The finished product, see how it was done below.

The first thing you see when you log in is the dashboard.  To create an event you click the “create and event” button on the left hand side.

It will prompt you to put in some basic information about your event.  The event description even supports html!

Next you create tickets, registration dates and the event schedule.

After you input everything into the fields your event will look like something like this.  You will still have the options to edit or delete anything that has been created.  You can have more than one ticket set up for each event too.

Once all the info is entered for the event it is time to customize.  All the customization fields are in the “Customize” tab.

The customized ticket fields can capture important information like name and email or they can be fun, in this case “What Bling are you Bringing?”

This is where it gets really cool.  The Theme Editor let’s you truly make the event look like your own.  You can change the header, footer or entire style sheet.  You have to know some html and css but with a basic knowledge you can do great things.

And like the icing on the cake, the email receipt had to be custom too.  There is html and plain text options and you are able to change both.

All that’s left is to publish and enjoy your new event!

Registration Page

Number of tickets

Ticket information with custom fields

Payment information

The thank you page

And like I said it wouldn’t be complete without the thank you email.

Register for your own free eROI Event account »

The fun part of the day came later when Portland entrepreneurs John Friess (Wired.MD, Journey Gym, Seven Planet), Josh Friedman (Eleven Wireless, NedSpace), Martin (Climate Prosperity Portland, Formos) and I had drinks with Tom Szaky - it wasn’t your normal night of casual conversation over a beer. We took a detour to NedSpace and watched Friess give a straight-faced demo of his prototype product Journey Gym while the four of us were heckling him (at 10pm with a few drinks in us). The evening continued at next-door bar Lotus where we all brainstormed various products to make out of used toothbrushes, sun glasses, and dozens of other waste streams that could now have innovative uses once they’ve been separated from the rest of garbage before they get to landfills. Most off-the-wall idea: make kid-wagons out of compressed, used toothbrushes. Friess - you’re going to need to explain that concept a little better to me now, because it sounded so good Thurs night.

2009 PAF Rosey Awards site

I’m not so sure this site would work in most other industries as it is definitely edgy, controversial, and provocative, but I think it’s a shot in the arm that Portland needs.  The true test is to see if agencies from other cities take notice.  Then, an interesting dialog will begin.

You’ll start to see this campaign promoted more on Twitter (I love the “Rosey Smack Feed” section of the ‘Win Tix’ part of the site), Facebook, and other blogs in the upcoming months.  I’ve got to sign off from this blog post to think of some good Smack Talk myself - submit your own here >>

Here is my Twitter stream from Ignite NYC in reverse order (most recent to oldest posts):
# Kickstarter.com seems really cool as crowd-funding concept. Like kiva.com for the usa. #nyc4

# @ignitenyc vibe is awesome - crowd is into it and super supportive. All presentations except one have been solid

# Oh: “the greatest trick the devil ever invented was convincing the world he didn’t exist. I wrote him back, baby!” #nyc4

# @the_swine_flu hilarious @theonion. Brilliant!

# Charitini a very cool concept #nyc4

# Online dating pres of 16.1 million profiles and made a census by congressional district. Amazing.

# Dollhouse earth part 1, 2, 3 - love the disconnectef thoughts all coming together at the end #nyc4

# Overview effect for man on the moon - altered consciousness #nyc4

# Unicef built rapidsms to facilitate sms and problem solving for malnutrition in africa #nyc4

# Beautifully done @cstoller

# First presenter is from organic. Study kindle page like rock layers. I will show u mine if u show me yours. Money. Hilarious #nyc4

# @ignitenyc kicks off with a really positive vibe. I think it might beat out wash dc, but tough to beat pdx. #nyc4

OK, I love these YouTube Ignite NYC IV videos so much I had to show more - check ‘em out below:

Tim Hwang starts off the first few seconds a little tough, but is really really good after…

Kickstarter.com is a really cool concept - like kiva.org for US companies:

Please comment below in the form of a Haiku! Thank you.

Statue by the Penguins holding the event program and enjoying Cascade Brewing’s Razberry Wheat

Luckily for me, Ryan was going to our New York office to meet with clients so I happily went in his place.  It was a perfect day for music, beer and friends.  This fact was only enforced when all the tickets were sold out by 6:30!

The deliciously potent Lagunitas 2009 Correction Ale 7% ABV

With over 20 breweries to choose from and 10 tastings included with admission, who could blame the throws of thirsty Portlander’s enthusiasm?  There was a selection of seasonal summer ales along with tried and true favorites.  The only line that seamed to suffer was the one for root beer.  We don’t proudly state “Keep Portland Beered” for nothing.  My only complaint is that there is only one a year.

Beer lovers lounge in the field while listening to the Crazy 8’s

Photos by Keith Kunis

Fill out survey, and you could win this

The results should be fascinating as everyone in the email marketing world always talks about testing, testing, testing, but not everyone has time, patience, $, or know-how on how to do testing right.

Once again, take the survey and you might win a fun new toy.

Guy Kawasaki bootstrapping image

Yesterday, Chanin Ballance (founder/CEO of viaLanguage), Mitch Daugherty (founder of Morange Design), and I (the eROI guy) got together to plan what we’d talk about for a webinar about Bootstrapping and our personal experiences with self-induced starvation and endurance thru the early days.  It was like catching up with old friends after a couple years - the instant bond entrepreneurs share in dredging up old stories that weren’t fun at the time, but are great memories in retrospect.  The OEN Webinar is set for June 17 (registration isn’t live yet, but will be shortly) and we’re going to use a different format than the usual put-your-audience-to-sleep-with-powerpoint.  We are going to try to re-create the casual, round-table discussion among entrepreneurs sharing candid stories.  Some of the topics will include:

– Risk vs Reward - How do you know if it makes sense to bootstrap your idea?
– Keep your Day Job - The stress of self funding with no income can sometimes lead to failure
– Cash Flow - How to get a handle on your most important business aspect
– How to market your business on a shoestring budget
– Why most business models don’t need funding as it can be a big distraction

Guy Kawasaki, in his old-school days before Alltop, delivers some awesome advice on this on his 2006 blog post titled “The Art of Bootstrapping”

• Aaron doing a great job getting audience out of their shells at #oms

• Tip to event organizers - learn from aaron - institute the “boo” rule. It liberates the crowd.

• Aaron opening - marketing in a recession. Fear will cripple your decision-making

• management is all about cya, no future vision to give marketing any resources at all.

• Overall mktg budget wacked, but bigger piece of the pie going online #oms

• 100 percent of people prefer to communicate online

• Pillar 1 is search. Pillar 2 is email marketing. Pillar 3 is analytics. Across all pillars is social media

• @aaronkahlow - guessing on aaron’s handle - what % people here at #oms will tweet immediately vs email a couple days later from your biz card

• Email is like yesterday’s fax. Even facebook uses email to pull you back into the online community

• Need to customize web analytics reports to align with business goals #oms

I highly recommend you attend another OMS - there’s also a good chance you will see eROI folks like Dylan Boyd, Alex Williams, or me speak at some of the upcoming cities - Chicago, Austin, Denver, Minneapolis, San Fran, Portland, Seattle - there are others as well - check it out here >>.  I will try to dig up where my presentation from this event is posted - stay tuned.