party planning

All posts tagged party planning

Selling tickets for events can be a cumbersome and costly task for those involved. Believe me! I know. Many times there is time spent on ticket artwork and committee approval, printing costs and then the chore of having to distribute stacks of tickets to everyone on the event committee in the hopes that they will not only have but take the time to sell and safely collect the monies.

Everyone knows that with our busy schedules these days, simplifying processes like event ticket sales can only be welcomed with open arms. Why not simplify the ticketing process AND drive more traffic to your website at the same time!

Increasing search engine optimization is an important goal in business. Increasing the amount of visitors to your website and obtaining a high-ranking placement in search results can be achieved using various strategies, tactics and techniques. Being able to sell tickets for seminars, conferences and other events on your website is yet one more way to bring traffic to your business and increase SEO. Eventastic has a tool to help you achieve this!

Eventastic is a free website allowing you to create and market events using various features provided. Great for all events, festivals, seminars, programs, classes, amusements, attractions etc. of any size! Now you can use our Ticketing Kiosk for even faster purchases/registrations while still collecting all your needed data! When sharing your custom event kiosk the purchaser only sees the ticketing/registration options available rather than a full event page. For a fast and easy way of putting ticketing on your website using our ticketing kiosk you simply:

1. Click “Create” in the top bar.

2. Add the name of your event & category for search purposes and receive an auto-generated Micro-Site page where you’ll be able to edit event location, date/time.

3. Turn ‘On’ the ticketing/registration feature of your event page & fill in your ticketing information. Add name, price, description, duration/time to be sold & other customization for your ticket type. Even add promo codes and a custom registration form and pass along ticketing fees to purchasers!

eventastic-ticketingregistration

Create Ticket types.png

Once you create tickets, passes or vouchers for your event a customized ‘Ticketing Kiosk’ will automatically be generated which you can embed seamlessly into your website displaying only your ticketing or registration options and not a full event page. PLUS, you are provided links to share your ticketing kiosk through social media channels all over the web as you so choose. Cut, paste, post and sell! It’s that easy!

eventastic-online-ticket-kiosk

If you are planning an event and ticketing is involved, then take this opportunity to use this online ticketing tool making the process of selling and buying tickets easy for everyone!

Sell More Tickets, Raise More Money and Drive SEO! Click Here Now!

Photos & Video Inspire & Entice

It’s about the experience. So much of marketing an event has to do with passing the feeling of the event you’re proposing on to the viewer. If the senses can be touched in an advertisement then the guest is more likely to engage in what they are viewing and more likely to purchase or participate.

An event organizer has the ability to entice guests when photos and video are creatively used on their event website. Whether it is through the use of colour, words, specific pictures, music or a message creatively chosen, placed or collaged which are relevant to the event, people are more likely to connect if the feeling they get from the event website is one that leaves them wanting more from the experience.

Achieving Your Goal

Add multiple cover photos to your event website to help market your event.

Whether a conference, workshop, networking event, personal party, festival, charity or sporting event etc.; you the organizer have the ability to market your event even further depending on how creative you get using the event website tools at hand. Let’s face it, receiving an invite to a party or event which has the words “You’re Invited” followed by the time and place is simple and gets the basic info to the guest but gives nothing more to entice them to want to register or participate.

When considering the use of online marketing tools for your event website consider the following:

Type of event – personal, sporting, community, business etc.
Mood of the event – serious, fun, exciting, competitive etc.
Guests Event is Directed – professionals, friends, family, community etc.
Message are you trying to get across – Collecting donations, offering training or learning opportunity, family fun…

Create fun event invites using Eventastic

Create fun party invites using Eventastic

Choose good quality photos you’ve purchased online or from your personal collection and size or crop to display as you choose on your event website. By googling ‘free downloadable pictures’ and searching key words, your photo repertoire can quickly increase. If this is a repeat event you may want to use photos from past events and better yet if a photographer had been hired for the previous event you can use their watermarked pics to further advertise/support their business in your messaging. Likewise use good quality video of your band playing or excerpts from a speakers repertoire that serves to entice a person to want to attend.

