Creative Event Signage - Event Promotion Using Graphics and Wraps Advertising

Planning an event can be a challenge, especially when you are charged with creating a memorable, intoxicating experience for the attendees that is infused with value and content. What can you do to ensure of a positive experience for the attendees? How do you even get them there? And once you get them there, how do they actually experience what you intend them to?

One way to avoid a capricious event experience for attendees is to simply build a profile of the ideal event attendee, and walk through the event day step by step, envisioning the experience moment by moment. Every step of the way you can outline every possible outcome where something little could create a major impression if timed correctly, or how to avoid potential pitfalls. This is the difference between successful and unsuccessful event planners. Imagination and focus on the individual's event attendees experience.

The Pre-Event Experience

Chicago is the windy city where the McCormick Center draws thousands of events each year. People come from all over the world to attend the events held there. The event begins long before the day. Event promotion to get the targeted audience in the know about the event has to happen months before hand. Sponsors have to be solicited, social media sites setup, mailers designed, website launched, mini-events, co-partnerships, e-mail marketing, list sharing, and the list goes on and on.

Let's say your target audience is a 30 year old, middle class, Caucasian, Nurse. Let's name her Jane. The day before the event, she is flying in from San Diego to Chicago. She is staying at the Westin Hotel a few blocks from the Convention Center, which was recommended by you, the event organizer, and received a group discount for staying with them. It is a hectic day in airports and by the time she gets to her hotel room, all she wants to do is watch TV and phase out. How nice would it be to have a welcome basket waiting for her on the bed? And a decal on the mirror welcoming her to the event?

The Event Experience

The next morning she gets up late because she was so tired from the night before and is rushing out of her hotel room and forgets the print-outs from the event so she is not sure what the conference schedule is. She enters the elevator to see on the back of the elevator door a decal outlining the entire schedule of events so she knows exactly where she is going when she gets there, which relieves her stress as she exits the hotel.

A hotel shuttle fully wrapped head to toe in the conference's event graphics pulls up to pick her up. Wow! She didn't realize how impressive this event was going to be. Her excitement for the event rises, and her pride to be a part of such a prestigious event swells.

She pulls up to the event, she receives a text message welcoming her to the event and a link to the schedule of events/speakers for her to look at in the shuttle.

The huge 30' span of windows in front of the convention center are covered with vibrant graphics showcasing images of health-care professionals, key sponsor logos, and the event logo. Again, she is taken aback on how well put together this event seems to be!

When she walks in there are huge fabric banners adorning the walls, and hanging from the ceiling, creating quite an ambiance. She registers, gets her badge with ease and receives a bag with information about the sponsors, vendors, and speakers and heads over to the first session.

She looks down and sees carpet decals showcasing the different speakers photos, room numbers they are speaking in, and their sponsor logo. Each are color coded, and have decals off shooting leading Jane right to the room she needs to be in.

After the session, she is at lunch and 15 minutes before the next speaker she gets another text message reminding her that her next session starts soon, and when and where to be.

Event Graphics and Branding Create Powerful Experiences

With new graphics materials on the market, just about any surface can be "wrapped" or branded with graphics that are fully removable without causing damage. These new materials are creating powerful event experiences by using:

Elevator Wraps

Staircase Graphics

Building Wraps and Banners on Parking Garages, and Event Venues

Concrete Wall Murals

Shuttle Bus Graphic Wraps

Carpet Decals

Window Graphics

Urinal and Porta John Graphics

Giant Fabric Banner Backdrops

Tradeshow and Expo Pop-up Displays

Biodegradable event signs

Columns

Doors

Trashcans

When you showcase your event logos, and sponsor logos you are showing attendees how professional and put together you are. The more of a leader you showcase yourself as, the more sponsors will want to support you, and the more attendees will want to participate. The first impression of the event can either be a hit or a total let-down. Event graphics can make all the difference to enhance and showcase the speakers you worked so hard to land, the educational sessions that can be invaluable to the attendees. Create an experience that will be unforgettable year after year by using the right combination of graphics throughout the event.

What to Brand at the Event Venue

Because there are so many surfaces at an event venue that can be wrapped, what do you choose to wrap, and how? You want to choose a few large spaces that are located centrally to where people enter and gather regularly at the event to wow them quickly.

A mural over the registration area, a few large columns wrapped as they walk in, or a large window mural outside when they pull up in the shuttle. Support these major wow moments with supporting locations like
wrapping the doors of the elevators, or placing a major logo on the staircase leading up to the main conference hall. If the event has desks where people sit, consider some small decals for the desks, with graphics integrating text messaging technology to get them registered for a drawing, or to send them information on membership, or whatever is relevant to them.

Schedule a tour of the event facility and bring your camera and a measuring tape. Snap pictures of areas you are interested in putting graphics on, or hanging signs from. Take some general measurements of the areas for quoting purposes as well. Send the pictures and measurements into a professional graphics company that specializes in Event Surface Graphics and Branding. They should then be able to:

Send the Event Venue Property Manager material samples if necessary

Provide a quote for you

Produce the graphics for the event

Install and remove the graphics on site

Working with a professional graphics company will reduce headaches and create a turn-key event branding experience for you, so you can concentrate on making the event a success in other ways.

The Life Of A Wedding Planner

Many different words can be used to describe a day in the life of a wedding planner/coordinator. Hectic, exciting, creative, and organized are just some of the words used to describe this fast-paced career. While wedding planning provides plenty of hurdles in the form of demanding brides, unhelpful caterers, and booked venues, it can also be an extremely rewarding field. Wedding coordinating can be perfect for anyone interested in owning their own business, making their own hours, and using their creativity and organization at work everyday.

Typically, a wedding planner will be working on multiple weddings at one time. This presents organization challenges, but also opportunities for a wedding planner that can multitask. Often while planning one wedding, a watchful wedding planner will stumble onto something that is perfect for another event in the works. This is where time management becomes a key part of the career, any successful wedding planner must be able to prioritize based on the timing of the wedding or weddings, as well as the workload required for each event.

The roles and responsibilities of a wedding coordinator range depending on the involvement of the bride and the budget. Most brides want to have a say in every detail of their weddings, which might allow you to take on more of a coordination role where the bride is looking for suggestions and guidance. However, some brides want the entire event done for them, which means a lot more work on the planners end. Properly assessing a bride's wants and needs will be vital in the beginning stage of the planning. This will allow you to give the bride exactly what she is looking for, without being too involved or too removed.

For many wedding planners the week before the event is both the most stressful, and more interesting time of the planning process. It is extremely common for brides, and often bride's mother as well, to completely lose their heads in the week leading up to the ceremony. This is the time for the wedding planner to shine. By holding the bride's hand, ensuring every piece is in its place, and verifying that all appointments are made and kept, you will solidify your place as a recommendation that bride gives to all of her friends.

For anyone interested in wedding planning, exploring an events planning degree course is the way to go. Many schools also offer wedding planning certificates to help give you an edge in your new career.

Creative Company Picnic Ideas - Turn Ideas Into Rave Reviews

Start With the Basics
Before you let your creative juices flow freely, it is important to know the parameters. There are certain aspects of your company picnic that cannot be changed or altered. Make sure you are aware of any circumstances that might put an end to your best company picnic ideas.

For example, going over your budget might be something that the powers above you would not allow. What is the budget for the event? Another limiting factor will most likely be the location. Planning a company picnic at a location that's hours away, will most likely dampen the highlights of the event. No one wants to drive for hours before a one-day event begins. Consider your location carefully. Depending on the size and location of your company, sometimes the company parking lot can be re-created into surprisingly well put together themes for company picnics.

Another consideration is whom do you want to invite? Staff only, members of the immediate family, or significant others. Family oriented company picnics are a great way for staff to meet families of co-workers. Single or divorced employees can feel a bit out of place at a family event. Overcome this problem by planning activities requiring participants to form groups. Grouping helps to integrate all attendees. Once you are aware of the basics it is time to let those company picnic ideas flow and create the theme.

