Go Big Event

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Event Planners

2013-03-18T21:26:34Z

We’ve all heard of Stephen Covey’s, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by now. The book presents seven habits that people do to become effective in achieving their goals. Sure, you can apply those principles to yourself and become an effective person. Here, however, we have a distilled version targeted specifically towards Event Planners. This is our take on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Event Planners.

Habit 1: Be Pro-active

This first habit is also the first to appear in Covey’s book. Effective event planners are always pro-active. They schedule everything in their calendar and make sure to create a check-list for every event. Pro-active event planners plan for contingencies and make sure that there is always a back-up plan.

Habit 2: Develop strong interpersonal relationships

Effective event planners have a good relationship with everyone they work with. Establishing these relationships are imperative and should be leveraged when times get tough and crises arise.

Habit 3: Be optimistic

In order to be an event planner at all, you have to be optimistic. Event Planners have one of the most stressful jobs in the world and are constantly under pressure. Any slight pessimism may bring you spiralling downwards.

Habit 4: Embrace change

Effective event planners are extremely flexible in their professional capacity - and they have to be. Things can change at the last minute and Event Planners have to be able to accept that and adapt to it. Instead of fearing change, embrace it.

Habit 5: Continue to learn

Effective event planners are always being inspired to plan their events in new and creative ways. In order to do so, they must be continually learning from each other and seeking new events to attend.

Habit 6: Engage in stress-reducing activities

Event Planning came in as the sixth most stressful job of 2012. It is important that Event Planners strive to stay stress-free. The most effective planners engage in stress-reducing activities. These include anything that keeps you in the moment, such as exercising and reading.

Habit 7: Apply problem-solving steps every time

The most effective event planners are excellent problem solvers. To become a better problem solver, always follow these four steps: understanding the problem, devising a plan, carrying out the plan, and looking back at the result.

Image via Flickr User: Marco Digitalstream

How to Reduce Stress as an Event Planner

2013-01-23T19:36:24Z

As an event planner, you know how stressful planning an event can be. Heck, even the job itself was listed as the sixth most stressful job of 2012, right behind Police Officer and before PR Executive. So what exactly makes event planning so stressful? You often find yourself staying up late into the night, working on last minute items and figuring out logistics just days before you launch your event. This all stems from a lack of proper planning. The question is, what can event planners do to ensure proper planning and, as a result, reduce stress?

The first step is to create an in-depth plan and stick to it. This plan should include all the equipment you will need, the people that will be present, when the venue will be booked, when the equipment and people will arrive, and so on and so forth. It doesn’t matter how minute these details are. In fact, the more specific the better. This will allow for greater tracking. All these deliverables should have due dates assigned to them. Be sure to allow for some extra days to act as a buffer - this will be important. Next, you will want to schedule the same time everyday to review the plan to make sure that it stays on track.

Now, if for whatever reason you find yourself amidst a crisis and have missed several deliverable dates, you can go ahead and panic. However you are only allowed 5-10 minutes to panic. Once you have had your moment, let’s create a plan to fix the mess. Begin with writing out what the crisis is and determine what you will need to fix it. Now you will want to create a mini-plan, similar to your original one, and set some dates around it. Next, figure out what impact it will have on your other deliverables and adjust your plan. If you have allowed extra days in your original plan for contingencies, then this shouldn’t be much. Continue tracking your plan on a day-to-day basis.

Finally, you will want to add breaks as a routine in your schedule. Even if your event isn’t facing a crisis it can still become stressful. Also, studies show that taking breaks actually increase productivity and focus. By adding breaks into your schedule, you will allow time for yourself to recuperate and come back to tackling your event in an improved state of mind. What’s even more effective is if these breaks consist of activities that keep you in the moment. These include painting, exercising, and reading to name a few.

What other things do you do to reduce or eliminate stress?

Image via Flickr user: michaelclesle

Sessions and Streams for Your Event

2012-11-26T23:29:53Z

If you are having various sessions and streams for your event, it is most likely that you are organizing and running a larger event. Sessions can include various breakout meetings through the day(s) or meetings that take place at the same time (a concurrent session). Different sessions can have prices or charges associated with them or are a free item to go along with a main event registration fee.

