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Archive for the ‘Event Resources’ category

Checklist for Organizing Events and Conferences

April 25th, 2011


What’s inside:

 

 

Checklist for assigning and tracking tasks for your next event or conference.

- 3 months before the event
- 1 week before the event
- 1 day before the event
- On the event day
- Post event

download-pdf-button

Organizing an event? Try Eventzilla for setting up the event registration page. It is free and takes less than 5 minutes. http://www.eventzilla.net

5 Useful iPhone Apps for Event Planners

March 28th, 2011

1. Evernote

Evernote turns the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your Event.

From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronizes from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop.

Developer : http://www.evernote.com
Price: Free
Download from iTunes website

169587-evernote_slide

2. Hootsuite

The Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn iPhone apps are all fantastic to use but with Hootsuite you can read and write to all of your social networks all in one very neat interface. You can also set Hootsuite up to track keywords, hashtags and lists for your event – so if anyone says anything about your Event you’ll hear it first.

Developer: http://www.hootsuite.com
Price: Free
Download from iTunes

hootsuite

3. Google

You can find Google through your mobile browser, but the app is a major time-saver. The voice search function is seamless. Ask it for specific Wikipedia entries, for instance, and it complies. Or just say “Starbucks” and the app uses the phone’s GPS to find the nearest location.

Developer: http://www.google.com
Price: Free
Download from iTunes
Google-iphone-app

4. Dropbox

Dropbox is the easiest way to sync and share your files online and across computers and it is free.You can view event photos, videos, documents, and presentations in your Dropbox on the go. It also makes it easy to save photos and HD videos taken with your iPhone’s camera at your event.

Drop-box

Developer: http://www.dropbox.com
Price: Free
Download from iTunes

5. Xpense Tracker

XpenseTracker is an all inclusive expense tracking and reporting application for your event.  Its ease of use and full features makes it an essential tool for every iPhone user wishing to track their expenses. Its power does not end at the iPhone but extends to the desktop by allowing emailing or exporting of the expense files and accompanying photo receipts directly to the desktop.

Developer: http://www.silverwaresoftware.com
Price: $4.99
Download from iTunes

expense-tracker-main

Stay tuned for 5 useful Android apps for event planners.

Organizing an event? Start accepting registrations and payments online with Eventzilla in minutes. http://www.eventzilla.net

How to use crowdsourcing websites to design a logo or stationary for your event

March 11th, 2011

Crowdsourcing, as you probably know, is a way of using a large on-demand workforce to ‘source’ solutions to your problems.

1. Crowdspring.com
Need a logo design or a content writing service for your event? No problem. Simply turn your logo / design project needs into a contest on Crowdspring. Submit a brief and determine a fee for the contest winner (minimum is around $200), then sit back and watch the crowd go to work.

Website: http://www.crowdspring.com

2. 99designs.com
99designs is the #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design. 99designs connects 96,219 passionate designers from around the globe with small businesses who need design projects completed. Logo design projects fee starts at $295.

http://www.99designs.com

Hosting an event? Accept registrations and payments online using Eventzilla

5 Ways To Make Your Fund Raising Event A Big Success

March 8th, 2011
A fund raising event may carry lots of nobleness and philanthropy within its objective, making it success requires skill, tactic and strategic planning.
Here we bring 5 effective ways that would help in making a fund raising even meet big success -
1) The most prime thing to be taken care is that it should be targeted towards niche audiences. People would feel encouraged to attend a fundraising event only if they see some commonality in the subject matter of the fundraising. Either find relevant fundraising ideas for the niche audiences or select the intended participants who would enjoy the subject matter thoroughly.
2) Keep apart the traditional and conventional ideas of fundraising event and think up of some offbeat and interesting ideas that would be crowd pullers. A unique and a creative idea of organizing would not just pull in the serious kinds of participants but would also add credibility and worthiness to the event. One interesting idea is to organize the fundraising event at the beach side instead of in a conventional hall.
3) One effective way of imparting significant visibility to the fundraising event is by making it noticeable over social networking sites. Today almost whole world is present over these social networking sites and plan their social outings in conformity to those only. Create the related group or profile for the event so that it arises interest amongst the niche users. Cellular services can also be used to spread the positive buzz for the fundraising event.
4) Another way to pull huge crowd to the fundraising events is to extend personalizes invitations. This would make the events personalized and close-circuited in the minds of the attendees. Also add a benevolent phrase at the end of the invitation card so that right kind of spirit gets generated in the minds of the recipients.
5) Provide something different and extra to give solid reasons to invitees to become the attendees of the fundraising event. Plan to distribute a memento, a gift or any promotional gift along with the invitations. This would ensure that invitees would get interested and encouraged in attending the event.
These ideas and suggestions would help a fundraising event see lucrative success in an effective way. The fundraising event would not just become earn positive buzz but also attract many potential donors. Also infuse enough motivation and inspiration in the promotion of the event that benevolence spills all over the fundraising event.

