.

Key #3: Always populate standard information before and event. In most cases, group registrants share contact information like company name, address and phone number. Yet most registration systems require the registrant to re-enter that information for every attendee. Our studies found that registrants are much happier when their organizations information can be pre-populated after the first registrant. Again, it saves time for your registrants and reduces the amount of errors that event organizers have to deal with.

Key #4: Provide simple, flexible merchandising options. When providing up-sell options, registration systems often require registrants to check out after each registration or they only provide an option to order items that must be applied to every registrant. So, in the second scenario you would have to order 10 t-shirts if you had 10 registrants. Registrants are happier -- and therefore spend more money -- when they can use the merchandising section like a catalogue shopping cart, selecting quantities once for the whole order.

Key #5: Provide follow-up communication to all attendees: While group registrations are better handled by one person you should always communicate with attendees as individuals. Don't rely on the group leader to communicate to each attendee. Make sure your confirmations and reminders are sent to everyone on the list. To be most effective in your communication, personalize your emails with first name, too.

Regardless of the type of event by following the steps above you can reduce the time and stress involved in group registration.

Taking the Stress Out of Event Planning

There are so many aspects involved in event planning that it can be a very stressful and daunting process but there are many things that you can do to remove or reduce the stress that planning an important event can cause. There is a reason why people talk about brides-to-be turning into bridezillas. It's because planning a major event like a wedding and ensuring everything goes smoothly is stressful and tricky. While there are some things that are beyond your control that can go wrong at the event (no point worrying about these as you can't change them).

Tips to Help Make Event Planning Less Stressful

The following tips should help you make the process enjoyable:

1. Decide on a budget that covers both the event and the event planning early on and stick to it - how much you or your business can realistically afford to spend on this event.


2. Put time into finding the right venue - finding somewhere you like that is within your price range can seem like a daunting task, which is why the next point becomes so important.


3. Shop around - this is especially key if your budget is limited as you can compare prices and pick something within your range. And don't be afraid to negotiate. In this climate, many businesses are struggling and will be glad of your business. They may also offer services like price match or give you a discount if you purchase more than one product or service from them.


4. Do your research - leave no stone unturned when carrying out your event planning.


5. Put things in writing - making lists is your friend. Put everything you need to do - no matter how small - on your event planning list. This will ensure you don't forget to organise anything and will also give you a sense of achievement as you start to cross things off the list.


6. Ask for help if you need to - don't be scared of getting other colleagues, friends or family involved if you're not coping. Or if you need a lot of help that they can't cover, there are experienced and reliable event management companies out there that will be able to help and advise to whatever extent you deem necessary.


7. Consider local laws and regulations - if your event is taking place abroad there are certain rules you will need to adhere to such as taxes and fees.


8. Celebrate your success - if your event went well give yourself a pat on the back and realise that your event planning has been a success.

Hiring The Right Wedding Planner For Your Wedding

Wedding is the most anticipated occasion in one's life. Everyone wishes for a unique unforgettable wedding that is magical and idyllic in every way possible. However, given the long list of things that can possibly go wrong at the wedding, imagining a beautiful hitch-free wedding seems like a long shot. In such a scenario, making the decision to hire an able wedding coordinator would be most prudent. A wedding planner, with a sizeable experience in planning weddings and events, will not only effectively manage your day's arrangements, but also provide insightful details on how to cut down your expenses and avail the best deals.

A wedding planner streamlines the work and makes an accurate plan with viable margins for all the wedding day arrangements. The wedding planner works with you side by side personally from day one until your special day arrives and is devoted to preparing you for your wedding day. Thus, it is imperative that you hire someone who you are comfortable with, and also someone who understands your vision and requirements perfectly. The wedding planner is going to take the load of coordinating all the arrangements for the day and giving appropriate directions off your chest. A professional wedding planner would have the knack for steering you out of tricky situations and negotiate the best deals for you.

A number of factors are going to affect your wedding plans, as many more weddings will be taking place at around the same time as your wedding. A wedding planner would not just ensure that the bookings for venue are made in time, but also look into the effective management of many other aspects involved in a wedding celebration, including invitations, floral arrangements, DJ, catering, photography, etc.

The most common woe of most couples is that they spent their entire wedding day and all the days leading up the wedding day in making arrangements and planning details for the day, and thus could not enjoy this period. Wanting to look after even the tiniest of details, the wedding experience actually became a very harrowing time for them. Hiring a wedding planner could have saved them a lot of trouble and time. They would have received assistance and expert advice in matters concerning the organization, budgeting and purchase of various goods and services.

Owing to the large number of advantages that hiring a wedding planner offers, more and more people are opting for this service. It is not just limited to the rich and elite anymore. A person looking to retain the services of a coordinator must ensure that the person is reliable, understanding and experienced. This would ensure that the wedding goes off smoothly and is a memorable experience for all!

Planning For A Corporate Event

While planning a corporate event, the first thing you should keep in mind is to be clear about the purpose of the event. A good idea is to include a written statement of the purpose of the event as a signature or a footer on the emails regarding the event. They are mostly organized to discuss the vital objectives of the organization. You should take utmost care the organize the event, otherwise it may give bad impressions to the attendees. Below mentioned are some of the steps which will help you a lot to organize a successful corporate which for sure will leave a very good impression on the guest attending the party:

• Location: The location of the event plays a crucial role in its success. So you have to decide in advance about the location. Nowadays there are many restaurants available which gives the facility or organizing them. A large number of people prefer nowadays these restaurants instead of hosting them in their own place. It saves them from lots of complications and also saves a good amount of time, effort and money. Get as much as information you can about the various restaurants which offer this facility and then opt for a company which you think is best suited according to your needs and the budget.

• List of the guests: The next important thing is to create a list of the guests whom you want to invite to the event. So you should give it some thought and then start writing the names of who are important for the event and start contacting them. Call them and give them information about the party and ask whether they are available on that particular day. Fix the date of the event on a day when most of the invitees will be able to present.