Streams are a different and more complex story. Streams are a collection of sessions that would be directed toward a person in a certain type of role or flow of events. For example, if you are having a conference with several different sessions tailored toward management, human resources professionals, sales executives, or any other type of resource or profession. The best thing to do is create streams in those areas and allow a one-click registration process for all the sessions for the specific resources. It makes registration easy and seamless for registrants to the event.

Sessions and Streams are a quick and efficient method to:

1.) Register for events and specific avenues of the event.

2.) Filling different sessions to find out what participation in each session will be

3.) Allow different methods to promote your event through various speakers and events that will take place.

It is very important to have an online registration system that can handle different sessions and streams. You will want to have a system that will allow single or multiple session selections, and the ability to put those sessions into streams to help registrants to your events register for the event easily.

Image via Flickr user: ADunne

Why Event Planners Should Blog

2012-11-22T17:50:54Z

Everyone from large corporations, to local businesses, to even possibly your mother, has a blog these days. So why has blogging taken off so rapidly? It’s because there are huge benefits, especially for an event planner. Let’s take a look at some of these benefits and why you, as an event planner, should start blogging.

Event planners can use blogging to share their expertise and use this platform to build upon their credibility in the event planning field. What’s more attractive to a client than knowing that other event planners are turning to you for your opinion on industry topics? Further, this may even present you with potential new clients that will want to do business with you because of your standing in the industry.

Blogging can also be used to connect with other event planners. It can bring event planners together to discuss a certain topic or share event planning knowledge. Event planners who engage in this activity are more likely to stay active and knowledgeable in the event planning field - clients love to see this.

Blogging is also good for search engine optimization. By blogging more around specific keywords and event industry topics, and garnering more views on your blog, it will help boost your site traffic and your rankings for those targeted keywords. Best of all, this is all free and easy!

Sure, blogging can be time consuming and you probably have more pressing matters to attend to. The pros however, definitely outweigh the cons. Afterall, all these benefits only help you market yourself and your company!

Image via Flickr User: Kris Olin

Benefits of an Attendee List

2012-11-13T16:48:26Z

Some event planners choose not to display an attendee list due to legitimate reasons such as privacy concerns. However, if event planners can get participants to opt into an attendee list, there are many benefits that are offered to both parties. Let’s take a look at some of them.

One of the benefits of displaying an attendee list is that it could be used as an incentive to entice potential attendees to register. Many times, attendees will join an event simply because someone they want to connect with will be attending the same event. By displaying the attendee list, it would encourage others to join. Some attendees may not want to go alone and if they see that some of their friends are also attending the same event, it may give them a reason to.

Another benefit is that it can help your attendees identify potential connections to make at the event. If your attendee list displays additional information about your attendees, such as their company name and job title, it could help your attendees seek each other out.

Going further, the attendee list also helps attendees connect with one another before, during, and after the event. If contact information is provided on the attendee list, attendees can reach out to one another before the event begins to discuss meeting up at the event itself. Additionally, if an attendee has connected with someone at the event but forgot to exchange contact information, they can view the attendee list after to retrieve it.

Finally, by displaying the attendee list, it could also help reduce the amount of risk perceived by a possible attendee. If they notice that a lot of people are attending an event, it could influence them into thinking that the event is better than they had previously anticipated.

Image via Flickr user: Marcthiele

What Participants are Expecting from Your Event

2012-10-31T16:42:54Z

Most event planners have a pretty good idea of what their customers want from an event. There are, of course, lots of logistical challenges to tackle like venue, food, entertainment, registration and sponsorship. At the core of an event is the participant. More participants mean more revenue, more potential sponsorship, more energy at the conference and more word of mouth to continue growing into next year. But do you know what your participants are expecting?

Looking at an event from the perspective of the participant is key in creating a successful and memorable event. Great event planners are connected to the expectations of event participants as part of what they do. What do event participants expect when attending an event?

