Saturday, November 16, 2013

Qualities of a Good Event Manager


Your company will have a big event coming up and you need to find for the right event manager to handle all the planning and making the event a success. A good event manager will need to possess some key qualities that you may want to look for before hiring one. Event managers will ask for a fee for their service and you want to make sure that you get your money's worth in hiring them; otherwise, you might be better planning on your own.

However, when you hire, you will also need to work close to him. You can't just simply tell him what to do and what is needed, but constant communication between you two is very important. Everything the event planner will do should be approved or disapproved by you to make sure the planning is running smoothly. So, upon hiring the event planner, he should make a checklist of everything you told him and his own inputs as well. Include everything that needs to be rented, purchases and contact persons to talk to.

Next is to talk to him about the budget. A good event manager will always stick to the budget and find suppliers that will offer the best deals possible. This is his job and he should be good at negotiating. You can leave him to choose how he divides the budget as he already knows what to do with the budget allocation. But of course, everything is still subject to your approval.

Another quality of your even manager is to be able to scout for the best suppliers out there. From renting sound systems to hiring catering services, he should always get the best deals and best prices without sacrificing the quality. Food is very important in the event and if you are about to choose caterers, it is best that you go with the event planner to do several food tastings.

Venue is another thing to consider in any event. It should be an accessible and comfortable place for everyone attending it. Your event manager more or less knows the best places in town to hold a specific event and if your budget doesn't suit the place, he will be glad to find another place to best suit your event needs. An event manager should always be resourceful and up to date. He should also have good negotiation and interpersonal skills.

Lastly, after the big parts of the event planning is out of the way, your event manager can start focusing on other things like invitations, souvenirs, decorations and the host for the night. And he should be able to find the best supplier for all events needs. Hiring an event manager should make things more convenient for you. He should run everything by you and you should also give him room for his own creative output. You should also see his patience and effort in sourcing for the best suppliers out there and always sticking to the budget you stated. This may prove to be a challenge but this is their job. At the end of the day, the success of the event will rely on the qualities of the event manager you hired.

Tips to Aid an Event Planner - Plan Current Events


The urgency involved in planning current events can make the exercise taxing physically and emotionally. An event planner is under much pressure especially when trying to meet a deadline. By preparing well in advance, event planners can avoid the last minute rush that will add undo pressure. Early preparations include identifying and reserving the events venue, applying for a permit if the law requires one to do so, evaluating the budget and getting entertainment, food and drink that will be sufficient and within the budget.

To make the work easier, the event planner must define the event. Will it be a formal or informal affair? Will it need an outdoor or indoor venue? Next, knowing when the event will take place will help the planner determine when to start scouting for a suitable location and then making reservations.

By knowing why the event is happening, the planner can focus on giving it a suitable theme. Themes for sporting events are very different from the themes a planner would use for weddings. By describing why the event is happening, the planner is also able to focus more on the details that will highlight the purpose of the event.

A current events planner needs to be cautious about spreading the budget evenly in all the areas that need to be paid for. Usually, big corporate companies have bigger budgets than a small business or a personally sponsored affair. The event planner should know exactly how much money they have to work with, and then prioritize on what needs to receive which budget amount.

Usually, higher priority is given to the things that hold the most meaning. In a wedding for example, the venue is of much importance to the couple, so the appearance and convenience of the venue is important. On the other hand, only the pitch and the ability of the venue to accommodate a huge audience are considered for sporting events.

Seeing that entertainment is such a vital part in current events, the planner should decide whether to provide recorded music or live music for entertainment. Alternatively, he can opt for performing arts acts. Drink and food are equally important and the planner must ensure that everything is in order by hiring a dependable staff. A clear understanding of the guest list, what the event is for, and the available budget are things that even the most seasoned event planners need to know to avoid getting bogged down in the planning details.

Catering Advice From a Caterer


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

Your Private Party

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

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

Business Catering

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

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

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

Wedding Reception Catering

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

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

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

One Last Word Of Advice

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

Researching Reception Halls for Your Business Events


Having reception halls that you can always count on for special business events will be very helpful to you. You will want to find one that is always clean, has an organized banquet staff, offers excellent variety in food service, and excellent customer service.

If you own a business that often hosts events then you should have some trustworthy reception halls that can be reserved when needed. In order to have these trustworthy locations, you might need to do a little research.

The locations that you choose should always be clean. This is important when you are doing an event where everything there is a representation of your business. The kitchen, banquet hall, and the restrooms should be immaculate. They should be stocked with everything necessary for guests. It is helpful if everything can be included in the hall rental.

It is also important that there is an organized banquet staff at the hall. This means there needs to be a wait-staff and a bartender to accommodate any event. All of the staff should look professional and be well-trained to perform well at their jobs.

Food service is another consideration as you research. You will want to be able to choose the type of food. For some events you might have heavy finger foods, at another a buffet, and at a fancier one, you might want a served meal. The hall you consider will likely have menus that describe the items that they can provide in whatever setting you end up choosing.

Customer service is another essential. Without good customer service, you will not be happy as the business owner, and your guests and employees will not be happy either. Most likely the guests will leave with a poor impression of your company rather than the specific banquet hall.

As the business owner or the secretary of one, you have to be careful in your choices. Make sure you consider all scenarios as you choose the right reception hall for future events in your company. Cost is probably something that you will want to think about before you even begin. By having this in mind from the start, you will know what you have to spend.

If you have never needed reception halls for events in the past, but are beginning new practices that include events, you might be able to form contracts or agreements with various reception halls so that you can get a better deal than someone that only uses a hall once or very rarely.

Great Ideas For Corporate Team Building Activities


Team building activities are well known for boosting morale, increasing performance and helping to instill a greater sense of 'belonging' within a company and consequently it increases a company's profit. In many ways corporate team building activities are similar to any other work related activity such as employee motivation, incentive schemes or general training.

To make a corporate activity day a successful one, one must plan it in a way that reflects the needs of the employees, from the top management to the employees of lower ranks.

Team building events are best held away from the usual distractions of the work place. This does not mean travelling miles or expensive destinations. Depending on the type of the event, it could be held in a conference room or in a local park. The key of a good event is to make it both enjoyable and informative.

There is a wide range of opportunities for team building exercises and games and they can easily fit in any budget. There are professional consultants who help companies select and organize such events. Here are some ideas for corporate team building activities-

Ideas To Improve Communication:

The see, hear and speak game may improve the communication skills among the employees. It highlights the need for precise communication.

Another good quick game is multiple balls. This is especially good for demonstrating to line managers what happens if they just keep chunking tasks (balls) at people without checking to see if they are ready to accept them.

Idea For Team Work Games:

Everyone enjoys fun team activities. They need a bit of brain power and lateral thinking. These activities take everyone through the levels of working alone to working as a team.

Examples of popular and fun activities and games include road rallies, sailing regattas, snowboarding, fly fishing, interactive seminars etc. the activities can be very simple and at the same time very sophisticated. The most common feature of many team building activities is that they put people into new challenges and fun situations that require much interaction between the team members. In this way they build a strong bonding among the members.

These corporate team building activities may also be treated as great ice-breaker at the opening of seminars and conferences as they engage all the members to help each other without realizing it properly.

How to Plan a Corporate Family Day Event


With the financial crisis fading, many businesses are still operating under tightened purse strings. Where staff celebrations used to help boost motivation and show appreciation, these have become an expensive luxury which many businesses can no longer afford.

The traditional staff party, with a meal followed by drinks has its pros and cons. For some employees, the hassle of organising childcare can prove expensive, while others enjoy the opportunity to see their colleagues in a non-work setting.

Something different

With more and more working parents in the UK workforce, perhaps it is time to change your approach to staff celebrations. Corporate family days are a relatively new idea in the UK, but originated in America. A corporate family day is an activity day planned with your employees and their families in mind.

Outdoor activities

Often with an outdoor activity theme, corporate family days usually involve the workforce working in small teams to complete a range of tasks. Similar to a team building day in some respects, a family day will challenge your staff in a variety of ways. The family element helps employers demonstrate their appreciation of their staff, not just as employees, but as parents too.

Planning the right sort of day

To plan a day that will be a success and enjoyable for all, you will need to find activities that are suitable for everyone attending. Find out the ages of your employee's children, and find out if any have disabilities so you will be able to cater for and include everyone.

A good mix

The next stage is to devise activities that will be suitable for everyone, and that will cater to each of your employee's strengths. Ideally you want each employee to have an activity which they can feel that they are good at.