• Don't feel bothered to ask for help: You should not hesitate to ask your co-workers for suggestions during the preparations and your corporate event planning. It is mainly because some of them may actually have experience in these matters, and can perhaps give you very useful tips and advice about how to organize such a party/event. They may even roll up their sleeves and get involved. With their help you will be able to successfully organize your event, and may even get some praise from your seniors.

• Menu: Food and the drinks are very important thing during a party, no matter for what the party is being hosted. If the food and the drinks are not good, then other things does not actually matter. So you should get information about the taste and the preference of the people who all going to grace the occasional and prepare the menu according to it.

Taking care of the above mentioned procedures will help you a lot to organize a successful corporate event for which you will get pecked on your back for sure.

Fun Team Building Ideas to Make Your Corporate Event a Hit

Most Corporate have by now understood the importance of team spirit within their employees. They have also realized that employees need to be motivated from time to time given their gruelling schedules and budget constraints that have made perks a rarity. But you don't always have to shower money or offer rewards to show your appreciation towards your employees. In fact Corporate Events where you involve your employees and try to make them feel a part of the family not only builds a sense of loyalty amongst them but also boosts their morale.

Team Building Exercises are highly recommended by management gurus for enhancing team spirit within your employees.

However sometimes these days can go awfully wrong and if it turns into a yearly ritual your employees begin to dread them. In most cases it's seen that teams lose interest when things get boring and preachy. You need to keep your employees interested with Fun Team Building ideas.

Now you can either hire a professional company to take that task off your hands or come up with Team Building Ideas that will be whole lot of fun at the same time informative to your employees.

You can sample a list of some popular Fun Team Building ideas and get the drift:

Retrieving message from a bottle full of holes is a popular task. Your team will have access to sticks, taps and water to fish out the container in the bottle that has a hidden message. This fun task helps communication skills and improves problem solving skills.

You can use three dimensional webs through which teams have to pass without touching each other. On the spot improvisations can be made and you can use multilayered labyrinths instead. This task works on your team's trust, delegation skills and time management.

Band building exercises can be lot of fun where different team members come together to form a band and let their inner artist lose creating new sounds. Your team will learn to work in harmony through this exercise.

Who doesn't like treasure hunts? You can give your team cryptic clues that lead them to a treasure. Each clue is followed by a task, and every employee is likely to have his/her own strength and weakness. They will learn to work with each other's strengths and covering up their partner's weakness.

Human sheep herding helps your employees build belief in each other. They will choose a team leader amongst them who will then herd the blindfolded team safely to the pen. It usually evokes a lot of laughter.

Several countdown missions can be given to your team. You can pick one team member as a spy who will have to be accurately picked by the team through a series of questions in stipulated time. Being able to ask the right questions is a task in itself.

You can put some thought into your event and make it lively and fun for your team.

Turning Over the Stone - Event Production Basics

The world of event planning has never seemed so healthy, despite what many consider to be an ongoing and possibly deepening risk of recession. We never tire of gathering together for a myriad of reasons and sporting events, social activities, commercial functions, smaller celebrations, society weddings and all the way up to giant conventions and conferences.

At the time of writing preparations were well in hand for one of the leading events in the industry, the Event Production Show, which takes place in central London during the winter. Of course London will be the center of attention in 2012 as the Olympic games get underway, but the British capital is also gearing up for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and numerous other keynote events.

Event production is an exciting and challenging sphere of business. For event planning companies however one thing is a constant and must be remembered, no matter how small or large the function concerned.

Event planners know that they must live by the motto, to never leave any stone unturned as they put together a first-class event from "soup to nuts." The proverbial stone, if left unturned, can hide something that will according to our good old friend Mr. Murphy, significantly and adversely affect the running of the event itself. What it means in other words is that every "what if" scenario should be investigated and it is up to event planning companies and their principles to anticipate different scenarios as they lay out the course of the event.

When an event goes smoothly and all those involved go away with good memories, the sponsor of the event is happy, the associated brand is well represented and all attendees are richer for having attended. Yet unless many different stones were turned over to see what was beneath, something untoward could have cropped up to derail the best of intentions. What happens if another event encroaches on yours, causing the possibility of a reschedule? What if a keynote performer fails to materialize? Do you have a backup plan in case of electrical or equipment failure at an important point in proceedings?

It doesn't matter whether you are preparing for a large family wedding or a qualifying event in the Rugby World Cup, event production must be carefully analyzed from the point of view of a master logistician. When you think that you have covered "everything" go over it all again and ask your "what if" question from a number of different perspectives. That's what it takes to be successful in this industry.

10 Things to Remember When Hosting Corporate Events

If you're planning a corporate outing, or run corporate hospitality events, then you might know exactly what you need to do in order for your event to be a success. If you're not sure, then here's what you need to think about.

1. Remember to plan ahead, so that your venue and guests are available on your chosen date.

2. Choose a theme or corporate event venue that will appeal to all of your guests, and not what you'd like to do. Just because you're a big sports fan doesn't mean that all your guests are, and so might not really appreciate your choice of venue. Why not find out more about your clients so that you choose somewhere appropriate.

3. Don't forget to send out invitations, and make sure that there's dress code, or instructions about what clients need to bring. You might be going paintballing during the day, but having a meal later on.

4. Remember to combine business with pleasure, and so don't talk shop all the time. You're spending relaxing time with your clients, out of the office, so don't keep trying to sell to them.

5. It's important to treat clients as equals, not showing off to your bigger or smaller clients. Just because a client isn't spending a lot with you at the minute, doesn't mean that they won't, and the opposite is also true.

6. Don't neglect your guests, and spend all day with your staff, or your most important clients, or your friends. Why not introduce clients to each other and see if they can do business together as well? You'll definitely want to mingle and make sure that you don't end up talking to the same people all day.