Attendees come looking to learn, network and have fun:

Learning

Attending an event can be perceived as a perk however it usually takes extra effort on the participants part to get away from the office. They want to be able to come back with something of value that they did not possess before. Content needs to go beyond what you can find surfing the web. They should look forward to coming to your event and learning the skills and techniques that are most valued in their industry.

Networking

Leaders in every industry knows the value of contacts and events are prime opportunities for networking. Participants know this and they expect to make plenty of contacts that will advance their business as well as make their professional life easier! Tools like social media and registration systems that display who has registered can help people connect at an event. Creating networking opportunities at events that get people interacting, rather than just talking with their colleagues, can create extra buzz.

Relaxing

Mixing a little fun and relaxation in at the opportune moments help participants focus over the course of an event. Sitting in window-less rooms, starved of light and oxygen for 8 hours can take away from even the most impressive content. Make sure there are opportunities for people to get refreshed without having to leave the venue.

Finally, it is important to remember that navigating the accommodations, options, events, and itineraries of an event can be very complicated. Participants will be looking to you for help. Wireless access, clearly identifiable support resources, event information in a mobile format and session planning tools can make a participants experience far more relaxing. Event participant expectations are growing and it is important that you stay one step ahead of them whenever possible.

Image via Flickr user: Vectorfunk

Selecting a Merchant Account for Your Event

2012-10-24T16:21:47Z

Accepting online payments for events can be a daunting task. There are many options for the everyday event planner when it comes to using your own merchant account, or a vendor’s merchant account. We will outline some of the features and benefits of both:

Having your Own Merchant Account

1. If you wanted to use your own merchant account to take and receive funds for your event there are several options in Canada. Beanstream, Moneris, and PayPal are just a few.

2 .The setup and credit process of using your own merchant account can be quite lengthy as you have to give various financial information about your organization. And you must have a decent online

software provider that has gone through the various security certifications to accept online payments.

3. There are fees associated with having your own merchant account. Depending on your selection you will have to pay a percentage of the amount of money being processed. These percentages range between 2.5% and 3.5% and there may be some monthly subscription costs too.

4. If you are looking to receive some discounts on the rates, most merchant account providers will apply volume discounts to large volume accounts.

Using a Vendor Merchant Account

1. Vendors may also have options to take credit card payments for you. If this is the option you select for many various reasons (process of obtaining a new merchant is too lengthy or your organization cannot obtain one because of the credit processing part of the setup process).

2. Vendor merchant accounts are convenient, especially for some organizations that don’t want the hassle of managing the merchant account. They just wait to receive the funds that have been collected, usually minus the fees that are associated with the vendor merchant account (typically slightly higher than having your own merchant vendor account, due to the vendor taking on the associated risk of receiving the payments).

Whether you decide to use your own merchant account or use a vendor’s merchant account, you should know the advantages and drawbacks to both. Both are great options and necessary for taking payments for your event.

Image via Flickr User: Marsmet543

7 Ways to Integrate NFC into Your Events

2012-10-16T22:31:40Z

Three letters were made mainstream in the past year but have only been buzzing around the event planning industry recently. Even The Big Three (Google, Apple, and Microsoft) have been touting it at all their product releases. It is expected that all future mobile devices will support these three letters: NFC, otherwise known as Near field communication.

In its simplest terms, NFC makes it easier to process transactions, exchange digital content, and connect NFC-enabled electronic devices, cards and tags with a touch. Event planners have already begun to creatively integrate these into their events.

1. The first thought that comes to mind is to use NFC as a mobile payment transaction service. Attendees can make purchases on-site just by swiping their NFC-enabled phone

2. Event planners can place a NFC tag at their event that will check attendees in when they swipe their NFC enabled phone over it

3. Reduce the cost of printing by allowing attendees to download a copy of the agenda at a conference by simply tapping it on a tag at one of the booths at the event

4. Vendors at tradeshows can implement NFC by placing tags around their booth where attendees can tap to obtain more information on the Vendor and their product and service offering

5. For attendees that don’t have NFC-enabled phones, event planners can create NFC bracelets. At the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, attendees tapped their NFC bracelets (that were linked to their email address) to NFC readers to have recipes sent to them

6. Load NFC bracelets with credits that can be used at concession stands at the event. The North American Veterinary Conference was able to reduce 20% of their costs, as they tended to overestimate the amount of food they would need and would have to pay for it upfront. By issuing these bracelets, the event organizer was able to pay on a transactional basis.