Creating the Theme - Do You Really Need a Theme?
Company picnic ideas can range from the very simple to the blow-out extravaganza. Having a theme for your company event makes it easier to plan the food and activities. Choosing a different theme each year for your company picnic adds variety, so everyone is anticipating what the theme for this year will be. If there is no change from year to year, the event becomes more ho-hum, hum-drum, and boring.

The theme is one of the most important aspects of successful company picnic ideas. A few popular theme concepts are family-picnic, picnics at theme parks, picnics at state parks, and themes based on the season. For example, the company picnic idea of a fall theme could be coordinated using fall colors for table decorations, balloons, and banners. To further compliment the fall theme consider food and drink to match the season. Activities might include hayrides, tag football, and more.

You can take almost any season, holiday or event and create a theme for your company picnic ideas. Whatever the theme the key of success is to make sure to keep the needs and tastes of your attendees in the forefront of the decision making process.

Making the Plan
There are event planning companies that can assist you with every aspect of your company picnic...even providing you with company picnic ideas. You can choose the theme, and they will take care of the entire event. Everything can be included- food, beverages, activities, entertainment and transportation if necessary.

Choosing a company to provide all the services for your company picnic is often the easiest route to take. You still maintain control over the event and can set the theme, the location, and other specifics. Working with only one company rather than a host of providers makes coordination a breeze.

Final checklist
As with any event, make sure to keep written notes as you plan. It is also a good idea to create and maintain a to-do list containing every detail of planning and implementing your company picnic.

If you choose to hire individual providers, at least one week before the event, make sure you and your committee reviews and completes a final checklist. This ensures that everything is going smoothly. Doing a check one week before the big day gives you time to make sure those last actions are complete, and you still have time to make changes if necessary. For example, suppose you have plans to have face painting for the children. Make sure to contact and confirm that those who will do the painting are still available. This is also a good time to make sure they know exactly when and where to be on the event day.

Contacting every provider and vendor a least one week before the big day will help avoid any problems with set-up and distribution on the day of your event. Make sure to give instructions and confirm date, time, and the specific location (if necessary, within your location for each vendor to appear.

You can create a layout of the location and assign each vendor/provider a specific area within the layout. Make sure each vendor/provider receives a copy before the date of the event.

Enjoy the Rave Reviews
Proper planning allows you to enjoy the event with everyone else. Any company picnic ideas you consider must keep the tastes and needs of those attending in mind. This helps ensure you generate rave reviews and make your event successful.

Don't forget to casually survey attendees after the picnic to get the overall level of enjoyment. This can help with future event planning. Most will be appreciative that they were consulted. Have fun and enjoy!

A Lot of Advantages of Corporate Event Planning

In the business surroundings there are several areas that take on the focus of business management. Making sure that your company is creating high and growing income is often the main focus in the business environment. Assuring that you have the appropriate investments in order to meet your present expense demands and pave the road for expansion in the future is an extra focus.

Even guaranteeing your employee team is properly staffed and trained so as to maximize your revenue and consumer service potential demands a great deal of focus. All of these focuses of the business environment often take away from other important business features such as event planning for worker and investor appreciation. This is where you could take advantage of hiring a professional event planner.

With a well trained event planner your company gains the chance to utilize an experienced person that can aid you in many events which businesses plan all through the year. With the services of an event planner you could keep your focus on the fundamentals of the business environment and permit them to handle the necessary events needed for a business to stay operational. Many companies question the need for corporate event planning; viewing them as a business expenditure that provides no real return on investment. However, with this a business helps in creating long-term return on the money invested that could boost your opportunities in gaining revenue and future investments.

When you include this around the investor you take an active step to exhibit your appreciation for the people investing in your company. This show of appreciation helps an investor feel incorporated with the business which normally inspires an investor to remain loyal to your company. This loyalty assists your business in securing future investments from this individual and spark interest from other potential investors when they discover this investor faithfulness. Normally the corporate event planning around investors incorporates one or two banquets every year, a small investment which delivers and incredible financial impact.

With corporate event planning surrounding the associate, you're looking for your return on investment with an increase in profit or a steady stream of continuous revenue. Several firms make the mistake that the salary they pay their associates is all the appreciation they are required to show. If your company is high above the norm in regards to salary then this may be true.

But, if you are like several firms trying to keep payroll expenses low then corporate event planning could go a long way to boost your financial opportunities. When you show your appreciation with this you could increase productivity through employee satisfaction, aiding to increase revenue.

Why You Should Take Help of Church Event Management Solutions

Churches and other faith-based organizations can streamline their operations, increase donations, and bring in greater program participation by using the church event management solution. The online church event? management software helps to create, customize, and publish one or more registration pages, offer easy and secure collection of payments and donations, and bring in greater interactivity and harmony among members and communities.

All through the year, churches keep on organizing different kinds of occasions; these range from fundraising programs to youth camps and religious trips. Managing events, especially the large and complex ones, is not an easy task. The web-based church management services offer ready-made solutions to practically every aspect of event supervision. From the incident set-up and registration to informing members about daily devotionals and missions, the web-based event management software does it all.

You can provide regular updates to your attendees about various church activities by using the church software. Information about your religious missions, trips, and so on can also be enlisted for online membership viewing. The built-in online church calendar can also be used to notify members about the current and upcoming church happenings.

Online event management solutions can be used to send email notifications to people informing them about the various church occasions and fundraisers. Integrated emails about day-to-day activities of the church help to build community awareness and increase interaction among church members over time. You can also send RSVPs and invitations to all your members and new contacts about the upcoming youth camps, fundraising programs, and more. The online church event management services can also be used to share and publicize church activities and events on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Web-based church management software eliminates the need for cash handling and excessive administrative costs. Real-time authorization and processing for all major credit cards, PayPal, Purchase Orders, and checks are possible if churches start using online church event management solution.

Apart from offering instant online registration to events, the church event management solutions can also help in:
• tracking the member's contact information and address details
• view their payments transactions
• efficiently manage collections of dues, donations and more

Thus, the online church administrative software helps to lower managerial costs and facilitates smooth operations for churches, religious organizations and other faith-based organizations. The software can be used to simplify online registrations and payments for different kinds of church activities, fundraisers, and other related functions.

Students Gain Experience Through Movie Night Planning

Great teachers are always looking for new, engaging ways to help students learn. Giving students real life responsibilities that allow them to apply what they are learning in the classroom and learn even more about the subject is an excellent strategy to be used in addition to traditional teaching methods. Movie nights held at schools are becoming increasingly popular because of the way they create a sense of community in the school and provide students with a safe opportunity to have fun with friends. Why not give a group of students the responsibility of planning a movie night? Here is how students can gain experience and benefit academically with movie night planning.

Students will gain valuable marketing and communication skills while selling sponsorship for the event. There are many ways to pay for a movie event, including selling tickets and finding sponsors from the community. Students in charge of finding sponsors will need to approach local businesses to solicit sponsorship. Once the sponsors are found, students with graphic art skills can create simple presentations to thank the sponsors and provide advertisement.

In addition to attracting sponsors, students will need to attract an audience through marketing. Students should be encouraged to be creative and use many marketing tactics to bring a crowd to the event. Students can hang posters around the school, hand out flyers and request time during school announcements to speak about the event. If there is a school newspaper, the event could be advertised there.

Paying for the event and attracting a crowd are both essential pieces of the movie night planning puzzle, but the event will not be possible without considering the demographics and choosing an appropriate movie. Encourage students to think carefully about exactly which students they are going to focus on getting to this event. Do the students want to get incoming freshmen there? Is the event for upperclassmen nearing the end of their high school years? Teach students an important lesson about demographics and marketing by making sure they have clear goals and a plan in mind. Students can use surveys of the target audience as well as current movie popularity statistics to choose the best movie for the event.

There is also the important matter of basic logistics. Where will the students get the equipment for the event? The success of the movie night hinges upon finding and hiring a reliable and high quality equipment provider, and this requires time and research.

Food is also important at a movie event. Students can choose to charge admission to the event that includes food, set up a concession stand, or use a combination of both tactics and include food with admission and sell extras like drinks, movie candy and popcorn at a concession stand. The students will be responsible for choosing the best foods for the event, renting any necessary equipment such as a popcorn machine, running the concession stand on movie night, and cleaning up after the event.