7. Although you'll want to impress your clients, you don't want to go overboard. It's a fine line between putting on a fantastic corporate event, and being too lavish. You don't want your guests to think that you're charging too much for your products and services. You don't have to spend a fortune to entertain your clients, and nobody will be impressed if you start talking about money, or showing off.

8. Check that everything is taken care of by the venue, so you'll need to ensure that drinks and refreshments are included. You won't want your guests to have to pay for their drinks or meals. Is car parking included? Will you have exclusive use of the room or venue?

9. You'll want your corporate hospitality event to be a fun day out for all concerned, so why not leave the planning to the experts? You'll want to be able to relax and spend time with your guests, and not worry about a thing.

10. It's important not to focus too much on the cost of your corporate event. You'll want your clients to remember the day for a great location, good food, and good company.

Now you know more about hosting corporate events, where and when will your next corporate hospitality event be?

Creating a LinkedIn Group for Effective Event Management

Many organisations are looking for alternative, cost effective ways to market their events. This is why so many have been quick to latch onto social media. Sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are all free to use and have great scope in terms of reaching a wide network of people.

LinkedIn is becoming especially popular for businesses. Founded in 2003, it is a business orientated social networking site. Mainly used for professional networking, it has more than 60 million registered users across more than 200 countries worldwide.

With over 4 million users in the UK, events companies are beginning to understand the benefits it can bring to their event marketing. As well as networking with colleagues and peers, LinkedIn also allows members the opportunity to create and manage groups focused on a wide range of subjects. Many of these groups have hundreds of thousands of members and alone can rival many niche social networks outside of LinkedIn in terms of their size and activity. These groups can offer fantastic networking opportunities for members - who gain access to resources and information that can help their careers.

This article discusses how to create, manage and promote a LinkedIn group with the aim of building up a strong network - in which you can discuss key industry topics, learn from peers and promote your events.

Creating a LinkedIn Group

It's easy to create a LinkedIn Group. Simply go to 'Groups' then 'Create a Group'. You need to think carefully about what to name your group. Consider the keywords your target members will search for. It's most likely that people will join a group when it's based around an industry, so it's best to not name it after your company.

You'll also need to design a logo - this is quite a small logo (100x50 pixels) so don't try and add too much text to it. Keep it clean and simple, yet eye catching. Then add a short description that effectively tells LinkedIn members what your group focuses on and who it is for. Ensure that the box is ticked that says "Allow group members to display the logo on their profiles. Also, send my connections a Network Update that I have created this group. " This will give your group increased visibility within LinkedIn and will help to generate new members.

Promoting a LinkedIn Group

When you first create your group, you'll need to add some members - afterall, who wants to join a group with no members! So invite colleagues (past and present) and existing customers to join, and encourage them to start discussions.

Once you've started to build up a small membership base, promote the group on your website, email newsletter, blog and other social media networks. Make sure you're promoting your blog wherever possible and that people know how they can join. If you're already on Twitter and Facebook, consider creating new accounts to match your LinkedIn group. This enables members to network across all major social media platforms, yet all providing the same messaging, content and industry focus.

If you've got industry leaders attending or speaking at an event, ask them to join and engage with the community. They can start up threads based around agenda topics that can be discussed in the lead up to an event. They can also promote an event by explaining in more detail what their involvement is.

Remember to promote your LinkedIn group at your events - print details of the group on literature, ask speakers to mention it in their presentations and mention it when you're networking with delegates.

Managing a LinkedIn Group

You'll need to manage your group quite closely in order to maximise the benefits to both you and your Group members. Content must be provided on an ongoing basis in the form of discussions, news, events and jobs. The more opportunities for interaction you add to your group, the more value your members will gain from it.

It can often be the case that important information can get lost in a large discussion thread. As a way to overcome this, as a group manager you can use the 'featured discussions' feature. This highlights particular content, offers or events and will ensure that this thread is pinned at the top of the discussion board for as long as you want. This is a great way to promote your events - by opening a new thread giving information about the event and then making it a featured discussion, all your members will see it each time they log into the group

An additional way to promote particular information (such as key events) is to send announcements. Announcements are emails sent by you through LinkedIn to your group members. Because the emails are coming via LinkedIn they come with an increased deliverability rate as recipients and their ISPs are more likely to recognise and trust the LinkedIn name. Announcements will also get added as a discussion thread in your group, and again, as a group manager you have the option to pin this as a featured discussion to gain extra visibility.

As a way of integrating your other social channels, you can import your blog RSS feed and have your blog posts automatically feed into your group News section. If your blog is relevant to your group this can be a great way of providing additional content to the group as well as promoting your own site and your own events.?

LinkedIn groups can be extremely effective at generating a focused, engaged network of members. Once your group is established you can use it to promote events and offers; however this must be done without looking spammy. Members will not appreciate being marketed at constantly - the goal is to create a vibrant community, with a wide range of discussions based on the industry/topic in question. Promoting events and offers of your own events, as well as from other members is something that can have great dividends - but it must be handled tactfully.

The internet and technology is opening up all kinds of opportunities for event managers to market their events in a cost effective way. Tools like LinkedIn and other social media platforms, websites and email marketing are all part of a modern event manager's marketing plan. These marketing methods, when used in conjunction with a comprehensive event management solution can make event managers even more efficient. Sophisticated event management solutions include email marketing tools as well as website and social media integration and the ability to take online bookings and payment. They can help to increase delegate attendance and satisfaction as well as reducing costs and increasing event ROI (return on investment).

Why Will You Hire an Event Planner?

An event planner helps in managing all aspects of a conference, meeting, or seminar in the utmost professional way. Companies hire event planners to look into the following matters.

Venue Selection

Enterprises no longer need to worry about selecting the venue of their seminar or road show. The event organizers do it on behalf of the organizing companies. It is they who, in consultation with the enterprises, choose a strategic place with sufficient transportation facility for the guests. The venue is located in such a place that the guests face no problem in reaching there on time.

