Conference Registration - Benefits of Online Event Management

Are you looking for an error-free way to manage your conference registration process? Online registration can solve your problem. Normally, the conference organizer needs to keep a track of several processes. These include attendee registration, payment status, schedules of breakout sessions, workshops, vendor display area, meals, network activities, and so on. Online registration services streamline the entire procedure and enhance your attendee experience.

With web-based registration services for conference, you can reduce back office workload considerably, which saves your time as well as money. Here are some of the benefits of using conference registration software for managing your corporate conferences.

Create Customized Registration Page within Minutes

Online conference registration allows your attendees to do away with the concerns of signing in manually for the program by creating a registration page within minutes. If required, organizers can customize the page by adding an attractive banner or a logo to create a brand identity. In addition, you can customize it by putting multiple input fields and questionnaires. Besides, as the procedure is Cloud-based, you do not need to add any additional hardware or software device to use it. Your attendees can sign up 24x7, only if they have a computer with access to the internet.

Error-free Management of Registrant Data

Automated conference registration helps to keep track of all the details of an attendee as soon as he completes signing up. You do not need to put any data manually to update the database. You can also retrieve any data, when required, through a standard web browser interface. Besides, the attendee data and registration pages can also be accessed 24x7 online. Automated update and retrieval systems allow you to create reports including registrations, attendees, sales, and reports at no additional cost.

Effective Online Ticketing System

Simple and hassle-free online ticketing system enhances attendee experience. Your attendees can get tickets online as soon as they make payments. In addition, this payment can be made at their own convenience. Ticketing system online enhances your ticket sales and ROI considerably. Moreover, you can sell tickets for multiple conferences from a single platform, if you use online registration services.
Easy Payment Management

Registration software today comes with many advanced features, such as a PCI-compliant solution and others. It offers secured and real-time authorization of payments. Implementing online registration system allows you to process payments through all major credit cards and online gateways, such as PayPal, purchase orders, and checks. Organizers can also use their merchant account to collect payments through PayPal, PayFlow Pro, Authorize.Net, PayPal Express, and CyberSource gateways.

To make your conference successful, implement conference registration software today.

How to Do an Adorable Party Decoration for Your Daughter's Pinkalicious Birthday Theme Party

If your daughter loves to relish cupcakes and wants everything in pink, a Pinkalicious birthday theme party is the best way to celebrate her special day. Whether its invitation, decoration, or the party food, this theme demands a lot of pink that needs to be creatively incorporated into everything. Here is how you can use the store-bought Pinkalicious party supplies to transform your home into a pink castle for your daughter's birthday celebration.

Balloon arch entry

A pink and golden balloon arch is an inexpensive but influential way of welcoming the little Pinkerbelles and Pinkerellas. Place a huge cupcake cutout at the center of the arch to tempt the guests for a lot of exciting fun and mouthwatering treats that are waiting for them inside. Instead of the cupcake cutout, you can also use a signboard with a message 'welcome to (your daughter's name) pink castle' or 'Come on Pinkerbelles; let's have some pink fun!'

Pink tulle drapes

Beautify all the doors and windows with pink tulle. Such a decoration will add an elegant look to your Pinkalicious birthday theme party. Instead of simply draping the tulle fabric, you can try innovative curtain draping styles.

Pink cupcake decorations

• Hang a lot of pink cupcake cutouts from the ceiling. You can buy these Pinkalicious party supplies or make them at home. Ask your daughter to help you with this, if she is old enough to use a scissor safely.


• A Pinkalicious party demands a special cupcake table. Use a hot pink colored table cover to protect your table from any potential damage and place a large cupcake stand on it. Do not mix this with the main party table; instead, arrange a separate cupcake station so that it gets undivided attention.


• A cupcake pi簽ata is unavoidable for your daughter's pink party. Fill it with lots of delicious treats and hang it at a place where it gets everyone's attention.

Venue decoration using Pinkalicious party supplies

• Hang pink pom-poms from the ceiling along with the cupcake cutouts.


• Blow out a lot of pink, white, and golden balloon with helium and let them float in the air.


• Use Pinkalicious theme tableware to give a coordinated look to your party table.


• Tie a bunch of Mylar balloons the cupcake stand. Later, you can give them away as party favors.


• If your daughter loves fresh flowers, you can use some pink rose bouquets as centerpieces.

To give a vibrant look to your party, use multiple shades of pink.

Challenges Facing Event Planners When Designing Their Event Plan

Event planning is a highly demanding task. Events become the charm of life when organized in an interesting and exploring style. To hold a successful event, good event planning is of key importance.

To plan a party might be simple, to plan a successful party that every guest can enjoy to the fullest, however, can be extremely challenging. This is because everybody has different personalities, needs, tastes and perhaps different expectations of the party: they might come to the party for different reasons. As it is challenging to cater for all tastes, it is equally challenging to plan an all-catering party. Events become the charm of life when organized in an interesting and exploring style. To hold a successful event, good event planning is of key importance. The following are three major challenges you will encounter in planning an activity.

1. There is always limited funding.
Except for a few rare occasions, most sponsors want to spend the least money to achieve the greatest effect of their activity. Therefore, you always have a limited funding at your disposal with which you are expected to make out a perfect plan for the activity. To deal with this challenge, you need to learn to give priorities to the factors that count the most in the activity. For example, if the activity is aimed at entertaining the guests, then accommodation and entertainment are the most important factors. Less important ones should be given less investment.

2. You can only guess the needs of the guests.
Every sponsor hopes that his or her activity will bring to his or her guests entertainment and inspiration. However, as there are many guests invited to an activity-in some cases there might be hundreds of guests-it can be extremely difficult for you to cater to the needs of every single guest. The best you can do, in such cases, is to talk to the sponsor and know as much about the guests as possible. Although at best you can only guess what the guests will expect of the event, at least you can have some clues to that by knowing more about them.

3. There is great stress in event planning.
Since you are the person who is responsible for the success of the activity, it is imaginable how much stress you will suffer from during the whole process which can only be released when the activity is finished. Therefore, before you set out to make plans for an activity, prepare yourself for the upcoming great stress.

Corporate Wellness Programs: The Secret to BIG Business With SMALL Overhead

Corporate Wellness Programs are one of the fastest growing and most lucrative aspects of the health and wellness industry and they offer unlimited earning possibilities for wellness businesses and practitioners.

What are Corporate Wellness Programs?

In order to increase morale and find less expensive alternatives to rising employee healthcare costs, many companies are instigating Corporate Wellness Programs for their teams. Popular offerings focus on everything from nutrition education, live fitness classes, mindfulness training and yoga as well as lunchtime massages.

For wellness practitioners from personal trainers, massage therapists, to yoga and Pilates instructors, providing corporate wellness packages to local businesses provides both scheduling flexibility, freedom from overhead costs, and access to innumerable potential future clients.

Why are CWPs in such high demand?

• Exercise classes and health club membership ranked No. 2 and 3, respectively, behind full medical checkups, in terms of subsidized benefits that employees would like to receive.


• The success of early corporate wellness programs (particularly the positive impact on the bottom line) has spurred many companies to adopt health-based programs for their own employees. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 77% of employers currently offer some sort of formal health and wellness program and 31% of America's larger corporations subsidized their employees' health club memberships.


• Employers reported a 56% increase in employee morale after launching a corporate wellness program.


• 82% of Americans said they would exercise regularly if their employer subsidized health club memberships.

Today, it seems that many employees' wishes are coming true-yet it isn't pure corporate altruism. With skyrocketing healthcare costs, many businesses are realizing that they stand to payout far less if they invest in employee fitness, nutrition, and stress reduction through preventative wellness programs rather than mitigate future HMO costs.

How to profit from the Corporate Wellness agenda:

The first step is to create a series of turnkey packages that are designed to fit a variety of business sizes and cultures, and then to relay on good, old fashioned grassroots marketing to network with said companies in order to distribute your service information. Yet the question remains, once you've put your package together, how do you convince employers of its necessity? Incorporate these great facts and they won't be able to say no:

• The obesity epidemic and unhealthy lifestyles of employees have led to lower worker productivity, higher compensation claims and higher heath insurance costs - severely hurting U.S. companies' bottom line (Merriman Curhan Ford Fitness and Wellness Report, 2008.)


• Obese employees cost private employers approximately $45 billion a year due to medical expenses and excessive absenteeism (Weights and Measures: What Employers Should Know About Obesity, by Barbara Rosen and Linda Barrington, The Conference Board, 2008).


• Companies are projected to pay an average of $9,312 per employee for health care in 2008, up from $6,385 in 2003 (2008 Health Care Cost Survey, Towers Perrin).


• Health insurance costs are the fastest-growing cost component for employers ("Will Health Benefit Costs Eclipse Profits?" McKinsey & Company, September 2004).