Add a photo of what you’re guest funding for.

Community family events could have photos including parents and children or key entertainers. Conferences could have revolving cover photos of presenters and poster pics of key things offered. Of course a business networking event could have pictures of multiple people shaking hands and engulfed in conversation enticing the attendee to want to participate in and experience this same feel. You may decide to add a key phrase to your photo to get a key message across or even share event sponsor or exhibitor logos on a cover photo with a thank you message to further advertise businesses that are supporting your event. When asking for donations or guest funding for a special cause on your event website add relatable photos that guests will see and understand the need like the school playground or hospital MRI machine. Adding a personal message invite through video upload adds even more to the experience.

Getting Creative

With computer software available these days and a little googling you can learn to be quite creative with your photos and video no matter what your experience is. I use a Mac computer and have fun editing with ‘Pages’and Photoshop. I’ve learned to drag photos to new Pages projects with 200x mag, add text, and with the magic of command/shift/4 can cut the rectangular advertisement to a rough size of 1200 x 900 which then renders perfectly on Eventastic’s website. I play with text type and colour as well as photo editing tools to make it all come together.

Your Event Website

Eventastic is designed to help you creatively market and manage your events where people truly get a feel for what they will experience. People worldwide are now using Eventastic for personal, business and community events and programs. You’ll have access to multiple features like registration/ticketing, donation and guest funding options, item and service sales options, photo and video upload capability, gamification options and a full dashboard to manage all guest or participant responses.

Create and add as many cover photos or video clips to your event website as you would like. Add photos to highlight donation, guest funding, silent auction and merchandise options. A photo album sharing feature option on Eventastic allows the organizer and guests to add photos to one or more albums which encourages guest participation and increase page views. Simply drag and drop unedited smartphone or computer pics to your page or get more creative and work some advertising/marketing magic with photos prior to uploading.

With even more marketing options like social media sharing allowing viewers to follow or like your pages and an amazing innovative ticketing kiosk allowing event ticket sales to occur on your own business website or as an immediate window on social media channels we foresee your event will be a huge success. Try it now.

Cheers!

Top 5 Ways of Staying Task Focused

Posted by Judy Bird on June 2, 2015

Posted in: Event Planning, Event Technology, Strategy. Tagged: accomplish goals, eat well, event help, event management, event marketing, eventprofs, how to, online tool, party planning, stay focussed, top 5. Leave a comment

Staying task focused is easier using these methods.

There are a number of reasons why we sometimes lose focus when trying to accomplished a task. Whether you’re feeling under the weather, stressed, depressed, over worked or on a more positive side, excited about an upcoming event in your life that is taking your mind in other directions. We all feel one or more of these things from time to time causing us to be distracted from the work/task needing to be done. Here is a short list of 5 things you can do to help you stay focused and successfully get the job done in a more time efficient manner.

1. Create a Time Schedule

Planning and executing an actual schedule for the hour, day, week or month you’ve allotted to get the job done serves as a concrete reference for completing the task at hand. Breaking down the time period into smaller portions with goals for each will serve as a reference to keep you focused and help to keep your mind from drifting.

2. Be Realistic in Your Goals

Be realistic about what you can actually accomplish in the time you’ve been given. Thinking you can get a task completed in an unrealistic period of time while motivational for some personality types can serve to be the opposite for others resulting in feelings of frustration and in turn causing unrelated task thoughts to surface. Being aware of your realistic abilities in successfully completing the task in a timely fashion may require delegating portions to others and knowing when asking for help will serve to assist in keeping thoughts of being overwhelmed from entering the picture thus keeping you and maybe the team focused.

3. Create an Environment Conducive to Your Success

The environment you choose to get the job done will affect the speed and success of your task outcome. Creating a work space with less or no noise, visual distractions, limited interruptions, comfortable temperature and tools needed to assist you, all serve to assist with your focus and productivity.