Food Management

Looking after the dietary needs of the guests is a very important task of the event planners. You must carefully select the cuisines that need to be served to the attendees or guests. Snacks and beverages must be kept for people coming from different backgrounds. Event planners can also take the advice of the attendees in deciding the day's menu.

Guest Invitations

A vital task of event organizing companies is to finalize the guest list. They must decide the number of people attending the meeting or trade show and then send them invitations or emails. Event organizing companies can use the online event management solution to reap in the benefits of the highly scalable communication tools. Tools such as emails and RSVPs can be used to send online invitations to customers for attending a conference or seminar.

Budget Management

To hold a grand event, companies need to work on their budget. Event planners help the companies hold a grand program within their budget limits. They can help you process the payments sent through multiple payment getaways and credit cards. Moreover, the planners help in tracking funds and creating a detailed financial report for one or more events.

Marketing

Event organizing companies resort to various marketing means to promote and publicize their activities. It can range from a word-of-mouth to a large-scale advertisement of the upcoming event(s). The event planners can help the enterprises create an event-based website to market the same. People who have not responded to your emails can find it interesting to read your event-related information on the website. Event promotion on the popular social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, can also be a great way to attract maximum target audience to your conference.

Time Management

Event planners can work 24x7 to run the event smoothly and peacefully. Time management becomes central, especially while organizing large events. Even the smallest of tasks need to be dealt carefully. The ideal event planner should have patience enough to control all stress and anxiety without losing the mind. These qualities are going to help him make the event a grand success.

Party Rental - How to Make Your Party Come Alive Cheap

It is a common perception that parties cost a lot if you want to make them successful. This is not the case. You can arrange the most mesmerizing party without spending heavy sums of cash. One way to save money is to arrange a venue on your own. A lot of money is charged by party rental companies for arranging the venue. Thus, if you have your own location, the price goes down by a very big margin. Now let's come to the requirements in terms of seating arrangement and people. Your party should be arranged according to the frequency and category of guests. For instance, if you are celebrating your appraisal and you have thrown a party by calling your friends for a drink, you do not need a lot of crockery or cutlery. All you need is glasses, ice bowls and bar counter. Apart from that, if you are only calling your close friends, you do not need a lot of seats and tables. Thus, a large percentage of the costs will be cut down.

What happens if you do not extract these requirements and contact a party rental company directly? A party rental company has to earn profit. Thus, it will offer complete deals to you instead of individual items. These deals would include a lot of things which would not be required. In other words, your cost will increase. Most customers contact an event rental company without making a list of what they need. This is not the right strategy.

It is not impossible to arrange a party economically. Another effective way to get an economical solution is to contact a friend who is event planner. He can give you a proper solution without charging anything. After that, you can contact an event rental company and place an order according to exact requirements.

Crockery is one the party rental constituents which costs a lot. For instance, the charges for glass crockery would be more than plastic or steel. In addition to that, it has greater chances of breaking as well. You cannot use glass crockery when you have small children. Similarly, steel crockery does not work well if you have organized a formal party.

If you are arranging a party, you should take interest in the arrangements instead of only getting worried about the prices and cost. With the help of low price and great value party rentals you can save a lot and still have a great party.

The Top Benefits of Employing Online Ticketing System

The internet era has drastically changed the way of marketing and selling products and services, particularly the simple and minute information based products and services, which are hardly seen before purchasing. As a result, the online market is expanding on an increasing rate which has also influenced the event industry, significantly.

Most people these days are opting for online tickets for any event, function, concerts or shows, by visiting the event organizer's website. Being an event organizer, if you want to allow your potential attendees to buy tickets online, you can anticipate an increased ticket sale, more attendees, higher ROI, improved customer satisfaction and minimized cost. Let us have a look at the top most benefits offered by the online ticketing system:

繚 Online system offers 24x7 access:

Even as creating a website is a great idea of advertising your company or organization, you are surely going to loss potential customers, if they are unable to buy tickets online, when they land up to your site. You must ensure that the online ticketing process is easily accessible, so that the viewers who are interested in your event can instantly purchase tickets of their choice. Taking your ticketing process online will offer better experience to your attendees, as they will no more have to wait further. Waiting long for buying tickets might change their mind and they might spend their money on other things or may even forget about it.

繚 Get rid of additional service charges:

Within a manual ticketing system, both customers and event organizers have to spent major expenses, charged by the middlemen. But employing an online ticketing system, you can not only evade extra service charges, but also manage and control your ticket sale and pricing structure, accordingly. Thus, this will ultimately help in building up good and healthy relationships with your patrons.

繚 Minimize workload and save time:

The online system saves your time greatly, which would otherwise be required in answering calls about event related queries. As the manual task of registration and payments gets automated, you can easily relax back and utilize your saved time in doing other productive works. Thus, interested attendees can register and make the payment within minutes, for booking tickets for their favorite show or concert.

繚 Build patrons fidelity:

Most attendees expect that event page will display the updated information about the event as well the best prices and offers. By offering the best services, with informative contents and online ticket availability, you can build up a sense of loyalty.

The online ticketing system embedded with several beneficial features can serve you immensely and help in offering enhanced experience to your attendees.

Cocktail Party Ideas For Summer Cocktail Parties

Summer is under way and what isn't a better time than now to throw cocktail parties. Here are some cocktail party ideas that don't take much time to produce and won't break the bank!

For starters, let's look at the cocktail party menu. Keep it light and simple. Slice chunks of various kinds of vegetables, skewer them, place the skewers in a simple marinade of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, season with salt and pepper if desired and then grill or roast the marinated skewers.

Want to mix it up a bit? For outdoor cocktail parties, stick the finished skewered vegetables in a bed of wheat grass and there you have a grilled vegetable garden! Or place the finished vegetables on a platter and decorate the platter with loose flowers such as Cymbidium orchids or Gerber daisies.