Going to the professionals

You may decide, after thinking about the various risk assessments and health and safety forms you will need to fill in, that going to a professional would be a much simpler option!

There are several companies throughout the UK which offer corporate family day events. Often these will be based at outdoor activity centres, so look for some in your area.

The benefits of letting them run the show

Allowing an external company to take over the planning and organisation of your family day takes the pressure off of the internal teams responsible for organising it. This means that they will be in the same boat as the other employees, and be able to enjoy the event without worrying how it is received.

Also, by handing over to experts you know that they have a wealth of experience that they can call on in planning your event - giving it every chance of becoming a great success.

Things to check

• Make sure you have passed on all the important information to the family day organisers. These included details of ages, disabilities and dietary needs.

• Ensure that the event is planned on a day which is convenient for all or most of the attendees.

• Ensure that the location is one which everyone can get to - or provide transport if required.

• If you have and desired outcomes of the day that are work specific - let the organisers know.

• If you are planning to give a speech, or the head of the company wants to say a few words let the organisers know so that this can be worked into the schedule.

• If the events are weather dependent make backup plans - and if the whole day is subject to certain conditions agree a deadline time so that all attendees can be informed.

• Decide in advance if there will be gifts for the children - often company branded goodies can be created.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Corporate Team Building Away Days - Has Your Team Lost Its Va Va Voom?


From time to time we all need a little help along the way. Is your company not performing as well as it should do? Is your staff in the doldrums? Do you feel you all need a lift?

Teamwork is the way most companies/organisations work these days and it is essential that staff and managers at all levels are able to get along with each other. It's not always easy for new staff to integrate into new surroundings with new colleagues and work to their optimum without a little push along the way in the form of encouragement.

It is important that all teams are able to communicate effectively, share ideas and demonstrate trust in each other, whether it is on an employee/employee, boss/employee, or team to team basis. Trust in each other will lead to more dialogue between members and give them the opportunity to discuss workplace problems with the common aim of agreeing upon solutions. Agreed solutions in turn avoids conflict in the workplace and can lead to a happy and harmonious workforce willing to work towards the company's greater success.

The way to optimise the above is to organise a team building away day for your staff, including yourself of course. Greater good-natured participation between team members will eventually lead to more effective ways of working, leading to the common goal. It's always a good idea if the boss joins in with the staff to show that he/she is faced with similar problems to them and is also part of a team, it will also demonstrate the 'human side'.

Team building events are guaranteed to be FUN whilst stimulating discussion between team members and provoking challenges to overcome problems (as reflected in the workplace). These events are designed to draw out strengths and weaknesses of individual members of staff with, in some cases, surprising results! Following post-event assessments of events some members of staff might have demonstrated strengths or weaknesses that you didn't know they had. This could be reflected in their jobs in the future and might ultimately benefit teams by recognising this and boosting their confidence.

It is a well-known medical fact that laughter releases chemicals such as endorphins and serotonin in the brain giving us the "the feel-good factor" which is a great form of preventative medicine and is a natural anti-depressant and stress-reliever. Laughter is a way we can be part of a group and it makes us feel more comfortable with each other, promoting greater co-operation in teams.

There are numerous events to choose from on the market from team building activities, motivational activity days and evening entertainment. Evening entertainment can take the form of themed party nights or Christmas parties with a particular theme to suit your company.

Maybe you wish to launch a particular product, then this can include your staff and specially bespoke days can be designed, which will make employees feel part of the company and be able to make personal contributions.

Perhaps you would like some event organised as part of a conference.

Maybe you would like to reward employees and their families and provide special family fun days.

Team building takes many forms and it is worth enquiring from corporate team building companies what form these can take.

Is Event Management This Simple?


Have you been given the responsibility of planning corporate events, only to realize how much work is actually involved in planning them? One way to deal with event planning and the stress involved in planning is to use an event management company. It's really hard to do a full day's work and then spend hours every week working to ensure that your event goes off without a hitch. An event planner gets paid to plan big corporate events day in day out, so they know what each event needs, and how to find it.

Among other things, an event management company will be able to help you set up a realistic budget, and will be sure to work within that budget. They have existing relationships with vendors and event venues, and knowledge of which vendors provide what services or products. All of this can mean they may be able to get your company products and facilities at a discounted rate because of those relationships. This saves you a lot of work calling vendors to find the one with a price in your budget and who offers exactly what you are looking for your event.

Whether your event is a company wide team building event or corporate entertainment, an important annual conference, or charity gala ball, using event management is the easiest way to do it. Once you tell the planner exactly what you want, all the little details and large decisions are taken off your hands. The event planner has a lot of experience with different types of events, so knows exactly how to do it. You don't have to worry about how everything will look, or even if your event will go off, since you have hired a professional to do it. Event planners are normally perfectionists, and will want to make sure that the customer is more than happy, and that the event goes smoothly.

Anyone who has planned an event knows that not only are there many little details that pop up, usually at the end, but that there is always some emergency that comes up. Using event management companies means that you don't have to worry about that emergency because your event planner is right on top of it, and can smooth it over and make your event an occasion that people talk about for years to come.

Football Spiral Party Ideas to Organize an Action-Packed Party for Your Little Football Fans


Football spiral party themes are an excellent choice for little guys who love playing this game in the backyard and watching the NFL with their dads. If you have a son who eats, drinks, and sleeps with this game, go all out to throw a football theme party on his upcoming birthday. This simple, but thrilling party idea will surely please the rowdy group of young football fanatics. Here are some useful ideas for planning a successful party:

The invitation:

  • You can use the ready made invitation cards that can be easily bought from any party supplies stores.

  • A football ticket invitation will make the kids jump out of excitement. Design them on your computer and print them.

  • Inflatable footballs can also be used as an invitation. Use a permanent marker and write your party details on it.

  • Make this a costume party and ask the boys to dress up as softball players and the girls as cheerleaders.

Party decoration ideas:

  • Buy life-size cutout of your child's favorite sports player and place it at the entry. This cutout can later be used as a photo prop.

  • Take some printouts of renowned softball players that your child and his friends like and paste them on the wall. You can paste these closely on a single wall to get maximum attention.

  • Decorate the area with themed Mylar balloons, flag banner, solid color latex balloons, etc. To complement the look of your party, buy Football Spiral Party Supplies such as paper plates, cups, cake candles, party bags, hats, blowouts, etc. Paper products would be great to prevent any damage to your dishes that can be caused by the wild crowd.

Party games:

  • A football shaped pinata can increase the enthusiasm of the little players. This can serve as a party game as well as for decoration.

  • Nothing can be a better game for this theme than playing football. Divide the children into two groups and let them play their dream game.

  • Have a football quiz. Inform the kids about this game in advance so that they can do their preparation.

  • Organize a football show in your home and play any of the popular matches. Arrange some chairs in your TV room so that the kids can comfortably sit and enjoy watching the show.

Party menu:

  • Popcorn, burgers, hot dogs, and anything that you get in a stadium will work best.

  • Have a football shaped cake and cupcakes for the kids to relish. Decorate the cake with themed candles that are shaped in the form of softballs.

  • For drinks, you can serve fruit punch, lemon-lime soda, carbonated beverages, etc.

Favors:

Let everyone be the winner by rewarding them with real footballs. Even though this will be an expensive favor, kids will love this. Write your thank you message with a marker pen on these balls to make them serve as memorabilia. A book on football rules and game tricks will not only please the kids but also the moms.

These exciting Football Spiral Party Ideas will surely make your party score a winning touchdown.

Event Planners - Reasons You Need One


When an event of some sort is being planned, you will realize that there will be quite some work that you have to get done. A lot of planning has to be done and quite some work is done as well. You have to ensure that you can handle all the work that you have to get done. If you think you may not be able to complete everything, it is best you hire a person for this job.

Deciding on whether you need an event planner can be done just by looking at the size of the event. Huge events will have loads of work attached to it and surely will require more than two hands. If the event is going to be on a smaller scale, you could pretty much get everything done by yourself.

If you choose to hire a person to help out, you will have to start looking for one. You will be pleasantly surprised at the number of people out there who do this kind of work. They do it for a living. The event planner can plan and organize your social event to perfection. They are professionals and very organized people and will get your job done efficiently.