Many movie events feature other types of entertainment in addition to the movie. Students should be encouraged or required to plan extras such as door prizes or other giveaways.

Hosting a movie night event at your school provides a wonderful and memorable experience for students. Why not take advantage of this opportunity, though, and make it a valuable learning experience? Students who attend a movie night event probably do not realize how much goes into planning this type of event and making it a success. High school students will be highly invested in the success of their event since their friends will probably be attending. Give students a unique chance to learn and apply valuable marketing, economics and communication skills by assigning the task of movie night planning to a group of your students.

Top 5 Smart Marketing Tools to Host Sold Out Events

As an event planner, your key responsibility is to organize a successful event. Apart from focusing on the various intricacies of event management, you must also undertake necessary steps to promote it effectively. This is important because unless you spread the word about your events, prospective attendees will not have requisite information and your event will not achieve success. Interestingly, there are several marketing options that you can select to generate awareness about your upcoming events. Moreover, you can choose comprehensive event management solutions that come equip with marketing capabilities to facilitate event promotion.

Some of the marketing options that feature in advanced event management solutions include the following:

Smart Calendaring Feature

The calendaring tool is perhaps the most effective means by which event planners are promoting their events. This tool provides ease of view and access, making it simpler for the registrants to view details about the upcoming events. You can customize the calendar to make it more visually appealing for the registrants.

Smartphone Support

People lead busy lives with hectic schedules and commitments. Since they have very little time at their disposal, you must go for marketing options that can step up the promotional activities in the most effective manner. Several cutting edge event management solutions now support mobile applications to enable prospective attendees register for the event using their phone. They can view complete information about the event, venue details and more.

Social Media Marketing

Social networking is the latest buzzword in the marketing world today. It has the potential to help you reach out to several attendees at the same time without spending a lot. There are several integrated event management solutions that enable you to publicize your events online on the social media platform though Facebook and other interactive social networking sites.

Email Communication

A visually impactful and informative email works wonders for your event promotion strategy. Considering the several benefits offered by powerful email marketing campaigns, you must pay adequate attention on creating an insightful and interesting email campaign. By choosing a comprehensive event planning solution, you can create email templates that match the look and feel of your brand. You can design your email templates with interesting colors, graphics and text effects. Upon scheduling the delivery of the emails, you can ensure that you past as well as prospective attendees have complete information about the upcoming event.

Discount Rules for Attendees

As an event planner, you top priority is to ensure that your event is a sellout. To achieve this objective, you must deliver value to your attendees. Through promo code engine, gift cards and redemption options you can lure your prospective registrants to sign up for the event.

Event management has become highly competitive in the last few years. As a result, event planners have had to rework on their marketing strategies and implement effective solutions that can help them to maximize revenues. Effective event management solutions that offer a host of marketing tools are best option to take your event promotion strategy to the next level.

5 Great Reasons Why First Class Corporate Hospitality Is Vital for Your Marketing Strategy

As we're all currently experiencing, business can be tough in these modern times of austerity. However, come boom or bust, the drive and ambition to generate new leads and appease your customers and client base remains as strong as ever. Essentially, we need to satisfy our clients - to work with them through superb communication and good understanding to help strengthen and build upon our relationships. We need to show them that we strongly value their business and expertise, and a hospitality event - an exclusive and memorable occasion - is a fantastic way of achieving this.

Experience tells us that corporate hospitality is a fantastic tool to help forge and develop business connections. Outlined below are 5 reasons to consider when deciding how, when and why to use corporate hospitality as a key part of your marketing strategy:

1. Improving relationships

Utilising the corporate facilities at a special event is an ideal way to share quality time with a respected client and highlight to them just how much you value their business. Taking the time and effort to do this will leave a long lasting impression and help to strengthen your future relationships.

2. Network, network, network!

Often day-to-day meetings are restricted in time and opportunity to build relationships, and a corporate event creates a situation where you can find this time. You'll discover all sorts of new information about the people you work with and for, and you will have the chance to meet other companies and consolidate business contacts.

3. Rewards and incentives

Hospitality events are a fantastic motivational tool for employees and can work well as a way of attracting exceptional new individuals into your business. Your best performing employees can even be provided with exclusive use of the hospitality facilities at a sporting event of their choice.

4. Out competing your competitors

When taking your clients to a prestigious public occasion, you can present them with something above and beyond what your competitors may be considering. In these premium environments and locations you will also find plenty of opportunity to meet new clients and garner quality referrals from existing ones.

5. Launch of a new product or service

Corporate hospitality events are a great way to launch a new service or product. Events can be stylised and designed to perfection, generating waves of excitement and fully engaging your guests. When planned the right way, an event like this will create a strong impact and help consolidate your press interest.

Corporate entertainment like this is significantly important in many ways for your business and offers great benefits. You can create an enduring positive impression for your clients, help ensure that your business stands out from your competitors and even gain new clients along the way. For any serious business, it's vital that corporate hospitality is fully integrated into your marketing strategy and utilised effectively to help your business to grow and grow.

For more information about first class corporate hospitality please visit: http://www.thenationalsportingclub.co.uk

Benefits of Corporate Events Venue News

Corporate events are a very important part of corporate culture. Lot of detailing is required while organizing a corporate event. A lot of attention is paid to food, entertainment and most importantly the venue.

Nowadays various hotels are hosting corporate events, handling all the departments involved in a corporate event. All you have to do you is let them know how you want your corporate event to shape up and they will do everything to make your event successful. In fact this has been the trend since few years now. Some of the very successful events have also been in news for their excellent management.

Corporate events venues news

Various corporate events have received rave reviews from the press. These events have been in the news because of their innovative and creative ideas. These events were not hosted in the regular way. They had something special or they were managed exceptionally well.

Being in corporate events venues news helps the venues in various ways. The most important being, the positive publicity it gets. The readers read these reviews and come to know about the good services of the venue. People are generally scared of trying out some new venue and more so when it is something as important as a corporate event. But good reviews make them aware of the experiences of the people who have already used its services. This increases the customer base of the venues thereby increasing their profit levels.

The corporate events venues news column that is published in hotel and resorts magazines has all the detail and information about the services and packages for corporate events of various hotels. They have details about the services that are offered and the prices at which they are offered. These also have the special schemes that you can avail of.

It has descriptions about the various events that have been hosted by them and the way in which they were hosted. By reading this you will get a clear idea of their way of handling and managing things. You can also select a package which will meet your requirements.

One can also take the help of online news on these venues. It is easily accessible and one can get all the information about the venue just by clicking the mouse. In fact you can even book the venue online.

To get regular news about the hotels and venues one can even subscribe for their newsletters. They will be automatically delivered in your e mail id or at your postal address. So if you are planning to host a corporate event start reading these news now so that you can be well equipped to choose the venue for your event.

Event Planning - Best Way To Plan Your Events

There was a time when event planning was not a professional industry and people used to plan their events themselves. But now the event planning industry has taken all the worries off people and providing the facility of making their events well managed and more memorable. Many people who want perfection in their events prefer to hire professional event planner. Event planning is a vast industry; it covers many areas such as wedding planning, business meetings, seminars, parties, cruises, field trips, award ceremonies and even children's birthday parties. But there are some people who do not get satisfied with other's work and do not hand over their arrangement to anyone else and do it on their own. So if you are one of them and planning your event then you should carryout a lot of research on event planning so that you avoid making any mistake and let your event go successful. If you keep these important points in your mind you would plan your event in a smooth manner.

Time; it is the most important point to remember in event planning; before planning an event, decide the final date and make sure you have at least two months for the preparation for the event. You can organize the event better if you have more time as there are many things you have to arrange for example venue, food, music, guest list, budget, interior appoint services etc.

Whether your function is indoor or outdoor, discuss the date of the event with the owner of the venue at least one month before whether it is available on that date and make sure that if there would be need of changes you would be able to do them.

Many event planning services can help by providing free consultation or suggestions; they can be very beneficial for you to make arrangements.