7. Event planners can make it easier to interact with attendees via social networks by simply having them tap their device to an NFC tag to “Like” the event and enter themselves into a competition.

These are just a few creative ways to integrate NFC into your events, what other ways can you think of?

Image via Flickr user: beaugiles

How to Reduce Event Costs

2012-09-27T21:10:19Z

Hosting an event can be tough, especially if you’re on a tight budget. So how can event planners reduce event costs without sacrificing quality? Here are a few ideas.

1. Events are happening throughout the entire year, but there are sure to be busy months and slow months. Plan to have your event in the slower months . Venues and vendors are more likely to give you a lower price if you push for it.

2. Food costs can run pretty high. Host your event in the morning or lunch, where food costs are much lower. If you must have your event in the evening, host it after dinner and serve desert.

3. Check who’s holding an event at the same venue before and after you. Contact them to see who their vendors are and if they would be willing to split the cost.

4. Must you host an actual event? If your goal is still attainable without hosting a physical event, opt to host a virtual one.

5. Hosting multiple smaller events will mean you will have to split your resources and effort. Hosting one large event instead of hosting multiple smaller events will save you a lot of money. And this way, you can host an large extravagant one as opposed to smaller dingy ones.

6. Ask your friends and connections to help out. For example, if you have a friend who loves to cook, pay her to help out by making the food at your event.

7. Stick to your budget. Many times an event planner will go over his/her budget simply because they think it will help them better achieve their goal. The solution may not always be to spend more money; the solution may be to get more creative.

Image via Flickr user: Tom Hanger

5 Effective Corporate Swag Giveaway Ideas

2012-10-04T17:33:58Z

If you have attended a conference or convention before, you’ve most likely received some sort of swag; whether that be t-shirts, pens, note pads, flyers, and postcards, among many other items. While it’s understandable that companies want to give away cool items to attract attendees and keep themselves front-of-mind, they also have to make sure to include items that will help them drive their goals. Goals can be anything from increasing sales numbers to increasing brand awareness. Let’s look at 5 effective corporate swag ideas that can help accomplish this.

1. Give away digital swag - Have an e-book or whitepaper you want to promote? Give it away for free to your attendees. Provide a shortened link on your brochure. This is a great way to connect with your attendees after they leave the event.

2. Use your own product to create something to give away - Show off what your company or product can do. What better way to influence your attendees than to show them exactly what they can do with your product.

3. Give away product samples - In the same vein as number 2, provide product samples to your attendees so they can go home and review your product.

4. Provide discount to attend the next event or a sponsor’s event - Giveaway discount codes for your next event or for a sponsor’s event. This will encourage attendees to go to your next event or an event that you will be sponsoring.

5. Make it something your attendees want - This is the most important thing to keep in mind. Make sure whatever item you giving away is something your attendees will want and use, and will not just end up in the trash.

What are some other effective corporate swag giveaway ideas that you have?

Image courtesy of Flickr user: nofutureface

The Benefits of Going Paperless for Your Event

2012-10-04T17:34:32Z

If you are still using a pen and paper to do all your work, in this day in age, then you have been making more work for yourself than is necessary. There are many benefits associated with going paperless for an Event, and here are a few of them

1. Getting registrants to register online removes all the hassle of manually taking registrations and reducing time consuming labour and ultimately reducing cost on the event planner’s end

2. Going paperless means not relying on printed programs or reducing the number of programs that are printed. This helps reduce the cost of printing.

3. Invest in an online and/or mobile app for your agenda/program. Any last minute changes can easily be made than if you were to reprint thousands of programs.

4. Information can also be accessed anywhere. Forgot your attendee list back at the office? No problem, pull it up on your iPad or smartphone. Granted, that’s if you have it saved or have access to mobile data or wifi. Though, you should always have wifi at your events!

