EventElephant Blog

How to get attendees to take the front seats at meetings

2012-01-30T14:02:00.002Z

I recently joined a fab Event Management group on LinkedIn called Event Planning and Event Management. There are loads of really interesting conversations going on which gives a fascinating insight into what everyone is talking about in the Event industry.

I stumbled across a really fun conversation entitled: If you have 500 attendees and they all want to sit in the back of the meeting room, what creative ideas do you use to seat them up in front?

Here are some of my favourite responses...

If you've got a buffet, put the food near the front. You'll find that people will want to have the first pick of the food.

Make the front area, the VIP area. People like to be made to feel like they're important.

Put whoopie cushions on the seats at the back.

Turn the seats at the back to face the back wall. In their confusion people would go to the front rather than turn the chair around.

Put a big sign up to say that if you sit in the first several rows you will be given a raffle ticket and put into a draw to win a prize.

Put signs up on the last few rows stating that people should sit there only if they want to be called on during the presentation.

Ask the last 5 rows to stand up and move to the front.

That's just a few of the comments. Why not have a look yourself for some inspiration.

Interesting event articles

2012-01-10T12:15:00.004Z

I've been trawling through the internet this week getting up to speed on what the latest news in the Events Industry is. Here's a list of my favourite news and gossip:

Ever stopped to think about organising an event during windy conditions? Read this blog to get some tips on how to cope.

Do you run conferences? Check out this guide to IT requirements when setting up your next conference.

Or do you run Exhibitions? Check out this cool app.

Facebook launch the new 'suggested event tool'. It's caused a bit of a stir. Good news for Event Organisers?

Happy Reading

Boost your last minute ticket sales

2011-12-08T16:03:00.007Z

Tis the season to be jolly and tis the season to party party party. I’ve been trawling our site and there is loads of festive fun coming up. If you’ve got an event coming up and you’ve still got quite a few tickets to sell, here are some tips for promoting your event last minute...

PICK UP THE PHONE

Email marketing and promotion on social media is great, but if you want to sell tickets fast, why not just pick up the phone. Speak to people and get them to buy tickets there and then. It’s easier to get people to commit when you speak to them personally.

USE VIDEO

Using a video can be a really effective way to grab people’s attention and get your message across with not a lot of cost and effort. You can use the video on email campaigns, on You Tube, Facebook and Twitter. We’ve all seen how fast a video can go viral on You Tube, if you can create something really popular you could create a buzz in no time.

WHO ATTENDED YOUR PREVIOUS EVENTS?

As well as inviting them to your event, get them to refer your event to a friend. They might be going to your event, but haven’t even considered telling all their friends about it. You could even offer them a commission if they sold enough tickets.

SEND REMINDERS

Once you’ve sent an email out inviting everyone, don’t just leave it there. Pass on to any other Event Organisers you know and get them to send to their database too. Follow up on every email that goes out, preferably with a phone call. Then a few days later send the email out again to anyone you were unable to reach. Repeat every few days leading up until your event.

GIVE US A SHOUT

Speak to us at EventElephant and we'll give you a few tips.

It's not too late to plan your festive party

2011-12-02T11:08:00.012Z

As of today it’s officially Christmas, well as far as I’m concerned, and I’m in the festive spirit. Which has got me thinking about all the parties and fun stuff going on this time of year. If you’re cutting it a bit fine and haven’t sorted your festive party yet, here are a few tips to help you get things off the ground....

FIRST THING FIRST - WHAT SORT OF PARTY?

What can you realistically achieve in the time you have? How much money have you got to spend and how many people are helping? Start off by thinking about whether it should be formal or informal or how big? Set some goals for what you want to achieve.

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU GOT TO SPEND?

It’s easier than you think to overspend when organising an event. Be specific about how much you want to spend. Create a budget and allocate a certain amount of money to each element. Expect the unexpected – think about everything that you might have to spend money on, from entertainment, to staff to insurance.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO INVITE?

Depending on the type of event you’re organising, think about who you want to target to come to your party. If the event is public, have you got a list of people you want to send an invite to? Have you thought about how you’re going to promote your event? Think about your options.

WHERE IS THE EVENT GOING TO TAKE PLACE?

Before you book the venue, take into account who will be coming, how easy will it be to get there? How accessible is the venue by public transport? What is the parking like? This will not only increase the number of attendees coming, but will add to the experience on the night.

RESEARCH THE VENUE FIRST

Okay, you've found a perfect location but make sure the venue ticks all the boxes for your event. Is it big enough? Are there noise restrictions? What time does it stay open until? Do they require you to bring anything? Have they got everything you need?

HOW DO YOU WANT TO CATER YOUR EVENT?