I recently attended a cocktail party where the caterer created a great cocktail party menu that included Macadamia nut crusted chicken lollipops. Other menu items can include European cheeses with dates and figs, sliced toasts and crackers.

Have some fun serving your appetizers by using a shot glass at cocktail parties. Create a conversation piece by serving either skewered shrimp with a shot glass of cocktail sauce or soups such as gazpacho or cucumber served in a shot glass. Good old-fashioned milk and cookies where the tray includes shots of cold milk with a side of mini cookies is always fun too.

And since it is summertime, for your outdoor cocktail parties it's always fun to include tray-passed mini-burgers (can be beef, turkey or veggie) and of course the all-time favorite mini-hot dogs.

Other fun cocktail party ideas include creating an all white themed summer event with a white fabric gazebo. You can rent a 10' x 10' canopy and then use sheer fabric to swag the sides of the tent. You may need to bring in a tenting company to help with the small tent but you can buy the fabric yourself to create the swags.

Add some color to your white cocktail parties with colored glass d矇cor items such as vases and marbles for your buffet display as seen in the first picture. Flowers too can be fun and colorful yet simple.

And for drinks, here are some cocktail party ideas that are refreshing and cool for the summer. One cocktail party menu idea is to make your own spa water. Just add any of the following to water and let sit for a bit:

• Fresh raspberries or strawberries
• Citrus such as lemons or oranges
• Cucumbers
• Herbs such as mint or basil

If you prefer serving alcoholic beverages for cocktail parties, think about adding to your beverage menu sangria, mohitos or flavored martinis such as lemon, cucumber or watermelon. (For some cocktail party martini recipes, look at pages 87 and 88 in Budget Bash.)

I hope you found these cocktail party ideas helpful for your summer cocktail parties. Keep your cocktail party menu fun and light and when throwing a cocktail party remember the Budget Bash mantra: make it simple, delicious, stylish, fun & economical to all!

Party Favors That Will Be Adored by the Guests Attending Your Princess Birthday Party

Choosing party favors is a difficult task. You have to stay within your budget; however, you want to give something that the kids would appreciate. Most moms are tired of receiving the same stuffs in the party bags. Stickers and small toys no more interest the kids, as they have got enough of them. These days parents do not want their kids to eat a lot of chocolates; therefore, a candy box is again not a good option. You must give something that the kids don't get frequently and can use them. Here are some suggestions for choosing party favors for your daughter's princess birthday party.

Customized coloring book

Kids love coloring and therefore, you can always consider giving them themed coloring book. Customize and decorate it to make it look appealing. You can also make these coloring books at home by taking printouts of various princesses and then binding them using pink ribbons. For making the covers, cut tulle fabric and paste it on a white paper to make it a bit sturdy. Use pink colored tulle to give it a royal look. At first glance, the little princesses would not be able to make out that it's a coloring book. On the first page, print the picture of your daughter and also write your 'thank you' message.

Princess beauty kit

For very young girls who cannot paint, you can make a beauty kit consisting of a fruit flavored lip gloss, a royal looking mirror, a pink comb, some hair accessories, and much more. Put all these things in a pink pack or make a pink pouch out of silk and decorate it with ribbons, lace etc. Even though this is time consuming, the moms will surely appreciate these interesting princess birthday party ideas.

Tiara photo frame

Buy inexpensive photo frames from dollar store. Make tiaras from pink cardstock, the size should be enough to cover the rim of the upper side. Decorate them as beautifully as you can, using the materials available at the craft stores. Now stick these tiaras using glue on the upper border of the photo frames. When the kids arrive, take their close-up pictures and later insert these into the photo frames. You can also have a tiara making activity for the kids and use these tiaras for decorating the photo frames. When done, this party favor will look so cute that you would not want to give them away. This will be a good keepsake that they can have with them for years.

Sippy cups:

This will be good for both toddlers as well as kids. Buy the plain pink colored Sippy cups and decorate it with stickers of tiaras, princesses, magic wands, etc. You can also approach a company that deals with personalized products and ask them to customize these cups by putting your daughter's picture on it. Dress up your daughter as a princess and take her pictures. Use the best one to customize the cups. This awesome party favors will surely impress the mommies as well as the kids.

Apart from the main favor, you can also buy the other princess birthday party supplies such as stickers, wands, tiaras, etc. and use them to fill the loot bags. Make sure you choose party favors according to the age of the child.

Importance of Porta Potties in Outdoor Events

Most of the individuals plan outdoor events in the United States, but only few of them are successful in planning and organizing a complete outdoor event. Organizing an outdoor event is sometimes a tough job. Event planner has to look after each and every aspect of the event. In this confusion, the majority of the event planners forget to think about the visitors sanitary needs.

Every outdoor event needs one or more portable restrooms for visitors to meet their sanitary needs in hygienic condition. Event visitors may get annoyed when they don't find temporary or permanent restrooms for their sanitary needs. It is sure that you can always construct restrooms wherever you plan an event. It will sure cost very high for building a permanent restroom. Here, there is a solution for the entire event organizer. They are "Portable Restrooms".

Portable restrooms are easily and affordable for everyone to install them in any of your events like parties, social events, get-together, wedding, outdoor weddings, and celebration. Portable restrooms can be easily installed, removed, and shifted from one location to the other. There are many verities in porta potties. Few of them are listed below:
1) Standard portable restroom
2) Deluxe restroom flushing
3) ADA complaint portable restroom
4) VIP self-contained portable restroom
5) Mobile restroom shower and
6) Mobile shower trailer

One can select any of these restrooms according to their type of event, number of visitors, and budget. Budget is very important in choosing the right one. The price of these restrooms depends on the amenities that are enclosed in the restroom. A standard portable restroom wouldn't cost much and it includes few basic amenities like tissue paper, holding tank, and towel. This restroom perfectly suitable for large outdoor events where huge crowed visits the event.