CWPs = lower overhead and higher profits:

Imagine giving thousands of clients the gift of reduced stress and increased energy, without a store front or business mortgage! Because of the financial returns, we expect to see corporations expand offerings, especially in the fitness area, which could have a huge impact on the public's exercise habits. And here's the most important fact for your business' bottom line: spas are the No. 1 leisure activity at meeting and corporate events (executives have the income to support a regular spa regimen and they have the stressful schedules that necessitate relaxation support). In order to expand your reach and increase your future client base, all you need is the tools of a mobile business. In fact, Corporate Wellness Programs have become so flexible in nature due to technology, that many services such as fitness instruction can even be lead by you via webinar or Skype. Take the first step today:

1. Create a Corporate Wellness Program


2. Print out brochures detailing the packages you offer AND the economic reasoning to invest in your services


3. Network with your local businesses


4. Profit from your new clientele!

Think Beyond Perfection When Wedding Planners Take on Your Big Day

Wedding is a special occasion in everybody's life. To make it an unforgettable event, it requires professional management by expert hands. The occasion needs proper arrangements of things and leaving it to family members may create hotchpotch at the end. Moreover, the process will consume more time and money which one could save by hiring a professional wedding planner. So, it is wise to give away the responsibility of your big occasion to expert wedding planners Ireland. They move on strategically and can take care of A to Z arrangements for your wedding occasion. These professional event planners give undivided attention and constant efforts so that you can find the ceremony get done the way you have ever wished.

What Event Planners really do?
Wedding planners Ireland can help you in a great way by reducing your problems that may come across your way while planning for your wedding. You are often stressed and burdened with work while preparing for your wedding and are likely to worry about the arrangements and proper implementation of wedding plans and lots more. A skilled event planner will surely assist to relieve you out of the stress and that too in a well-synchronized manner. They are all about to ease your anxiety and ensuring that you enjoy the fullest on your big day.

To add more, these professional event planners offer many services to make your wedding a memorable one. Most of them are experienced and have made contacts with numerous providers, thus you can get the best possible wedding items within your budget.

Well, that's not enough! An event planner can also help you to spot the best possible wedding venue or church for your wedding. The wedding planners Ireland have lists of venues where you can have your wedding at an affordable price as well. Also, choosing the best possible wedding garments for the bride and the groom or even for the entire family, making floral arrangements, hiring wedding photographers are also done by marriage planners. If your wedding date is fixed then contact any professional event planner now.

Wedding Photography Business Plan - Marketing Planning

When you plan a wedding photography business, you are joining not just the photography industry, but the huge American wedding industry. There are multiple potential channels for marketing your services in this industry, and your marketing plan should detail how you will take advantage of them to spend you precious marketing dollars.

Print Advertising

Unlike consumers looking for certain products, brides do still look to magazines as a significant source of information about weddings and wedding services. Purchasing advertising in bridal magazines can be a good marketing spend. However, running a public relations campaign which targets these magazines with article ideas featuring your business may be an even better way to pursue this channel, assuming there are specific remarkable stories you can push.

Internet Advertising

Wedding websites, such as theknot.com, weddingchannel.com, and brides.com, are another source of information and services for brides and wedding planners. Pay-per-click advertising with Google AdWords or other search engines is another valuable way to advertise. The upside of internet advertising is the ability to track the number of hits your website receives directly from these sources and the rate of converting these hits to those who request more information or even call. The AdWords campaign manager or free tools such as Google Analytics can supply this information.

Industry Associations

To seek the higher end of the wedding market, you will need to work with event planners who tend to manage the planning process for bridal clients. Join industry associations where wedding and event planners take part, both to gain mailing lists and to learn about events and conferences to attend. Use these events to network and build your reputation with wedding planners one at a time. Many will be interested in a commission relationship, whereby they earn 10% or more of your fees to wedding clients they refer to you. Be prepared for whether you will be happy with this kind of relationship or if it will effectively obliterate your profit.

The Importance of Corporate Team Building

It is very important for any organization to create is an atmosphere of cohesion and a feeling of solidarity among the ones who work for it. This is crucial especially when it comes to matters of the company's efficiency and good performance and the ability to face competition from others.

In order to achieve this goal, companies try out a number of team building exercises that are aimed at keeping the moral of employees high

They try to locate and remove any issue of discontentment in a person or any complain that they have against the company management and possibly affect the faith of an employee or their performance in their area of work.

In order to enhance the ambiance and encourage camaraderie among workers and employees, there are several efforts made for team building exercises and events organised to bring them together and remove all doubts that they may possibly have.

Importance of Corporate Events

There are several types of formal and informal corporate events that are conducted within an organization. Gone are those days when there was a wall of separating the top, middle and lower ranks in a company.

It is clearly understood that there has to be healthy work environment among all sections so that there is nothing that can weaken the company leadership.

Team Building Events

There are different informal events that can help in building a team spirit and strengthen the bond between different groups of people within a company.

Activity Days

The people of an organization can be brought together by making them play team building games.

• Treasure Hunt - They can be put on a treasure hunt by forming groups across different departments. They will coordinate amongst themselves and find the treasure based on clues and hints.
• Team Games - There can be a football match or a game of cricket that is a game of a team.
• Tug of War - This is also a fun game but a proof of group effort that can be used in building team strength.

It may be noted here that the positive effects of such activities are best felt on a working day itself by breaking the monotony of everyday work. It may tend to be exacting and tiresome on a weekend resulting in lack of enthusiasm and interest.

Team Building Challenges

Apart from team building games there is a need to assign responsibility to employees and make them display their real potential.

Companies may decide on allocating a challenge to a group of contenders and test their team building ideas and cohesive performances that can be reviewed with gravity for later.

There are several team building ideas that can be incorporated as challenges to different groups of teams.

• Charity Causes where different groups can be assigned to formulate ideas to garner maximum charity collections from outside sources or even plan theme parties and corporate events for the same. The events could feature some of the artistic creations of groups of people within the company that may be inclined.
• To organize and form ideas for an annual activity day for the company.

These are some of the ways that can help to build a team in your company. You can also avail services of specialized professionals in this arena who can help you with different ideas and how to work on them as well.

What is Corporate Entertainment?

When a company wants to show its staff, clients, or stakeholders some appreciation, they put together a corporate entertainment event. These events are a great way to not only show appreciation for those involved with the company in some way, but it is also serves many other purposes. Some of these include:

1. They build morale among the staff in the company. When employees are able to get out of the work environment and have fun, they become friends and that increases morale within a company. Increasing morale does something else within a company as well.

2. It builds productivity and that is very important if a company wants to make money. When a company is productive, there is very little waste and the less waste there is the more profit there is. That is what makes corporate entertainment so good for a company.

3. It helps staff, clients and stakeholders network outside and within the companies. Some companies are so large that many employees do not even know each other. Corporate entertainment events can help employees who would have not known each other, network with each other. It also helps clients network with the people they do business with on a regular basis.

Some private events that companies will hold include:

繚 Conventions

繚 Conferences

繚 Retreats

繚 Private Concerts

繚 Christmas Parties

When a company holds these events, it helps the entire company and it helps those within a company get to know who they work with, who they do business with and who works for them. It is a perfect way for a company to build morale, productivity and more. In the end, something like a corporate entertainment event can be the best thing for a company that has become stale and stagnant over time.

Planning Company Picnics in a Down Economy

Thinking of cutting the company picnic budget? Think again.

Today's leading companies are actually adding funds to the company picnic budget.

What is it that they know that you do not?

In a tough economy many organizations are unable to offer raises, are making pay cuts, and cutting benefits. But on the flipside, many other companies are still hosting company picnic events, increasing team building budgets, and creating more and more employee appreciation events.

So why, how, and what could make this be the case?

This is because of several reasons:

Why are people planning company picnics and employee appreciation events?

1) Boost Morale - It is important to rebuild the staff who are left after cutbacks or changes in business structure. A company picnic reaffirms the relationship the company has with the existing staff members and signifies stability to employees.

2) Budget Savings - When it is hard to give raises as they ultimately end up costing an organization a huge amount in taxes, employment insurance, and liability- the company picnic is a straight expense that can easily be managed. A company with 100 full time employees that gives a raise of $1 (one dollar per hour) ends up spending well over $3000.00 per year per employee after all expenses are considered. That ends up costing the organization $300k per year. A typical company picnic for 100 employees and their families can easily cost less than $50k all said and done- (and can sometimes cost well under this) and that is a very nice event from a reputable provider. That leaves budget for several more employee appreciation programs in a year, before even approaching half of what giving raises can cost an organization.

3) ROI - Return on Investment - Let's face it- every business owner, and every person in America is trying to get the best return for every dollar spent. The ROI on Employee appreciation events is huge. There is no point in spending money on advertising, new product development, or getting leads when a workforce is unhappy or unmotivated. Showing strength in your organization through a good event, showing appreciation for your workforce, and saying a simple thank you goes a long way. A happy and appreciated workplace is a more productive workplace.

Those reasons are enough to convince many business owners and executives to keep special events in the budget, to increase company picnic, team building, and holiday event budgets.

This year our event planning companies are receiving an overwhelming amount of requests from event planners looking to say thank you to staff, employees, colleagues, and customers. It seems that one common thing has been learned in the past tumultuous years- and that is that one thing is important in this world- Being grateful for what you do have and letting the people around you know that what they do is appreciated. People respond well to positive affirmations, and giving thanks opens the world up to an organization.