Food and drink can make or break a party. What sort of food and drink would go down well at your party? What style of food will suit your guests? Buffet, canapés, food stalls, sit down meal? Will you need to have cocktails or champagne at the reception? Do you need to hire waiters?

HOW ABOUT HAVING A THEME?

Everyone are always in the mood to let their hair down over the festive season. A theme might just give your party a fun boost. It doesn’t have to be a Christmas theme, it could be anything from James Bond, to Movie Stars to just a simple black tie event. Compliment the theme by decorating the room, having live entertainment and table decorations.

WHAT SORT OF ENTERTAINMENT?

Good entertainment is the key to a good party. If you’re going to include performers, make sure you do your research. Ask for testimonials and make sure they or the company you use is reliable and reputable. Have they got a show reel you can see? Think about who is coming to your party and what entertainment they would react well to. There are lots of agencies that can help with this sort of entertainment.

MAKE SURE YOU'VE GOT A PLAN

There is so much to remember when organising a party. Too much information to keep in your head. Get organised. Create a detailed itinerary for the night. Include contact telephone numbers and exactly what time who and what arrives.

GETTING YOUR INVITATIONS RIGHT

The invitation you create is the guest’s first impression of what your event will be like, so make it a good one. Most importantly make sure you include all important information. Dress code, date, time it starts and finishes, is there food and drink available, the address, who to RSVP to, how much it costs.

HOW WILL YOU SELL TICKETS FOR YOUR EVENT?

Are you charging for a ticket to your event? Have you thought about how to take the bookings easily and efficiently? Taking secure payments on-line couldn’t be easier. If you use EventElephant you can take secure payments, send email invites, upload your event to facebook, see whose coming and who isn’t, send follow up emails and create a stylish event website.

Some new bits and pieces

2011-11-25T15:53:00.003Z

We've made a few changes and updates recently. We’ve been listening to what you’re saying. And we’ve made a few tweekes to make your life a bit easier. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

SAVE TIME AND INCREASE TICKET SALES

Pending bookings...If a booking fails and becomes pending, the system will automatically cancel the booking. It will also send that person an email to tell them the booking was unsuccessful.

CHECK TICKETS IN A FRACTION OF THE TIME

Ticket management for large events...You can now scan tickets at multi entrance points at your event. You can also have as many scanners as you like at each entrance.

STAY IN CONTROL OF YOUR ATTENDEE NUMBERS

Sell tickets on the door...If you want to sell the remainder of your tickets at the event, you can simply print as many tickets as you like from your event control area. You can then scan each ticket you sell, which will update your reports in your EventElephant account.

FIND IMPORTANT INFORMATION EASILY

Attendee comments...You can now make a comment next to any booking you've taken and then view the comments in the reports.

WATCH THIS SPACE...

You’ve told us what you want and we’re listening. There’s lots of new functionality being worked on as we speak. Keep an eye on our blog to find out more.

Start planning your winter events early and beat the rush

2011-08-25T13:51:00.001+01:00

This is a busy time of year for events. That’s why we thought we’d give you a little nudge to remind you what’s coming up...

Halloween - 10 weeks away
Guy Fawkes Night - 11 weeks away
Christmas - 17 weeks away
New Years Eve - 18 weeks away

If you're planning a themed party, an office do, club night or an event on any of these holidays, we recommend you get started soon. Here are a few reasons why...

You should give yourself at least 8 weeks to promote your event
Attendees get booked up early this time of year – make sure you start promoting your event before everyone else
Give yourself loads of time to prepare all the other elements of your event

Good Luck with your next event.

EventElephant - The Business Networks Best Friend

2011-03-29T09:20:00.015+01:00

We're really excited about working with and becoming the official ticketing partner for Finding Networking Events

Finding Networking Events is a dream website for all you Business Networkers out there. It's packed full of resources for finding events, groups, clubs and shows. On top of that there are news stories and interesting articles.

It's well worth a look if you're seeking your next networking event or if you're running an event...just don't forget to come to EventElephant to sell your tickets online.

We're recruiting for a Designer

2011-03-28T15:48:00.008+01:00

How would you like to work for a young, dynamic and exciting company?

Web and Graphic Designer - based in Dublin

If you are a talented, energetic self starter, capable of delivering results when given the barest outline briefs or the most detailed specifications, then we want to hear from you. This is an excellent position for a recent college graduate or other motivated individual who could have little work experience but a strong portfolio which represents their abilities and unique styles in graphic and website design.

Experience with Adobe PhotoShop CS3 and Adobe Illustrator CS3 are essential. Your portfolio need not be purely web design oriented, though candidates with strong web design portfolios are preferred. Excellent verbal communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to prioritise own workload and work to exacting deadlines are essential. A desire to learn about new products and keep abreast of new developments in graphic and web design are also critical.