4. Support Your Personal Wellbeing

Feeling tired, hungry, fidgety, overwhelmed and/or not up to par are feelings you should not be experiencing when tasks at hand are requiring your full attention. There are a number of things you can do to help support your physical and mental health thus helping to keep your mind on track in accomplishing your goals. Even if you can’t feel great on every level for whatever reason, make sure you implement and change the things you can to enable those positive focused thought patterns you’re needing at the time. Getting enough sleep, exercise, eating and drinking healthy options and giving yourself permission to deal with unrelated stressful situations at another time of the day are all helpful ways of allowing your mind and body to stay focused.

5. Take Advantage of Helpful Tools

Being privy to and using tools available to assist you with tasks that will make your job easier and more time efficient is key to helping you stay focused. Success in moving forward in completing a task results in feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction serving to motivate one to progress on with more focused attention.

Eventastic was created as an online event management and marketing tool for anyone worldwide planning parties or events of any size whether for personal, community or corporate purposes. The online platform is free to sign up and easy to navigate. So much more than a ticketing and registration events platform; Eventastic serves to not only assist the organizer in creating the experience they are wishing to convey to their attendee but also help promote and market using multiple features and tools.

We hope you find our tips helpful. Let us know if you have other suggestions you would add to the list that you’ve found helpful.

Reading Week Checklist

Posted by Judy Bird on January 2, 2015

Posted in: Event Planning, March Break, Party, Party Tips, Promotions, Reading Week. Tagged: College, event, event planning, February break, kegger, March Break, party, party checklist, party planning, party planning checklist, plan, planning, reading week, school stress, stress, student, student trip, University, winter break. Leave a comment

Reading Week is the scheduled week off for students in graduate schools where there are no classes so they can take the week to research course information for the next term and begin studying madly in order to excel beyond their wildest dreams….. NOT!

Time For A Break

Everyone knows that winter break in February/March is used by most students as a time to relax, let loose and have fun with friends before the next school term begins. Some plan to remain in their city of study, some return to their home towns, and others plan to get away to a holiday destination.

Reading? It’s not likely that the economics books or science texts will even be opened during this time and the only reading which will occur will be on Twitter, Tumbler and other social media accounts to keep them in the know of which parties are occurring and where. While this may be a bit of an exaggeration, it’s not necessarily a bad thing that students take this time to reconnect with friends and maybe family. Everyone needs a break from stressors; take a time to mentally regroup, and subsequently be ready to go hard and steady for the following term.

Whether you’re talking trips, parties, keggers etc., you need an organizer or a group organizing this to make it happen. Everyone wants their event to be successful, where the words “Wasn’t THAT a party!” are repeated over and over again. It all starts with a great idea. There are basic things to consider once the idea is formulated.

Your Party Planning Checklist

Where will the party will take place
Date of the party
Time the party will start and goal for ending
Details guests need to know – food? drinks? theme? passport required?
Costs – will you charge an attendance fee to offset costs of food, kegs, next day cleaning lady? Or lodging fees if its a destination trip?
Goodwill – Are you considering adding a charitable cause for your party where donations can be made to a community organization?
Theme – do you want to sell themed t-shirts etc. to get everyone in the spirit?
Who will be invited
Collect your money safely
Get the word out – social media, email etc…

If you’re wanting to do something for Reading Week now is the time to get on it!

Eventastic.com is your free online party and event tool helping you plan and manage easily. Have fun creating your party or excursion invite using photo and video technology, ticketing, registration, and more. Start Now!

Allergy Conscious Event Planning Tips

Posted by Judy Bird on December 18, 2014

Posted in: Event Planning, Event Technology, Party, Party Tips, Promotions. Tagged: allergies and events, avoiding allergies at events, event planning, food allergies, guests, nut allergy, organizer tips, party planning, planning tips, seasonal allergies. 1 Comment

As an event planner there is so much to consider when planning a party or event no matter what the size. When making your spreadsheet or lists of things to cover do you consider putting ‘Food Allergy Awareness’ on your list?

