ezEvent™ Debuts Weather Controlling Device

Announcing ezWeather, ezEvent™'s new weather control system for indoor and outdoor events.

Now with ezEvent™’s powerful event management and ticketing software, not only will you be able to create a webpage for your event, sell tickets, and promote through social media, you will finally be ready to take full control of your event, and this includes the weather!

“ezWeather enables ezEvent™ users to select from a wide variety of weather conditions, allowing them to meticulously plan events, right down to the exact, minute-to-minute climate conditions," suggests Cary Prague, Product Manager of ezEvent.com, “it’s going to utterly revolutionize the event planning industry.”

“Oh and just to be clear – ezEvent™ has absolutely no affiliation with any government organizations, domestic or foreign,” he added, despite no one asking him.

ezWeather's usefulness for event planning is limitless! With ezWeather, you can guarantee a snowball fight in July, a seaside volleyball tournament in the depths of winter, or even schedule some rain showers to clear everyone out when you want them to get off your lawn!

The final stages of ezWeather testing were completed in March 2013. Lion and lamb conditions were easily overcome by the weather control system, and ezWeather is scheduled to go live just in time for April showers.  Be sure to register your next event with ezEvent™, because beginning April 1, 2013, you can even control the weather.

How to Set Up a Sports Clinic in Your Town

Setting up a sports clinic can be a great way to give back to the community, help people improve skills, generate revenue, and boost interest in a sports-related business. Here are some tips to help you do it right:

 

Celebrity Guests Boost Attendance

Whether your focus is baseball, gymnastics, wrestling, or swimming, without guests and trainers there is no clinic. You will need guest speakers to talk about strategies, provide inspiration, and give workshops on different aspects of sports and the sports industry that pertain to your clinic. You'll also need qualified experts to give workshops and lead training sessions. For optimum success, you should include a “celebrity” guest as a headliner to help generate buzz for the clinic. If you’re putting on a baseball pitching clinic, you don’t need to have Tim Lincecum, when a pitcher from a local university or minor league team could be a significant draw.

In order to attract guests for you clinic, talk to people involved in your sport and industry. Reach out via social media and in person for best results. This is the time to use whatever connections and networking skills you have. Plan ahead and set aside enough funding to attract and promote your headliner and clinic.

 

Establish a Venue and Schedule

If you don’t already have a venue for your clinic, you’ll need to find one before you can really start putting the wheels-in-motion. The ideal location for most sports clinics would be a park or gym with outdoor and indoor spaces to contend with unpredictable weather. A nice bonus to look for would be a spot that has meeting spaces to hold workshops and presentations. Local high-schools are generally great for such events because they have all of the facilities listed above yet are often cheap, or even free, to use. 
 
Once you have a venue and guest in place, it’s time to start planning the schedule of events. Depending on the size of your clinic you may find that you need a committee to do this. Make a wish list of events you would like to have and include a column for who would be able to do each one well. Then, after talking with all the guests, venue managers, and other important people, you can create a solid event schedule.

 

Promote the Clinic

This is one of the biggest steps you need to take and will often determine the success or failure of your sports clinic.  Luckily, using an event hosting platform such as ezEvent™ can actually help make this the easiest step you will need to take. With ezEvent™, you can create your own custom page with all the details of the clinic for free. The powerful tools within ezEvent™ will allow you to invite prospects to your events via e-mail, promote the event through social media,  sell tickets or passes to it, require attendees to complete waivers and a whole lot more. With your online presence established, you can reach out personally, with poster campaigns, phone calls and traditional networking tools to build excitement for your event and strong participation at your clinic.

ezEvent™ is a Time Saving Event Planning Tool

Planning events can be fun, exciting, and infinitely rewarding - but they can also be a lot of work! You’ve got the vision. Whether it’s a charitable fundraiser, a sports tournament, a class you’d like to teach, or anything else you can dream of, there’s a product to help you make your vision a reality, and best of all, it’s FREE to get started.

ezEvent™ eliminates much of the overhead of creating an event and selling tickets: ezEvent™ handles credit card payments and gives you tools to manage your headcount and ticket distribution. By filling out a simple form, ezEvent™ automatically creates a spectacular looking webpage, and best of all, you don’t have to know anything about web design to build it. There are advanced promotional tools – and it’s all free to set up! You pay a flat fee of just $0.89 cents each time you sell a ticket, and free events are totally free.

ezEvent™  gives you powerful tools for creating an event webpage, promoting your event, and collecting payments. Once you set your event up on ezEvent™, your time can be spent planning and organizing the many details and arrangements to bring your big event from the concept stage to the big day.