Some people sum this phenomenon up with the old adage "Pay It Forward" - and others simply see the financial savings and benefits behind rewarding employees with intangible things like special events. In today's world there is more to life than money... People are glad to work for a company that cares about them, that cares about their family, and that encourages employee interaction outside the workplace.

A company that recognizes the benefits to appreciating its staff through events will see an increase in profits, employee retention, and a more productive workplace. All these things do nothing but benefit a companies bottom line- which results in growth and a stronger organization.

Use Pre-Event Marketing Strategies for a Successful Event

Marketing and promotion of an event is extremely fundamental to its success. Hence, event organizers, worldwide work on various pre-event and post-event marketing strategies to promote events to a large-scale audience. However, pre-event marketing tactics are extremely crucial in order to increase event attendance and simultaneously converting the majority of your potential leads into confirmed attendees.

However, for successful affairs, organizers must focus on activities that can help them to get the word out. There are numerous pre-event marketing strategies and all of them can be used in different ways. As an program organizer, you need to figure out, which one is going to work out best for your event. We have come up with some exciting ideas to help you to create innovative marketing campaigns for your events.

Announce your event in the local newspaper - Although newspaper ads are losing popularity in this digital era, experts believe that there is still a margin of effectiveness in this strategy. Newspapers have a volume reach out to the local audience.. There are a variety of sections where you can advertise your event, like community news, city events, etc. What you can do is send out a news release a week before highlighting the special aspects of the event and get the local newspaper to publish it.

Create an Event Blog - An event blog is a great way to approach your potential attendees in the shortest possible time. Readers will be more interested in getting access to important information about your affairss from the blog. It is likely to keep them engaged. A great way is to write interesting articles about the event and some original aspects that will take place on the day. You can research about the event and your target audience. It will help you to highlight the best bits that may be of interest to your target audience. By doing this, you can build a connection with your event attendees and thus inspire them to be present at the occasion.

Email Marketing- Email marketing is a proven method that assists in a significant rise in attendee numbers. By doing this, you can not only stay in touch with your prospective parties but at the same time deliver updates about your event on a regular basis. It is likely to help you develop a cordial relationship with your program attendees. You can increase the frequency of email marketing when you deem necessary.

Experts believe that the pre event marketing activities is directly responsible towards a great turn out. An effective marketing strategy enables you to get the word out, but you need to know how to work on these tactics to make your event a great success.

Taking on Event Planner Jobs

If you think you are good at organizing parties, functions and other events, then event planner jobs are the right career options for you. If you had successfully arranged your friend's birthday party or even helped your friends in planning their wedding, and they are extremely happy and satisfied with the end result, then you must consider yourself to be a good event organizer.

The event planner job usually requires you to get a certification course, if you are planning to start it as a serious business and cater to clients other than just friends. There are vocational schools and even university courses that provide a degree or certification in event management or planning. With the certificate and your skills, you can establish a clientele for your business, given that event planning is one of the most lucrative career options, these days.

If you are interested in event planner jobs, you must have certain soft skills other than the professional know-how. Exceptional communication skill is an important and foremost skill requirement. Without that, it will definitely be difficult in understanding what your client has in mind and getting things done for the event. Communicating with various service providers like caterers, florists and so on is an important aspect of the job, and getting it right the first time is crucial in the business.

The next important aspect is organization which is the essence of event management. You must be familiar with the operations of certain gadgets like computers that are required for communicating with clients. Computers help you get better organized and these days, you have software available to assist you in the job. Having good contacts of service providers around the town is required since you should know the best ones in the business. You should ensure a place in their good books so that you can provide the best services to all your clients.

Is it a Grand Occasion For Your Business? Hire a Corporate Event Planner Now!

New York is the most important center for trade and commerce in the world. It is the home to some of the biggest organizations and firms in the world. A large number of meetings, corporate events, product launches, trade shows, promotion parties, retirement party, annual office picnic, a sales meeting and other events are held in New York. Businessmen from all over the world travel to this part of the world in the hope to expand their business. They attend meetings, corporate events in the hope to meet the right people.

Corporate events can be a very small time affair or it may be on a large scale, it may be informal of formal, and be private or open to general public. These corporate events are organized in order to attain a broad range of objectives. The event can have a severe effect on the business prospects of the organizing firm. These events are meant to meet the key players in the field and establish good relationships with them. This is very vital for the business. Also such events are a great way to commemorate the company's success, encourage team building among workers and guarantee a great and memorable evening for the guests.

Without good planning and management, the chances of success for the event are very bleak. Proper planning is the key to success of any corporate event. Planning for the event should start as early as possible. It's better to have a few days extra rather than do the last minute arrangement. Planning such corporate events requires a lot of time, planning and dedication. It is associated with a lot of tension and frustration. A good manager in the firm may not necessarily be a good event organizer as well. Therefore it is very important to ensure that the right people do the event planning work for you.

A professional or an Event Planning firm is the best people to plan your corporate event. These firms employ the services of some of the most well known event planning experts who would take care even the minute of details that is associated with an event. They would ensure that the event is a success and is organized within the budgets. They have the experience and contacts to make the best of arrangements for all the attributes of a corporate events including the venue, entertainment and catering among others. These professionals take all your tensions, frustrations and problems that you might have faced in the event of you organizing the event.

Corporate events are very important for any corporate firm. They can have a great impact on the future prospects of an organization. Hence it is very important to ensure that the corporate event is remembered in the corporate circle. This is only possible with the help of the professionals and corporate event planners.

The 5 Golden Rules of Planning a Business Event

Some rules you encounter are Golden, to be taken into account forever and not forgotten. These are surely useful and important trail markers to guide us and help us stay always on course. Golden Rules exist to get used, to be followed, to guide you. Regardless of what your main goal is or what challenge you face, the rules will be there. Just find the Golden Rule that applies and abide by it. The following are 5 of the very best Golden Rules for planning a business event.

Golden Rule # 1. Clearly Know the Goal of the Event

The reasoning for doing this is to have a reference point and in the end, to know whether the event was a success or not. Remember, just like having a finished picture and a specific outcome for business plan, the same rules apply to even the smallest business event.

Golden Rule # 2. Make sure your chosen venue is an appropriate backdrop for your event.

This may affect you in the future because people will talk and your reputation is at stake. The last thing you want is negative word of mouth saying that your event was unprofessional and unenjoyable due to the location.

Be certain and don't forget that appearance is automatic branding and a mental picture relates strongly to an association. So, you've got to look good.

Golden Rule # 3. Know who your target attendees are.

There are various reasons you must know this information intricately. It is very important because once you know who you would like to come, you can conceive all sorts of ways to locate and inform your audience of your function. Knowing this also makes it easier to not be so general regarding your invitation status. If you don't intend to invite the entire free world, know your target.

Golden Rule # 4. Be sensible and realistic about the date and time.

You must take into account whether or not the time and date for your event is convenient for your attendees. You might get this done by considering how important the event would be to your audience as well as what their general schedules might be. For example; is the event during work hours, lunch, after work, before the work day, or over the weekend?

Golden Rule # 5. Have a foolproof way for attendees to register and contact you.

This can include and online registration service, a contact e-mail, a contact phone number, or a physical location or locations to purchase tickets.

It is very important as it not only can help you to assess a head count before the event but help people to better understand all of the details involved. It can also improve your attendance rate because you have interactive-personable communication taking place.

Trust these Golden Rules to make your business event professional, pleasant, and easily accessible for people. These are tried and true and found to be very practical. Follow them and then your ultimate success will be more likely and the results far more satisfying.

Do you want to learn more about business networking? I have just completed my brand new guide for Professional Networking Success:

How To Successfully Manage An Event

Events of any type are very important for a business. Whether it is a marketing campaign event or a conference, proper event planning is required to make the event successful. The success of the events brings a positive change in the business. Event planning is not an easy task, people without knowledge and experience can make the event become negative for a business instead of positive. Due to non-professional event planning many exercises to make a business better has been wasted and a lot of money has gone down the drain. These steps are involved in successful event management.

1. For successful even management you need full support and authority to turn the event into a successful one. Without full authority and proper sponsor backing the event can not be as good as it can be.


2. For successful event management, the goals and the objectives of the event should be properly determined and defined. The goals should be realistic because if you try to reach unrealistic goals you end up compromising on the quality. For example: If the event is aimed to increase employee motivation, then it should be clear in the event managers mind that they have to achieve it and even report it. Reporting can be done by conducting a survey through which one can gain knowledge about employee morale.


3. Proper planning should be done before implementation. If you have designed a plan, you should follow the plan. If the plan is not followed during the original event session then uncontrollable problems can take place which can be damaging for the business. Budgets are important and should be followed as a budget is a copy of the real thing.


4. One of the most important part or the part that makes an event successful is the type of employees working on the event. Event managers should be fully sponsored so they can easily higher the best people available in the market. With the best people working on an event project, positive result expectation can be high. The best people know their jobs and have the experience to carry out work under pressure situations.