Budget is also one of the most important points to plan any event; you have to do arrangements within the budget. So plan a budget and make all arrangements keep it in mind. Make a list of all the required things for the event and inquire about their rates in the market; you will get to know the prices of your required things even on the internet. Keep spare money with you as you might need it for unexpected expenses.

Checklist; make a checklist for your event. Keep checking it often and make sure all the work is being done accordingly.

Keep these things in mind while event planning any and let your event go smoothly. But the best is to get a professional do it for you.

Event Management Companies

Event management companies are as the name suggests companies which are paid to do all of the work and organizing required in hosting an event. It is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and there seems to be no end in sight, as far as business is concerned. This is because an event management company will take care of all the little details in hosting an event or parties, while you concentrate on more important matters.

They provide skillful and professional staff to take care of an event you are planning.

There is no limit as to what type of event they are capable of handling. These include wedding and birthday parties, corporate parties and meetings, conventions, conferences, expositions, seminars and concerts. Some management companies will specialize on specific services. For example some will specialize in expositions and concerts, while others will offer wedding and private party management. Generally when the time comes to pick a management company the theme of the event will be the first thing to be considered. The theme of the party or event can be based on anything, but will reflect the mood and atmosphere according to what the event is being staged for.

A well staffed company will be able to advise you on every aspect of event managing, down to the last detail. This can include but not limited to venue finding, food, music and whatever product being promoted during the event. They will also go into careful discussion regarding budget. In fact, deciding on a budget is the most critical part of event management. This is the part where event holders and the companies need to be very clear. Ultimately it is the budget that will decide where and how it will be held. Shoddy budgetary management can make or break an event or convention.

Many event management companies will offer free service in certain areas. One such popular free service many companies provide is finding a venue for your convention or seminar. This is a great service as it will free you up to concentrate on other matters. Others may offer free service for other things such as advertising the event and so on. This is why it is important to do research well before going with a particular company. Find out what exactly they offer and read through the fine print carefully. In doing so, you could be saving a lot of money and time.

This does not mean that you should blindly accept whatever the company offers. It doesn't hurt to double-check on the venue yourself and make sure that it fits your needs exactly. After all, the location of the venue is one of the most important aspects of event managing. When it comes to food and other details it is good idea to set the parameters beforehand. It should not be necessary to go into every detail, but they should have an idea as to what can be served. This way all of the possible options available in the area can be looked into.

Organizing Company Picnics to Promote Team-Building

There are different ways to create more efficient and functional teams within your company. You can try different team-building activities like company picnics or company outings. This activity is not just a simple day out with your employees. It is a team building plan-and a perfect venue-for your employees to bond with each other and enhance their camaraderie which is very important because increased camaraderie can increase your employees' productivity. However, the success of each activity is greatly determined by the different activities and discussions organized by the team building event planners.

Thus the question: how can you evaluate team-building companies? How do you choose that ones that are best suitable to respond to your company's needs? Who has the better programs and more experience? There are different ways to evaluate a certain company to choose which is better. Among the many things that you need to consider are the programs that they organize, the packages that they offer and their capacity to meet your company's needs. Company outings and picnics is not about finding the best resort or the most sumptuous foods for the participants. It is also about keeping the participants, your employees in this case, interested while promoting their team building skills and bonding.

If you plan to hire a team building company, you need to first present them with one of the challenges that your company experiences and ask them for their advice or suggestions. For example, if you are having problems with a particular section in your company, you can always ask corporate outings planner to create a customized plan and package that will directly focus into the challenge that you mentioned and respond to your needs. There are a lot of event planning companies that are not able to mix fun and work dynamics in their activities. You will be surprised at how much some of them do not know which things or activities are fun for the employees during picnics or outings, while some do not seem to know how to evaluate the inner workings of the corporate world. These companies cannot immediately respond to your needs so stay away.

One of the many reason why these team building companies are not able to understand the dynamics of the business world is because they do not come from the same universe. People behind these team building companies have minimum or no business knowledge that is why they are not able to relate their activities to the requisites of the company. But that is not to say that they cannot organize activities and games. They can, but they are ideal for individual or friends but cannot be utilized to respond to certain 'corporate' needs. During the initial stage, if you ask them for a solution for a problem that you stated, then you can easily know if the company is a service provider or an entertainment provider.

Team building cannot take place without the necessary instructive activities that should be provided by people who have business or training expertise. Playing cooperative games is not team building because there are other dynamics involved. To organize the best company outing or picnic for your employees, you need to find a team building events organizer that knows exactly what team building is and the proper techniques to achieve it in a fun, entertaining way.

Find The Best Catering Halls

Selecting the perfect Catering Halls in Queens to hold your upcoming events doesn't have to be difficult. After all, if you don't like what you see just drive a few miles and visit the Long Island (not to be confused with Long Island City) catering halls located just a short distance away, or go a little further and check out the beautiful catering halls in the Hamptons, which, contrary to popular belief, are very reasonably priced. Queens is one of the most perfect places in New York city to book a venue for a host of reasons including public transportation accessibility - trains and buses cover almost every corner - nearby airports (LaGuardia, JFK), accessible highways (GCP, LIE, BQE, Belt, Southern State), and spectacular photo sites (Shea Stadium, waterfront views, Flushing Meadows Park, not to mention minutes away from New York City) without having to travel to far and risk showing up late for the Wedding or reception.

From Country Clubs to Yatch Cruises, Queens offers a diverse selection of venues. Besides Weddings, Mitzvahs, and Sweet 16s, catering halls in Queens also welcome private affairs and corporate events. The venues offer a wide array of services, from an on-site restaurant and catering facility to dance instruction and even party equipment, some even offer honeymoon & travel arrangements. You will find in several hotels in Queens, including the Best Western, a Queens Court hotel, that the corporate meeting room will accommodate weddings and pretty much any other event you would like to hold there. Other hotels offer a waterfront / waterview with an option to hold your entire event outdoors. Be sure that you have an option to hold the event indoors in case of bad weather, this is particularly important if you're considering a Yacht, a Yacht can be a wonderful choice because of the beautiful views, but they do not sail during "rough seas".

To make your planning even easier, some venues will have established relationships with officiants & clergy, off site caterers, event planners, audio visual companies, equipment rentals, bridal shows, ceremony music companies (Bands / Live Entertainment), ice carvings, make-up artist, party equipment, photo booths, limos, day spa, and even assist you in dresses / gowns rentals. Not sure where to purchase party gifts and favors? You will find that some venues even have a store-front set up with almost anything you need to throw the perfect celebration. The venues will offer their customers different packages which include pretty much everything necessary, all you have to do is show up!

It is often recommended you shop on your own for outside vendors as opposed to blindly choosing the ones selected by the venue, besides having more options than the already established vendors you will also find that many times it is a more financially smart choice. This is usually done AFTER first finding your venue and securing a date, which will avoid having to change any contract date with vendors. Banquet Halls also book up quickly, especially during the summer season so be sure to contact and book your date way in advance (typically a year or two in advance is recommended to guarantee your day at your preferred venue). The busiest months of the year are from June through the end of August, and during the first weeks of September (Labor Day Weekend books up very quickly, especially Wedding venues).

But even before making the call to your venue, check with online review sources such as Yelp, Wedding Wire, Wedding Channel, Google Reviews and even message boards in order to assure that the venue you are considering has a good reputation. Although online reviews should not be the determining factor in selecting a venue or any vendor, it will give you a head-start when it comes to compiling a list of questions to ask the venue manager when you visit.

If you're not happy with your Long Island Wedding hall selections, head on over to Queens and find a venue that is both conveniently located, and fits your budget. Because of it's convenient highways and central location, Queens caters to the five boroughs.

The Importance of Hosting Good Corporate Events

Hosting Corporate Events are necessary for every company or brand that wants to maintain a good professional relationship with its clients and delegates. These are the occasions different clients are invited, providing a splendid opportunity to show their appreciation. The corporate events can be of any nature. They might be hosted to mark the yearly profits of the company or the celebration of a good deal with an overseas client or simple a New Year office party. Corporate Events UK has always drawn attention and this is largely due to the presence of good event manager and organizers. You have to remember that sometimes a corporate party becomes more important than you might have imagined since this is where new clients and future prospects are often discussed and so it is essential that all those who are present are impressed.