5. Going paperless for your event provides your clients with a positive public image of your company going green. With the shift of companies being more mindful of their impact on the environment, this benefit

Image courtesy of: ant.photos

How to use Pinterest for Events

2012-09-27T21:12:58Z

Pinterest is rapidly gaining momentum among users of the social sphere. According to Maximiser, a web optimization company, users pin pictures to express themselves, remind themselves of things to buy and places to visit, sharing and recommending things to others, and learning and discovering new topics.

So how can event planners use Pinterest for event planning? Here are a few ideas.

Use Pinterest to create an inspiration board. As you are looking for ideas for your upcoming event, pin it to your inspiration board. Better yet, get your client to contribute and get those creative juices flowing back and forth.

Take pictures of the event setup and of the event day, and pin it to the event board. After the event is over, review your board with your client and make comments on what worked well, what didn’t, and what are some ideas to make the event even better.

Here are a few excellent inspiration boards:

http://pinterest.com/lrarey/event-inspiration/

http://pinterest.com/lesliewa/event-inspiration/

http://pinterest.com/molliejo/event-inspiration/

http://pinterest.com/kchoz27/event-inspiration/

http://pinterest.com/creativesoul01/event-inspiration/

These are a couple of ideas of how event planners can use pinterest. How have you used Pinterest for your events?

Announcing the Upcoming Release of GBE 2.0

2012-09-25T17:47:36Z

Go Big Event is excited to announce the upcoming release of GBE 2.0!

What is GBE 2.0 and what is in it for me?

After 5 years of helping event planners achieve success with their events, we are happy to reveal that we have been working on a modernized and revamped system to help run events easier than ever before. The new system, GBE 2.0, will allow you to setup, market, and manage your events and participants in a breeze. GBE 2.0 will bring many new changes, features and functionalities. In the end, this will drive a better user experience for you and your participants.

When should we expect to hear more about GBE 2.0 and when will we have access to it?

GBE 2.0 is set to be released in a couple of weeks and you will be kept up to date on what cool new features and functionalities to expect from the new system!

In the meantime, enjoy some screenshots of GBE 2.0!

Event Planner Dashboard

Event Setup Wizard

Public Registration Site

*Screenshots may not be representative of initial release

We hope you are as excited as we are about GBE 2.0! Stay tuned!

How to Attract Sponsors to Your Event!

2012-10-04T17:33:05Z

There are several things that an event needs to be successful: Great venue, fantastic speakers, agenda for all different kinds of people and the list goes on. One of the toughest things to do is gain sponsorship for an event. Whether it is a financial donation to help the event run, a prize donation for a golf tournament or a donation of a person’s time to speak at an event, all sponsorships are helpful and will only assist in making your event a success. Below are some ideas to attract sponsors to your event to make it the best event it can be:

· The first and most important thing about sponsors is to make sure that the sponsor is a right fit for your event. Being a sponsor for an event exposes a company name to a specific market. If that market also fits the supplier it is a win/win. It is important to keep the event relevant to specific sponsors.

· A way to obtain or even find different sponsors could be through various social networks. Your professional and even private networks are a great place to start looking for sponsorship. No better people to help you than people you know through LinkedIn or Facebook.

· Make it easy to become a sponsor to your event. A well put together sponsorship package detailing what comes with sponsorship to your event, will only help a sponsor make a decision. If there are different sponsor packages or levels it is a good idea to detail what comes with each. When a sponsor knows what type of media exposure and where their sponsorship dollars are going, they can make a decision in whether to sponsor your event.

· If the event is a success, then it makes it much easier to attract and maintain a great sponsorship base. The better the event is run and the more people attend the event, the better the sponsorship looks. Relationships with sponsors can be a great thing and can also be reciprocated in events that the sponsor may be having looking for sponsorship from you.