A fund raising event may carry lots of nobleness and philanthropy within its objective, making it success requires skill, tactic and strategic planning.

Here we bring 5 effective ways that would help in making a fund raising event meet big success:

iStock_000011761789XSmall

1) Select the right target audience:
The most prime thing to be taken care is that it should be targeted towards niche audiences. People would feel encouraged to attend a fundraising event only if they see some commonality in the subject matter of the fundraising. Either find relevant fundraising ideas for the niche audiences or select the intended participants who would enjoy the subject matter thoroughly.

2) Create a fresh theme to promote the event:
Keep apart the traditional and conventional ideas of fundraising event and think up of some offbeat and interesting ideas that would be crowd pullers. A unique and a creative idea of organizing would not just pull in the serious kinds of participants but would also add credibility and worthiness to the event. One interesting idea is to organize the fundraising event at the beach side instead of in a conventional hall.

3) Create a successful grassroots marketing campaign:
One effective way of imparting significant visibility to the fundraising event is by making it noticeable over social networking sites. Today almost whole world is present over these social networking sites and plan their social outings in conformity to those only. Create the related group or profile for the event so that it arises interest amongst the niche users. Text messages can also be used to easily spread the  buzz for the fundraising event.

4) Personalize invitations:
Another way to pull huge crowd to the fundraising events is to extend personalizes invitations. This would make the events personalized and close-circuited in the minds of the attendees. Also add a benevolent phrase at the end of the invitation card so that right kind of spirit gets generated in the minds of the recipients.

5) Make it a memorable event:
Provide something different and extra to give solid reasons to invitees to become the attendees of the fundraising event. Plan to distribute a memento, a gift or any promotional gift along with the invitations. This would ensure that invitees would get interested and encouraged in attending the event.

These ideas and suggestions would help a fundraising event see lucrative success in an effective way. The fundraising event would not just become earn positive buzz but also attract many potential donors. Also infuse enough motivation and inspiration in the promotion of the event that benevolence spills all over the fundraising event.

Hosting an event? Try Eventzilla – a simple to use online event registration  software.

Eventzilla Welcomes 2011 With a Bang!

January 10th, 2011

Greetings for a happy and prosperous 2011 from the entire team at Eventzilla! We wish to thank  all our clients for your continued trust and support.

paypalOur first official post this year is also to make an announcement about the release of a very important feature that we have been working on behind the covers over the latter part of 2010.  Without further ado, we are excited to announce Eventzilla’s advanced integration with PayPal!

Here is what this means..

What does it mean for me?

  • If you are hosting a free event, there will be no impact
  • If you are hosting a paid event and collect payments through your PayPal account, then you will no longer receive an invoice from Eventzilla to pay your Eventzilla fee. Click here to view pricing details in your currency.  The fee will be automatically deducted from your transaction in real time – thereby saving you the trouble of yet another invoice at a later date.

Does this mean that I will never receive an invoice from Eventzilla?

You will not receive an invoice if you only use your PayPal account to collect payments for your registration / ticket sales.  However an invoice will be issued as usual for all other types of payments.

Who pays the Eventzilla convenience fee?

Option A: You can make your event attendees pay the small convenience fee

Example: Your event registration price: $10 (With this option your attendees will pay $10+$1 fee when they register online. $10 will be sent to your PayPal account and $1 will be sent to Eventzilla’s PayPal account instantaneously)

Option B: You can choose to pay the small convenience fee yourself.

Example: Your event registration price: $10 (With this option your attendees will pay $10 when they register online. $9 will be sent to your PayPal account and $1 will be sent to Eventzilla’s PayPal account instantaneously)

Note: PayPal transaction fees are not included in the Eventzilla fee and these too will automatically deducted in real time during the transaction.  See PayPal website for further details. You can also use PayPal fee calculator to calculate applicable PayPal fees for your transactions.