Corporate events do need a certain degree of careful planning because unlike parties where your glitches will be overlooked by your relatives and friends, a corporate event displays your company and an unorganized event would definitely be a negative point. Somehow, one aspect gets to overlap with the other and if the event is not hosted many may deduct that the company too might be unorganized. Your event may not have a lot of glamour and you might do away with all the extra flashiness if you think that it is not your style, but the little that you do should have its own class and sophistication. Good food and wine, good music and good entertainment- these three are the basic pre- requisites of a good corporate event and if you can manage them successfully, then you do not have to worry about the rest.

Everyone loves his driving days, so you can include mock driving races as team building games too. Corporate events are also the time to show your appreciation and regards to your employees who always stand by you and who work for you. Without them, your company would not be what it is. You can give away some good corporate gifts to them. You can be sure that they will be thrilled. As an employer, you can also use this opportunity to know your employees better and this will definitely improve the professional relationship. In addition, you will gain the benefits in times of need when everyone on the organization stand together to fight a crisis.

The budget is of course a factor when you think of hosting a big event but there are so many good event managers around that they can organize a good event in any budget. They also offer packages to choose from and so even small companies can organize their own events. A little bit of careful planning, is all that is required to make your mark in the competitive business world and get your company noticed.

Corporate Events to Add Fun to Your Life

You must have heard of corporate events in several companies. Last time it might be on some special occasion, this time for raising fund for charity. Similarly, there are several occasion for which corporate event can be organized. It can be a good way to add some sort of fun to your meetings and conferences.

Corporate events are the planned party time for all executives, whether junior or senior. It can be holiday party or some project related party. One of the great things about them is that employees can bring their spouse and children along with them. It comprises all fun related activities, which bring together all employees. You can interact with your colleagues and peers, a bit away from their professional life.

Benefits of organizing corporate events

• 
  It is an excellent way to win favor with clients.
  


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  It helps you in motivating and rewarding them with for their efforts at work.
  


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  It helps you to build strong relation with your clients
  


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  It relieve stress from the hectic schedule of employees
  


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  It adds entertainment to your meetings, conference and all.

Need of corporate event

If you look at some company showing excellent growth, there is a hardworking and dedicated team behind its success. The myriad of advantages of these corporate events have compelled almost all the organization to incorporate this team building strategy. Moreover, they are found to have long term effects. It ensure contented workforce devoted to the company.

Advantages of corporate event

Corporate events bring them together, thus ensuring strong bond of understanding between team members. It indirectly ensures increased productivity, increased profit and competence. All this fun related party activities have collectively resulted in leadership quality, improved morality, better understanding and ability to tackle barriers.

All corporate events are great entertainment providers. They offer realistic experience to employees and develop mutual understanding among them. It empowers members to contribute to common goal. A small such investment over employees can have such a productive results. It's really unbelievable to see its effects over team members. Moreover, all employees participate in corporate events, thus ensuring no status difference. All collectively add lot of fun and entertainment to their life.

How to organize corporate events?

Organizing corporate event or deciding for some wedding function venues is not a problem anymore. You can easily handover these works to some organizer, who takes all the responsibilities of every task to be performed, ranging from starting small decisions to final touch. You can also surf for some online service providers, who make all the arrangements for your convenience.

What to Wear in Your Hen Night?

If you are planning grand hen nights, it is worthwhile selecting the proper theme for your celebration. Thinking about the theme needs a lot of thought as it will affect the whole event!

You and your group of friends can choose the appropriate costumes about your much hyped hen party. Most likely you'll find costumes to fit in with the theme, otherwise what's the point of having a theme in the first place?

Worrying about getting the right kind of costumes for your hen party? If your answer is yes, there are so many ways that may help you to get the most affordable and good looking clothing catering your needs. Actually there are more places than ever selling hen night supplies and outfits.

Hen night themes are popular because the fashion of celebrating hen nights is in vogue. Many women love to party out with their friends and share those girly wits. If you have decided about your theme, you can easily get the costumes that will enhance your fun and pleasure. There are many event planning companies which collaborate with costume making companies to provide the right kind of costumes to needy ones.

Search the Internet
Getting the right kind of hen night outfit is always desirable for women who have set a particular theme for their fun. Although there are many sources to get the hen night costumes, however, internet is increasingly becoming a full-fledged source that has a lot to offer. You can find thousands of different outfits, most of which are suitable for hen nights. Make sure you set up a budget to match your requirements.

If you can't find what you're looking for then the best thing to do is ask other people who are going to the party. Hopefully they will be able to put you in the right direction.

The Right Event Planner For You

Are you planning for an important corporate event but can't seem to get anywhere? Well, all you need are a few event management tips and a good event planner. The first one, event management tips, can be found anywhere-online or offline. The second, a good occasion planner, takes a bit of effort to find. Obviously, a corporate event is a very significant occasion, and sometimes no amount of occasion management tips can guarantee success. That's why you're going to need all the help you can get.

An event planner is a professional who provides services in planning and implementing all the essential aspects of an event or occasion. As such, an occasion planner is in charge of handling the operational matters of a planned event as well as the necessary logistical preparations. Event planners actually go beyond simply planning for an affair or simply giving out event management tips. They are, in fact, closely involved in carrying out the actual event.

In the business world, corporate events and functions are key concerns especially for marketing and administrative purposes. For example, product launchings are important items in many marketing strategies. Another corporate event, the shareholders' conference, is essential for overall structuring of the company itself. There are many other corporate events that help the business grow and reach new levels.

With the above things in mind, it becomes clear why you need to leave the managing of an event to a professional. You have to find and hire the services of an occasion planner that best suits for your particular situation. You might want to consider the following qualities before deciding.

Among the first things you need to look for in an occasion planner are his/her experience and specialty. An important qualification that a good event planner holds is the level of experience. Needless to say you're not planning to leave the outcome of your corporate event in the hands of an amateur. Moreover, you have to make sure that a particular event planner's specialty matches your needs and situation. Hiring someone who has successfully handled a similar function to your event is advisable.

Another factor to consider is the planner's style and approach to event management. Event planners use a variety of tools and techniques to plan and execute an event. What you're looking for is a professional who truly understands your strategies and reasons for holding the event. You have to choose someone who provides a systematic and dynamic method of working towards your goal, rather than someone who simply gives you static occasion management tips and tools.

Overall, event management is both an art and a science. The professional you choose to help you out in your upcoming event should have both the creative and technical know-how that you need. Remember, the success of your event depends on the choices you make on event management tips and event planners.

What Are The Main Advantages Of Using Event Scheduling Software?

Event management has become an industry of late, with many companies extending their services to manage events of almost all types. The greatest challenge for these companies is to plan and manage corporate events. According to market experts, it is best to go for corporate event management only when the business hosting the conference has prior experience in smaller event management. Nevertheless, the fact that hosting a corporate event is an important marketing tool has lured many start-ups to venture into hosting conferences in which they can gather a great percentage of the thinking crowd. Today, with mobile applications available that further simplify various aspects of event management, almost any business can take this bold step.

Managing a corporate event starts right from fixing the time, date, and venue, to online registrations to the conference. Promoting the workshop, laying out a successful event plan, and sharing each detail with attendees is the next most important part of the job. However, the greatest perk lying in hosting an event comes when the conference or workshop is actually in progress. Did you know that with event specific mobile applications you could make each of the aspects quite simpler for your team of event organizers? Take for example, event scheduling softwares available these days.

Event scheduling involves fixing the date and time for each and every part of the main event, and you may have to spend too much time researching on available options before selecting the best set of timings. Cut to the use of event scheduling softwares, you can be sure that a major burden related to all this work is taken off your shoulder. How?

To begin with, the integrated features of scheduling softwares furnish all details of the event online as soon as they have been finalized. When you are planning details, its leading features furnish suggestions that would be best suited to your initial plan. Last, but not the least the software is actually programmed to give you suitable alerts to complete each and every task related to the scheduling process.