You might know a person who has got an event planner sometime before and you could get the right person through them. The right references will help you on making a choice on hiring a person for your event. Other previous employers of the event planner will give a good account of his services. Once you are satisfied with the person, you should go ahead and quickly make a booking for the person. Ensure that they are free to work on your event on those dates.

You have to maintain constant contact with your event planner. You will spend countless meetings with them and even lunch hours to get the plan for the perfect event in place. You should involve yourself in activities like final decisions on the event and even selecting certain features. You will be the man in control but will have a person below you running all the errands.

The event planner works for you, so do not be afraid to speak your mind out on what you think. Be clear and communicate well with the planner to get things done in the right manner. Else you could have communication mix ups which could ruin the whole party. You will have an amazingly well planned party if you stick to these guidelines. Your guests will surely be impressed and have a fun filled evening. You will surely be proud of the events success and fell good about yourself.

Do remember that the event planner comes under your payroll. They will not be cheap at all and so do clarify on price before you employ them. You should query them and ensure that they fit the kind of person required for the job. You should ensure that their services are within affordable limits for you. You should have a written contract on the job details with the person regarding the job details. In case of any issue at a later stage, the written agreement will protect you. You will not have to make any payments if they do not complete their job as per the contract.

If you find an event planner to be way beyond your budget, then you could go ahead and just try getting all the work done by your self. You can get friends and relatives to assist you with preparations so that the load gets even split. When you are totally confident about your event planner, you will have a good idea on what can be expected and will surely have an amazing party that will be remembered by many for a long time.

The Components of a Good Corporate Entertainment Event


When you are putting on a corporate event, it is important that you ensure the corporate entertainment event follows a similar structure as other events. This is because those events have been built on success and that success of the past will ensure you have success in the future. That all being said, what are the important components of a corporate entertainment event?

1. Food: If you are going to have an business event, then one of the most important things to do is ensure that you have food. This means catering the event so that everyone who comes to the event can get all the food that they want. It is important you know about any allergies and alert anyone about the contents of the food though.

2. Entertainment: Naturally, a business entertainment event needs to have entertainment in it. This can be anything from stand up comedians and magicians to bands and DJs. Just make sure whatever you pick is something that everyone will enjoy.

3. Seminars: Any entertainment event that is in a conference setting should have plenty of things in it to help improve the skill set of the employees. This does not mean you overload the event with corporate entertainment, but you should at least make sure there is plenty for everyone to learn.

4. Fun: Probably the most important part of any corporate entertainment event is the fun. You want everyone to have a good time and you can do that with prizes, dances, banquets and more. You want to let everyone unwind because it will bring those within the company closer together and when that happens, productivity increases.

These four components are important to any corporate entertainment event, and while you can include more, these four should always be the core of any event you organize.

Business Planning and the Bozo Factor


"Bozo" - A clown with a forlorn look, always finding negative implications in every activity or event. A person who tries to find a way to prevent you from moving ahead, giving excuses such as "we've always done it this way, or this is not our culture" when presented a new opportunity or challenge. Normally associated with people who are uncomfortable with learning new techniques, processes, or relationships.

Guy Kawasaki from Garage.Com - a venture capital company, used to have a segment in his presentations called "Don't Let the Bozos Grind You Down." This segment discussed how every organization will have a corps of people who simply try everything in their power to stop innovation, new product and service development, and introduction of anything new into the daily job function. These people are "bozos." If you want to avoid the pain of dealing with bozos in your business planning, you need to develop techniques in identifying and preventing bozos from interfering with potential future activities of your organization or company.

Due diligence on any innovation or change in direction of an organization is a clear requirement - nobody wants to manage a company like a small dog playing with toys - chasing everything that looks fun without following through on any action. A manager must rely on staff to provide a good system of checks and balances to manage risk associated with any change.

However, none of us are immune to the effects of a global economy accelerated by use of global telecommunications networks and business process innovations. With very few exceptions, our organizations must move ahead - offering products and services demanded by a "savvy" consumer market, or run the risk of another company replacing us. Competitive companies are always taking managed risk to innovate and pass your company or organization, offering a better, faster, cheaper, and more modern product. If you lose your place as a market leader due to internal struggles in your attempt to innovate, you will ensure the bozo has successfully accomplished his objectives. If the bozos are successful once, their chances of continuing to hurt your innovation efforts will increase.

Bozos only serve the purpose of dragging down an organization through endless complaints, justifications for refusing change, and comments about the "old days" when "things were better." We have to limit the Bozo-factor in our planning, while ensuring adequate due diligence is maintained. In a worst case bozos will simply refuse to perform tasks associated with new product development and rollout - sabotaging your efforts to move the company ahead.

Look for the Signs of Bozos in Your Office

Bozos are fairly easy to identify. They are the people who generally use phrases like:

o "Its not my job"

o "I haven't been trained"

o "We've always done it this way"

o "Why should we change?"

o "It won't work"

o "It is impossible"

o "Nobody else is doing it"

o "I haven't enough time to learn a new job or technique"

o and many other similar phrases

The bozo is dangerous in other ways. While you are trying to innovate and move your company ahead in the market, Bozos are diligently trying to "rally" the other employees around their justification for not supporting change. Most employees fully understand if they are not always learning and trying to improve themselves, eventually somebody will replace them - but the bozo wants to contribute to their potential unemployment situation by dragging them along into a condition where management must either decide to go around them, over them, or in the worst case "through them" to accomplish company or organizational objectives.

If in your business planning you bypass bozos, use good due diligence, study your market conditions, trends, and futures - you can avoid the bozo factor in business planning. To paraphrase the creed of the French Foreign Legion (March or Die), to survive in the global economy and market place all companies must constantly plan for innovation, providing a product that is better than the competition - where ever that competition may be. Innovate or die - through managed risk.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Is It Good to Organise Staff Only Corporate Events


If you're thinking about a staff-only social occasion - particularly during the night with alcoholic beverages, dance, overnight parties, be sure that you draw the proper line of separation between having fun and irresponsible behaviour. To make sure that everything is going on the right path, read on with the following reports that might help you take further steps into creating the "good" corporate entertainment.

- Tensions with in the families and thereby in the office environment

- Issues, mishaps, occurrences originate through alcoholic beverages.

- These may influence the overall efficiency and lead to administration confusion.

- Risks of getting unpopular in the industry.

You can naturally avoid these potential risks if you arrange this social event avoiding the elements including evening time dinners, disco or dancing, too informal dressing, access to alcohol, overnight parties, and show off of the success achieved by the company and of course the major reason, excluding partners from the parties.

You don't have to be a rocket science specialist to speculate the listed scenarios to be risky and dangerous to the corporate environment. Apparently anything over limit can lead to extreme atmosphere resulting in irresponsible behaviour of the employees.

It would be a good idea to conduct the parties that involves creative works, puzzles, building up a craft, a painting oriented funny event or anything that could bring in fun and individual thinking ability in the employees. Always try to invite the whole family to the event rather than just the employees. This will naturally turn up to a family event thereby avoiding any disputes within their families that may lead to disturbances in the office work. Conducting events every now and then not only emphasises the corporate culture but aids in bringing up its popularity among the peers. For instance, organising seasonal parties such as Christmas staff parties will automatically make the team building environment more lively and interesting. Let the employees decide what they want to do on this special occasion. Ask them to put out their Christmas party ideas and give the event some name such "Christmas Staff Party Ideas Event" on a big banner and put it across the street. Look what it does! Seriously! People will start talking about the great event and ideas suggested by the team members. Do not miss even a single event of success and appreciate it coming to the desk in an informal way. This perhaps helps in building the employee-employer relationship rather strong and long lasting.

Its simple! Yet Logical I say. If you start thinking in other man's perspective you will get to know all the secrets of him. Its that simple. You do not have to learn any special scriptures or do magic at all. Just imagine yourself in his shoes, give a thought on how you would want your boss to be, and what do you need to make the working environment interesting enough. You can make out the difference easily on why you get the complaints or why you feel the other way about the team. Communication plays a vital role in man's life. Importantly, in such situations it rather holds a higher level of respect. Informal meetings are really a great way to appreciate small things in life. Walking down to his desk and having a normal conversation along with appreciating his work in front of all others is rather a more radical technique in making the team feel important.

How to Prevent Honeymoon Planning Problems


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

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

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

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

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

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

Company Party Planning - Benefits Of Hiring Party Planners


Corporate picnics and outdoor parties have become a trend these days with many companies arranging different types of picnics and parties. These kinds of activities make a different impact on the performance of the firm and create a stronger bonding between the employees and company. Thus, it is necessary that these events and picnics are planned in the right manner so that everyone enjoys it. Company party planning and picnics can be arranged in the best way with the help of an event planning company. These companies organize many activities which help in team building which improves the performance of the company and the communication skills.