Please send your CV and samples of recent work or links to your portfolio to anna.oneill@eventelephant.com

EventElephant in global 100 outstanding and fast-moving start-up technology companies

2011-01-27T14:37:00.000Z

EventElephant made it into Guidewire Group’s, Innovate!100 list in 2010, ranked at 43.

Guidewire is one the world's leading analyst firm’s focused exclusively on startups and emerging markets: this global competition identifies the world’s top 100 "outstanding and fast-moving start-up companies from around the world." The List was developed after more than 30 Pitch Slam events on five continents over the past 10 months, (thousands of pitches put through a rigorous methodology and process) as part of the Innovate! 2010 program. Placement on the list was determined by a combination of the company’s G/SCORE assessment, stage and pace of growth, and business potential.

We’re thrilled. Two other Irish companies made the top 100 list: Sonru.com and GetitkeepIt who were placed at 46 and 98.
You can see the list and roundup on Innovate!100.

New To Planning A Club Night?

2011-01-06T09:07:00.016Z

Here are a few tips and suggestions to help you to achieve the perfect night out:

Create hype!
If people aren’t excited about your club night, then they won’t go. With so many options for clubbers these days, you need to catch their attention. Every break through event needs a USP so be creative and create something that sets your night apart. Like a secret location, special guests or a completely unique experience. Take your event online to keep people informed about what’s happening and what to expect. Social networking sites are the perfect platform to do this. We ran a survey recently: 52% of our survey respondents said they receive between 1 and 5 Facebook music event invites per week. Make sure you get listed on your potential clubbers Facebook pages. with EventElephant's Facebook Integration Application you can upload your event to your Facebook page with just one click
Build up excitement about your big launch and keep awareness alive and growing by dangling the carrot of an amazing clubbing experience to all potential attendees.

Keep It Professional!
No one wants to attend a club night that looks like it was organised by a toddler. Make sure your marketing materials and website represent the night you are offering and are slick and professional. This is the first impression you’re potential customers will get of your event and can be make or break. Ensure all graphics and design are properly executed and present an image you would be proud to promote. Remember, you only get once chance to make a good first impression. With EventElephant's ticketing software you can set-up your uniquely branded website easily: here's a great example of the WrightVenue:

Cater To Your Clientele
Don’t charge students prices they cannot afford, or expect professionals to party in a dive club. Know who you’re customers are and their expectations. Especially today, pricing is crucial and can determine the type of clubber you will attract. You can’t cater to everyone’s taste: understand who you want to attract and customise the music and venue to keep them coming back.

Planning Is Key!
Don’t let it all get on top of you, you can’t do everything on your own. Make sure all aspects of your club nights are organised and planned in advance. You never know when disaster may strike. EventElephant can help you with the headache of ticket sales. Don’t worry about taking payments, setting up a website or distributing tickets, we’ll do it all. With EventElephant’s set-up to sign up online registration system, you can sell tickets online, take secure online payments and manage EVERYTHING from the one place. We’ll leave you to worry about making sure your event, staff, DJs and entertainment all run smoothly and we don’t envy you that task.
So let us help you take the hassle out of planning your club night, click HERE.

You should follow us on our Facebook music page to hear about upcoming gigs.

EventElephant wishes all its readers a festive Christmas

2010-12-22T17:48:00.005Z

Wherever you are this Christmas and whether it's snowing or the sun is shining, we'd like to wish you a great Christmas and success with all your events.

If you need any help over the holiday period there'll always be someone on hand to answer your queries.

EventElephant wins Innovation, Imagination & Excellence Award

2010-12-15T15:16:00.013Z

EventElephant’s online events planning software received an award at the MBA Association 's first Innovation, Imagination and Excellence in Business Awards on Saturday November 27, 2010 in Belfast's City Hall.

Una Coleman, Head of Marketing EventElephant, accepting the award with Liam Fennelly, President of the MBA Association, and David Quinn, Partner PWC and sponsor of the award.)

“Four exemplary companies and people were honoured for their innovative approach to building their businesses” including EventElephant, according to the MBA Association.
Sir George Quigley, Chairman of Bombardier-Shorts, the Awards sponsors, who celebrated 100 years of innovation in 2009, told the 200 strong business audience that innovation was not solely the responsibility of business and industry but needed to be applied in the political arena too. He called for Government to revisit the idea of a reduced corporation tax rate for Northern Ireland, to encourage investment and enterprise and to rebalance the economy by building the private sector.
Liam Fennelly, President of the MBA Association of Ireland, the representative body for MBAs (Masters in Business Administration) praised the shortlisted companies: “This is a great opportunity to celebrate the excellent track record of innovation within many companies on the island of Ireland, a record which has enabled them to compete with the best in the world and win.”
The Innovation in Service Development Award was taken by EvenElephant, the online event management and booking system that’s been hailed as “the event organizer’s best friend”.