If you have any queries about this latest enhancement or anything else, please feel free to contact us.

Best Regards

Eventzilla Team

8 reasons to sell tickets online for your next event

December 12th, 2010
  • Studies show that people prefer online channels more than ever.
  • It’s easy to setup and sell tickets online: It takes less than five minutes to setup event registration and accept payments online.
  • Attendees like payment choices and convenience: Online ticket sales make it easier for your attendees to purchase tickets from any place, at anytime as per their convenience.
  • Online transactions are secure: Online payment gateway systems do not share attendee’s credit card details with the event organizer and it makes the transaction safer.
  • Event organizers can receive payments instantly:Online event registration software like Eventzilla directs money from ticket sales directly to the event organizer(s) account.
  • Attendees get incentives for online purchases:Most of the credit card companies provide incentives for using their credit card and it is an added advantage to make purchases online.
  • Easy to track, cancel and refund payments
  • Easy to sell tickets from multiple sites:Online sales make it easier to sell tickets from a website, blog or social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
  • Setup special discount codes for your event: Discount codes are a popular way to gain traction and entice target customers to purchase tickets at a lower price.

Read more on how easy it is to manage event registrations and sell tickets online at competitive prices.

Choosing The Right Online Payment System For Your Events – Part 1

December 12th, 2010

Online payment system plays a key role in making your event a big success. Accepting registrations and payments for your events will reduce the no-shows and stress in managing events. It has to be safe,  convenient as well as completely secure for your attendees. There are many choices for  accepting online payments such as Paypal, Amazon Payment, Google Checkout and many more.

Paypal
This is one of the popular and an easy way to accept payments for your events. PayPal has 87.2 million users making payments worldwide.

  • Attendees can buy tickets with a credit card—they don’t even need a PayPal account
  • Attendees trust that PayPal won’t share their financial info with merchants.

paypal-logo-header-157218It supports numerous options of payments that can be used as per subjective needs and requirements. Some of its additional features are – supporting for donations, shopping cart and recurring payments for an that repeats every month. This payment option is being used worldwide for its immense ease and convenience.

PayPal
(Fees for payments more than $10: 1.9%-2.9% + 0.30 cents per transaction)
(Fees for payments less than $10: 5% + 0.05 cents per transaction)

Amazon Payments
AmazonPayments_LOGO_Color_TM_Print (2)Amazon Payments is a payment platform that offers excellent services for better conversion. This site is associated with online shopping magnate of Amazon.com and makes it easier for its shoppers to make their purchase easy and payments easier.

Amazon Payments
(Fees: 1.9%-2.9% + 0.30 cents per transaction)
(Fees for payments less than $10: 5% + 0.05 cents per transaction)

Google Checkout

This online payment system is known for its competitive processing fees and layered pricing structure. It claims to charge zero hidden fees along with perpetually no gateway service or any set up fees. Additionally, Google Checkout also does not charge its users for transferring of funds from its own Checkout account to the users’ respective banks.

google_checkout_logoGoogle Checkout has proven its credibility and is being widely used for plenty of security and convenience it brings along. Some of its additional and attractive features are – its expedient checkout process; credit card processing; capturing of partial funds; prompt refunds etc. These features have made Google Checkout great favorites of many shopping portals, and event management companies like eventzilla, to make it their e-commerce collaborator.

Google Checkout

(Fees: 1.9%-2.9% + 0.30 cents per transaction)

Authorize.Net

Authorize.Net has been growing immensely popular since the time of its inception in the year 1996. It has many convenient features that have earned it the apt title of ‘gateway’.

Authorize_Net-logo-722A3B7CFF-seeklogo.comThis online payment system has backing of ‘Fraud Detection Suite’ (FDS) that helps in identification of fake and fraudulent transactions with great expertise right before the shipping of products. It is also ensures that the shipping address and the billing address match perfectly thus eliminating any fear scam. In case the technical backing of Authorize.Net identifies any chary activity, it blocks that IP address’s functionality. This makes this online payment system extremely capable and fool proof.

Authorize.net
(See website for more details)

To be continued…

Hosting an event or workshop? Accept registrations and payments online using Eventzilla for free.