It is better to hire an event management company for all these events so that everyone can enjoy the party or event without any problems or responsibilities. Many times the employees' families are also invited for these company parties or picnics which makes the atmosphere even more interesting. The event planning companies provide all the services that are required to make the event successful. It is a misconception that hiring an event management company for company party planning can prove to be quite expensive. There are many advantages associated with it. If you are planning for a BBQ party then it becomes very difficult to find the right kind of venue. However, a party planning company will find the right kind of venue for the party and also make sure that you are allowed to make the necessary arrangements like music, inflatables and the place is big enough to accommodate all the guests. BBQ catering San Francisco provides the best catering service.

You don't have to worry about the menu or food transportation if you hire an event management company. you can also ask them to prepare some delicious BBQ treats which can be prepared at the venue itself and served hot. The event management companies also provide transportation services in case of company picnics. The transportation rates are quite low and affordable. Entertainment is the key factor which will enhance the whole event and make an everlasting impression in the minds of the guests. The party planning companies offer different types of entertainment services like personal performers, games and face painting. It is better to let the event planner decide what kinds of activities will be enjoyed by the people like there can be a different set of activities for the kids. Thus, these were some of the benefits of hiring an event planning company for company party planning and picnics. You can find many companies online which provide good company party planning service and assistance.

Event Planning From The Onset


While many organizations continue to plan and organize their own events, conferences, meetings and conventions, an increasing number in recent years have decided to hire professional event planners/ organizers. While each organization must decide for itself whether it is better off planning and organizing its events in-house (either through use of paid staff, paid staff and volunteers combined, or volunteer only) or using outside professional assistance, once an organization hires an event professional, it is essential to perform certain basic steps to optimize the possibility for success.

1. The organization's event chair person or committee must begin the process by interviewing possible candidates to hire for the event. The candidates should be asked what they would do differently, and why it would be advantageous to hire them rather than doing everything in- house. These individuals must explain how they would save monies, including everything from negotiations to other ideas, as well as what they might to manage and enhance the events revenue flow.

2. Once the event professional is hired, he must sit down with the organization and get specifics from the organization. What are some of the mandated events or parts of events that must be maintained? What has been well received in the past, and what has not? Does the organization have a budget prepared for this event? Are there any budgets from previous year's events? What known and/ or mandated events, "freebies" or "comps," etc. should you know about? An event professional should not proceed any further in this process until everything is spelled out in detail, a workable budget is outlined and agreed to, agreement is made as to who makes which decisions, etc.

3. The event professional should handle all negotiations from the onset. Many events success or failure is almost predetermined by how well or poorly negotiations are handled, and how complete and detailed negotiations are.

4. The organization must provide a comprehensive list of volunteers for the event. The event planner must meet early on with these people, and motivate them to his vision for what would make this event successful and great.

5. There must be a clear cut chain of command that is agreed to. Exactly what items the event planner will and will not have final say regarding must be mutually agreed to. Specifically, which individual or individuals will have authority of specific areas must be understood, and honored by both the organization and the planner.

6. The event planner must create early on, a detailed flow sheet, with specifications and assignments. In the best scenario, the event planner should be the "point" person on all Food and Beverage discussions, and should have just one person from the organization as the "go to" person, in order to streamline and optimize the process.

7. The methodology to assure clear cut communications must be "ironed out" from the onset. It is essential that everyone is "on the same page."

A quality, professional event planner should save an organization time, hassle, expense, and discomfort, as well as enhance the quality of the event, assure all details are well coordinated, and "pay for himself" with the savings, suggestions, etc. he makes. An organization must do its due diligence from the onset to assure they go with the event professional best suited for their needs.

Event Disasters - Don't Sweat the Small Stuff! Face It!


Planning an event can be difficult. There are a mountain of things to be done and not enough time to do them. You will be rushed and anxious much of the time. Remember, though, that nothing will ever be perfect. When planning a big event, assume there will be problems, and plan to accept and solve them with grace.

Murphy's Law says that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Event planning is no exception to this rule. Successful event planners accept the fact that there will be last-minute problems. Their plans include enough time and resources to deal with the problems that arise.

As when you go to the grocery store, you'll always forget something. Even when you check and double-check your schedule and plans, something you didn't think of will rear its ugly head at the most inconvenient time. The best way to meet this challenge is to allow extra time for quick fixes and identify people who can help you at a moment's notice.

The first question you will have to ask yourself is: "Is it really that important?" Problems arising from an unfortunate choice of colors or a centerpiece that is just a bit too big may not be serious enough to bother with. When an issue comes up, ask yourself if it's critical to the success of the event. If it's not critical, perhaps you can afford to let it go.

One way to avoid these ankle-biters is to make a comprehensive checklist. The list will include every action, every product, and every person you need to assure a successful event, in the order you need them done. As they are finished, you can get the self-satisfaction of checking them off your list. And the checklist will help others who are involved in the event preparations as well. If you're not available for questions, they can consult the checklist.

Especially in those last days and moments before the event, you'll have to be flexible and creative to solve problems. Again, ask yourself how important it really is. If you can let it go, let it go. Better to skip a small detail than to sacrifice something critical because you were involved with the little hitch. Keep your mind open to innovative and unusual solutions, too. And take advantage of the people around you. You don't have to come up with all the answers to find the appropriate solutions.

If the event's already underway, try to find a solution that doesn't disrupt the flow of the event. Certainly, you won't want to draw a lot of attention to a problem that might not have been noticed. Make a judgment call - will anyone be injured in any way if the problem isn't solved? Does the problem have the potential to ruin the occasion? Is there someone available who could fix things quickly and quietly? Rely on your co-workers and friends to help you catch potential problems before they develop. And trust them to solve them. Don't feel that you are the only person in the room who can do it. That's simply not true, and maybe a very costly assumption.

The most important thing you can do when a problem pops up during your event is to keep cool. If you panic, you will be much less likely to find a solution. And if you panic, your guests will know something's up. They may even become anxious or overly concerned. If you stay cool, calm, and collected, you'll be in a better position to judge the severity of the problem. Is it something that will likely go away by itself? Is there, in fact, an urgent need for you to take action?

The biggest thing that you need to do when you see that something is going off course at your event is to not get upset. You want to be able to stay calm and use your resources that you have to fix the problem. Keep your perspective. One mis-step will not ruin an event. Don't over-react. Relax and let your intuitive side take over. The answer will come, if you let it come. It's really very simple. Don't sweat the small stuff. Fix the big stuff. And have fun! The number one ingredient to a successful event is that the person hosting it has a good time!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

All About Wedding Event Planning


If you are in charge of being the event planning specialist for a wedding reception, wedding rehearsal, or something else that goes along with being involved with the wedding then chances are that you know it is a huge responsibility. Not only are the bride and the groom counting on you to make sure that every aspect of their wedding reception goes smoothly, but all of your event planning skills are being relied upon for the success of the whole event! Even though not many people will realize if a specific faux pax is made on your part throughout the reception or wedding event because it may be so small in nature, chances are that you realized that you have messed up. Here are some things about wedding event planning that you should know about in order to create the perfect wedding reception, rehearsal dinner, and coordinating the cleanup efforts afterwards as well!

The Bride and the Groom

Even though the person charged with event planning for the wedding reception or the rehearsal dinner may feel overwhelmed at the great responsibility that he or she has, an important thing for the event planner to realize is that the wedding and everything pertaining to the wedding is all about the bride and the groom. Even though a lot of what's going on will feel like it has to do with the event planner him or her self, chances are that it will only feel that way because there is added pressure on the individual to make sure that things go off without a hitch!

Coordinating the Rehearsal Dinner

The rehearsal is just one aspect about wedding event planning that definitely should not be taken lightly! Even though all of the wedding attendants are not required to go to the rehearsal dinner for the bride and the groom, it would be a good idea if the wedding event planner were to convince everyone to attend! In addition, another very important thing that must be thought about when it comes to the wedding rehearsal dinner is where it will be held, what food will be eaten, and how long it should last. Of course, a lot of these things will be chosen by the bride and the groom itself, but the wedding event planner will obviously have to help them make some of the more important decisions, such as where it will be held and also to make sure the reservations are in place!