David Quinn, as sponsor of the award in the service category to EventElephant commented: "In a new world where consumers will play an unprecedented role in product and service development, CEOs are looking to their customers, partners and supply-chain for product and process innovation. Innovation, technology and globalisation are the new partners in a race for corporate advantage and all of us are runners in that marathon". "And in a world where close to 90% of CEOs expect the internet, mobile devices and social media to determine future business strategy , service innovation will become the driver of growth in a shrinking world where borders and time are irrelevant."

The inaugural MBA Association Innovation, Imagination and Excellence in Business Awards were supported by Bombardier Aerospace, HSBC and Queen’s University School of Management.
It was another great outing for EventElephant.

Social Networking is changing the way concert promoters & clubs run their gigs.

2010-12-13T15:29:00.021Z

We ran a survey back in the beginning of the Autumn to understand how Social Networking is influencing the choices people make about attending music events. The results say it all. Facebook matters!

Here are the results of our survey.

What is your preferred platform(s) to find out about upcoming music events?

How many Facebook music event invites do you receive each week?

Use EventElephant’s Facebook Integration Application to promote your club nights.

If it was cheaper to buy a ticket to a gig, concert, festival, event online - would you prefer to book online?

Sell more tickets online and take secure online payment with EventElephant’s set-up to sign-up music ticketing platform.

How much do you spend on music tickets in a year?

Music remains a key entertainment spend even in recessionary times.
With EventElephant’s marketing tools you can be a LOUDER VOICE for your club nights.

What’s your preferred method of receiving your tickets?

The overwhelming number of respondents are happy to receive their tickets via email. This is cost effective for music and venue promoters and don’t forget your can manage attendee entrance at your events with our EntryElephant barcode and scanning verification
Note, some respondents selected more than one option.

Do you check Promoters Facebook pages for information?

Promoters, there’s alot more you can do to engage with your prospective attendees. Add your events to your Facebook page with EventElephant’s Facebook integration application. Offer promotional discounts on your Facebook page: get your attendees to like your page and keep you in front of mind. We’ll add your details to our EventElephant Faceboook MusicandEntertainment page.

Age categories:

38% of our respondents were female, 62% male.

What's influencing your choices of music gigs you attend?
What will your annual spend be on music events in 2011?
Leave your comments below.

If you’re a music promoter and you want to learn more get in touch with our music man, andy.noonan@eventelephant.com
http://www.twitter.com/andynoonan
facebook.com/musicandentertainment

Winter Latest updates: New features and benefits for Event Organisers

2010-11-29T10:01:00.017Z

We’ve upgraded our Key Features page, to help you see at a glance all the features of our event planning system: making event planning easier for you.

Our product development teaming are always working away in the background, adding new functionality to our online event registration platform. We also get lots of feedback from our event organisers with suggestions on what would make things easier and better for them.
Here are a few of the things we’ve been working on, including new features which will definitely help boost your ticket sales.

We’ve got some great new features to tell you about which will definitely boost your ticket sales. They’re based on your feedback.

Setting up your event registration website couldn’t be easier with EventElephant’s ticketing software. That’s the first step. Now you need to market your event. Check out all the tools you can use to create a buzz and promote your event: Market Your Event

We’ve upgraded our Key Features page, to help you see at a glance all the features of our event planning system: making event planning easier for you.

EntryElephant: Our barcode and scanning verification to help you manage attendee entrance at your events. You can scan etickets at the point of entry and you can generate name badges

You can now select whatever text is relevant to your event for the Register Now button, eg Book Now or add your own.

To make it clear we have changed the "credit card fee" to Payment charge" everywhere.

You can remove the PDF ticket attachments from confirmation emails: we know some event organisers prefer to send their own branded tickets to their attendees

Keep your comments coming. You want to sell more tickets. We want you to sell more tickets.
If you want to learn more contact your account manager OR marketing@eventelephant.com

EventElephant wins best ebusiness award

2010-11-24T16:25:00.004Z

Best and Brightest Rewarded for their Contributions to the Online World
The winners of Ireland’s prestigious Eircom Spider Awards were announced at a gala awards ceremony on Thursday 18th of November. EventElephant won BEST EBUSINESS category.
With over 700 attendees, the best and brightest representing hospitality and tourism, entertainment, financial services, education, community, retail, charity to mention some of the categories, were there to acknowledge their peers, creating the online revolution.
According to Stephen Beynon, eircom Chairman of the Judging Panel “There’s a really high quality entry this year. There are people embracing social media as main stream for the first time. The judges were bowled over by the quality of this year’s entries.”