Sponsors are key to the success of an event. All sponsorship levels are important whether it is a small donation or a major event sponsorship, every little bit helps. Without them there could be no events. If you have any creative or innovative ways to gain different sponsorship we would love to hear from you! paul.taylor@gobigevent.com

Top 7 Event Venues in Edmonton

2012-09-25T17:34:30Z

With winter behind us and the busy season for event planners ahead of us, here are the top 7 event venues in Edmonton:

The Fairmont Hotel MacDonald

The Fairmont Hotel MacDonald’s state-of-the-art meeting facilities, along with on-the-spot office amenities, make it easy to conduct business. Every detail has been carefully considered to make meetings virtually effortless. Convention facilities can accommodate groups from 10 to 350 people. Discover beautiful meeting or conference rooms for events - more than 13,000-sq. ft. of versatile function and exhibit space.

Shaw Conference Centre

Whether you are planning a meeting for 6, a wedding reception for 60, a Christmas party for 1,000, or a convention for 6,000 the Shaw Conference Centre is a perfect venue. Planners are able to access the services of all in-house suppliers through one easy contact, and guests will experience the award-winning cuisine and first-class service of Shaw Conference Centre staff.

The Westin Edmonton

Situated in the heart of downtown Edmonton and connected to the Shaw Conference Center, the hotel offers over 24,000 square feet of meeting space, including downtown Edmonton's largest hotel ballroom. Choose from a variety of offerings which provide both cost effective and highly engaging events on-site, at The Westin. On-site events are turnkey, keep attendees engaged, cut out extra planning time and effort on the part of the meeting planner, and are cost effective for over-all budget. Most importantly attendees will have a memorable experience.

The Sutton Place Hotel

Nine comfortable rooms provide event planners with the flexibility they need to plan the perfect event. Whether it is a Board Meeting for 10, a training seminar for 300, or a convention for 600, professional staff is always on hand to assist event planners with every detail, from room layout and last minute audio visual needs, to creative coffee breaks and theme evenings. The ballroom can seat theatre style maximum capacity of 600 or can be separated into two smaller rooms each seating 200 or 300 delegates. For smaller meetings of 20 to 150, choose one of the other nine spacious and elegantly appointed meeting rooms.

Edmonton Expo Centre

The Edmonton Exposition & Conference Centre integrates high-tech features with flexible, adaptable, indoor space to make room for the biggest and best in trade and consumer shows, conferences and special events. With the capacity to host up to 25,000 visitors at one time, the Edmonton Exposition & Conference Centre provides limitless opportunities to learn, discover, buy, sell, trade or just be entertained.

Delta Edmonton South Hotel and Conference Centre

Delta Edmonton South Hotel and Conference Centre features the Grande Ballroom Conference Facility, which encompassing 13,000 square feet of space, making it perfect for any large event. They also house the second floor conference centre featuring 15 meeting rooms of varying sizes.

Crowne Plaza Hotel

The Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe Hotel is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Edmonton while offering the scenic serenity of the citys picturesque River Valley. The hotel is also in close proximity to government and corporate offices. With 307 guest rooms across 23 floors and over 14,000 square feet of meeting space, this hotel is the preferred choice for business or leisure.

Letting Technology Help in your Day-to-Day Work Life!

2012-03-01T20:18:16Z

Three months ago, I tossed away my paper notebooks, stopped printing emails and starting using an iPad, in their place, at work. Weighing plenty of options and deciding to make this transition was a no brainer, technology is there for us to use and take advantage of.

At first, it felt very strange not having that pen or pencil in my hand to write down notes from meetings and phone calls. Getting used to the tap typing functionality that a tablet brings was no easy task. The app that did help the most with learning this method of typing was TapTyping. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/taptyping-typing-trainer/id376526006?mt=8

This app gives you some great tests to help you use tap typing to your advantage. There are also various beginner, intermediate and advanced level courses to help users of all different skill sets with their tap typing prowess.

After learning about tap typing, the most important thing was to get some apps that could help in all my day to day activities. Here is a list of my favourite apps that I use on a daily basis:

Notability – By far, the application I use most. To start with, this is a great note taking application. You can take notes with a stylus, type notes, and record via the mic on your iPad all at one time. The integration with your existing Dropbox account is very easy to setup and files transfer right into Dropbox in a PDF format. This gives you the accessibility to have your notes available on any machine you may be working on.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/notability-handwriting-note/id360593530?mt=8

Reminders – This app is nice because it comes preloaded on an iPad. It provides an easy to use to-do list that allows you to set time and dates to when things need to be done. You can sort the items on your to-do list either by the whole list or by date. It has all the functionality you would need from a to-do list application.