A Successful Wedding Reception

Perhaps the best thing about event planning for a wedding is witnessing the marriage ceremony and wedding reception to make sure that it all happens successfully with no real downfalls! The wedding reception is an important part of this; making sure that the bride and the groom have agreed upon the food that will be there, what type of cake they'll have, and where it will be held are very crucial issues to making sure everyone is satisfied! In the end, however, it all comes back to realizing that the whole wedding event is about the bride and the groom, and that is the secret to making sure that your wedding event planning efforts don't go to waste!

A Step-By-Step Guide to Church Fundraising Event Management


You must have attended church fundraising events many times before, but have you ever been a part of the team that organizes one? A church fundraiser is quite a large-scale event and a lot of planning goes into it to make it into a success both in terms of attendance and the funds raised. It is not feasible at all to manage every aspect of it manually. So, most church authorities nowadays opt for a comprehensive event registration software solution that is essentially meant for such events.

Following is a step-by-step guide that tells you how to plan your back-end tasks of church fundraising event management in a streamlined manner:

Step one: Create an online event registration form

Using pre-built templates of the church fundraising event registration software, create a custom-made registration form and upload it on the internet. Once the page is live, your target audiences, that is, the members of the church are able to track it online and sign up through it conveniently during anytime of the day.

Step two: Collect payments via online gateways

Provide multiple online payment options to your registrants so that they can initiate the payment formalities simultaneously as they fill up the form. This enables anybody globally who may not be able to attend the event personally to contribute towards the fundraiser. Just make sure that the payment gateways that are supported by the online payment management solution are PCI-compliant, in order to curb inhibitions about sharing credit card details while making transactions through any one of them.

Step three: Invite through emails

Using automated email messaging tool send out bulk invitations, confirmations, and notifications to all your attendees. See to it that all your mailers and online publications have links to your online event registration pages, so that recipients are able to navigate to it directly from their mailing interfaces.

Step four: Launch a silent auction

Online auctions work wonders when there is a need to raise funds in less time. The church fundraising event registration software lets you launch such online auctions on many third party sites of repute. You just need to display the items on the site so that people can view them and bid on them. After a stipulated time, the bidder with the highest quoted bid is declared the winner and is allowed to purchase the item.

Step five: Promote

Let the world know about the upcoming church fundraising event through your online marketing campaigns. Buy a social media connector to publish regular event updates on popular social networking sites directly from your event dashboard. This will grab the attention of a large number of interested donors and supporters who will eventually either sign up for the event or donate online using the web based fundraiser tools.

Step six: Provide wait-list options

If you succeed in marketing your fundraiser effectively you can expect it to be sold out in no time. In that case, you need to have a waitlisting option ready in hand. This will enable you to accommodate more people from that list when there are last minute cancellations.

Follow these steps to have the maximum footfall at your church fundraising event and raise funds significantly.

Catering Services - 3 Things To Remember


When it comes time to throwing an event, one of the things that you have to remember to do is work on the food that will be delivered or even catered. If you are having a get together with friends, families, or coworkers, it's vastly important to consider a menu for them to utilize while at your home or wherever your event is going to be held. Food is a vast important piece to any major event, unless you absolutely want to cook for many guests in your kitchen, you might want to look into catering services.

These services can provide a variety of meals, drinks, and social services that event planners can rely on to move forward and mingle with their guests instead of being trapped inside the kitchen. Consider the following 3 things to remember when hiring a service of this nature.

1. Size - You need to consider the size of your party and the size of your space. Catering services most likely need to plan out a menu that is weighed heavily on the space that you're going to use and how many people are going to be expected. By having a good estimate of this nature, you will be able to hire someone that has your specifics in mind.

2. Food Options - The second thing that you need to consider is food options. Will the party serve only appetizer type goods? Or will you ask for main courses, and desserts? This type of planning is vastly important because of set up, pre-cooking, and many other nuances that are specific to creating a full menu to feed many. If you're not throwing a formal get together, finger foods could always work, but if you're looking to have a large gathering, full courses on the bill of fare is important.

3. Drinks - The drinks that you choose for a party is important, and careful thought should be taken. Make sure that your service allows for alcohol or soft drinks, or even both. If you have both options, consider the cost that is involved, and whether or not there will be a fully stocked bar, or if it will only be wine and beer, or just wine. Sifting through the beverage choices will allow you to move forward with relative ease on options for your party, making it an event of epic proportions.

Catering services can be utilized for more than just parties and get togethers. They can be utilized for wedding ceremonies. Weddings are one of the most important parts of a society, and getting the right food for the reception is one of the crucial elements of planning. Make sure to look at the above options when you're booking a caterer for your event, party, or reception. Without some preplanning, consideration, and time, a person will not be able to get the right kind of food, drink, and seating options. Consider the venue, the amount of people that will be there, and your budget. If you can keep that in mind, you will end up moving forward with simplicity.

Common Problems Faced By Event Organizers: What Is the Solution?


Event organizers are facing a lot of problems these days. Before the emergence of the internet, people had no concept of social media platforms or online promotion of events and activities. However, with the internet and the rapid popularity of social media tools, enterprises are now facing a tough challenge merging traditional marketing strategies with the more advanced online promotional tactics. Moreover, the present worldwide recession has led many organizations to seriously think of various cost cutting measures to manage administration within a limited budget.

Let's now discuss the most common problems of creating and managing events, irrespective of its size and complexities.

Decreasing Budgets

The basic problem of arranging an event is budget. Event planners must keep in mind the amount of money required to book and decorate the venue, print hard-copy invitation letters, send them to respective guests, manage the menu for the show, to name a few. Moreover, there is a dire need to recruit additional staff to manage the overall administration before, during and even after the program ends.

Falling Off Event Attendance

With the ongoing worldwide economic crisis, people are showing reluctance in attending corporate meetings and tradeshows. Hence, many organizers are failing to sell their entire inventory of event tickets or maximize registration in spite of putting in their best efforts to make the event successful.

Marketing and Promotion Aspect

Organizing an event is as important as marketing it. Organizers have to give their 100% in promoting the meetings, conferences, etc. to make prospective attendees aware of such happenings. Only then can one develop chances of a full event attendance and tickets sale.

Conference or Meeting Management Problems

It becomes almost impossible for a single person to manage the logistical aspects of a conference or a meeting for their attendees and guests. Therefore, companies are seen hiring external temporary staff to take care of such processes. It takes a lot of time in finding suitable staff for these temporary roles and making them understand the work flow system within the administration of the organization.

Social Media Integration

Individuals are no longer using social media websites for merely personal reasons - they are utilizing Facebook Twitter, MySpace, and so on to meet urgent business needs and objectives. Meeting or seminar planners, therefore, need to focus on this area to expand their reach beyond geographical boundaries.

To address these growing issues and effectively manage events, organizers are seen taking the help of various types of online event management solutions. Such solutions come at a cost-effective rate and is said to be extremely easy to use and time-saving. Online event management solutions/software's come integrated with a wide range of tools such as registration, payment management, communication, and marketing to help an organization host any type of event in a hassle-free manner.

Tips on Hiring Event Management Services


Hiring an event management company gives you legitimate rights to transfer all your tension and anxiety to whoever takes up the managerial work. However, is the company worth taking your entire burden? There are herds of companies out there. How will you choose the company that will deliver the perfect results? To decide that here are few tips you may follow.

What is the event about - Categorize your event

Not all events have the same needs. There are event managers who specialize in certain types of events, such as weddings, fund raisers, gala events, stage performances, etc. hence, categories your event and contact a service provider who has expertise in that kind of events.

A wedding requires coordination of the bride's arrival, the photographers, the caterers and the commencement of ceremony, a fundraiser requires games and stuffs in which people can spend money thereby raising fund the fun way. Therefore, every event has special needs and thus the need for specialist event management services.

Hiring a specialist would ensure that all the problems and needs of the events are correctly addressed. This way you can be rest assured about the event going well.

Fix the budget

One thing most people overlook is budget. In search for the best service, they often forget that the best come at a bulky price. However, that doesn't mean that your event should be compromised. There are services that provide good quality at reasonable rates. Be sensible while making this decision. Even though the event management service is taking care of all the arrangements, one mistake and you will be the first person at whom your bosses and peers would point a finger.

Hire the best service provider in that category

After you have shortlisted the specialist who fit your budget, further zero the candidate based on years of experience, size and diversity of events managed, quality of work delivered (ask previous employers), ambiance of the event organized, troubleshooting caliber and ability to address minute details.