It’s a fantastic endorsement for EventElephant’s online events registration system. We are so proud and pleased to be recognised as THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST FOR OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE ONLINE WORLD.

Photo: Una Coleman and MC Jimmy Carr at the Spider Awards.

EventElephant goes Reality TV

2010-11-04T16:38:00.007Z

The Only Way Is Essex
Jack and Mark slugging it out on “The Only Way is Essex

The punching is about to get serious on ITV's latest reality TV show, “The Only Way Is Essex” as Mark Wright & Jack Tweed enter the celebrity ring in the next episode against the boys from “Big Brother”. But this time, it’s all in a good cause. The Essex Boys are putting on a fight, Deuces Boxing Special, in aid of charity on Sunday 7th November at 20:00 at the City Pavilion, Collier Row in Essex.

The ITV show will have the cameras present as the latest reality celebrities slug it out in the ring and later, no doubt, slug the champagne at the after match party.
Mark Wright is a budding entrepreneur and club promoter, a business where a boxing skill might well come in handy, to cut a less than fine pun. For a 23 year old his achievements are impressive. His company, Unique Parties, hosts over 100 events a year in venues in London’s West End and Essex. He is about to open his new bar this Friday, Deuces Bar & Lounge in Essex.

And, he’s as comfortable with technology, using social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook to cost effectively promote his events and EventElephant’s online registration platform to sell tickets for Sunday night's fight. With thousands of followers on twitter and Facebook and now a million+ watching the show, he is leveraging his new celebrity status to promote Sunday’s fight night.

What remains to be seen is whether they will be as pretty after the show.

Daily Mail: The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright turns training session with Jack Tweed into Rocky photoshoot
ITV.com: The Only Way Is Essex
Daily Mail: Jack Tweed's best friend Mark Wright makes his own bid for fame in The Only Way Is Essex

EventElephant using social media to set it apart from herd

2010-10-24T12:57:00.010+01:00

Irish Tech journalist, Marie Boran recently did a feature piece on EventElephant for the Irish Times, focusing on our social media strategies and how social networking is contributing to our revenue and its impact as a lead generator. You can read her article here.

FOR ONLINE businesses, global reach also means global competition but Dublin-based ticketing firm EventElephant is separating itself from the herd – by tapping into the fast-growing social media scene where word of mouth and “liking” something based on your friend’s recommendation are what sell tickets.

EventElephant was founded in 2008 but already has prestigious clients including KPMG and An Post, and is signing up nearly 500 new event organisers per month across Ireland and the UK.

Catering for smaller companies as well as large-scale events EventElephant is an end-to-end service that includes branded event website, secure online payments for tickets, a Facebook app for event promotion, sales tracking and a contact database that the client can export

The recently added Facebook integration provides an easy “one-click” way for events planners to socialise their event online without getting bogged down in social media strategies.

“We are currently running a survey to look at how social networking is influencing the choices people make about attending music events,” says Una Coleman, the firm’s marketing manager.

“For instance, 63pc of respondents say Facebook is their preferred platform to hear about music events and 48pc say they receive between one and five Facebook music event invites a week.”

Social media is also an important enterprise tool for the company itself; 10pc of new business each month is a direct result of its social networking activity, which includes a blog, Twitter account and LinkedIn group.

“In as much as we can, resources permitting, we manage our presence across all the key social networking platforms. Facebook is becoming a hub for events, particularly entertainment events,” says Coleman.“We’ve had some great wins recently via Twitter including London Air Ambulance, and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

As well as keen use of social media, EventElephant has also taken another leaf out of the new wave of Silicon Valley start-ups’ handbook: bootstrapping is preferable to relying on external funding.

“Bootstrapping is always difficult, especially when developing very complex software and there is a big investment required in the technology. Operating a ‘lean start-up’ as recommended by Eric Ries, a Silicon Valley author, speaker and consultant, you watch the costs like a hawk and measure everything.”

Where do you hear about music events?

2010-08-27T17:17:00.008+01:00

"Social Networking is influencing the choices people make about attending music events".

"Technology is changing the way concert promoters and clubs run their gigs".

We’d like to put some facts behind the anecdotes.

Please take our survey and tell us what you do.

There are 10 questions in our survey below: it will take no more than 3 minutes to complete. And, be in with a chance to WIN an ipod!

Click here to take the SURVEY.

We greatly appreciate your support.

Events marketing service hooks up with Facebook

2010-08-03T12:55:00.004+01:00

Click on the article to read.