Depending up on your outdoor event, you can also go for ADA complaint portable loo and VIP self-contained restroom. ADA complaint movable loo is specially designed to accommodate small children, old age people, and physically challenged individuals. It is enclosed with a tissue paper, holding tank, towel, and a seat cover that help in comfort seating.

VIP-self-contained movable loos are specially designed to accommodate special guests and VIP's for your event. This restroom costs more than standard movable loo. VIP self-contained movable toilet is enclosed with some luxurious amenities like tissue paper, holding tank, towel, washing station, mirror, flowers, and deodorizer. Few of them also have music system inside the restroom.

Choosing the right restroom for an outdoor event will help the visitors to meet their sanitary needs comfortably in hygienic condition. Cost of these restrooms varies from vendor to vendor. It is suggested choose the right company before renting a restroom.

Special Event Checklist

So what kind of checklists do event planners use?

I think I've seen every possible checklist used in event planning. From excel spreadsheets, to databases, proprietary software, notebooks, slips of paper, calendars and bar napkins.

What is the best checklist? Great question and I don't think there is one answer. It depends entirely on what the event planner is comfortable with. Event planners have the reputation of being highly organized and detailed, but how we get organized and detailed is via our checklists. The trick here is how we bridge our checklists to effectively communicate details to clients, vendors and event attendees.

Personally, I use two types of checklists. I use an excel spreadsheet and a filemaker database. They serve two different purposes:

1. The excel or spreadsheet style checklist affords a lot of room for detail and serves well as a simple database. I can plug in dates, times, names and math/budget functions. Budget functions are really important in a checklist in my opinion. For me as an event planner, I live and die by the budget. We can train anyone to plan an event, but planning an event within theme and on or below budget is the sign of a pro. Using a spreadsheet allows us to combine budget details with all of the other event details. I see the spreadsheet as my notepad for all details.

2. The database style checklist is great for template style event detail. You can program in a variety of fields and the database functions easily. Most professional event planning software is really just a database with a user friendly interface. The database also works really well for pulling detail from a variety of other electronic sources, such as pdf files, jpg's and word documents. Databases also work really for communicating details to others because of their slick interfaces.

The difference between the two for me is that I put the really excruciatingly detailed info into the spreadsheet file. It is a bit more cumbersome, but I have a lot of freedom to add detail and manage the budget at the same time. The database I use references parts of the spreadsheet and is also linked to email addresses for the event participants. I can pull the data from the spreadsheet, drop it into the database, create a nice interface and communicate with everyone in a few keystrokes. A database style checklist can also do budget functions, but it is more difficult and time consuming to program.

My method is by no means the only way to go. I have a friend that is CEO of a large company and he keeps all of his notes on small tabs of paper. He is very effective at getting his job done and staying on top of details. The downfall is that searching and organizing the information is much more cumbersome and time consuming.

Here are few important things to remember when you build your checklist:

1. The devil is in the details. Include as many details as possible, even if for your own reference.

2. Include an autodate/time stamp function so each time you update the checklist, the file keeps track of when you did it.

3. Incorporate a way to communicate your checklist. Not every event participant needs your level of detail, nor does everyone need to see the budget. But do develop a nice summary style interface that people can scan for information. Spreadsheets do not lend themselves well to this, but something like Bento by filemaker does. Linking spreadsheet detail to your database is simple.

4. Also incorporate a way to quickly and easily communicate checklist details to everyone. In Bento it is very easy to pull email addresses from your contacts and send the information in just a few keystrokes.

5. Finally, don't send lots of updates to your stakeholders. Their heads will swim and it will get very confusing which checklist to follow. Offer updates after a volume of detail has been added or clarified. You may also want to consider posting updated checklists on your website for others to access when they need the info.

Gifts Corporate Professionals Will Appreciate

When one is searching for gifts corporate businesses can present to their clients or customers, one would need to select products very carefully. There are several issues that need to be kept in mind when choosing corporate promotional gifts.

First and foremost, one should understand the purpose of giving out corporate promotional items. The basic idea is for clients and customers to keep the brand name and business in mind. Thus, it is important to choose gifts for corporate clients that will be used frequently, and not left in a corner, gathering dust. This takes food items that would be consumed quickly and breakables that may not last for long, off one's list of gifts. Similarly, it is best to choose gifts for corporate clients and partners that can be used year-long. Utility is a key feature that should be kept in mind when buying corporate promotional gifts.

Some popular gifts for corporate clients include clothing that bears the business name, picture frames, organizers, pen stands, writing instruments, pen drives, journals and golf accessories. It is a good idea to choose gifts corporate businesses can be closely associated with. They should feature the business logo, colors and name.

When one is looking for the perfect corporate promotional item, it is vital to keep in mind the audience that would receive such gifts. Demographics, such as the age group of the people who will receive the gifts, are very important. The occasion or venue for which the gifts are bought is also crucial. If one is buying gifts for a promotional event such as a trade fair, one will be giving them away in large numbers. On the other hand, gifts corporate businesses will like to present select clientage on special occasions, such as the festive season, will be quite unique and distinct.

The budget for the corporate promotional gifts will play a key role in the type of products and brands that one can choose from. An online survey would reveal many retailers who offer competitive prices for corporate items. It is important to high quality products as the business will be closely identified by its corporate gifts. There are many products that one can select from and will be suitable for one's budget. Shopping in bulk can bring down the price of one's shopping.

Buying corporate gifts online is fast, easy and convenient. Promotional product industry is growing rapidly online and it give more options and competitive pricing to business. No matter what corporate gift you decide on make sure appeals to your target audience.