Apart from personal abilities, choose a management service that has the best contacts in the town. Having direct contact means, no intermediary is involved. Which indirectly means you will not be paying extra money for the flowers and decorations or entertainments.

You might wonder how to find a team who has all of these. However, to your surprise you will find many who fit this description, for these are the main characters for a successful event organizing team.

What is your part in the actual event organizing?

Describe the exact result you want. Nobody wants to pay for half done job or ill-managed works. Hence, it is your duty to convey your ideas properly so that the event managers can recreate the same and mange it to their best abilities.

With these tips in mind, hire the best corporate event managers who can carry the event smoothly and thereby making you proud.

Printed Marketing Materials For Event Planners


If you are an event planner for your company, then you know how important marketing an event is to its success. However, you might be surprised at all of the options that are out there to help market your business's products and services.

Event Tickets

Event tickets can be a very useful marketing tool. Not only can they generate excitement about an event by giving an impression of exclusivity, but they are also a successful marketing tool. Most event tickets are designed to be separated - part of the ticket is given at the door or the gate, and the other part is retained as a form of receipt. The retained stub can be a great place to print your company's logo, sales information, or even offer a coupon for a discount off of your products or services.

Posters

Posters can serve two functions - they can be a great way to advertise and upcoming event, and they can work as a marketing souvenir from the event itself. Posters designed to market the event should be placed anywhere your target audience might visit. The message should be concise and contain the pertinent information such as the date and time of the event. You should also include where and how to purchase tickets and where to go for more information.

Posters can also be a great souvenir if you sponsor an event. As an example, your company could sponsor a local music concert. The poster could show a picture of the band, with the words "Sponsored By" and your company logo. The visitor will keep the poster to remind them of the event, and you will have lasting advertising for your company.

Banners

Banners can highlight an event more than posters due to their large size. They can be hung across buildings, entrances, and even from light poles across roadways. Their message should be to the point, highlight the main attractions of your event, and where someone can go for more information.

Stickers

Stickers are an often overlooked form of marketing. For events, however, they can be a great way to advertise. Offer stickers to anyone and everyone that comes to event. Stickers should be colorful and eye-catching so that recipients will want to stick them. You can even include a coupon or other information on them to advertise your business.

Club Cards

Club cards are another way to advertise at an event. You can sell these cards at the event, and the customer then uses the card later on to receive exclusive promotions and discounts at your business. They receive a card with your business information and the deals they will receive. If you like, you can partner up with other area businesses to offer even more exclusive offers.

If events are important to your company's success, then you need to make sure that you take advantage of every advertising and marketing opportunity. If you consider some of ideas that are off the proverbial marketing path, you can make sure that everyone at the event finds out about what you have to offer.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

How To Generate Income From Home Online


In this modern era, mostly women want to stay at home with their kids and also earn money. The best option for them is to generate income from home online. In this way, they can look after their family as well. Beginning a work from home business does not need you to be an internet expert, and best of all you get to select your working hours and do it from the relaxation of your home.

Even though, like any other business, it is vital you learn the basics of earning money online. Grasping of the basics and becoming a master at specific methods are little things you need to become conversant with past to gain any income from your internet business. There are various ways of generating income from home online:

繚 Affiliate Marketing
繚 Start an Ecommerce websites
繚 Sell tangible goods or products
繚 Google AdSense Program in which you get paid for referrals
繚 CPA Networks
繚 Writing articles for website owners
繚 Flipping Websites
繚 Flipping domains
繚 Pay per click
繚 Pay per sale
繚 Blogs Posting
繚 Forums Posting
繚 Start your own affiliate website to generate income from home online
繚 Website Marketing and Advertising
繚 Create your own members only site in which people pay a fee in order to become member
繚 Earn from Blogging
繚 Earn from eBay business
繚 Network Marketing helps in creating funds at home on the internet
繚 Buy a website in lower price and sell a website in higher price
繚 Generate Squidoo lenses
繚 Doing data entry online jobs
繚 Daycare facility provider
繚 Online training classes
繚 Develop your own event planning business
繚 You can design logos of various companies if you are designer
繚 You can develop websites if you have knowledge of web application development languages like PHP (Preprocessor hypertext PHP)
繚 You can give On page SEO services to various online clients
繚 You can do blog commenting, social book marking, and directory submission
繚 You can promote classified ads
繚 You can buy or selling inside the currency market in order to generate profit operating from home

To Sum up, there is a wide range of ways to generate income from home online. Working online gives comfort to your life and family as you can work anytime. Moreover, everyone can do work while sitting anywhere in the world as you are attached to unlimited amount of people via internet. Furthermore, It does not require any dressing up as you can do work practically in your pajamas. You can say internet gives feel free work with quick earning.

Hiring Venues To Hold Corporate Events and Business Meetings


If you want to give your team a VIP experience for their annual sales performance or any other event, you can hire Leicester venue to give them an international feel. You can in fact take your corporate profile to a world-class level by organizing a grand annual sales performance award. Give it a satellite link, supported with press coverage and make it hit every news portal. The Leicester auditoriums give you a venue with world-class facilities that help you take your official event on the global platform, in word and in deed.

Consider the fact that you can indeed make your corporate event go global within a budget that is within limits. The venue is fully air conditioned and fitted with ergonomically designed comfortable seats. So you will never hear your guests complaining for uncomfortable environment or cramped sitting arrangements. The Leicester venues have multiple screens, with the biggest one having a capacity of more than 300 seats. Your guests will always be relaxed about their vehicles, because the venue has a free parking area, which is completely safe and secure.

The magical combination of digital HD technology, audio-visual equipments and the big screen allow you to effectively grip the attention of your audience. The venue offers professional digital facilities to its clients that cannot be matched by any other venue.

If you hire Leicester auditorium, you can take advantage of other facilities like pre-release screening to leave an everlasting impact on the minds of your employees and other stake holders. To the surprise of your team, you can invite them to the pre-release screening of the latest movie, which they would have never expected otherwise. The vibrant and lively effects of the auditorium will surely make your team feel thankful to the management for giving them such a vivid experience.

The professional and experienced event management team is always working hard to give a continuous flowing touch to all your event requirements. You can also book a custom designed venue package to fulfill your requirements at the venue. Most of the venues are surrounded by numerous restaurants and entertainment spots. They can also shed the heat of a mind-boggling presentation filled day at the Local Hero family pub. The Leicester venues are fully equipped to provide nice lunch and evening packages for the guests. Further, the refreshment corner of the venue is ever active to give its guests a variety of options on the snack menu.

Disabled guests will also have a pleasant time at such. Front automatic doors and even few toilets are built especially for disabled individuals. Most of the screens have special wheelchair facilities in the auditorium. For specially disabled guests, the screens have subtitle facilities and audio description features. You can drop a message to hire Leicester venue by contacting the staff and they will get back to you and clear any of your queries.

Fast Growing Event Management Industry


The term Event Management refers to the application of the management science for the development of festivals and events. At this particular point of time Event management industry is one of the fastest growing industries in all over the world. Planning and executing an event can be a very difficult.

Event Management is a million-core industry that includes hosting of events of various stature and semantics. Personal functions or parties like marriages and birthday parties have become important social matters, which need to be professionally managed. These days all kind of events like meetings, seminars, exhibitions, conferences, product launches everything is organized in a well mannered plan which is recognized as an event. Event management is comprised with different event like personal events, leisure events, cultural events, religious events, corporate events etc.

Then comes the number of celebrity shows, international artists shows, shows for a cause, road shows, competitions, ramp shows, fashion shows, wedding arrangements, personal or corporate parties, magical shows, birthday parties, anniversary party, kitty party, new year party, Christmas party, annual day functions, school or college events and many more. Every industry, charity, society and group will hold events of some type or size in order to market themselves, raise money or celebrate.

Behind all the events there is the role of event mangers who usually plan and execute the event. Event planning is not an easy task even it is an art and an event planner that manage and organize it. Event planning includes number of activities like decision of proper venue which should be comfortable to all to find and enter in. Entrance should be wide and attracted. Decoration is also very important part while organizing an event. It should be as per the theme of event. Food arrangements and other preparations should also be kept in mind.