How Not To Promote Your Next Event

December 10th, 2010

Promotion of event can be a tedious task. It involves many strategies and promotional ideas that have to be applied methodically. Be it a small event like a training workshop; or bigger fund raising event or a massive corporate event, there are some key pointers that must be kept in mind at the time of event planning.

Two bollards

Here are we stating some distinct mistakes that must be avoided in order to make any event a big flop,

Leaving out the influencers for your event
Every business or event has a group of influencers who will go and promote their favorites to other people in their social circle.  Planning and targeting the key influencers is important and you should entice them with a special early bird discount to kick start conversations in social media sites about your next event.

Do not just imagine but actually make those thoughts practical. It is not sufficient to just know the right kind of people but to also make the most out of the social contact. The secret lies not in knowing huge number of people but in deriving the optimum use of the known social circle. The contact should be meaningful and qualitative rather than just quantitative.

Targeting the wrong audience group
Do not act in haste or in random manner. Sell tickets online and send the event invitees for an event must be selected as per logical strategy and not as per random selection. If the event is a professional one, then only professional invitees should be present.

Similarly, in a family oriented event, the major chunk of invitees should be family and friends with very close associated invited additionally. In nutshell, event invitations and invitees should be focused and intentional.

Not promoting your main sponsors
Do not take prospective sponsors for granted. Event sponsors with good brand value will pay a key role in selling out tickets for your event. Very often event planners use the minimal strategy for gaining the attention and the sponsorship of the sponsors. It should not be assumed that sponsors will come to know about the event and the kind of promotions it is going to render.

Too many giveaways
This is one common mistake that is committed by event planners when they are promoting their events. If the event is good and its organizers are sure of its credibility, they need not indulge in giving freebies just in order to attract attention. Generate enough curiosity by being implicit and not explicit while promoting the event on Facebook & Twitter.

Not setting the right marketing budget
Marketing your event is key for the success of your event. At the same time spending a lot of money on time will hurt the success of your event. Set a budget and stick to it. There are a lot of alternatives for paid marketing strategies now. You can promote you event by sponsoring a cause or non-profit organization.

Last but not least, do not give up. Often event organizers do not follow up sufficiently so as to be positively persistent. It is important to understand that being persistent is different from being pestering. The promotion of an event is going to be very fruitful only if the targets are going to be followed consistently.

Hosting an event? Sell tickets online using Eventzilla. List your event for free and pay $1 flat fee only when you make a sale.

Leaving out the influencers for your event

How To Choose The Right Keynote Speaker For Your Next Event

December 9th, 2010

Woman Smiling Behind PodiumKeynote speakers set the right impression for business events and finding the right person is important.  They essentially decide the fate of the success of the event. The very first thing to take care is to make good identification of the theme of the speech.

Additionally, here are some helpful suggestions that would help in finding the suitable kind of keynote speaker -

  • Meet the speaker in person
    Another useful suggestion for selecting the right kind of keynote speaker for an event is to attend another event of similar theme and find out what is being delivered and how it is being delivered. The organizers can make effort to meet the same keynote speaker after that event and talk to hire him for their event.
  • Set clear goals for the speaker
    Another tip to make the right selection of a keynote speaker for the event is to have a clear identification of the goal and the purpose of the speech. Once the organizers are clear about what they want out of the speaker, their hiring process would be much better and fair.
  • Don’t go with recommendations
    If any recommendations are coming on the way, don’t follow them blindly. Even if a keynote speaker is being referred vehemently make a thorough check before hiring the person. Do not just make the hiring to make the recommended lest to damage the reputation of your event.
  • Agencies
    There are several service providers who make it easy to hire a professional keynote speaker. They may be even having their websites that can be logged in to check the relevant details.
  • Ask for sample work
    There are many freelance keynote speakers that offer their independent services. They carry with them their recorded sample speech that can be checked before deciding to hire them. Their sample speeches, in the form of DVDs, can be used for skillful evaluation of how well can they speak and have communication skills.
  • Rhetoric skills
    It is also important to gauge the oratory skills well in advance so as to not put up a flop show in front of the audience. The prime task ahead a keynote speaker is to make the audience spellbound through their oratory and rhetoric skills.

Finally, apart from these points, budget is yet another significant factor in making selection of the right kind of keynote speaker for an event.

Hosting a professional event or workshop? Learn more on how to setup a custom online event registration page using Eventzilla for free.

Online Event Registration Software – On Boarding Guide

December 7th, 2010

View more presentations from Eventzilla.