Most event scheduling softwares being developed these days are being integrated with online registration services which itself is a great boon for organizers. Further on, you have greatly detailed graphics of the proposed floor plan of the venue. This allows you to take your time and decide the type of changes you want to make in room allocation and supply of facilities. In short, these softwares make every aspect of event scheduling a dream ride for the organizers and therefore serve as a great factor that determines the success of your event.

The Balance of Corporate Events

All types of business require the health, trained skills and creative talents of their employees in order to perform the growth, stabilization, or retrenchment strategies required to remain in business. Therefore, many corporate events are set in place to keep employee abreast of their industry in both professional and relaxed environments. They are also utilized to keep the employees connecting. After all, every aspect of a business's functions with the movement of their products and/or service requires team effort in order to produce the level of ideas and processes that keep them competitive. For example, in this article, we will discuss three of the most common professional development experiences and three of the most common employee development experiences for the improvement of both.

Corporate events are important to strengthening management and employee performance because they are given an opportunity to present company products and services. They are also given an opportunity to become aware of what other companies in their industry are doing. Or, most importantly they pick up tips and tricks of where their industry is headed in the coming year, which is based off of their contributions and contributions of competing companies. A few of these gatherings include annual conferences where projections and progress are documented and explored. There are also trade shows where the company can present and exhibit their latest products or services to buyers and general consumers. Lastly, there are also annual seminars that represent the bridge between the company progress and manager and employee training. These corporate events combine academic, leadership, and interactive teaching and tasks in order to help prepare the employees for another year and greater responsibility.

Second to seminars where managers and employees in a particular field have an opportunity to bond are the team building days or weekends of any corporate event.

This gives all of the entire company, departments, and divisions of a branch to be motivated in their contribution. They are able to realize their strengths and get to know each other at the same time. This is also related to theme activities such as golf tournaments or holiday parties where managers and employees are also encouraged to connect and relax with or without current or perspective clients. Lastly, after all of their hard work, some companies also offer incentive travel for their level of performance. In the end, corporate events help to keep the clients connected to the company's products or services, help to keep the managers and employees at peak performance, and help the managers and employees know that they are appreciated by the company. With corporate events everyone learns and earns.

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 a Cloud-Based Event Management Solution Can Help You Plan Events

Prior to starting the planning phase of a meeting, festival, party or a convention that you wish to organize, it is always important to look into matters like the budget, event dates and location, venue hiring, guests invitations with ample time in hand. Organizing an outstanding event is a big challenge in itself - many event managers find themselves in chaotic situations trying to get various loose ends to meet within specific deadlines. Managing existing staff members, distributing work and evaluating their progress takes up much of the time. Moreover, many a times, companies need to recruit new personnel to handle multifarious jobs before an event. The situation leads to budget crunch, especially in the case of small firms who are bestowed with the responsibility of hosting an event within a set budget. It is under these circumstances that many event management experts have decided to take an alternative route in the form of automatic platform for managing events with least manual intervention as possible. A Cloud-based event management solution can prove to be beneficial to companies both large and small that are trying to host an event without compromising on quality or budget.

Freely Accessible

Whether you decide to throw an informal holiday party or a serious formal business meeting, everything can be managed well using an online event management solution. Being Cloud-based, means it is kept in an open shared server by the solution provider for individuals to access them anytime.

Organize a Budget-friendly Event

You don't need to make provisions from the company capital in order to purchase or install similar Cloud-based applications. It is one of the most budget-friendly applications found in the marketplace today. No additional cost is required for using such a solution - no installation, downloading or maintenance cost is needed. There is not even the need to obtain a license to run the application on your computer.

Error-free Registration Process

Online event management solutions come integrated with an online registration interface to make it easier for event managers to handle the registration part effortlessly. Registration is an important element of any type of event - free or paid. Through registration, we get to know how many people are actually attending the event or have shown an interest in the company activities, etc. In future, these attendees can be approached by the company's marketing team for participation in other similar kinds of events and likewise develop long lasting relationships with such groups of people.

An online registration process allows interested individuals the ability to simultaneously access the portal from any part of the world. They can enter their name and such other personal details on an online form instantly without the need to travel in person to a designated location to do the same. Event planners can view, re-read, and copy all registration details stored automatically in the online registration database to meet their business needs.

Easy Option to Invite

Many of these online event managing solutions come with an emailing module to let event organizers send any number of emails for invitation, reminder, and RSVP purpose.

Online Payment Facilitates

Today, you get many user-friendly options to streamline work processes one of which being the online payment method. People have welcomed these online payment options with open arms since it saves both time and travel cost by letting you transfer funds online. Event attendees can pay their registration fees plus event organizers can refund back credits upon registration cancellations quickly using standard payment gateways.

Full-service Virtual Events on an Open Source Platform

Being the oldest kid on the block has its advantages. Ask Tom Wieser of Computer Generated Solutions, Inc (CGS). He believes that his company's 25 years of experience in the industry uniquely positions it to play a leading role in the expanding field of virtual event planning. The majority of players in the virtual event field today tend to be singular in focus, mostly younger companies with a single mission. CGS, on the other hand, employs a multi-faceted model, utilizing multiple lines of business-consulting, call centers and e-learning modules-all of which make CGS a formidable player on the virtual event stage and one of the reasons they are bringing formerly reticent industries into the fold.

CGS offers, among other services, comprehensive professional networking including free-flow as well as moderated chat rooms dedicated to specific topics with screened and moderated questions. Also, users have the ability create their own profile and upload photos. Third, CGS offers profile matching in which individuals can check on others with similar interests during the course of an event. Wieser also stresses that some of the options offered by CGS are limited by the client's technology which may not be able to support specific services.

Wieser is excited about the new frontiers opening up to virtual event planners. Industries that once shied away from the virtual environment such as health care and pharmaceuticals are beginning to embrace the new technology. This creates limitless opportunities for a company with the experience and resources of CGS. Wieser believes that virtual event production is primarily a service industry, not a self-service or subscription industry, and this has caused some problems in the past. The tendency for some, specifically some publishers, to squeeze providers with pricing led to too much emphasis on self-service when greater hands-on involvement was required.

As Wieser sees it, one of the greatest challenges facing the industry is perception of competence. In a field littered with young start-ups and technology crashes, assuaging the fears of potential clients is vital. This is where CGS's experience comes in. "I think that that's a major issue that obviously CGS is leveraging extremely well, because people tend to see that suddenly our legacy of being a strong technology company for 25 years suddenly plays a major role to mitigate that risk," he says.

Founded in New York City in 1984, CGS currently generates $250 million in revenue. It serves North America, Europe, and Asia with 20 global locations and roughly 3000 employees worldwide.

Event Planning - Banquet Guarantees Vs Registration Deadlines

How do you handle banquet guarantees at your functions? Does the process cause you stress because you have a financial commitment to the facility and they have early deadlines? Also, do your attendees procrastinate until after your guarantee deadline, before deciding to register?

Guarantees are one of the trickiest event planning processes to learn when you become an event planner, so let us discuss the entire banquet guarantee versus registration deadline process and come up with a solution.

Reason for Guarantees - first, let's discuss why there must be a deadline to turn in guarantees. Hotels, convention centers and banquet halls have to get ready for your event. When you signed the contract for a number of guests to come, the facility probably had a clause in the contract that stated "minimum guarantee is xx% of the contracted number." That clause is there for a reason. Each facility has to book space wisely.

They want to maximize usage of their meeting and banquet space and bring in revenue to meet their budgeted projections. So, it is real important, if they commit a room for 1000 persons for lunch at an estimated $20 per head ($20,000) and budget for close to that amount, they can not afford to have only 300 show up. Three hundred would only give them $6,000 in revenue and leave them a $14,000 deficit in budgeted projections.

Hence, contracts specify minimum numbers. Also, based on preliminary numbers, they have to schedule staff including cooks, servers and set-up staff.

So, you now know why facilities require minimum guarantees, but that doesn't help you with your numbers. So, let's discuss a scenario that will help you.

Example - let's assume you commit to to rent space for 1000 for an all day event and have a planned luncheon as part of the contract.

Obviously, costs are banquet rental and an estimated 85% of the 1000 for lunch. Your registration fees are set at $22.00 per person to cover space rental and the luncheon.