How to Enjoy Catered Corporate Events While on a Financial Crisis

You may have recently been forced to introduce downsizing measures in the company due to some financial concerns, but it doesn't necessarily mean you can no longer hold the general assemblies that you normally have each year. In fact, you should all the more insist on keeping on with the traditions so that the spirits of the members will be lifted and morale, improved. As long as you stick to your stated budget and focus on the essentials that make a great party, you need not worry about the expenses involved on your existing finances, especially in the light of the benefit that you get from it: an improved camaraderie among member that eventually will increase productivity as a company.

To ensure that this party remains happy and enjoyable despite a strict budget, there are three things you need to focus on as you plan for it:

1. Good Food

It is important that the caterers you choose should have many menu options for you. They should be able to tailor their service to suit your budget and still come up with food that people will find delicious and worth raving over. There are many ways by which you can actually cut down on your food-related expenses; hopefully, your designated caterer can accommodate your suggestions. Some catering strategies that have been used in the past and have proven to be effective are: fewer courses included; use of cheaper but still good-quality cuts of meat; and a shift from a dinner service to a much lighter cocktail setup.

2. Unlimited Drinks

It is a fact of life that most people who attend social events would choose to have food running out rather than drinks. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks should be ever present in such social scenes. There are methods you can employ to cut the costs associated with this aspect of catering. One is to have plenty of cocktail mixes on your drinks menu. A punch bowl is not just a good money-saving idea but is also a nice decorative piece on any buffet table. When it comes to wines, bottles are more expensive, so consider buying the cartons instead. It may sound less classy to the wine connoisseur, but for majority of people who go to these parties, it doesn't really matter; this is no wine-tasting session anyway.

3. Good-Quality Service

Caterers often give you the option to include a waiting service or not. The way to know which among the catering setups can provide you with the cheapest service is by taking the time to compare the costs among the options. Some would hire a waiting service separately to limit cost, while there have been incidences where a combined package came out cheaper and more convenient. Check to see which of these two is the case in your particular area. If you have plenty of time to look around for alternatives, you can just look to hire a few responsible college children of the employees to do the service, as most likely they will be asking for cheaper hourly rates than professional waiters. Reducing the number of waiters to employ is also another method, which is a valid option if you are not planning to serve a full-course meal.

As you can see, it is still very possible to have good food, drinks, and great service despite a budget. As long as you make the time to look for your cheaper options, you really have nothing to worry about; just go ahead and set up that social event of the year that provides happiness to one and all.

You're Hosting a Corporate Dinner - What Will You Need?

A corporate dinner can be an occasion to mark any number of things. It can be used to solidify relationships between clients and your company, introduce you to new clients or be introduced to new movements in your particular industry. What doesn't change is that it takes an awful lot of money and time to put on a successful event. Successful planning is the key to a memorable night. Hold a brainstorming session early on in the planning stages, thinking about what you'll need and what you want out of the night. Here are a few things to remember when planning your corporate event.

Theme your event. This can be uncomfortable if to forced, so keep it light on the theme, have a general idea behind the event, not a strictly-enforced dress code. Your clients and staff will not want to turn up to a corporate function dressed as a fairy, no matter how much you might want them to.

Mixing business and pleasure. Your event is for the enjoyment of your guests, don't make it a dry affair with constant business talk. Have some fun elements to your function.

Food and beverages. This is the reason most people stay at events as long as they do. Have this sorted out by professionals. See if the venue can sort it out for you or if they can recommend a good company to use.

Food. Planning food carefully can save time and money. Using set menus will eliminate the risk of running out of food like a buffet may.

Beverages. You should decide early on what kind of beverages will be served at your event. Alcoholic or not? What percentage. Consider if there will be children or young people at the function.

Audio visual production. What really makes an event is the entertainment you can offer your guests and that is all channelled through a good audio-visual system. Here's a few things to consider: PA. This is the bare bones of any audio visual set-up. If your event involves awards, speeches or (heaven forbid) karaoke, you will need a PA. This is simply a set of speakers with an amplifier and mixer. Microphones can be run through the PA along with background music and soundtracks to visual components of your night.

Projectors. If your event has a visual element to it, the best choice to go for is a roof-mounted projector. This can be synced up to your PA system and will provide high-quality pictures projected onto a large area.

Lights. Nothing sets a mood better than a good lighting set up. Consider the theme of your event and try to organise a light setup that matches it. Remember that people want to eat their meals without lasers flying about, so be sure you have the lighting for the evening planned out.

Corporate events are an fantastic way to grow your company's profile and put the message out there to existing and potential clients that your company is the best at what you do. They are cost-effective ways to impress, entertain and introduce, and it pays to invest the right thinking into planning.

Finding The Best Catering Services For Corporate Events

Planning a huge party can be stressful enough, but planning corporate events can be off the charts. Impressing your close friends and family is an entirely different story than impressing your boss, his friends and his family. A few mistakes won't cost you anything at a family gathering but even just one mistake at a corporate gathering can cost you your job, which is why corporate event planning can be so stressful - everything has to be absolutely perfect.

When planning corporate events, you first of all need to take a deep breath and be able to take things in perspective. Make sure you give your guests enough time to reserve your event date on their calendars and to RSVP their attendance and more importantly, make sure you have your theme, venue and menu ready for the big day. While the guest list can be easier to handle, selecting the best venue and the food to be served at the event are not. This is when hiring the best catering services for your event can be a god-send... and can also help you create a great impression on the boss.

To start, you need to ask yourself important questions like how formal the event is going to be, what menu should ideally be served and what location can possibly accommodate your guests. Remember that your menu should include items that cater to varying tastes and preferences as some, if not most of your guests may be on some kind of diet regimen they would like to stick to. Your potential venue on the other hand, should accommodate the maximum number of people possible as you don't want your guests to literally rub elbows with each other.