I quite accidentally found out recently that I am allergic to hazelnuts. I have never been one to gravitate to a bowl of mixed nuts at any party and don’t have a particular yearning for nuts in any dish or baking, so it wasn’t a surprise that it took this long to discover this ‘new’ allergy of mine. It would appear that the new nut of choice in dishes these days is hazelnuts and so I have become very conscious of food ingredients when attending any party or event.

Let’s face it though, there are so many types of allergies out there that as an event planner you would never be able to cover all your bases with every guest. The reality is, that depending on what type of event is being planned, attendees could be affected not only by food allergies, but also seasonal, pet, insects etc.

Allergy Stats

1.The number of people in the U.S. who have either allergic or asthmatic symptoms is estimated at one in five.

2. It is estimated that 55% of the U.S. population tests positive to one or more allergens.

3. There are approximately 30,000 emergency room visits in the U.S. every year caused by allergic reactions.

4. Approximately 7% of Canadians self-report a food allergy.

Food Allergy Facts

Food allergies and intolerances can affect nearly everyone at some point in their life. Food allergies are sensitivities people experience as a reaction of the body’s immune system to certain proteins or irritants. The most common food allergies experienced would be milk, egg, wheat, nut, fish, shellfish, sulfite and soy. When someone is exposed to a food protein that their immune system determines as harmful, the body will produce antibodies and chemicals such as histamines. These histamines can cause a reaction in the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin or cardiovascular system. At times, these reactions are quite severe and require immediate action.

How To Prepare As An Event Planner

Most times, people attending events are aware if they have allergies, what questions they need to ask, and what to avoid. As an event planner though there are a few things you can do to be ‘Allergy Conscious’ at your event.

1. If aware of any specific guest food allergies prior to the event, try to avoid use of those ingredients.

2. Provide guests 2 or more dish options to allow them choices in case of allergies.

3. Ensure servers are aware of appetizer and dish ingredients in case they are questioned by guests about possible common allergens in the food. Instruct servers to ask chefs directly in cases of other specific allergen inquiries.

4. Have wait staff communicate with guests when serving appetizers if they contain known common allergens or have ingredient info cards at food stations.

5. Avoid possibilities of cross contamination between food items.

6. Consider having antihistamine medications available behind the scenes as options for guest use for relief of symptoms if requested or required.

Most guests who are aware they have food allergies will be prepared by carrying antihistamine medications or an epi-pen for emergencies, but on the occasion of a reaction where a guest has been caught off guard, it is good knowing they can be provided relief if required.

How We Can Help You

Eventastic is an innovative online platform that enables event organizers to create and promote their event or party online for free! Organizers can easily create and share customizable tickets for their event through social media channels and even add the event ticketing tool directly to their own website if they choose!

Eventastic gives the event planner the option when creating their event tickets to add any question(s) for the attendee to the customizable ticket! This is a great opportunity for the planner to ask guests about any pertinent allergies prior to the event and in turn be allergy conscious for all guests. As guests purchase their event tickets they are prompted to answer the organizers’ question(s) prior to ticket purchase checkout.

Eventastic’s registration and ticketing platform gives party and event planners the opportunity to effectively promote their events with many free feature options and also utilize the opportunity to know more about the prospective guests attending in order to better prepare for the event. Our goal is to provide you the tools to drive event success regardless of your event size or type.

Try it now for free!

References:

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/allergy-statistics

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/allerg/index-eng.php

Successful parties and events usually mean there was lots of mixing, mingling, smiles and laughter. Socializing and intermingling throughout the room for some comes easily. For others, entering a room full of people whether known or not can be a very stressful thought. You’ve probably been at that party where there is a person just lingering on the perimeter of the room, sipping their drink, giving the occasional awkward smile and seemingly not participating in the party atmosphere. For an organizer, you want to encourage every guest to have a fabulous time circulating, meeting and chatting with others; thus assisting in making the party fun for all and a success.