5. Everyone should be updated with any changes in the events; there should be proper communication between the team managing the event. Any communication errors can be very negative for the event. Before going for the final take, a test run should take place. In the test run every body should be clear about their goals and a step by step guide should be provided to the entire team.

How to Prevent Honeymoon Planning Problems

Your wedding preparations and the wedding itself is done. But if you think you can take a break now, think again. You still have to accomplish something: the perfect honeymoon with your wife!

Careful preparation must be accomplished in order to omit any mistakes or errors that will threaten the outcome of the whole essence of your honeymoon. The next big step before you start a new life as a family man is your honeymoon. Just like wedding preparations, honeymoon planning should always be treated as a special event and should be considered as the prelude of your life as a married individual. Spending a few days with your beloved can be as intimate and will help strengthen your bond together.

Although you have planned everything out, problems can sometimes happen without warning. Even careful planning has its flaws and something might still go wrong in the middle of your honeymoon. To lessen this dilemma, it is always advisable to plan your honeymoon ahead of time (a few months before the target honeymoon date). Planning can work like wonders and can even free you of any hassle along the way. Doing this can save you more time to think about the best plan and will even eliminate stress caused by rushing of things and ideas.

The first step you need to do in order to fully enjoy your honeymoon with your wife (or your husband, if that's the case) is to decide which activities will definitely fit your schedule. This is the right time to decide whether you both want to explore a foreign land or you just wanted to be in the company of each other. Is the honeymoon trip targeted for learning new things? Sharing your ideas with your spouse will make it a lot easier to determine how to create the perfect honeymoon plan. You can even create a list on what to expect in your trip with your spouse.

What couples fail to realize when planning their honeymoon is whether they need to ask an expert advice from Specialist Travel Planners or not. Seeking professional advice both has its pros and cons. You can determine whether you need a travel planner or not by knowing the right budget for your honeymoon and finding the perfect destination. Additional directions on how to get to the area and where can you stay will also help. If you're planning a honeymoon outside your country, it is best that you ask for professional help.

Your honeymoon is very important. It is always safe to have careful planning of things to do to prevent any unnecessary adjustments.

Green Meetings and Events and the New Environmental Trends Sweeping the Hospitality Industry!

Yes folks, it is the topic of the times, the trendy buzzword and the cover of nearly every magazine this last year. Everyone is talking green, but have you changed now that you have all the information?

Meetings and events leave a heavy footprint. We are aware that our industry has to change the way we do business. We must realize this is not a fringe movement any longer - it is real and it is here to stay. This is a perfect opportunity to stand out in the industry especially if you are an independent meeting planner. Are you marketing yourself as a green planner? If not, why not?

What Does Green Planning Mean Anyway?

In short, it is a responsible way of doing business by integrating environmental and sustainable decisions during each phase of the planning process. It includes making choices to conserve energy and natural resources, reduce waste, reuse and recycle goods and use earth-friendly products. By planning events with this enhanced awareness our industry will have an extraordinary environmental and ecological impact all over the world. And that's a big deal!

Times are evolving rapidly in this direction and event planners, venues, suppliers and participants are beginning to respond. Those of us who are traveling on the green path and changing our decision making process are ahead of the pack. Now is your chance to be leader of the pack. Or are you a part of the herd?

What You Can Do Starting Now?

The audience for Perspective is a bit more enlightened than most. We are fortunate to live in an area that is among the top five greenest places in the United States. It is easy to find green businesses in the Bay Area, however, many of us plan events outside this Emerald City (great and unintentional pun). We have and will run up against naïve and unwilling clients, vendors, suppliers, etc. in other parts of the country and world. What can we do?

I can give you 10 easy specific steps to begin today but instead, I challenge you to go further than bulking up on your condiments and shampoos or using both sides of a piece of paper. (Don't get me wrong, those are very important too!). Instead, I dare you to go further and investigate this emerging movement and discover what part you will play. If you want to stand out as a green planner, do nothing less than the following five suggestions:

1. 
   Create Standards. Establish environmental standards in writing and get buy-in from your clients, the organization's management and/or your clientele. Share your standards with every supplier, vendor, speaker, and your participants. Know exactly where you will draw the line with minimal guidelines.


2. 
   Get and Stay Educated. Keep informed and up-to-date with what is new in our industry. What hotels are utilizing green practices or what cities have the best transportation record, etc. The number of businesses going green is changing rapidly. Keep up! Buy books, read magazines, listen to the experts and ask them for guidance. Make informed choices!


3. 
   Choose Wisely. Make every choice dependent on the environmental impact. Think about the consequence before you finalize any decision. Ask yourself, what is the legacy of this decision? Give priority to destination cities, venues, vendors and suppliers who are developing, implementing and are innovating environmental and sustainable practices. If you are locked into a particular venue for example, bring your standards with you. Ask them to make changes at least while your group is there.


4. 
   Build Green Partnerships.Work closely with everyone you do business with and ask them to green up their practices or find someone who does. Make sure everyone involved with your event is on the same page. Bring people on board and train them if necessary. If their practices are substandard with your standards and guidelines, help them do to better. Set examples that create permanent change. Be in harmony with all parties!


5. 
   Share your Success and Sell you Success. Tell everyone involved - your participants, speakers, and the media about your successes. You will be surprised. Green efforts are contagious. And they are a great marketing tool too!

Each meeting is unique and requires working with different businesses and people at each juncture. Each event brings with it distinctive challenges and solutions. Be creative and encourage involvement and follow your standards. If you start today, before you know it, it will become second nature to make the right choices.

Oh yeah, have fun with it and be proud of your efforts no matter how big or small. Every green decision is a good one!

Corporate Event Planners: Helping Businesses Plan and Execute Successful Events

No matter what type of industry you are in, chances are that you host various corporate events throughout the year. From social gatherings to seminars and conferences, events are an important part of the corporate culture. Taking on the task of planning and implementing these functions can be a burden. This is why so many business professionals turn to an event planner to assist them with all of their corporate events.

No matter what industry you are in, you know how important your time is. Often it seems that getting all of your tasks completed in the workweek is virtually impossible. When you add planning a corporate event into the mix, you can feel overwhelmed. This is why many businesses do not sponsor events. They simply do not have the staff to devote time to it. This is why corporate event planners are needed. These individuals take care of all of the planning and management of the event so that you do not have to sacrifice your staff's valuable time.

An event planner does just about anything you need her to do to ensure that your corporate meeting or event runs smoothly and efficiently. These highly skilled individuals take care of all of the details involved in planning and executing a productive and entertaining event. Utilizing the help of an event planner means that you never have to worry about the small details, or any details for that matter. These professionals have experience in not only preventing possible problems from happening, but also finding acceptable solutions should something out of the ordinary occur. Their attention to detail ensures that your event will run smoothly, from beginning to end.

One of the first things that an event planner will do is to sit with you and determine what kind of goals and vision you have for your event. What you hope to achieve from the day will greatly influence the overall design of the function. Pre-planning and logistics will help your planner determine the best way to make the event run efficiently and smoothly.

Setting a clear budget is essential. Without itemized monetary guidance, you may end up spending much more for your event than you feel comfortable with. If you are not sure how to begin this process, ask your planner. Her experience and knowledge of the area's vendors will help you fashion a reasonable budget.

Event design is the process in which you determine exactly what will happen during the day. Who will be your speakers? How long will their presentations last? When will your guests eat? What time do you want to finish? Your planner will help you design your event step-by-step, hour-by-hour, so that your itinerary is absolutely clear. Comprehensive planning is crucial for a successful function.

Because event planners have so much experience with vendors, venues, and other services in the area, they are able to steer you toward providers that they know will offer the best service at a reasonable price. This type of first hand knowledge saves you from hours of interviews, site visits, and searching for the perfect vendors. Your planner can streamline this process by narrowing down your choices to a few top providers in the area.

A big advantage to hiring an event planner is that you have a master negotiator on your side when it comes to securing contracts for vendors. These individuals have relationships with many local vendors, which allows them to negotiate the best possible pricing available. Saving money on your budget in this area may allow you to spend more on other areas.

Management of the actual event requires skills that an event planner has perfected. She is able to check and double check to be sure that everything is running smoothly on your day. She is there to solve any issues that may arise so that your event is a success. Knowing that a qualified professional is there to direct the event and take care of all the details allows you to enjoy the day and spend time with your guests.

After the event, your planner will distribute surveys to your guests and assist you in evaluating the success of your function. This is a time to reflect on what went well and what needs to be improved next time. This information is important for planning future events for your business or organization.

Event Planners Must Have Multiple Skills for the 1,000 of Tasks and Multiple Jobs For Success

Welcome to the fabulous world of event planning! If you have a special event, meeting, concert, festival, or party to produce, plan, or coordinate, you have come to the right place. Events do not just happen by themselves; they are well planned, specifically orchestrated, and extremely coordinated. Preparation is the key to any successful event. Remember, a planner is responsible for the education, entertainment, feeding, housing, safety, and care of all attending or participating in your events. It is a huge responsibility and not to be taken lightly.

