Well Orchestrated Festivals & Events

Essential Tools for Festival & Event Planners

The Start-to-Finish How-to Guide

Secrets to Successful EventsSecrets to Successful Events:
How to Organize, Promote and Manage Exceptional Events and Festivals

Whether you’re a first-time event organizer or a seasoned professional, discover how to successfully plan, implement, promote and manage festivals and community events of all sizes, shapes and kinds. Unique insights, tips, tools and resources are based on years of hands-on experience.

This easy-to-read handbook follows a logical progression taking event organizers from inception to thank you letters and everything in between.

  • Discover how to find volunteers to serve on your organizing team and during the event.
  • Find out what sponsors need and want in order to sign on the dotted line and what the event can do to guarantee sponsors return year after year.
  • Gain an understanding of how budgets, event finances, money handling and online ticket sales work.
  • Master the key elements required in marketing a festival and the role public relations plays before, during and after the event and in the world of social media.
  • Explore specific festival and event themes:  music, food, wine, beer, books and film, plus air shows.
  • Learn the steps involved to book talent – headliners, artists, speakers, musicians, pilots, performers, winemakers, authors, chefs, entertainers and brewmasters.
  • Review revenue-generating options – the sale of merchandise (design, production and inventory control) and vendors/concessions (applications, selection, menus and set up).

See how all the pieces fit together when reading cover-to-cover. For those interested in select topics, cross-references are included for more details.

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Reviews

“Drag out the sticky notes, highlighters and note pads and prepare to be immersed in a comprehensive crash course on event planning as the author “holds your hand” and takes you step by step through the dynamics necessary to plan successful events of any size or type. Written in an easy-to-read format with a cutting edge approach, every one of its 283 pages contains tips and suggestions that will lead you on the path to success. Whether you are a newbie or seasoned veteran, you’re sure to use this book as a resource guide time after time for yourself and your organizing committees.

This book would be good for those planning events but also those involved with assisting and promoting events including chambers of commerce, convention and visitors bureaus and PR agencies. Well done, Lynn Fuhler!”
— Nancy Foster, Founder, Foster Tourism Marketing

The Companion Guide … Or a Stand-Alone Resource

Secrets to Successful Events Resource GuideSecrets to Successful Events Resource Guide:
42+ Easy-to-Use Forms and Tools to Save You Time and Money

If you’re an experienced event planner or festival organizer looking for a quick-start guide to hosting and promoting your next event, this Resource Guide is the answer. It features sample letters, contracts and forms used in key areas:  sponsors, marketing, publicity, talent, volunteers, merchandise, vendors/concessions and more.

If you have minimal experience in event planning and want to jump-start your event, we suggest you pick up Secrets to Successful Events: How to Organize, Promote and Manage Exceptional Events and Festivals, described above, as well as this book. Together they explain not only what needs to be done but how to manage all the details and create a crowd-pleasing event.

This invaluable resource guide gives you the templates and tools to help you:

  • Quickly organize your committee’s structure and establish operating procedures.
  • Communicate effectively with sponsors – using sample proposals, contracts, invoices, checklists.
  • Master the budget process and track revenue and expenses.
  • Discover marketing tools, PR opportunities and social media tips.
  • Protect your event using customizable contracts for sponsors, talent, vendors/concessions.
  • Use our handy forms when booking talent from headliners, artists, speakers and musicians to chefs, entertainers, winemakers and brewmasters.
  • Easily track talent travel arrangements and equipment needs.
  • Learn how to solicit and sign up volunteers.
  • Take control with RFPs and bid specifications for graphic design, merchandise, sound and lighting.
  • Wrap up the event using pre-created thank-you letters.

Based on the author’s years of experience in event planning, you’ll discover the essential tools, forms and resources every event organizer needs to get your event off the ground and running quickly.

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“This book is an effective manual for event planners with a great checklist and detail most people forget or were never aware of. If I was an first-time planner following the logic and progression would make my life so easy. If I was trying to make an existing event better, this book provides insights and great suggestions. Every planner should have one.”
Francis Purvey, Sunlark Associates and SITE Florida & Caribbean

“Oh, how I wish I had this easy-to-read book when I began my career! I would recommend it to every single person starting out in the planning process — and for meeting planning veterans, it’s a wonderful aide-mémoire of how it should be done.”
— Liz Guertin, Past New England Chapter representative – Meeting Planners International (MPI) Board –  and Past President, MPI – Carolinas Chapter

An Entertaining Speaker

With a casual matter-of-fact style, Lynn’s engaging “conversations” with her audiences are sprinkled with examples of been-there-done-that experiences. Some of her popular speaking topics include:

  • How to Solicit Sponsors and What to Do Once You Have Them
  • Festivals & Events: The Devil is in the Details
  • The Hub of All Your Marketing Efforts, Is it Accessible?
  • Sponsorship Relationships Advice:  Municipalities

Coaching

If you feel you can’t get traction with promoting your event, desire to increase attendance or feel that’s something is missing, a one-hour coaching session may be the solution.

Marketing Like a Pro

  • Understanding technology – from websites to social media
  • Promoting “local” events
  • Why should a calendar of events be chock full of activities?

Grow Attendance

  • Attract visitors to your event as a way to Increase attendance
  • Tap into niche markets – from craft beer to Mother Nature
  • What can you do to help the CVB help you?

General Interest

  • What makes a winning sponsorship proposal?
  • What to look for when booking talent
  • How to find the right volunteers
  • Creating realistic bid proposals

Attract Visitors

  • Create or maximize hospitality industry relationships?
  • See your destination through your potential visitor’s eyes
  • Stay in touch with your guests

Colleges & Universities

Event Management Course
  • A complete how-to-manual
  • An easy turnkey solution for educators
  • Chapters flow in a logical, easy-to-understand manner
  • Addresses all relevant topics of event planning: event themes, sponsors, marketing, publicity, talent, volunteers, merchandise, vendors/concessions and more
  • A real world perspective on event planning with keen insights, tips and tools
  • A true time saver with sample contracts, bids, letters, etc.
  • Endless take-aways for students to use in real life applications

Resources

A Go-To Manual Plus a Companion Resource Guide

With these two text books, your students will learn how to plan, implement, promote and manage events of all sizes. This essential handbook – “Secrets to Successful Events: How to Organize, Promote and Manage Exceptional Events and Festivals” – provides professors, instructors and teachers comprehensive steps on running a successful event in a logical progression.

“The Resource Guide” – a quick-start guide to hosting and promoting any event – is a companion text. It features sample letters, contracts and forms used in key areas: sponsorship, marketing, publicity, talent, volunteers, merchandise, vendors/concessions and more.

Lynn Fuhler has successfully organized festivals and events throughout her career. The former tourism director of Clearwater Beach, FL, she served as chairman of the all-volunteer Clearwater Jazz Holiday, then the largest free jazz festival in the Southeast U.S. Fuhler holds a transportation, travel and tourism degree from St. Louis University’s Parks College and her firm works extensively in marketing the hospitality, travel, tourism and outdoor recreation industries.

Available on Amazon – Print (both books) and Kindle.

Secrets to Successful Events:
How to Organize, Promote and Manage Exceptional Events and Festivals

Secrets to Successful Events Resource Guide:
42+ Easy-To-Use Forms and Tools to Save You Time and Money

Ask Your College Bookstore
to check availability with major book distributors.

The Festival and Events Resources page provides valuable links for event organizers:  music license organizations, state tourism officers, street banner vendors, among many others.

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