Complications - difficulties to the planning process arise because guarantees are needed by the facility one week prior to the event (to order staff and food) plus the fact that your history says 70% of your registration occurs with-in that last week prior to your event. Also, you allow registration up until 48 hours prior to your event.

The Problem - you want increased attendance, so you really want to be flexible with your prospective members, but what you are trying to do does not match up with specifications by your venue. You hesitate to totally shut off numbers seven days prior to the event to meet guarantees by the hotel or convention hall. So, you have to guess at the numbers you turn in for guarantees.

Suggestion - force the issue without losing attendance. Your members have no reason to sign up early because you have allowed it. Why should they commit to you prior to a week out and then lose their money if something comes up a few days later. You have allowed them a grace period to wait until two days out even if it causes you problems.

So, force the issue, but do it in a way that they get to make the choice. If they have already decided to attend, but are waiting until late to sign up, most likely they will come anyway.

Set a Deadline - give your attendees a choice. Charge the original registration fee of $22 until one week out. Then charge a higher fee for late sign-ups. The amount you decide for late sign-ups could be $27 or $30 or even $35 per person.

You have to pick a number that will say to the attendees "I will save money if I commit early." However, the late registration fee should imply "I still want to sign up late even though it costs more."

What you want to avoid is pricing it at the point the attendee says "It is now too cost prohibitive to sign up versus the value of the program."

Your Options - increasing your fees to $27 or $30 for late registration may force your attendees to sign up early, yet still decide to come to your event, if they can register late. A late fee of $35 will definitely force the issue for pre-registration before the deadline, but might cause procrastinators to make the decision to not attend.

If this is a single function, you may not get your late registration fees and deadlines set the way you want. However, if you keep track of your numbers and develop a history, you will be able to find a price and pattern that will work for you.

If you are hesitant about charging late fees, start slowly at the $27 figure. See how many now sign up early. See if that 70% late sign-up now drops to 15% or 20% or lower. Also, keep track of your total numbers and see if there have been any changes.

Summary - so, how do you handle banquet guarantees at your functions? Try eliminating your own stress. You have the ability to charge what you want and allow your attendees to make a budget choice to save money by committing earlier. It helps them! It helps you turn in your guarantees and it helps the facility plan for your event. All you have to do is give them two positive choices. They can save money by registering early or pay slightly more and "get" the flexibility of signing up a few days late. Force the issue, it will work for you.

Complex Event Processing - Becoming the Keystone for Application Performance Management

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

• A message is sent from one person to another.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8 Simple Ways to Improve Your Event Registration Process

Did you know that your registration process can dramatically impact your attendees? A smooth, comfortable registration process can change the way they look at your organization. It can decrease complications and complaints at your events. It can even lead to higher attendance and lower no show rates.

Use this report to uncover the simple things that make life easier for your attendees - while greatly reducing your own workload.

#1 Get Rid of Paper-Based Processes: Event organizers often worry that high-tech registration options will alienate a portion of their target audience. Yet you'll be surprised how quickly even your most traditional users will adapt to online registration. In fact, many event organizers have found that removing paper registration all together has led to higher attendance, happier attendees and much fewer complications at events.

Case in Point: The Religious Conference Management  Association worried that its traditional, faith-based group would struggle with online church event registration. Yet it knew that its lengthy and arduous paper registration process was frustrating for attendees and costly for the organization. Last year, however, more than 85% of its annual conference attendees registered online - and the organization was flooded with compliments on the new, easier registration process. In addition, RCMA chose to eliminate paper surveys after its event and move all post-show follow up online, which increased its response rate from 5% to 32%.

#2 Encourage Groups: More than 30% of attendees register as a group, and  research shows that attending events in a group improves the experience. Yet most event organizers fail to encourage groups. In fact, most registration systems fail to even automate group registration, leading to lost opportunities and frustrated group leaders.

There are two important things you should be doing to encourage group registrations: Provide discounts for people who register as part of a group. This practice not only increases attendance, but increases attendees' satisfaction at your events.

Second, make group registration as easy as possible by handling it within your standard registration process. Make sure it's easy to add group members by streamlining the process and auto-inserting information where possible. Also, don't make the mistake of failing to communicate with individual group members. Make sure your system is set up to send confirmations and reminders to the group leader and every member of the group.

A single miscommunication can destroy an attendee's experience at an event.

So, why do 80% of event organizers still rely on manual processes to manage things like meal preferences, room blocks and nearly every attendee preference? Take the time to set up a way for your attendees to choose their own preferences and make self-service changes to those preferences before the event. The best registration systems will make this process easy for attendees, and a select few will even provide reports that can be shared with hotels, caterers and event organizers in real time. These shared reports ensure that all preferences are updated and accurate at all times, leading to happier attendees and smoother events.

#3 Put Your Attendees in the Driver's Seat: A single miscommunication can destroy an attendee's experience at an event. So, why do 80% of event organizers still rely on manual processes to manage things like meal preferences, room blocks and nearly every attendee preference?

Take the time to set up a way for your attendees to choose their own preferences and make self-service changes to those preferences before the event. The best registration systems will make this process easy for attendees, and a select few will even provide reports that can be shared with hotels, caterers and event organizers in real time. These  shared reports ensure that all preferences are updated and accurate at all times, leading to happier attendees and smoother events.

Case in Point: Washington State University's extension office coordinates five large events each year for its Area Health Education program. Each year the university handled more than 1,500 registrations with varying payment options and preferences -- and each year there would be a long line of confused attendees at the registration table. In 2008 Washington State moved its registration process online. In so doing, it shaved more than 400 work hours from its process and nearly eliminated the customer service issues that had plagued its events for years.

#4 Do the work for your competitors Many event registrants are frustrated by the length of time it takes to fill out a registration form. Yet many of these same registrants are previous customers of the organization holding the event. That means there's no reason these event organizers should require them to re-submit every piece of personal information.

Instead, all event organizers should be using auto-recall to pre-populate personal and business information whenever possible. Not only does this practice dramatically reduce time spent in the registration process, but it also decreases the number of people who abandon the process and reduces errors in your reporting. This simple feature can improve the attendee experience while making sure you always have accurate contact information for follow-ups and promotions.

#5 Re-Confirm to Eliminate No Show: Are you sick of dealing with no-shows at every event? If you're like most event organizers, seeing a stack of unused name badges at the end of an event is frustrating. But in  many cases, it's not the attendee's fault. Instead, the failure to recognize no-shows before events falls on the shoulders of the event organizer.

The good news is there is a way to identify no-shows before your events - yet it's one of the least-used features in event registration. It's called "click-to-confirm" reminders, and it allows event organizers to send a series of triggered email reminders leading up to an event, asking attendees to confirm that they will be attending the event. This practice allows organizers to weed out people who have changed their minds and open up spaces for sold out events. In addition, the extra action taken by your attendees reminds them about the event and reaffirms their commitment to attend.

Case in Point: Grant Writing USA, a leading provider of workshops and educational materials that focus on grant writing and grant management, had a big problem with excessive no shows at its workshops. The organization now sends click-to-confirm emails for all events, and that practice has reduced its no show rate to nearly zero.

#6 Make Networking Easier with Directories: As social networking becomes more important to attendees both before and after events, event organizers increasingly depend on good networking opportunities to make their events stand out. Those opportunities start during the registration process.

Make sure you're providing a quick link to a directory of event attendees both during your registration process and in your confirmation email. The kind of information you provide on that directory will vary, but many organizers include names of attendees, email addresses and even a list of sessions people are attending. This technique immediately engages your attendee with your event, allowing her to reach out to friends or set up meetings.

#7 Build Better Badges: A badge is a badge, right? Nope. Not anymore. In fact, top event organizers are realizing that badges can play a crucial role in tying registration information to the event. Most sophisticated registration platforms will allow you to enhance your badges with group information, color coding and even an agenda.

Make sure you're branding your badges, agendas and signage to match your registration form. In addition, provide your attendees with a complete list of their session selections and preferences when they receive their badge. This practice will immediately address any issues before confusion sets in, and it will remind your attendees of the selections they made during the registration process.