Event planning is a process that starts by delineating the beginning and the end of the event. At that point, it becomes a project and you are the project manager! It is not like your typical job where you go in and do the same thing every day. Your tasks and responsibilities change each day during the process and will be different with each event. You will need to be skilled in many areas of the event business. What hat will I wear today?

There is always something new or different to enhance the logistics and creativity of planning an event. Things are changing all the time, whether it is new technology, new ways to "green" your event, social media and networking services and applications, new or remodeled venues, contracts, or insurance laws; it is wise to keep up with new developments in all of these areas.

Each event is complex and diverse with unique characteristics. There can be thousands of details associated with one event. You will wear many hats, juggle a number of tasks simultaneously, and use many skills. The job of the event planner varies according to the size, the scope, and the complexity of your event. You will be responsible for any number of different tasks; including but not limited to:

• Client consultation


• Setting budgets


• Choosing dates


• Selecting and inspecting a location


• Negotiating with and choosing suppliers


• Arranging transportation


• Negotiating room rates and booking blocks of hotel rooms


• Arranging catering


• Booking entertainment or speakers


• Writing copy for publicity


• Creating a Facebook page and twitter account


• Gathering leads for potential participants


• Writing social media content


• Choosing printers


• Creating agendas


• Hiring security


• Signing contracts


• Dealing with lawyers


• Compiling participants' packets


• Gathering and directing volunteers


• Sticking on labels


• Shipping boxes

You will be interacting with chief executive officers, talent agents, general managers, waiters, house cleaners, and everyone in-between. You will meet or talk to different people every day. Therefore, communication skills are necessary!

For those of you new to event planning, finding a complete guidebook will direct your progress, help organize your time, provide you with resources and suggestions, keep you focused, and allow you to look as though you have been an event planner for years. Best of all, it may keep you from making the costly and time-consuming mistakes thousands of planners have made before you. Just one or two of the tips from an experienced planner can save you a great deal of money on one event alone and possibly save your job as well! And be flexible. One of the most important characteristics of an event planner is flexibility.

Event Planning - A Promising Career

To be a successful event planner opens up great career possibilities for you. In the past, perhaps everybody could undertake the task of event planning since the activities were all on small scale and did not require much investment. Today, however, without sufficient background knowledge it is simply impossible to well organize a big activity. To be an event planner is a promising career for the following three reasons.

1. The Market is expanding.
As business trade and cultural exchange between different countries and regions are on the rise nowadays, more and more activities are being sponsored and organized. This market will be constantly expanding in the foreseeable future. Not only will there be more activities, but also the geographical range of the activities will be increased. A conference may have its first part in Asia and the second part in Europe, in making plans for which you might even have the chance to travel in both continents.

2. You will get more than enough material gain.
If you have well organized an activity, you will be handsomely paid. Also, by proving to your clients your abilities in organizing activities, you will become their long-term business collaborators and organize more and more activities for them in the long run. You may not receive much from your first planning job; in the long run, however, you will get more and more material gain as your reputation increases.

3. You will meet many famous figures.
In organizing big events, you will have the chance to meet many famous people. Perhaps this time you will meet some film starts; next time maybe you will run into some politicians. Very possibly as a planner you will form a certain contact with those people, who will further bring you greater chances in your career.

Tips to Choose Catering Services For Special Events

In the event of catering services most event planners have something in their mind, to make an event successful. Without good food the whole event would be a failure. As a result to give the guests or visitors a better experience, you need to choose the best cuisines from your events caterer. On the other hand it's not very easy to find ideal catering services suitable for the event. Here the customer must spend quality time researching about available caterers through online websites in the preferred locality. Before hiring a catering company, you should verify their dish menu and previous track records. It's always better to test samples before taking final decision on caterers.

Below is a list of guidelines to follow before hiring catering services for your special or corporate events:

Type of event: Choose a catering company according to your event. Verify whether the caterer will be able to handle the number of guests that you are intending to invite for the event. An ideal caterer would provide various options and food preferences. Some of the guests would prefer vegetarian food or sugar free items, so ensure that the caterer would fulfill the specific needs of the invitees.

Budget: Discuss budget with your preferred caterer and check out various available options. Be clear on the proposed menu and verify whether the menu reflects the style or theme of the organized event. Some times the budget may not or may determine the flexibility of your caterer towards your needs. Request for a quotation of services offered alongside outlining the payment details. Find out whether there are any hidden or extra charges for catering services.

Brief the caterer: After you have chosen a caterer, brief them about the details of the event. This will help in eliminating any misunderstandings arising in the last minute. Then you need to confirm total number of invitees for the event. It would be better to take 80% of total attendance as confirmed guests, for ordering food.

Wait staff: Verify whether the catering company offers wait-staff or serves. If gratuities and taxes are included in the final amount, then ask your caterer to provide potential staff to serve the guests.

Leftovers: This is another aspect that you need to discuss with your caterer. Upon requests the company would compile leftovers into a food basket without any extra charges to the host of an event.

By keeping all the above mentioned tips in mind, you can get a potential caterer for your event. Remember you should communicate with the caterer effectively in order to get exceptional catering services required for the event.

5 Ways to Promote Seminars to Approving Managers

Having companies, associations and other organizations as your main seminar clients is good -- and bad -- for your business. On the downside, if organizations cut their travel or training budgets, your registration levels will be impacted.

On the other hand, organizations represent a potentially long-lasting revenue stream. An individual usually will attend your seminar one time, but an organization can send multiple employees to you for training. As those employees leave or change jobs within the company, new hires are brought in to replace them -- and they'll need the same training.

To capitalize on this opportunity, the first thing you should do is pull out your registration form. Do you ask for the name of the attendee's approving manager? If not, add it to your form immediately.

Next, ensure that you're capturing and segmenting these names in your database. Approving managers are worth the effort of creating additional marketing materials that specifically address their desires and needs.

Here are five tips for marketing to approving managers:

Address the organization's needs. Explain how the organization will benefit by investing in an employee's education. Describe how your training will help employees boost their productivity, close more sales, reduce costs, etc. Companies want to see a positive return on the investment they make to train staff.

Create a "letter to the boss" that attendees can use when seeking approval to attend your seminar. This letter will address the supervisor's concerns - basically, how paying for an employee to attend your training will help the company. Providing this letter can be helpful, as some prospects don't know how to sell their supervisors on investing in their education.

Give thanks. Send approving managers a thank you note after your event. Your gesture will help to create a memorable impression of your company. You might even want to acknowledge that they have many training options these days; then describe how your training helps them get the most bang for their buck.

Pitch on-site training. At some point (the number varies depending on your seminar pricing), it becomes more affordable to bring the training to the company vs. sending multiple employees to your seminar. Highlight the benefits of private training in your seminar brochure or even in a separate mailing.

Send separate marketing materials to approving managers. Acknowledge that they've sent employees to your event in the past and suggest that they send new hires to your event, as well. You may even want to offer a discounted price as a thank you for their past business.

Marketing to approving managers separately requires extra work and planning. But the additional registrations and revenue you'll generate make it a worthwhile investment of your time, energy and money.

Problems of Selling Event Tickets Manually: Is There a Way Out?

Selling tickets manually is not an easy job - you must hire somebody to sit at the ticket counter for a number of days issuing tickets as well as handling cash payments. The task doesn't end here. The staff then has to update ticketing lists manually to keep statistics and book of accounts up-to-date. Moreover, individuals have to travel all the way to the ticket counter in person to buy tickets of their favorite show, festival or sporting event. Furthermore, in the absence of an update system, there exists a great possibility that the event may be a sell out and you may not be able to purchase any tickets even after travelling all the distance to the counter. Event organizers can tackle such situations and additionally derive more benefits by implementing and utilizing an online ticketing solution.

Now, what is this online ticketing solution all about? Let's find it out in detail.

Customized Ticketing Page

Event planners can customize their online event ticketing page by adding colors and attractive graphics. The planners can change the overall layout of each page as well as add a company logo/banner to professionalize the page. Many online payment companies offer add-on services that will help to design the ticketing page similar to that of your company website.

Sell Multiple Event Tickets

You can create a wide range of ticket types to meet your event goals. For example, you can upload VIP tickets, 'Early Bird' tickets, and member-only tickets, and so on with different price tags as and when required.

Promote It

Try to use social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on) to promote your festivals, family shows or sporting events online. Free promotion on these social media websites will help you attract a large number of audiences to your events page and will generate interest in them. This may lead up higher number of tickets being booked or sold for upcoming programs.

Built-in Credit Card Processing

Selling tickets online comes with the benefit of collecting payment online. In other words, you can let people pay you via their credit / debit / charge cards, Wire Transfers, PayPal and so on. Online ticketing solution offers real-time authorization and processing of payments made via this method. Thus, using a Cloud-based ticketing software can help you eliminate the problem of receiving and managing cash and paper checks. Processing refunds incase of cancellations is also any easy affair when using an online payment system.

Generate Detailed Reports

Cloud-based ticketing solution lets you easily generate several online customer and sales reports in almost no time. You can quickly gather sales and details of individual customers from the online ticketing database which stores all information automatically for use by the event organizer anytime, 24x7.