Promoting Your Event: Connecting with your Audience

So, you’ve been working hard to plan a stellar event. You’ve lined up a great caterer, secured prizes and corporate sponsors, even created the perfect playlist to get people up and dancing and having a great time. However, even if you plan the greatest event in the world, what will it matter if no one shows up? 

It can be easy to share your enthusiasm face-to-face, but that’s probably not a realistic or efficient approach for getting the turnout you want. As a result, you turn to various marketing channels. The problem is, between businesses, causes, and other individuals vying for attention, you need to make what you say count. So how can you make your campaigns stand out for effectiveness?

Here are some helpful tips and goals to keep in mind as you put together your event website, advertisements, social media campaigns, and other marketing materials: 

Event Planning Tips

• Be clear. Prominently display all of your important information: the date, time, and location especially. You can strive to grab your audience’s attention, but don’t overwhelm; for example, if you use a flashy font, make sure it’s still easily readable. In other words, don’t let your design detract from your message.

• Be direct. Why should people come? What will your attendees get out of the event? This includes providing details about the event itself. For fundraisers, how will contributions make a difference?  You want your audience to feel like your event will be the best use of their time, and they shouldn’t miss it for anything in the world.

• Anticipate questions and concerns. Think of the most common issues or doubts your audience may have, and provide a solid rebuttal or solution. Also, people often respond to a challenge (Ex: Do you have what it takes to beat last year’s winner?)   

• Use pictures. You know the old saying: Pictures are worth a thousand words. Images can inspire people in ways that words simply cannot. If you include images of people laughing and having a great time, people will associate your event with these same good vibes.

• Incorporate stories. Research has shown our brains are hard-wired to process and connect with characters in stories. Use this to your advantage; for example, an anecdote about the person or people for whom your charities’ donations will benefit, even if it’s just a few sentences, can go a long way.

• Encourage feedback. It’s always important to get someone outside your team’s input and thoughts before you post/send out any materials. Information you take for granted may not be so obvious to your audience, and it never hurts to have someone else proofread (you did proofread your materials already, right?). Similarly, always provide a point of contact in your marketing materials for people to reach out with questions or suggestions.

In sum, clear communication with your audience is key, so make sure you’ve thought your message through. By keeping these points in mind, you should be able to connect better with your audience and ensure a great turnout for your event. 

Simple and Fun Fundraising Ideas: Wine Tastings

Wine tastings are fairly simple to organize and are excellent events for charity benefits and fundraisers. Plan ahead and reach out to your local wine shops and vineyards to find great locations and ideas to provide a smart sampling of wines. Guests will appreciate your attention to detail if you pair a light menu that will compliment your wine selection.

Wine tastings are fun for people to learn a bit about wine, including grape varieties, where the wines come from, the wine making process, and how regional and environmental factors affect the resulting wine.  You may decide to host a single wine tasting, or plan a series of wine tastings. You truly have a world of options to inspire each event. You may explore wines local to your region or types of wine from different wine producing regions around the world. 

As you plan the food, entertainment, and décor to accompany your wine selection, you might consider options that are from the same region as the wine or inspired by the theme. For example, if you are planning a sampling of local wines, source fresh menu items from local vendors. Instead, if you are exploring a sampling of the many wines of France, Spain, or Italy, create a food selection from the chosen country that will pair nicely with the types of wine you will offer. For example, you may have cheeses of France accompany an array of French wines and even play music by French composers or by popular French musicians.  

By including interesting food and entertainment along with the wines, your event will appeal to people who may not care for wine too much but are up for a little adventure. You can also broaden the appeal by including a sparkling cider or other fruit juice. You will find that wineries, vineyards, and wine shops are great resources to help you determine the theme of a wine tasting and help you plan décor, entertainment, and food to compliment the wine and the space where you will be holding the event.

Cultural and Religious Festivals

Cultural and religious festivals are great opportunities to explore the food, music, and traditions of various groups that make up every community. You can find listings for these events in community bulletins, regional newspapers, and church and organization publications and websites. Another great resource for listing and finding cultural activities are online event registration sites that enable event planners to list, sell tickets, and promote various community events.

From large scale Carnival and St. Patrick's Day festivities to church bake sales and everything in between, many cultural and religious groups host events year round that welcome people from their surrounding communities to join. You can learn a lot about the world around you by exploring such activities. These events often include music and dancing so they are fun for all ages. Foodies will especially enjoy the homemade specialties you can't find at the supermarket. 

In addition to great food and entertainment, cultural and religious events often feature specialty and handmade crafts. Attending these events can be a fun way to find traditional and unusual items to purchase. You may find one of a kind jewelry, beautiful clothing, toys, knickknacks, and more. These festivals and events are a great chance to connect with your heritage or explore something new and exciting.