Summer Special for Dublin Chamber of Commerce Members

2010-07-15T11:13:00.003+01:00

In the spirit of the silly season we are delighted to offer all Dublin Chamber members the opportunity to set up their first event on EventElephant for FREE, for events set up by July 31st.

EventElephant is an Online Events Registration system. It’s easy to use. You don’t have to be a techie.

Create an event registration website in minutes
Promote your events automatically via Facebook
Sell you event tickets with online registration
Take secure online payments for your event bookings

Don’t forget the deadline of July 31. All you have to do is set your event up before the 31st – the actual date of your event can be any date before or thereafter. Leave a comment here that you're a member and we'll send you the promotion code.

Sign up now

EventElephant Integrates with Facebook

2010-07-14T09:55:00.004+01:00

~ EventElephant Creates A Buzz For Event Organisers with its Facebook integration application~

Dublin, London, 13 July, 2010
EventElephant, a leading European online event registration provider, launches its new Facebook integration application. Event organisers can now quickly and easily upload their events to their Facebook pages.
“Word of mouth has always been the most effective and low cost marketing strategy for event organisers”, says Eamon O’Brien, CEO of EventElephant. “Now, “world of mouth” and social networking are great ways of letting lots of people know about your event.”

Whether you are a professional event organiser selling tickets online for your music festival or seminar and conference, a university managing alumni events, a training company marketing your training modules, or a sports organiser planning a sports event or fund raiser “socialising” your events will help you increase your ticket sales. With just one click you can upload and publish your event on Facebook. From there, event planners can invite their friends and spread the word.

Social Networking platforms like Facebook are powerful tools to help event planners promote their events. Facebook is reaching more and more users every day and it’s a great way to spread the excitement about your event and reach your target customers. Fernando T. Martin, Life Festival Director comments, “EventElephant’s new Facebook integration is good news for Life Festival and music festival organisers. Our attendees are aged between 20 and 40. They all use Facebook. They all talk to each other about the gigs through Facebook. This is a great opportunity for us to be able to promote our festival and provide a direct link to sell tickets from Facebook.”

Eamon O’Brien, EventElephant’s CEO explains how technology is both revolutionising and democratising the event industry. “You don’t have to be a techie to take advantage of these tools. EventElephant’s easy to use and affordable online event software means all event planners can have professional looking websites, can invite attendees automatically and sell tickets online. With our Facebook integration event planners can now upgrade their marketing into viral conversations and create an online buzz about their event”.

Start Socialising Your Events Today:

About EventElephant
www.EventElephant.com was established in 2008 and is rapidly gaining a reputation as an innovative technology provider in the event management industry. Its event planning technology now underpins events and festivals of all sizes in the UK, Ireland and other countries across the globe. EventElephant won the Best Innovative Start-Up through Digital Enterprise award at the Digital Media Awards 2010. EventElephant has offices in London and Dublin.

Marketing & Media Contact
Una Coleman
Marketing Manager
+ 353 (86) 8186903,
+44 (0)20 34112035

Tips for Green Event Planning & Marketing

2010-07-06T12:50:00.007+01:00

Are you planning your events in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner? Some simple actions can make a difference and win you a green badge of responsibility and another way to help you stand out from your competitors. Being perceived as green can bolster your reputation as an event organiser: indeed, many businesses actively promote their “green” practices to enhance their reputation. Many companies have already learned that an increasing number of consumers are demanding more environmentally responsible products and services: you’ll also find that it encourages good business practices among your employees.

We hear a lot about going green in the event marketing and planning industry. Luckily, the worlds of "cost-effective" and "eco-friendly" are converging - in many cases, going green can actually cut costs and time. Whatever event you are organising, it’s easy to go green. Here are some easy ways that EventElephant can help you to support the green movement from within your organization.

1. Be Creative
Why not get your staff together to brainstorm promotional and marketing techniques that cut down on flyers and printed advertisements. Produce environmentally responsible marketing materials and signage. Use ambient media instead of flyers where you can communicate with just as many people with less cost and waste.

2. Use Paperless Technology
Use new media and electronic technology to cut down your paper use. Create a conference web site; offer online registration and confirmation; and promote your event online using the web and/or email. It’s environmentally friendly, reduces your administration costs and your workload!

3. Use the Internet and Social Media to Promote Your Event
Reduce waste and use our online invitation tool to invite your guests to your events. Send them reminders and deliver their tickets online.
Use Social Media to promote your event. EventElephant’s new Facebook integration allows you to post your event to your Facebook page and inform your “friends” of your next event. Eliminating paper and using e- invitations will save you money on postage and printing cost as well as reducing the environmental impact of your event.