Most importantly, converting to an online payment management solution completely eliminates any kind of accounting discrepancies that may occur in case of manual processes in place.

Advancing Beyond The Traditional Role Of The Event Planner

When a company finds themselves in need of a corporate event planning expert, they usually look towards the professional services of an event planner. This represents a highly smart decision as a result of all the advantages a company could utilise with the services of these experts.

Through a planning professional, a company could access quality individuals whose expertise and experience proves invaluable in running a successful event. Their established connections with area vendors can normally save business cash, when looking at the bottom line. Their years of service often provide them with resources to high demand locations, where they're given preference. One of the most advantageous factors for you when you are trying to succeed with the corporate event planning is an event planner.Whilst many advantages are used with the services of these people, there is a misconception which exists with the event planners. Many companies have the confidence that utilizing a professional is essential when using corporate event planning in themed functions, awards ceremonies, dinners, parties and other social events.

Though, they usually do not think to use these same individuals when looking to plan events that incorporate Annual Meetings, Business Summits, Corporate Training Sessions or other more business like events. For a company, the opportunities that exist with the services of an event planner are far beyond the party atmosphere and can prove essential in the professional environment of the corporate world.

When you break down the differences between a corporate event and a social business event, there are some differences. Your company will still need an ideal location where your associates and participating members can easily attend. The corporate event planning will still include seating, podiums, technological demands, and event dining opportunities.

Flair and presentation are even factors which are essential in impressing attendees and capturing their attention. Matter of fact, when you look into the corporate event planning of a business event versus a social event, the only considerable difference is entertainment. Rather than looking towards musical groups or DJs, you will be assessing the need of keynote speakers and professional orators.

A company seeks several advantages when you turn towards the services of an event planner. So take the chance to pass that social planning advantage into the corporate environment and educate you on the advantages of business oriented event planning. This will provide your business with the best resources available while even ensuring your event, irrespective of its nature, is managed by an actual expert.

Corporate Comedian - A Few Tips to Amuse Your Audience

. They are highly paid and their income is quite lucrative. If any of you wants to be a corporate comedian, develop the art of humor in yourself. Though the job sounds funny and not too difficult, it's not; as it requires enormous talent to cultivate new ideas without irritating or insulting or hurting your audience. Only with regular and dedicated practice you can become a comedian. Learn the tips to become a comedian.

繚 Good comedians never use obscene words or vulgar languages. Brief dialogues are generally delivered as it reduces the risks of mistakes and also make people laugh instantly. A clean comedian gains popularity quite easily for his clean jokes.

繚 It is advisable to deliver jokes that are irreverent and irreligious in nature. It should not hurt the sentiment of the people sitting in the audience. Moreover, jokes that sound obnoxious MUST be avoided always.

繚 Many youngsters also comprise a part of this audience. So, slang is to be avoided to all intents and purposes. If you want to be a corporate comedian, start practicing your comedy antics with your family members or friends who work in different corporate sectors and make them laugh. Then, gradually, you can develop into a full-fledged comedy performer for parties organized by business houses. There is a veteran comedian named Dane Cook, who began his career in Los Angeles. Gradually, he became an eminent personality as his movies began to be shown in most of the theatres of his country. Not only that, he himself also acted in several movies written by him.

繚 Learn to modulate your voice and tone, and the pronunciations of each word should be perfect to its last syllable. As most comedians do, you are also supposed to deliver ironic and satirical jokes that sound funny but are added with a spice of intelligence.

繚 One of the vital tricks of becoming a corporate comedian is you should be able to imitate people and learn the art of caricatures. It makes your job easy as very often people are seen laughing when some eminent personalities are being imitated and made fun of without demeaning them and maintaining honor and dignity.

繚 Before performing for the audience, intense and meticulous planning is required, as it spoils the corporate party ambiance if the performance is not properly executed. Suffice to say, that the performance should be in favor of the guests present in the event and it should be fairly suitable.

Corporate events include a mixture of artists, celebrity speakers and orators as well as look-alikes and silhouette cutter. Among all these, a corporate comedian stands apart and is extremely popular because of the obvious reason that people enjoy laughter more than anything else. So, if you have it in you, come out and don't be shy.

Team Building Corporate Events

Corporate events take more forms than a simple day out at the races. Using them to build the sense of unity in a sales team, an office unit or just for all your employees, is a great way to mix business with pleasure - and get outstanding results at the end of it all.

The opportunities for creating, displaying and using untapped skills in the workplace often manifest themselves first in the corporate events environment: which is why using an agent to source the best of the best can rally pay off for a company.

Going direct to a single events supplier is usually a bad idea - simply because that supplier is going to do its utmost to convince you that it is right for the job, whether it really is or not. Using an agent, which cannot afford to be associated with anything other than the best, guarantees you a much greater chance of finding corporate activities and entertainment that really fit the bill. Plus, with an agent you're looking at a much wider variety of corporate events in terms of type: from sporting days and team building loopiness all the way through to five star treatment at a VIP sports dinner, a film premiere or a gala performance.
The thing about agents is this: they have their fingers in all the pies, and they make sure that the pies they keep their fingers in are the tastiest ones on the market. So a company can go to a corporate entertainment and events agency with an idea of what it wants, and have the perfect bespoke package put together from a wide range of sources, contacts and locations. Try the same thing direct with a single hospitality company and you'll get shoe horned into whatever they happen to have on their books at the time.

Corporate events take all sorts of forms and have all sorts of ways of building a team spirit. A good old fashioned drinking session in a swanky environment is as good a way of building team feelings as a five a side tournament or corporate golf day - it all depends on the reason for the event and the personalities of the people going on it. Taking a sales team out for a top dollar night at a show, or to a sports person's gala dinner, is an excellent way of rewarding performance, and will strengthen team spirit through a sense of shared achievement. Activity days work better for building new relationships within a team and testing the limits of people's work skills. Depending on whether you are looking to train and teach, or reward, the corporate events you choose will differ - and only an agent can give you a truly unbiased selection of events and occasions to choose from. Use them wisely and use them well - they can bring out the best in your employees.

New York Night Life Nightclubs

The New York nightlife is famous all over the world for its fast-paced fun, events and vibrant, enthusiastic people. The night life at New York City comprises of the world's trendiest clubs, performances and dances by the best-known stages actors. New York nightclubs are always buzzing with events and activities organized daily. However, with so much happening in the city, organizing these events at the city's nightclubs could become a daunting task. To overcome this problem, there are a number of event organizers in New York City who can help you organize your event the way you want it to be. Experienced and well known New York City event coordinators can help you with your event promotions, marketing, consulting and organizing.

These event planners are full service event planning and marketing companies with focus on special events, consumer promotions booking services and strategic marketing. Some of these event coordinators have the most talented work force to produce the perfect event experience. They are capable of organizing all sorts of events such as planning a birthday party, corporate event, special event, college socials and other such events.

They are specialized in organizing and executing all types of special events at New York night life nightclubs. They provide all end to end services including planning, organizing, concept development, venue selection, photographer, catering, booking requirements, DJs, entertainment, venue design & ambiance, staffing, catering publicity, promotion, security, and final execution of the event.

There are also some of the websites that carry a huge list of top night clubs, lounges, night life, live entertainment and music and special events, including corporate events in the New York City. You can even obtain free night club passes to all the biggest events in happening in the city. These websites also have night life photo gallery with of pictures of DJs and nightlife news section including reviews, ratings, recommendations and opinions and fun events in the nightlife space.

Organizing an Outdoor Event: Some Useful Tips!

Prior planning is mandatory to make your gala affair go hassle free. A bit of extra planning can also save you a good amount of money. Chalk out a plan and then the requirements in terms of venue, logistics, food supply, catering, flowers, and more. While choosing an event planner, you need to be sure that the concerned person and agency has prior experience in arranging superior outdoor events. Sometimes, going through the profile of the past projects would also help to get a clear idea about the credentials. Venue is a crucial factor for outdoor events, so be sure you book early to get the best spot without burning a hole in your pocket. There are many outdoor venues available for an affordable price.

Local event coordinators can be of great help to take off the big responsibility from your shoulders. Keeping track of the reservations is one of the main tasks of the concerned planner. He should take care of the important aspects like event insurance, online registration, payment management, reviewing site guidelines, and more. Coordinators and the concerned professional should keep a check on the basic requirements to make sure everything gets in time. Having a keen eye on the details like the time required for setting up a tent, number of vehicles that can be parked at a given time, restrictions, if any, after a given time helps to avoid chaos at a later stage.

A proper task list can work wonder to avoid any mismanagement for your outdoor event. Tasks should be listed as per the priority and a deadline. Task list should also have a backup plan that is necessary to address the unexpected issues like, weather. Strom and rain are not the only worrying factors, but other issues like lack of tent, or adequate liquids can also destroy the enjoyment of the participants. Budgeting is another important aspect that can spike upon slight delay and mismanagement. Everything can be on budget if advance planning is involved for the venue, deadline, food, transportation and others. This would help to avoid extra costs and troubles.