The best thing about catering companies these days is that they also do complete event management. They take of everything from the venue, to the d矇cor, to the food to be served and even the host and sound system if you please. They will also post suggested menus for your corporate events, from gourmet sandwiches to menus fit for morning or afternoon tea like mezze platters or a selection of Greek and Middle-Eastern dishes served in "mezze" portions. If you are holding an informal corporate event outdoors, the best catering companies will also offer boxed lunches delivered straight to your designated venue complete with napkins and cutlery, available in vegan and non-vegan varieties.

To start your search for the best catering companies, you can ask for personal referrals or references from close friends and colleagues. Reputable catering companies will be willing to take you a personal tour of their kitchens, as well as set up tasting sessions to give you a sample of the kind of high quality food they serve. They may also invite you to an event that they will be catering so you can get an idea of how they work a particular event.

Once you've narrowed down your potential list of candidates, you can call each one and discuss preliminary budget and to confirm availability for your event date. You can ask each one to provide a sample menu for your budget and projected number of guests. You must also make sure to ask each one about their policies regarding minimums, specific hours during the event and extra costs besides food and drinks.

Lastly, it is also important to find out whether your chosen caterer carries any kind of food manager's certificate for sanitation purposes or is insured - you can ask to see any occupational licenses, certification and insurance documents. Also, don't forget to draw up contracts listing every aspect of your agreement down. Don't be afraid to ask questions and more importantly trust your instincts. The best catering companies after all, will always want to make you feel special.

Planning an Event is Fun - Especially in New York

Planning for an event requires work on every aspect associated with it. Whether it is some low affair personal event or some high profile corporate events, it requires proper planning and management. There are many things that have to be considered while planning for an event. Without proper management and planning, the event would fall flat on its face.

New York is among the most fascinating, exciting, stylish and vibrant cities in the world. Being the important centre for world trade and commerce and equally popular tourist destinations, it draws thousands of tourists, businessmen, corporate executives and professionals every year. New York has some of the world's best hotels and restaurants that offer great lodging facilities. It has some of the best shopping malls and has a rich culture & heritage.

New York is one of the most happening places in the world with social events, wedding parties, corporate events, product launches, fashion shows and many other events being a regular part of the New York social scene and culture. Due to the booming demand of event planning in New York one can always find event planners in almost every corner of New York.

Planning is very essential for any event be it a wedding party, some corporate event, trade shows or a product launch. Without proper event planning and administration, the prospect of success of the event is very bleak, even though the purpose of organizing the event is in place. Publicity is an essential part of any event, especially if it is some type of social events. Without good publicity, the events may not come to the notice of many people. But good publicity doesn't guarantee success. Many events have been known to be disasters despite great publicity. The content and management of the event is what impresses the people the most.

Preparation for an event must start as soon as the event has been finalized. It is better to have few days extra rather than panic at the last moment. A lot of time, dedication and management is required in planning an event. Also event planning is associated with a lot of frustration and tiredness. This has led people to seek the help of event planning firm. These firms offer the services of some of the best professionals in the field of event planning and ensure that everything is well coordinated. These firms come with a fee and are in a boom in New york. Hiring an event planning professional relieves you of all the tensions, frustrations and problems associated with an event.

Planning for an event is not as simple as it looks. It requires dedication and time on the part of the person responsible for planning the event. Hiring an event professional is the best way to ensure the success of the event.

Tips For Planning Large Events

The truth is that a lot can be on the line when it comes to producing and hosting a corporate event. Do a bad job and your name is mud. Do an adequate job and your star is shining. However; do a stellar job of planning and hosing an event of this type and your position where you work may be set in stone and from then on you're the "go to person" for any future social and promotional events.

The very first thing that you need to determine, once you're assigned the task of putting the event together, is your budget and the number of people that you'll be accommodating. More often than not, both of these figures, rather than being exact will have a high and a low end with a gray area that you'll be operating in. Do your best to get your numbers as tight as possible.

You're best served to plan as far ahead as possible. This is very important, particularly when it comes to reserving an "optimal" venue. Once your name comes up as possibly being the person to organize an Event, you need to hammer out an agreement as quickly as possible. Delays or indecisiveness can leave you with problems that you didn't bargain for.

After all is said and done, make sure that you have some extra cash on hand in the event of an emergency. If you have watched any court TV shows than you know that entertainment or caterers can flake on you without any notice and leave you scrambling for a replacement on game day.

Make sure that you make and keep extra copies of everything. Invitations, contracts, lists, anything. If they're in your computer then copy them on paper and keep they tucked away, just in case. It's so easy to do and if for some reason anything is lost, you can quickly retrieve one of your copies. Also make a point of sending your invitations out early with a request to RSVP. Call your RSVP holdouts to see if they are coming.

Use some good common sense when doing your seating arrangements. For instance do your best to avoid placing any seating near restroom entrances. Also if you're going to be serving alcoholic beverages, set an area off to the side for that. Also don't cram any seating close up to your food service area either. Give people plenty of room to move around, mingle and enjoy themselves.

When it comes to music selection, you have to keep an open mind these days. Also always remember that it's not about the type of music you listen to. Rather it's the type that the majority of your guests will enjoy. Take the time to see what's out there and seek the counsel of professionals who plan these types of events. Maybe if you're in luck, there's a good Sinatra or Elvis impersonator available who's in your price range.

Also when it comes to musical acts, if you have the money don't be afraid to contact some bigger names that have faded from the picture. This particularly holds true if you live in a larger metropolitan area. You may be shocked to find that some "big star" that was on top of the charts a decade or so back, blew all his or her riches and is now doing corporate gigs for $1500 or so. It happens all the time.

Music Selection

If it is a birthday party or a marriage function, you can play the music loud. But if it is a business event, it is better to keep the music melodious and play something that everyone can enjoy.

Snacks and Food

Check how long the event is going to continue. If it is an event of not more than couple of hours, snacks and beverages would do. But, in case the event is too long, proper meal is very important.

Apart from all the above factors, also make sure to take care of things like parking, transportation etc.