Dragon Dictation – Very cool dictation app. This app is perfect for constructing emails or notes where you don’t have to write or type. Simply speak into the built in mic in the iPad and your text is constructed. An ideal app for the person on the go!

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8

Other apps that I do use for various daily tasks are Evernote, a great quick note taking application that allows you to sync with an iPhone, iPad and Mac computer. Engadget is an app that gives you updates on all things gadgets, new releases, updates and release dates are things you will find. Finally Flipboard, is more of a social media application that allows you to link to your Twitter, Facebook, and other news sources to get any type of information that you would like, news, sports, pop culture… it is an all in one application that has a user interface that is easy to navigate and provides plenty of information.

The transition to using an iPad in the workplace has been great. The more you can have technology help you in your day the better. The apps noted above help my productivity throughout the day, let me toss out the various notepads that I was using and printing off emails is now a thing of the past. Tablets are all-in-one tools that can help someone in any type of role with any organization.

How to Increase Networking at Your Event

2012-02-01T19:04:27Z

We’ve all been there. We attend a networking event by ourselves and come to find out that everyone is already in their own tightly knit groups. This makes it difficult for somebody new to meet other people. As an event planner, this is something you want to avoid happening at your networking events. Rather than setting strict rules and guidelines for your attendees to follow, you want the interactions to be natural and not forced. Here is a list of tips for an event planner to facilitate networking:

Before the event starts, create an event hashtag for your event to get your attendees talking about the event. This provides coverage for your event and even helps attendees connect with each other before the event starts
Display the attendee list online so participants know who will be attending and who they may have the opportunity of connecting with
Furthermore, provide everyone with the attendee list or display this list prominently around the room. Not everyone will check the attendee list online. Attendees will be more inclined to search out the individuals they want to meet if they know who is attending
Provide name badges along with company names. What better way to encourage others to network than presenting their names and place of work to one another.
Remove chairs and place smaller high tables around the room. Large cliques won’t have the opportunity to seclude themselves from everyone else
Spread snacks and/or condiment stations around the room as opposed to one corner. This will encourage attendees to move around, increasing their chances of meeting new people
Leave sticky notes and pens around the room. This makes it easier for attendees to jot down quick notes about the person they just met for follow-ups

What are some of your tips to help increase networking at your events?

8 Places to Advertise Your Events

2012-01-18T00:34:49Z

Advertising future events can seem like a daunting task to some event planners. Here are 8 suggestions to get the word out about your events.

1.) One of the most functional ways to advertise your event can be through an Online Registration Site. Pick a site that is easy to use and can capture all the information you would like for share about your event. The great thing about online registration sites is that they can display information pertaining to the event as well as take the registration and payment information from participants. This is an all in one solution that can make an event planners life easier.

2.) LinkedIn is a great place to advertise your events. You can send invites to all of your contacts. All of these people should be in a similar industry, so it builds your possible lists of attendees to your events. You can also promote your events to certain groups that have been developed on LinkedIn. Take the time to tailor your invites to your audience.

3.) Twitter is also a place that can help you advertise your event. From creating event specific hashtags to sending direct message to your twitter followers, you can reach a plethora of people who can help you advertise your event. As Twitter is growing in popularity, more online event registration companies are integrating Twitter into their registration process. This will be a continuing trend with social media.

4.) Sending Email newsletters about your event. As your business network grows, an email to contacts can be a way to get the information about your event out. Though social media is gaining steam in the communication race to get information to people, email marketing is still a great way to advertise your event.

5.) Facebook can be a place where you can create a Facebook profile for your event. Attendees can interact with each other on the event's wall, 'like' the event, and contact the event coordinator if necessary. There are approximately 800 million active accounts (as of Sept 2011), that is a lot of possible people to look at your Facebook event page.

6.) Write a blog about your event. Blogging is a great way to get information out to the world. Blogging gives you the ability to tag certain items, link to various other pages, and allowing readers to share blog information with others. You can even take blogging about your event to another level by blogging about the event while it is taking place. Live blogging is a way to let people that, are maybe not able to attend your event, see what exactly is going on and to put out any exciting news about the ongoing items at your event.