The ability to comfortably mingle at a party is an art. You might have been born with the gift of gab in any setting but some were not. It takes a dash of confidence and sprinkling of intrigue and interest to outwardly make yourself around a room introducing yourself and starting conversations with others; particularly those you don’t know. As a party or event planner there are a few things you can do to encourage mingling of your guests even if it’s something they normally are not comfortable doing by providing topics of discussion or activities.

Establish a Theme

Party themes are a great way of encouraging conversation between guests right from the beginning of the event. Whether costume related or just themed decor, guests will have something to talk about immediately when they enter the scene. A theme related signature drink for all is a great party starter where guests will ‘cheers’ each other and be inspired to talk more. Giving guests a topic of discussion other than the classic fallback weather related talk is a good idea. Having lots of theme related eye candy is entertaining for guests and is sure to encourage the early chatting you’re hoping for.

Party Games

Not to be over done, party games can be a great way of encouraging guests to circulate with others and comfortably mingle with a purpose. I have tried the ‘Sticker Game’ with great success. Guests are given a card of 20 party stickers (preferably drink/party related) when they arrive to the party with the task of being the first to get rid of all their stickers by placing one discreetly on each guest without getting caught. If caught ‘stickering’ a fellow guest you must take the sticker back but if falsely accused of ‘stickering’ then you can automatically put one of your stickers on that person. A prize displayed for the prospective winner is great and encourages party movement and competition.

Another option is to give the attendee’s a guest passport with all names of guests listed on a folded card along with a coloured marker. Guests must attempt to meet each person on the list at which point they can check off the name on the passport with the prospective guest’s marker colour. When all names have been checked with corresponding colours they can enter their passport for a draw.

Mingle Trigger

You may have heard of events where after a certain period of time (like 5-10min) a bell is rung and guests must move on to speak to another person at the event. What a great idea for encouraging guests to circulate and meet others. We once had a beach party and when the music changed to JAWS theme the guests had the option of having a shot out of a ‘fish bowl’ concoction with floating jelly sharks! (I know…crazy but effective in stirring conversation and laughter!) Whatever the ‘trigger’, the point is getting people to move and join with others.

Photo Options

Photo booths at events can be amazing at getting people to step out of their shell and become someone else for a moment with cool, inspiring and fun props. Feather boas, a variety of hats, crazy glasses are just some ideas to have available for guests. We’ve had parties where we hire a photographer to move through the party taking snaps of groups of guests. Not only is the photo specialist primed to bring people together for fun pics, but having a printer available where the photos can then be posted at the party encourages even more laughter and chatter among the guests. The photos also make great party favours.

Entertainment

Having some form of entertainment at your event like a musician, magician, caricature artist, special guest, hypnotist, imitation tattoo applications, etc. all motivate people to begin conversations with others and circulate throughout the party. Picking something that would fit with the feel and mood of your event and be enjoyable for guests is important.

Eventastic is your online party/event invite and registration platform offering you unique features like photo sharing, video technology, donation options, ticket and merchandise sales. When planning your next event we encourage you to use the features to help showcase and effectively market your event to guests.

Happy Mingling!

I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts that I love Halloween. I enjoy prepping my house with spooky features and greeting the mini nurses, clowns and super heroes at my door on the eve of Oct 31st. Most of all, however I adore Halloween parties! Over the years I have hosted many and attended more. Aside from the crazy costumes I inevitably find and wear, I have always enjoyed the signature concoctions that creative Halloween party hosts brew and serve as the themed drink of the evening.

These are a few of my top favourite goulish brews for Halloween which I have found and are sure to curl your toes should you be over served. Beware!

When planning your signature Halloween drink for your party you may want to consider one of these. They are not only frightful but delicious as well!

We invite you to create your Halloween get-together invite on Eventastic. In just a few moments, you can create a fun invitation for big or small parties using such features as photo sharing, video technology, registration, ticketing and more.