4. Use Transport Services
Can you organise buses and car pooling to your gig? How far is the venue from the airport? Is there a shuttle service? Can attendees share taxis? Having your venue in a rural location can mean an overload of traffic and massive traffic pollution: it is the biggest cause of pollution at festivals. Here’s an example of how Sibin Festival 2010 used its EventElephant festival website to organise transport for the attendees: they could book their tickets online but also buy bus tickets online to get to and from the festival: You can build a customised website in minutes and include detail on a whole range of subjects relevant to your event.

5. Sell Tickets Online
Did you know that you can anticipate an increase of 20% in ticket sales when you sell tickets online? And be environmentally at the same time.

Now spread the word! Ask delegates to evaluate the sustainability aspects of your conference, your music festival or golf tournament for instance. You can post a questionnaire on your EventElephant website and email to attendees to fill out after the event. It’s also a good way to build your relationship with your attendees, for future events. Tell delegates and the media about your sustainable practices. You'll be surprised, green efforts are contagious.

Turn your marketing green with us today. Get Started Now!.

Take the stress out of organising your golf event and sell tickets online

2010-06-30T09:43:00.019+01:00

We’re all fired up with enthusiasm and renewed interest in our golf game after last week’s fantastic win by Graeme McDowell – the first European to take the coveted trophy since 1970. What an achievement and great day for the Northern Irish man.

Over the next few months most of you are probably going to have busy playing schedules: more of you will be running golf tournaments and competitions, planning corporate and golf society outings. Deliver a successful golf outing and you can be a winner too!

Whether your clients golf on a single digit handicap or just play for pleasure EventElephant, the online event registration system, is here to help you make your golfing events run smoothly and professionally.

EventElephant automates all the essential tasks to help you market and promote your golf event. You can:

Create a contact database and event contact list.
Sell tickets online. We know this will increase your ticket sales by at least 20%.
Set up several ticket categories, including concessions and promotional offers.
Send promotional emails about your event and manage the responses, attendee sign-up and create name badges.

All that will give you your albatross!

Here are a few tips to running a winning golf society event.

If it’s a fundraiser get it registered on the website of the charity / charities you are supporting.
Send out invites early and ensure you collect your funds through EventElephant to avoid cancellations. EventElephant lets you send email invitations for your events straight to your target audience.
Social networking sites are great for letting lots of people know about your event. It’s easy and cost effective. Just log on to Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and send your url to your contacts. With EventElephant’s new Facebook Application, as the event organiser you can automatically and quickly upload details of your event to your Facebook page, getting notice of your event in front of your own friends. Ask your contact list to spread the word and upload to their social networking sites.
Send out reminders 3 days in advance with start times: ask attendees to arrive 30 minutes early to allow time for players to get introduced and find their team members. EventElephant’s email functionality allows you to send an email to everybody who is registered and or invited.
Remind people to advise you if they’re not available to play so you can reallocate places and reorganise teams.
If networking is important to the event make sure you get permission from attendees to circulate the attendee list in advance of the event.
Advise people of the club’s dress code. You can do this in your invitation or reminder. You can also include a section on your EventElephant website on dress code and any other club rules.
Give clear instructions to all players when they arrive: facilitate introductions to get players quickly sorted into their teams.
Ensure the teeing off times are kept to schedule. Try booking tee times 4 months in advance to secure the date you want. Business societies usually prefer to get tee times from 1.30pm onwards.

Get Started today: learn more and see what other golf event organisers have done: click here.

“We are running our 6 golf events on EventElephant’s online event registration software. It has made life so much easier for our society golf organisers. We have a great looking website with all the information of the tournaments. We can email our members directly and people can sign up to our mailing list. In fact, we use EventElephant’s registration system as the website for the IFSC Golfing Society. It’s a tremendous resource and so cost effective”. Honorary Secretary, IFSC golf society.

Now go for that hole in one – Eventelephant online event registration software. It’s free to give it a go – just click here.

Balancing a laid back atmosphere while delivering a well run music festival

2010-06-25T10:50:00.015+01:00

Life Festival now has it all: an efficiently managed, fun festival, trouble free for both organisers and attendees, providing a personable experience to free spirited aficionados who attended from all around the world for a weekend of music, arts, dance, and culture in Belvedere House Park, Westmeath, Ireland during the June bank holiday weekend 2010.

Smaller than Electric Picnic and Oxegen with a maximum capacity of 5,000, Life Festival is famed for its laid back, relaxed atmosphere and good time crowd. It’s chilled out character and alternative music is what sets it apart for the attendees. Behind the scenes, EventElephant delivers an online event registration system and tools that guarantee success for the event organisers and ensures the festival goers enjoy the music.