Event Organisers for Weddings or Corporate Events


Event organisers are professionals who handle the details for events such as weddings and receptions. There are also company organisers who handle company-related events such as conferences, open houses, and awards dinners. Whether a particular organiser deals with personal or business gatherings, both require a number of different skills. Excellent communication skills are crucial, as well as the ability to effectively negotiate. Organisers must be able to listen carefully to the needs of their clients, and then be able to translate their desires into a spectacular event that they'll be pleased with.

If you don't want to organise your own special day, there are organisers for weddings. Some people have their mothers organise their wedding, but it is easier and less stressful if you hire a professional to take care of all the logistics. These details include dealing with the florist, the person who's making the wedding cake and the bridal shop who has ordered the wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, and tuxedo rentals. There is also the reception venue to deal with, and sometimes hotel rooms or arrangements for guests. For the reception, there are meals to choose and whether to have an open bar or not. Music may entail a live group or a DJ, and then there is the photographer to deal with. To say the least, receptions require a good deal of choreography.

Organisers can handle all the details of your wedding and reception for you. These professionals have experience dealing with all aspects of a wedding day. They know all about the contracts and the pitfalls to look out for. Most people will have only one or two times in their life that they will be dealing with wedding issues, but these experts routinely deal with it. Most event organisers not only organise weddings, but also other events such as parties.

Corporate event organisers usually market, organise, and execute events for business. They often plan parties, including booking entertainment in the form of specific performers for corporate events. For conferences, they can help a business get their message out there and also inspire the people who attend. Corporate event organisers can make a company event more efficient. They can negotiate with suppliers and vendors on behalf of the company, freeing up company management to deal with more important issues related to their business.

Some colleges or universities have a person on staffs who is a conference services director. This person organises any conferences that the host organization sponsors. They may also plan college events such as an annual awards dinner. They would handle the invitations, the venue, picking the menu, and dealing with the company that is supplying the awards. Event organisers have to be effective in getting along with a lot of different personalities and also have great attention to detail. They need to be able to handle many matters all at once, and be able to pull them all together seamlessly.

If a company or individual has an upcoming event that they don't feel able to organise on their own, they should consider making use of the services of someone who plans events regularly. An organiser has the expertise and contacts that will make that event a success.

How to Acquire Corporate Sponsorship for Non-Profit Events


Acquiring corporate sponsorship is the key to organizing a successful non-profit event. However, many a times, this can be challenging and downright frustrating. According to the experts, effective marketing campaigns can help non-profits to connect with the right people. This article discusses how non-profits can promote their event to attract potential corporate sponsors and donors.

Set up a Purpose for Fundraising

To reach out to the right people in right time, you should set up a strong goal well in advance. With it, you will find it easier to determine your plan of action for the next stages. Besides, you should invest enough time to appoint experienced volunteers, who will be responsible for seeking sponsorships from the corporate.

Plan Your Actions Beforehand

You must have a strong plan of action before you start making requests for corporate sponsorships. Keep in mind that you have to provide equal benefits to all the sponsors who are donating for supporting your cause. You can even invite them to speak at your event, which can help you spread awareness about your cause in a more extensive manner.

In addition, you must have a well-decided plan about how to use the accumulated funds and communicate about that to the potential corporate sponsors and donors. In this situation, if you can show a detailed plan to your sponsors, you might even be able to attract long-term funding for your cause.

Define Your Target Audience

A fair idea about your target audience can help you approach like-minded people who will be interested in making significant donations to support your cause. Keep in mind that your sponsorship strategy should focus on acquiring corporate sponsors, who are willing to communicate with your target market. To do this, you must conduct a thorough market research and approach potential sponsors directly. Direct appeals are likely to have better impact on your potential donors and sponsors.

Research on Potential Sponsors

You must have a good idea about your potential donors before seeking sponsorships. You can do a bit of research about your sponsors through business magazines, websites, annual reports, and so on. It helps if you have a fair idea about the company's current marketing objectives, the products they are selling and which have been recently launched, and most importantly, their competitors. You may also get to know about their current sponsorship policy, which is likely to help you while seeking their support for your organization.

Try out these steps before you seek Corporate Sponsorship for your next non-profit event.

Catering A Corporate Event


Corporate life can be challenging. Particularly business meetings or larger gatherings where clients must be involved, fed and entertained can be a challenge to pull off, especially with so many other aspects of the business to keep up with. New Jersey corporate catering services are often selected in order to assure that the bigger business meetings and board meetings go forward without a hitch.

Employers and larger businesses tend to work harder and to play harder than any other set of people. Making sure that those parties are all they should be and that the food is reasonably priced, well laid out, and pleasing to the palate can be a challenge.

This means that a corporate party can be even more of a challenge since a wide range of people with different tastes, food preferences and backgrounds will all be together in the same place, and each will require careful handling. In addition to these considerations, religious preferences and sometimes food allergies need to be taken into account when preparing foods for large gatherings.

Corporate catering services are quite often the best method of handling an event that may prove to be more challenging. Even board meetings can be catered so that every attention is given to the small details that will keep the members pleased and the meeting flowing smoothly.

New Jersey corporate catering services not only provide outstanding meals and meal planning, but also excellent presentation. From larger parties to simple finger-foods and snacks to keep your team moving, it's often far more easy to use a catering service than to take orders and deal with the nightmare of having to pick up or have food delivered to you and then sort it out for yourself. Mixed up orders, massive deliveries and then sorting out your own meals can be a nightmare when it is all taking place during a business or board meeting. Aside from the massive interruption to the meeting, the food may not be what you want and the service is of course non-existent.

Your New Jersey corporate catering service can help you to find innovative ways to feed the troops during the meeting or late work session, as well as to proffer outstanding food and great service to be sure that everyone has what they need, when they need it. For your next board meeting or office party, avoid the slow delivery and the poor service that you've had in the past and put your meeting in the hands of the professionals.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Using Your iPhone in Your Event Planning Business


Event planning is a multi-faceted business. Running a successful event planning business requires knowledge, contacts as well as strategy to bargain, a quick wit and the ability to stay calm at all costs. Managing and overlooking the event is stressful yet fun.

The great thing about event planning is that you're not chained to an office. You can meet clients over coffee or lunch and conduct business anywhere.

This is where your iPhone comes in. Of course you can use your iPhone in your event planning business to manage your calendar, communicate with your suppliers and customers, preview music and research venus, and update your online picture galleries and portfolio. But did you know that you can also use your iPhone to easily and securely process Visa, MasterCard and other payments from your customers?

The question now is, how? Well, it's as easy as ABC. Here's how:

A. Apply for a merchant account and payment gateway from a merchant services provider that offers next-day funding and fast turnaround time on merchant account applications and account setup.

B. Download the mobile credit card processing app from the iTunes App store.

C. Once your merchant account and payment gateway are live, use your API login ID and transaction keys to set up your information in the App settings screen.

D. Your credit card transactions will be entered and completed on one screen and you will know instantly when your customer's card is approved.

E. Getting a receipt to your customers is easy. All you have to do is enter their email address into the App and, once the transaction is approved, the receipt will be emailed to them.

Mobile credit card processing with your iPhone is secure. Security features include AVS and CVV2 codes and SSL encryption for data transfer. Your customers' credit card numbers are not stored on your phone.

Closing deals is easy when you can take a deposit from your new customer anytime, anywhere right on your iPhone!

5 Key Benefits of Planning Greener Events


The idea of 'going green' is gaining recognition not only among individuals or households, but among the corporate organizations as well. Arranging an event involves the direct utilization of electricity and indirect consumption of harmful gases, such as carbon monoxide, methane, and so on. Emission of these harmful gases causes a great deal of damage to earth's ecology. To address this critical issue, most of the organizations today are shifting toward planning greener events. Such events help you reduce carbon emission and educate customers as well as vendors about this grave issue.

The online event management software helps you arrange greener events in the most cost-effective way. This software comes integrated with a set of highly useful solutions and tools, such as those for registration, payment management, communication, and marketing to name a few. This event management software enables organizations to host the best of conferences, meetings, and seminars in the most sustainable manner, thereby eliminating the emission of carbon dioxide and reducing its impact on human beings.

Let's discuss the top benefits or arranging a green program using the online events management software.

Reduce Excessive Use of Paper

Non-green events involve too much use of paper, right from the registration process to post-event surveying. Excessive use of paperwork can be eliminated by utilizing a web-based event management solution. The online registration solution will enable individuals to easily log in to the portal to fill in their names, address, and mobile phone number.