7.) Have sponsors of the event promote the event for you. Another way to make people aware of your event is to have sponsors of the event post various items regarding the event on their website and other various social media mediums. Sponsors are advocates of your event already by having them promote your event you will reach more people.

8.) The most obvious place for an event planner to advertise an event is your own company website. The advertisement must be up to date with all the event credentials. If your website is current and up to date, that will show possible event participants that the event is a priority for you and could potentially increase event traffic.

How can newcomers to social media use it to grow their network of contacts?

2011-12-15T18:51:06Z

Going to conferences and events can be a great place to meet and interact with other attendees with the same interests and goals in mind. For social media rookies there are several ways it can help you grow your network of contacts. From tweeting live real-time feeds about presenters, using event hashtags, sharing information on event Facebook pages and taking and sharing photos from the event. All of these things can help even the most novice of social media users enhance their event experience.

Different ways to interact with other attendees before, during and after events:

- Tweet about the event that you are attending before hand. This is a great way to let your twitter followers know you are attending a specific event. It is a way of starting a conversation, “I noticed you tweeted about this event, what about this event are you looking forward to the most?”

- Using event specific Twitter hashtags to let event organizers, presenters, and other attendees know what you thought of that specific portion of the event. This will also open up avenues of communication between attendees giving them the opportunity to share various viewpoints about the topic.

Link to great page about twitter hashtags: http://www.movements.org/how-to/entry/use-hashtags-on-twitter-to-spread-information

- Look for an event specific Facebook page. Most larger events and conferences will have an event page on Facebook and this is a great way to see what people are saying about the event.

- Event planners can setup an official flickr page where attendees can share pictures of various portions of the event. Event planners may want to encourage attendees to share photos of the event. The pictures could then be used to promote the event the following year.

Using social media at events is becoming more of a common practice. Long gone are the days of it being frowned upon to bring your mobile phone to an event. Let your social network grow and flourish while using these social media mainstays!

Stream your conference or event online for increased traffic and flexibility!

2011-11-28T18:55:17Z

Go Big Event is seeing an increased number of events that are being streamed online. This is a way to increase traffic to your events and provide attendees an alternative to showing up in person to events that may be in a different city or at a time that is not convenient for them.

1. Webcasting an event provides plenty of benefits to event planners, including:

2. Creates an alternative option for attendees to attend an event. This could result in an increase in attendance for the conference or event. Webcasting an event opens the door to people who may not be able to attend the event in person.

3. With the ability to webcast an event you can save attendees travel costs to attend your event. Along with the time they will be saving, webcasting an event can save attendees money.

4. The event planner can also save money through webcasting their event. Saving on venue costs, with smaller rooms, no need to provide food or beverages, and other rental costs add up, saving on some of these costs can be advantageous to the event planner. Also, recording the webcast can provide an alternate form of revenue for your event.

5.Probably the most important benefit of webcasting an event to attendees is how convenient it is for someone to watch from either the office or home, allowing them to be more productive with work time throughout the day. Customers are always appreciative of saving time and money!

Overall, webcasting an event is something that is going to take a more prevalent role in the event and meeting industry. Currently, we are in a society that wants and needs things faster and more convenient than ever and this is exactly what webcasting provides.

There are several resources available that specialize in webcasting or streaming live from events. From an online registration standpoint, Go Big Event can help event organizers register their attendees that are either going to show up in person or decide to attend the webcast of the event or conference. Having two registration methods is easy to accommodate for Go Big Event and the real advantage is to the event planner with the ability to organize attendees regardless of whether they are showing up in person or watching the event online.

The numbers are staggering in regards to the amount of videos and online content Canadians are watching…

Reference: comScore,2011: “The Online Video Nation in Canada, March, 2011 comScore Video Metrix Data”, comScore Inc. [online] available at http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/The_Online_Video_Nation_in_Canada

This shows that Canadians are utilizing the technologies that are available to us and webcasting is just a part of this technology rise.