This year there were many firsts for EventElephant and Life. It was our first collaboration. Previously, Life Festival used TicketMaster as its booking engine. With EventElephant, Life Festival retains control of the database. This is a great advantage for festival and event organisers. They retain control and have a contact list to market and promote their events in future years.

As well as providing EventElephant’s usual service of tracking sales, creating reports & managing bookings from the one place we introduced our new barcode scanning and verification application which allows the organisers to scan each printed ticket on entry using a barcode scanner.

We sent our “Festivals” man Andy Noonan along to oversee its introduction.
“With a venue like this it is important to control the attendees entering and the ones who shouldn’t be. Entry at the gate was efficient and quick. We caught the few trying to pass off duplicate tickets. Our new system worked without a glitch, ” said Andy.

And, it was good for the attendees too. We talked to Lifer, Eimear Staunton and an event organiser herself, now at her fourth Life Festival. She reckoned this year was her best Life experience yet.
“I loved the venue this year. Good vibes, great music and cool people. The scanner is a great idea, lots of people do use fake tickets and if it helps Life to come back bigger and better next year then that’s even better”

It’s hard to keep track of a large crowd, but with EventElephant’s new barcode scanning and verification application it’s simple.

How It Works
As well as providing EventElephant’s usual service of online ticket registration and payment, distribution and promotion, our new application allows the organisers to scan each printed ticket on entry using a barcode scanner.

To get started you need to:
1. Download the Scanning Application.
2. Purchase a 2D Barcode Scanner.
3. Download the Attendee List and upload it to the Scanning Application.

The organisers upload their attendee list into the barcode scanner and EventElephant emails a pdf ticket to the customer containing the bar code which they can print and bring to the event. Each ticket includes a unique barcode which identifies the ticket. When the ticket is presented for admittance to the festival or show, the barcode is scanned to check validity and a match to the customer database. After the event, the event organiser can upload the attendee numbers and details back into the system for next year’s promotional activities, for instance. It’s that simple!
The Benefits

Prevents ticket forgery
Keeps a record of attendees
Makes the work of the box office simpler
Easier to manage large numbers
Record of who has attended and who has not
Reduced costs through not having to print and post tickets

And the outcome? Easy event planning! Check it out here.

Event Elephant is delighted to be involved with "Europe’s best underground electronic festival" in its fifth and greatest year to date.

" We are glad we used Eventelephant as our management and ticketing system for Life Festival 2010. Having an EventElephant representative on site helped the festival to go smoothly. The Barcode scanning system worked perfectly making the entry to the event really quick for punters and easy for the box-office staff." Fernando T. Martin, Life Festival Director.

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE OF SECURING SPONSORSHIP FOR EVENT PLANNING IN THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CLIMATE

2010-06-17T12:49:00.006+01:00

The costs of running an event can be significant. Selling tickets online (attendee fees) may not be enough to ensure success and achievement of your financial goals. Securing sponsorship for your event may be a requirement. Professional event organizers will be well versed in the steps to securing suitable sponsors and sponsorship. New event organizers may find it daunting the first time round. All event organizers are challenged in the current climate to secure new sponsors and or retain existing sponsors. But, this is still possible. How? Start early!

The process commences at least a year in advance. Once you have your sponsorship guaranteed you have secured the financial status of the event. This in turn gives you the option of discounting attendee fees or even making the event free to some/all attendees. You can also look at offering a discounted fee for early bird registration, always a great help in managing the significant cashflow issues around event management.

First, as an event organizer, you need to do your homework on your targeted sponsors.

What are their company goals and objectives?
Are your conference / event attendees their target audience and buyers?

To secure sponsorship with any organisation, you need to demonstrate how they can reach their target audience through your event. Have a look at their competition and what they are doing: can you help them establish a meaningful difference through your event, for instance?

Be clear about the benefits. Before you meet them, identify where they will get coverage: on your website, in your newsletters, emails about the event to your database, in the lead up to the event. Placement of their banners at the conference or event itself. Think about a brochure / event booklet and where your sponsors can get mention. Booklets can be a great way of attracting additional funding, for instance, if you are running a charity ball. What about any media activities you are conducting? Can mention of your key sponsors be incorporated?

Professional event organizers need to have an understanding of their sponsors’ business and maintain ongoing good working relationships with their sponsors. Remember that a race isn’t won at the beginning or the end, it’s what you do along the way that counts. And never under-estimate the value of post event follow up meetings and discussions to ascertain what you can improve on/do differently the next time out. Don’t take the money and run. Stay in touch.

If we can help, get in touch: info@eventelephant.com

If you have any wining tips that you wish to share then do get in touch!

Thanks to Marie at Event Management International for her contribution.