You need to make sure that your next outdoor event is hassle-free and provides an enjoyable experience to your guests. http://www.acteva.com is the leading provider of online event management software specially suited for outdoor parties and gatherings.

Hire a Catering Company to Add the Final Touch on Your Event

If you have been looking for a way to add more pizazz to your party and you want to make it an event that no one will forget, you need to hire a catering company. You want to have the kind of food that will leave your guests breathless and speechless in a good way. You may be a chef in your kitchen, but it will be much easier for you to hire a great catering company instead.

If you can, try to cater to the tastes of your guests. Be mindful of food allergies, especially those concerning shellfish and nuts. This means that you should make sure that any company you hire cooks things separately and does not cross contaminate the foods. This may result in you having to go with the higher end catering companies, but your guests' health will thank you and make it so that they are willing to come to any event you plan to have in the future.

Some companies will simply prepare the food and drop it off, others have a staff that they employ to provide a more polished touch and serve it to your guests. Decide which type of company you want to use. If your event is a classy and elegant affair, you may want to go with the company that provides serving staff. Make sure that before your event is scheduled to happen, you discuss any wardrobe or uniform requirements to keep everything looking professional.

Take into consideration what type of foods you want to provide at your event. Depending on the complexity of the dish, you may be looking at a higher cost. Make sure that before you contract with any catering company, you know all of the ins and outs of what their limitations are and what their prices are. This will help you to plan the perfect menu for your party.

No one has to know what lengths you went to for the perfect company. By the time your party takes place, you want everything to appear as if it were happening flawlessly and as if it didn't take much for you to put together. As long as you keep your cool during the whole planning process, you don't have to worry about looking frazzled or being a control freak by the time the execution of your plans comes to fruition.

Don't rush when you are putting together the perfect social event get together. You need to keep a level head and have a backup plan in place just in case your primary ones fall through. The key to having a great event is to plan it so that all of your guests enjoy themselves. This means that you shouldn't plan everything according to what you would want to happen at a party, you need to have a variety and selection of entertainment and amenities that caters to the majority of your guests interests. Start with catering, and things should fall in place from there.

Be Prepared For Your Next Event Emergency

Whether you've planned one event or hundreds it's happened to you: someone runs up in a panic because they need _______ and they think you'll have it because you're the event planner. That's right, __blank__, they'll ask you for anything and everything and they need it NOW! Thumb tacks, scissors, glue, a hammer, needle and thread, batteries, or Tylenol - you name it and as far as they're concerned their crisis is far more important than anything you could be dealing with at the registration table or backstage. Well, after a few instances like this I decided to make sure the next "ask" would be met with an assuring "yes". So I created THE EVENT KIT. It's an emergency kit that has everything anyone could ever ask for while at an event. Exhibitors, performers, caterers, attendees, limo drivers, and volunteers - I'm ready for all their 9-1-1's.

This was the most fun I have had shopping in a long time. I went on a shopping frenzy to Staples, Home Depot, and a few other stores (spent about $1,000 in total) and prepared the most amazing emergency event kit that I've every seen. We're talkin' the grand daddy of event kits here. I started off with a Pelican Case because I wanted something durable (I also have a bit of gear envy and this was my way of trying to be cool like my photographer and A/V friends). I bought some small organizers to make sense out of the little bits, and then I tackled the extremely difficult task of making it all fit. Now, when I show up on event day I feel armed and prepared to help everyone with their mini-emergencies.

Someone asked me the other day if I got the idea from watching The Wedding Planner (Jennifer Lopez) and I laughed out loud right in their face. I felt bad. Nope, I didn't steal it from a movie. I don't really remember any sort of brain wave - inspiration didn't really come into play on this one. I've seen other planners with kits before but they've always been small tool boxes or sewing kits and I just wanted to take it over the top.

Here's what's inside my emergency event kit:

Electrical Supplies
15' Extension Cord
5-spot Power Strip
Cables

• Mac Book Power Extension
• Firewire
• Ethernet
• USB
• 1/8' to 1/4'
• 1/4' to 1/4'
• S-Video
• Phone
• RCA Dual to 1/4'

Adapters:

• iPod to Computer
• Mac Display Output; Various
• RCA to 1/4'

USB Splitter
USB Flash Drive
SD Memory Cad (16m)
Headphones
Flashlight
Laptop printer
Inkjet cartridges (B&W, colour)
Emergency Equipment

First Aid Kit; Including:

• Tylenol
• Benadryl
• Sunscreen SPF 45
• Visine Eye Drops
• Hand Sanitizer
• Hand Cream
• Wet Wipes
• Granola Bar
• Frisk Breath Mints

Stationary
Accordion File Folder

• Clip Boards (3)
• Receipt Book
• CD-R (2)
• Card Stock; Multi-colour (40)
• Note Pad (1)
• Lined Paper (10)
• File Folders (3)
• Stickers; 1" Dots
• Labels; #5160; Multi-colour (8)

Accordion Pouch
Envelopes

• 10"x14" Padded (1)
• 9"x12 Tyvek (2)
• Catalogue (3)
• CD Mailer (2)
• CD Mailer Padded (1)
• #10 (20)
• #8 (10)

Writing Utensils
Highlighters; Yellow (2)
Permanent Markers; Black (2)
Medium+Fine Point; Black (4)
Dry Ease Markers; (4)
Pens (15)
Mechanical Pencils (2)
HB2 Pencils (2)
Pencil Sharpener
Eraser
Correction Tape
6" Ruler
Stapler+Extra Staplers
Post-it Notes
Elastic Bands; Various Sizes (50)
Lens Cleaner
Name Badges; Clip (10), Lanyard+Sleeve (10), Cards (15)
Calculator
Fasters
Binder Clips; Various Sizes (30)
Push Pins (100)
#1 Paper Clips (100)
Velcro loops (3)
Velcro Peel Strips (6)
Adhesive Puddy
Glue Stick
String (100')
Zip Ties (8)
Bungee Cords (4)
Removable Double-Coated Tape
Magic Scotch Tape
Gaffer Tape; black, red (2)
Miscellaneous
Garbage Bags; Big (2), Small (2)
Zip-Lock Bags; Big (2); Med. (2)
Twist Ties
J-Clothes (2)
Rubber Gloves
Lint Roller
Tide-To-Go Stain Stick
Sewing Kit
Food Thermometer
Lighter
Razor Blade
Multi-bit Screwdriver
Hammer
Batteries

• 9-volt (2)
• Triple-A (4)
• Double-A (4)

Ticker Tape; Various Colours (2)
Scissors
Hands Stamps (5)
Click Counter
Digital Camera
Hole Punch; Single
Hole Punch; Full Sheet
Wrist Bands; Various (10)
Coat Check Tags (125)
Raffle Tickets (125)

**Set-Your-Own Master Lock (for the case)
**Stanley Organizers; various sizes

Promotional Gifts For Corporate Events

Promotional giveaways are an important part of any corporate event. After the conference has been held and the prizes have been awarded to the nominees, it is time for the gifts to be handed out. This serves the purpose of both showing your appreciation to the audience present, who may have taken time out of their busy schedule to attend event organized by your company and also to promote your organization to a certain extent.

A number of things come to mind when you are talking about promotional items. However the gifts have to be in sync with the image of your company. Computer accessories will be more appropriate for a software company then branded perfumes. Wines, bags, shirts and office stationery, there are a wide range of gift items to choose from, to suit the needs of your clients and promote your company.

Computer Accessories: Virtual mouse and flash drives are the most popular items in this category. A lot of leading brands manufacture them and they are a necessary item. Mouse with transparent covers are very popular now which the user can customize according to his or her own liking. Imprint your company logo on the top and distribute a user-friendly gift.

Stationery: Office stationeries are probably the most common and popular of promotional items. Folders, digital notepads with pen, journals, pen holders- all are necessary and popular items as promotional gifts. You can choose from a vast range of colours, brands, materials and sizes. There are the leather ones and the ones with sleek looks with a metal-finish.

Eco-Friendly Products: The newest edition to the promotional gift items are organic, eco-friendly products. They are the regular items like office stationeries and other accessories, but all of them are made with organic and recycled materials like grass or bamboo. The cases of journals may be made of bamboo, duffel bags are 100% cotton dyed in natural colours and the papers are all recycled. This is indeed a great way of promoting awareness about the environment as any corporate event is a huge platform, enhancing the chances of increasing awareness.

Thus, show your clients how much you value their business by gifting them thoughtful and useful corporate gifts.

Special Events Fundraising - Estimate Bigger Budget, Smaller Income When Planning

Special events are a great way to raise money. And a great way to lose money, too. So if you lack experience planning and hosting special events, or if your non-profit organization does not have a particularly high profile in your community, you should plan on your budget being big and your income being small. In other words, you should overestimate your costs and underestimate your income.

Special events are notorious for going over budget. Things get overlooked in the planning. Fees, taxes, service charges and other hidden expenses must be paid that were not accounted for. And then there is the simple, sheer cost of putting on the event: printing, postage, hall rental, lighting, sound, catering and more. Budget for more than you'll spend and you'll stay out of trouble.