#8 Make Every Question Relevant: If you confuse attendees, you lose them. Usability studies show that attendees struggle with long registration forms, particularly when those forms contain information that isn't relevant to the attendee. More and more event organizers are using something called conditional logic to avoid that pitfall.

Conditional logic is based on statements, which use triggers within the registration form to dynamically display appropriate information. So, for example, if I have a golf networking event, I may ask an attendee if they would like to attend. If that attendee answers "no," they will never see information on tee times, t-shirt sizes or transportation. On the other hand, if that attendee chooses "yes" he will automatically see the appropriate questions.

Very complicated events are using conditional logic to dramatically streamline the registration process, but even small events can use this technology to greatly reduce registration headaches for attendees while reducing workload for event organizers.

Online Event Planning Schools

Event planning career has been taken seriously nowadays because people have realized the value of hosting the guests in a proper manner and providing them with comfort and entertainment in any event. For choosing this as a career you need to have an aptitude for this profession and determination for the career.

Some people do not prefer to get proper education and certification for this field but I think it is important to have a professional education to flourish in this career. You can find many event planning campuses around the world offering many curriculums but the problem occurs when you don't have access to go to any event management institution. At times you don't have any institution in your town or you don't have time to go and attend the classes in the campus. But if you have a desire and determination then the best option for you is online event planning schools. Online event planning schools provide you with quality education in a convenient way.

To do online course in this field you need to be good at using computer and you should have a good and fast computer system that can work fast, has enough memory to run software and browser smoothly. Student should be technical enough to do uploading, opening and accessing the files during the course from online event planning school.

These schools give you the same training but in a different way. You don't need to go out or rush for the campus with the fear of getting late or miss the class.

There are some schools which give you all the information online and you can get them any where you are, but some online school that offer hybrid programs. In hybrid programs students have to spend some time in the campus, students enrolled in hybrid program get most of their course online but they can also get the opportunity of hands-on training during special events. This will benefit them in the professional life

Like other campuses online event planning schools also have different time frames according to their curriculum, mostly they are in 1 to 2 years of duration. There are some courses that are completed in a few months; it all depends on the curriculum. These online event planning schools might cost a little more because of their convenience; usually they start from $500 to $2000 depending on the duration. To take a course online you just need to investigate about the school and its reputation to have a good career.

Event Management Teams Are Equipped to Deal With the Complex Logistics of Large-Scale Events

The event management companies have robust systems and processes in place to ensure that their project management teams are fully equipped to deal with the complex logistics that the management of large-scale events requires. While some organisers may charge you for their services, you may however get the benefit, as in many cases the costs of a conference organiser including travel planning and venue booking is absorbed by the various venues and services. They can create events to enable the clients to positively influence their audience, assuring them that they need not worry about anything, as all of the details of the presentation equipment will be taken care of. These companies always make sure first, to understand the reasons why you are staging an event and are always passionate about making your event run extremely smoothly.

1. The event management services demonstrate years of experience preparing, creating and delivering tailored events. They can help with product launches as well as overseas entertainment and give you an expert advice and help for any concerns in choosing the best possible deal for equipment for your event.

2. These professionals are always keen to provide you with a truly memorable occasion with maximum impact and minimum stress. They have qualified technicians, who would offer quality service and provide on-location support when needed. These experts can help you with not only finding the right venue and making travel convenient, but also with staying within your intended event budget.

3. Whether you need budget monitoring, strategy and concept development, event planning, programming and scheduling, event management services are always there to help you with everything. They have good project-management skills, can understand all your requirements and always endeavour to comply with them, offering help and support all the time.

4. They can deal with various things, including logistics and operations, on-site management team, communications and marketing, evaluation, management social programme and add-on events, reporting and post-event analysis. These organisers have clear line of communication internally, ensuring a smooth, seamless experience for their clients.

5. With the help of their technical staff, they can help you setup the equipment thereby leaving you to concentrate on other aspects of your presentation. Whether you need an equipment or technology for a board meeting or business conference or for an exhibition or conference, these specialists can help you out with everything.

The event management companies, who would offer prompt service and quality, ensuring that you receive the service best suited to your needs, which will put your mind at ease for your next event or conference. They can be really cost effective for you and help you keep your overheads low, whilst being able to organise events of any size from small birthday parties, through to large scale festival production and corporate conferences. Their creativity, planning and skills can underpin every event that they manage for many of their valued clients. These companies allow you with the added comfort of knowing that everything is done on time.

The Use of Special Event Lighting Always Enhances the Beauty of Any Occasion

Regardless of the nature of the event, any major or minor celebration needs some sort of special event lighting in order to beautify the appearance of the venue which would help to create an atmosphere that would help to lift the spirits of every guest present in the event. The type of lighting you decide to use will determine the mood and tone of the event. Besides, different themes can be chosen and the lights selected accordingly depending on the nature of the event. If it is a birthday party of a child, the theme selected should be based on children. Similarly, wedding themes should be romantic whereas corporate events need to have a more professional approach. The lighting to be used should be selected on the basis of the type of theme chosen for the event. This will help to enhance the appearance and therefore, the mood of the party. Another place where proper lights can be used to make the event more cheerful is the dance floor because that is the place where people look towards for entertainment. In order to make the stage area and the dance floor appear livelier, several dance floor lights can be used in creative ways to attract the guests to let their hair down and begin to tap their feet. There can be no second opinion about the fact that the use of proper lighting can brighten or dampen the spirit of an event.

Most modern events make proper use of different forms of lights in the decoration of the event because lights are a must for any event and if those very lights can be used in an innovative manner to give the event a brighter appearance, the lights used are able to find their true purpose. Rather than just hanging big bulbs from their wires or stands, bright colorful lights can be used in place of these big bulbs to give the theme of the event a more cheerful look. Different forms special event lighting is available in the market today at very affordable prices and they can be used in ways more than one. For example, LED battery lights can be used in any place and in any manner due to the power source it is already attached to. Similarly, other LED Icicle lights can be used to light up trees and plants in the venue to appear as tiny water droplets on trees. Other innovative ideas can also be tried using the required form of LED lights and other lights.

An important aspect to remember when planning the decorations and the lighting of the event venue is that the choice of lights should be made according to the theme of the event and careful calculations should be made to ensure that the entire venue is covered with proper lighting. Tables should be lit up, the area where people can walk should have proper lights and stands with colorful bulbs on them, the stage or dance floor should have proper dance floor lights, etc. It is believed that if the decorations and the lighting during an event are attractive and great, everything else inevitably falls into place.

Are Project Management Skills Required at Event Management?

It does not matter what size an event you will be conducting it needs to be managed. Of course, a bigger event will have a larger need for event management to make sure nothing is forgotten.

Events are conducted at schools, businesses and other locations that might need to have a little more preparation. A bigger event could mean it is a good idea to contact an event management company to make sure it is organized and professional. Still there are some elements that could be done to help save money and prevent the need of a professional event management company.

Do you want to plan a big dinner, awards program, conference, fancy party or fundraising event? You could decide to have the professionals take care of it. You want to find a reputable group with a proven track record. If you are working with a company they might have a group they have done business with in the past. Otherwise, do some research by talking to colleagues and even friends, for example. Sometimes when working with a group you might tell them what you want and they do it. Other times you will be involved throughout the process. Remember to not just consider the company, but the employee record as well that will be assisting you. Do they serve their clients properly and really help with the event management?

Even though working with professionals has the best chance of event success there are ways to save money. If the event management group is taking charge of the entire event it will get expense. You might decide to take on the event management yourself. This might work out if you are experienced and if it is a small affair. You might decide to hire event management groups for a few of the elements for the event. This could save money and also ensure that the event is well organized and professional. Suggestions are for a DJ, flowers and catering with a wait service. Get quotes before deciding on your plan for this.

Using an event management company or doing the organization yourself all depends on what you want. Remember to set a budget and get a count of how many will be attending. It is also a fantastic idea to have a plan to implement if the original falls through. Either approach will produce a wonderful event if all the elements are remembered and organized. It can even be fun to plan an event.