In the Event Business Not Everyone Deserves a Trophy for Just Showing Up Don’t try to level the playing field when it comes to event sponsors. An email arrived the other day and asked a question about the equitable treatment of sponsors. It seems that a volunteer was preparing an ad for the local newspaper … Read more
The conversation begins like this, “I need a website but I have no idea what to do. How do I go about creating one?” It’s helpful if this person is open to learning new things, receptive to technology and has the time available to understand the fundamentals and to oversee the project. An Overview and Definitions … Read more
It’s important that event planners watch and listen closely to what is and isn’t done and said. In particular, this would include interactions with outsiders. The tip off should be when a committee or team member complains that something didn’t happen. In recent months, a freelance travel writer shared that he’d reached out to an … Read more
I’m sure the Frye Festival held at Great Exuma in The Bahamas will go down as a case study on how not to do an event. It should also serve as a reminder to consumers that they need to do their own homework before purchasing event tickets. A word of caution: most celebrity endorsements are … Read more
It’s odd. The very thing that was the catalyst to write a book on event and festival management – my blog – is what took a backseat during the last 12 months. I simply ran out time while writing what started out to be one book but ended up being a book and a resource … Read more
How tall is the grass at your festival? Seems like an odd question to ask, but with each quarter of an inch grass grows, so grows a festival’s liability. Grass height can and does impact the safety of festival goers, much like curb height does. Imagine holding an event in a city park with a … Read more
So what happens when the guy who is overseeing your event’s site (city park or venue), doesn’t make the time to meet with the volunteer coordinator? The worse case scenario is all the volunteer floaters are shifted to his needs. Volunteers can potentially be pulled from other areas too. So in essence, committee members who … Read more
Imagine this. Something occurring in the middle of the Pacific Ocean can affect your festival. And that something is El Niño with its warm ocean waters and surface level winds. According to a National Weather Service blog, this phenomenon has occurred over the last six months. It was to have been one of the three … Read more
According to comScore, although 60% of all browsing happens on mobile devices only 15% of online purchases are made on mobile. Think shopping versus buying. According to the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School’s marketing professor emeritus Stephen J. Hoch, shopping behavior mirrors gender differences throughout many aspects of life. “Women think of shopping in … Read more
If your event is looking to sell merchandise online, several shopping carts are available for WordPress. Probably the best free version is the plugin or extension WooCommerce. The shopping cart itself is free, but add-ons require a fee. For example, to access FedEx live shipping rates, etc. Some of the plugins for payment gateways are … Read more