If your special event is new, if it has never been tested to see how effective it is at raising net income, you should be conservative when predicting your income. You are excited about your event. And so are your volunteers. But will your guests and participants be just as excited? And if they are, will their excitement show up on your bottom line? In other words, will your motivated and passionate guests show their appreciation with their wallets?

Most special events that are repeated year after year take many years to prove themselves. You need many years of publicity, participation and word-of-mouth advertising before your event will attract the donors (and their donations) needed to raise a significant portion of your annual gift income. You also need to host the same event many times before you learn how to reduce your costs without reducing your income.

Regardless of how much you raise, special events create awareness of your organization and your cause, and they give you an opportunity to recognize your donors and volunteers and show appreciation. They do all these things even if you lose money. But if your goal is to raise money and not just raise awareness, then pessimisms is the way to go. Overestimate your expenses, and underestimate your income, and you can't go wrong.

Benefits Of Event Planning Training

Event planning is a vast industry and many people are associated with it nowadays. Event planners have taken the responsibility if managing the event of their clients and put all their efforts to make it successful. Event planning is interesting and fun filled for those who are social, friendly and fun loving; such natured people enjoy their profession as hobby. As people are becoming more conscious for perfection, the challenge for professional event planners has raised. Every client wants something different and creative in their events.

There are different courses for event planning offered by many institutions that help the students to groom them and learn better skills and basic etiquettes about the event planning. These courses are very beneficial for those who are interested in this field either who are professionals or who prefer to arrange their home events by them.

• In event management and planning training the students get to learn new skills and basic etiquettes about the event planning that helps to groom their talent.


• The students who take event management courses are given demonstrations and practical tasks to perform as the part of study which gives them more confidence.


• Many students exchange their new ideas and special skills while attending the course; that helps them to learn more.


• There are different fields in event management planning and you can opt for the specific line you want and get to learn about your field.


• People who are not professional can groom their talent and step into the professional field to earn and learn.


• If you are certified, you can be recognized well in the market and can expand your business by being certified.


• You get more job opportunities, big companies in this field hire their staff for assistance and of course everyone would prefer to have a qualified person associated with them.


• While taking an event management and planning course, students are offered internship as part of their study, and this is the best time to gain an experience.


• People who have not done any course might have good taste and new ideas but these courses teach you how to coordinate and deal with vendors and make clients satisfied; and you learn about marketing as well.


• These courses make you aware of the competition in the market and you get to know your professional rivals (who are studying with you) and their skills which help you in professional life.


• Certification of event planning course gives you a confidence to enter into the professional life.

There are many benefits in taking event planning course, so if you have the aptitude you must go for that.

Event Planners Use Costumes For That Finishing Touch

What is the easiest way to give your next event or fund raiser that finishing touch? The best events companies use costumes to put their events into the big league. Here are some helpful ideas.

The easiest way to tie in costumes to your next event is to select a theme where costumes are predominant. Popular themes such as Carnival, Mardi Gras or Venetian Ball are the most obvious. But there are other themes that can lend themselves to costumes, food and decor. Your party attendees will love cultural themes like Brazilian, Hawaiian, and Mexican, or era themes such as the Roaring 20's, Dirty 30's Prohibition, Swing, 50's Rock'n'Roll, Disco and so on. Other popular themes can come from movies, T.V. and Pop Culture: Moulin Rouge, The Godfather, Superheroes, Grease, Gilligan's Island, Austin Power, and more recently Pirates of the Caribbean.

The next step is to use costumes in the theme. For example, if your theme is Mardi Gras, use beads, masks, feather boas and coins to decorate. Place these items on the dinner tables and receiving tables. Have staff and catering staff dress in costumes and ask guests to come in costumes. Just make sure that the "dress" is clearly written on the invite so there is no confusion about what they are to wear. Have incentives for guests by offering door prizes for best costumes.

Another way to include costumes is to have grab bags full of costume accessories tied into the theme that can be left in the guests hotel suite prior to the event or when they arrive at the front door. A disco theme could have funky glasses and an afro, Mardi Gras theme elaborate mask and beads, and a Woodstock theme peace necklace, tinted sunglasses and a flower child wreath. That way, if guests haven't arrived with any costumes, a few accessories can easily create the look for the event.

If the event has karaoke, you can even have small groups have a dress-up table where they can select costumes that tie in with their song, such as "Summer Lovin'" from Grease or "Love Shak" by the B52's. Another popular idea is to have a dress-up photo booth. Guests can select costumes and accessories from racks and have pictures taken by a photographer as a souvenir of th evening. The costumes can be tied into the theme such as saloon costumes for a cowboy theme or groovy 60's costumes for an Austin Powers theme. A bonus is to have a painted backdrop and photo printer on hand for immediate prints!

Whatever you do, don't pressure your guests to wear full costumes. It's supposed to be fun, so let them express themselves how they want to. Remember, the idea is to create a memorable evening that your guests will talk about for days and months to come.

Catering Plan for an Office or Corporate Party

So you've been assigned tasks for a special event in your workplace, and you've been told to take care of the food and drinks. You need a catering plan! So what's there to take note of when deciding on a catering plan?

Be mindful of your budget. A fraction of your budget goes to food and drinks, so you might want to add some interesting additions when it comes to refreshments and nibbles. To fit your budget better, you should discuss some options with the right firm you have selected to provide your catering services. Finger food catering is quite big right now with office parties, and most corporate catering services are willing to accommodate your ideas and suggestions. If you have a particular theme in mind that can catch the interest of your office mates and encourage their spouses to join, keep in mind that you have to create a fun and memorable office party that will allow your bosses and co-workers to bond and get to know each other more than just the corporate identity. Having your superiors and co-workers get to know each other in a more personal level strengthens inter-office teams and relationships.

Because most parties are held for recreation and leisure, ask around if your co-workers at the office are willing to do a themed party, like a bowling showdown, or a mad hatter tea party where everybody who is expected to attend is encouraged to wear a wacky hat. This allows for your party-goers to be creative and enjoy themselves. If you are allowed to be extravagant, organize a carnival-themed party and have the food prepared in mini carts like in a real carnival. This includes fun carnival finger food if your catering Sydney service is willing to serve hotdogs, popcorn, peanuts, ice cream and waffles or fish and chips.

Part of outstanding office catering is when the caterer helps you choose a location. Because you spend about 5 to 6 days in the office every week, it's time to get to know your friends from the office outside the workplace. If you are leaning towards a picnic, perhaps your caterer of choice can do a spit roast catering. Does your caterer have experience in weddings too? They might have some interesting suggestions when it comes to wedding finger food that might be fun and tasty when prepared for a non-wedding celebration.

You want to see your guests socializing and chatting around, and you could always check a finger food company for the hottest trends in finger food and serving styles that could go well with your office party. For a whole new gastronomic experience for your co-workers, ask around if they might want a cold finger food selection and try to integrate their top choices in your catering services.

Send out some fun invitations or fun emails using your company server to make it official. Plan for a series of games and a little bit of fun, including some special prizes like corporate journals, bookmarks or something memorable. This will give you some brownie points for a job well done-in party planning, that is.

Spread the word to all your co-workers and proudly announce "You are invited!" Don't be surprised to see your name under corporate party planner for the next office event too.

Corporate Events: Building Long-Lasting Relationships

When trying to build a relationship with your clients or bond with staff members to increase their morale, corporate events is a powerful tool. In organizing an event like this, it is important to consider the reason why it is held in the first place. If it is for clients or business associates, will it be one way of showing your appreciation? If it is for your employees, is it because of a special holiday or occasion? It is important to know these things because it will also help you in thinking of the appropriate theme as well as looking for the most suitable place where it can be held.

Like any other event, it is also important to know how many people will be attending the affair. For corporate events for staff members, you will still have to ask for their final attendance. It is most likely, however, that all of them will be attending. On the other hand, corporate events for business associates will require you to ask for a confirmation. This is important because the number of people who will attend will determine the venue as well as the budget.

Location is also an important part in planning for an event. You will want the party to be in a place that is accessible to everybody. It can be somewhere near the office or where public transportation is near. If the venue is far, you can also arrange for transportation with a service that will bring your staff members to the venue and then back at the office.

Deciding where the venue will be also includes planning for the menu. If you will rent a place, they already have accredited caterers for you to choose from and you cannot get one that is not in the list. Also consider the kind of dining you will have whether a sit down meal is more appropriate or buffet style.

Now that you have, more or less made the layout of the event, it is time to start looking around. Choose those that are affordable but without compromising the quality. Ask friends or your staff members if they can give some recommendations. Look through websites in your area and start calling.

Once you have everything all set up, you already know how many will be attending, what you will need, what food to serve, and the venue where it will be held, get the booking. This usually requires a fifty percent deposit. You can now start sending out invites. For staff members, a group email is enough. Or you can go all out and send everyone their own personal invitation.

Corporate events allow you to mingle with staff members and business associates in a more personal setting. This helps establish rapport as well. In a more informal setting, it is easier to build relationships and at the same time celebrate success.

When planning for an event like this, it is not important to achieve perfection. While a perfect event is ideal, the success of corporate events is measured by how much everyone had a great time.