Use of an Easier Registration Process

The online registration solution provides an easy way of registering your name for attending a conference or new product launch party. This software provides an easy way to registrants for purchasing carbon offsets during the registration process. Companies buy carbon offsets to comply with caps (carbon emission limit) on the total amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit.

Send Invitations Online

We use large chunks of paper for sending invitations to all our target audience. To eliminate the use of paper and save money in the process, you can use the online email communication tool. This integrated tool will let you send invitations, RSVPs and reminders to all your target audience in minutes.

Use Web-based Marketing Tools

Instead of printing paper-based leaflets, banners, and other components, you can use the events marketing tool to promote your functions and festivals online. This easy-to-use, highly powerful tool will help you market your fundraisers, meetings, or similar other activities on Facebook, Twitter, and practically on every popular social networking websites.

Easily Manage Payments

The online payments management solution will let you happily receive money via credit cards, checks, and wire transfers. This web-based solution will also allow your event attendees to pay you via their PayPal account. You can even take the help of "Use Your Own Merchant Account" service to let registrants directly deposit fees or donations to your account.

Business Lessons Learned From Shark Tank


Small business owners call learn a lot from the ABC television show "Shark Tank".

The program centers on entrepreneurs who believe they have the next great idea or simply want to take their existing company to the next level.

In order to bring their dream to fruition they seek a substantial investment.

Most are looking to sell a small piece of their firm for a large capital infusion. Others are willing to part with a large percentage of company ownership.

Who gets what and how much is left in the hands of "The Sharks". These are millionaires and even billionaires who have achieved great success.

The Sharks built their own companies from scratch. Collectively they are well-versed in a variety of business sectors from clothing to high-tech to real estate to retail to TV infomercials.

Ideas with the greatest potential create a sort of feeding frenzy among the Sharks. They will bid against each other and offer different investment packages hoping to entice the entrepreneur into a partnership.

Those entrepreneurs who accurately and professionally can state their case, and have the products to back it up, can receive thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition they also get the knowledge and leadership their partner Shark can provide.

The entrepreneur who fails to make a persuasive argument is made to look foolish and is often sent home with no investment.

Several business lessons can be gleaned from swimming with these sharks.

1. Know your marketplace. Nearly all successful companies have learned to fixate on a target market. They understand the strengths and weaknesses of their products or service. They also have a good feel for their competition and know the parameters of maintaining a steady and solid growth pattern.

I have worked with dozens of small business owners over the years and can say that not all entrepreneurs share that vision. Many small firms launch a product or service hoping it resonates with a select group of buyers and then grows on its own.

Often a few items are sold and a plateau is reached. Many times the business owner can eke out a living but lacks the funds and insight to take the company past the launch stage or is always in survival mode.

Entrepreneurs who secure investments on Shark Tank understand their marketplace. They know the upside and limitations of their product. These business owners have found a niche and realize that with a little help and some cash they can double, triple or quadruple the size of their firm.

2. Know your message. This is marketing/PR 101 but many small business owners are unable to create a sales message that successfully connects with their customer base.

They fail to communicate the real benefits of their products in a few short sentences and are unable to differentiate their offerings from competitors. Fairly or not they become perceived as a "me too" company falling in-line with others who sell basically the same goods and services.

The Sharks reward those business owners who can passionately present their products in a brief concise manner, poignantly demonstrating how these products stand out in the crowded marketplace.

3. Remain flexible. Entrepreneurs often fall in love with their products and stay rigid in their thinking. They focus on one specific product and market, and continue hammering away at selected customers for months if not years. When the marketplace fails to respond they blame their advertising or the economy in general.

The Sharks will often envision a new use for a particular product. They tell the creator he or she may be missing out on an entire market niche. It is common for them to tell the business owner to make a few tweaks to the item and then rebrand it before bringing it to market. If the entrepreneur is willing to do so the Sharks are likely to invest in the new approach.

Business owners can learn a lot from watching Shark Tank. The keys are to watch the interaction between those seeking funding and the millionaires who are ready to invest. Then analyze your own company to ensure you have the right mix of products to be positioned for long-term growth.

Planning The Work: Event Management Courses


Success in this field revolves around the coordination of a set of planned activities involving a large group of people. It is a broad concept taking in several related functions ranging from attracting clients to marketing, logistics, and publicity, all while exhibiting the professional touch that marks a firm as a major player in the field. It can encompass any type of experience from a sales conference with several hundred in attendance to a luxury getaway with only a few. As a career, it is fast paced and varied. The skills and knowledge can be learned via event management courses, where applicants are trained in planning corporate presentations, music concerts and fund raising as well as many other projects.

Successful planning requires decision making and critical evaluation skills, comparing management plans to standard operating procedures. Keeping it simple is a good rule for planning, but due to the number of tasks involved is often difficult to accomplish. Managers are responsible for analyzing, planning, promoting, producing and evaluating their project.

Many employers prefer a bachelor's degree in hospitality management, business administration, marketing, public relations, or communications. However, many successful planners begin in other professions relating to planning and organizing.

There are a huge number of courses available, and though choosing the right one may seem a little bit daunting, it can be well worth the time and effort involved in finding the right course. Online courses are also available.

Certain things must be considered when planning events, such as the effect of noise levels on the surrounding community. Pollution cleanup and control, emergency power and lighting, essential services and amenities all must be worked into a successful plan.

Events must be planned far enough ahead to allow for their promotion and alert the participants. The manager is responsible for all of this and more. This requires professionals who can coordinate essential services, amenities, and contingencies well ahead of the event's scheduled date. If a production is managed effectively, it can be used as a very powerful promotional tool to launch or market a product or service.

Event management is a multimillion dollar industry. The growth rate per annum is phenomenal, so planning companies are always in need of talented professionals. Organizing, and synchronizing a well planned, and conducted occasion requires the supervision and services of well trained and experienced coordinators.

Successful managers come from a variety of different backgrounds. The candidate opting for this career course should be passionate, ambitious, have good communication skills, and the drive for further improvement. A good network, dedication, and hard work also help complete the package. Planning professionals are energetic and have creative minds. Students of this field will need to learn about project management, public relations and even wedding planning.

The success of a manager depends upon how well he organized the experience and up to which extent he is able to achieve event and marketing objectives. Presentation skills are not just limited to typing up speeches on a computer but also how the message comes across to the audience, and these skills are now considered among the most important skills for the twenty first century. Such skills matter everywhere, which makes event management courses an important consideration for those wishing to pursue the field.

How to Plan a Corporate Event


When you receive your invite to the latest in corporate events, do you usually go? The majority of employees do, however, they might not always feel comfortable. What can be done as the planner of these corporate events to make sure they are attended by more of the employees? First of all, the employees need to be well aware of the event enough in advance so they cannot come up with the excuse that they wish they would have known earlier.

The next item of business is to make the party or event as successful as any corporate events have ever been. Choose a team to help you to plan this event so that it is the best one yet. This can be a professional organizer or it can be some of the business' people. Regardless of which you use, the event should be fun and it should be planned so that everyone that is invited will want to return the following year.

There are many aspects to planning corporate events that you may want to take into consideration. The budget needs to be finalized before the planning starts. This will let you know just how much money is available. The caterers have to be hired. The speakers that are going to be in attendance must be contacted and confirmed. There are many aspects of the corporate event that need to be addressed so as to make sure your corporate event goes off like clockwork.

Most of the time corporate events are supposed to allow new employees to meet the management, employees who have been with the company, and each other. The majority of these events are either one evening of fun and dinner or they can be anywhere from a couple of days to a week.

Regardless of whether the event is going to be a week long or only a few days, the need is there for a good natural setting. Getting back to nature is one of the best ways there is for getting good ideas. The clear, clean air can help and, even though the employees are actually working, they are enjoying themselves as well.

The more the team feels they are being rewarded for the great job they have done, are doing, and are going to continue to do, the better the team morale and spirit. The manager or CEO of a company knows when his employees are happy, the business improves.

If you are planning corporate events for your employees, the most fun you can have is to get them away from the hum drum of everyday and let them have a chance to feel refreshed. When you do this, the ideas will come easier, the employees will go back to work with the benefits of having had a refresher in the work they perform, and hopefully some new ideas to add to the ones that are already in use.

This is the best way to ensure that employees get the most they can possibly get from corporate events when they attend. Getting them to attend short of making it mandatory is another small feat in itself. However, using a different method and making it more fun and enjoyable while learning may make a difference in the negative attitudes. The employees might start asking when the next corporate events are planned instead of trying to avoid them.