Timely Causes and Special Events

If you search online, you will find that many days, weeks, and months are dedicated to special causes. If you care deeply about a particular cause, or belong to an organization working for a good purpose, take advantage of highlighted times on the calendar. You can further your cause by organizing events at heightened times of public awareness to raise money, organize fun activities, and further educational opportunities.

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month. This is a subject that matters very much to all of us at ezEvent™ for numerous reasons. Please take some time to become involved or learn more to empower everyone affected by brain tumors at www.braintumor.org. We invite you to participate in support of this cause in any way you are able. Whether you volunteer time, money, energy, or all three, please organize and participate in events designed to raise awareness during the month of May and throughout the year.

Your Local Library is a Tremendous Resource

It's National Library Week and a fantastic time to explore what a great resource your local library is to the community. Of course, you can find books, music, and movies available to check out for free, but did you know your library is also a practical resource for meetings, activities, and other events?

You can typically find a community calendar of neat things to do posted at libraries, and many have meeting rooms and other spaces that can be reserved for various lectures and workshops. Libraries often host fun parties and networking opportunities. You may find or host classes and activities for people of all ages to get out and explore various interests.

Some activities are organized by the library proper, but others may be put on by members of the community. For example, I attended a Zombie Makeup Class before Halloween last year at my public library. The organizers of the event were able to use an activity space in the library at no charge. They in turn charged a small fee for the class and were able to make a profit sharing their skills.

If you are looking for something to do, check out your local library for options. If you are looking for a place to hold a class or other gathering, speak to your local librarian to find out if the public library has available spaces that will fit your needs. You may find a perfect space is available at little to no charge – or perhaps a small donation!

Planning a Battle of the Bands

Looking for a fresh fundraising idea? Local musicians are always looking for outlets to showcase their talents, so consider hosting a concert event such as a Battle of the Bands. Amateur musicians will usually play for cheap or sometimes free if they know the proceeds are going to a good cause. There are several good ideas to keep in mind to ensure a successful Battle of the Bands:

•  Land the right venue: Have an ideal number of attendees in mind and find a venue to fit that target size. Businesses are usually happy to host events like this since it can bring them more business than a typical night.

• Be Courteous: It’s very important to keep neighbors in mind since the night is sure to get loud! It’s never a bad idea to simply knock on a neighbor’s door and ask for their understanding, give them an invite, or at least a heads up.

• Obey the Law: Most towns have noise ordinances that may require you to cut the tunes by a certain time. Knowing this beforehand will prevent local authorities from shutting down your event early. It's wise to do what it takes to avoid an unexpected visit from the 'boys in blue'.

• Advertise: To land performers, as well as attendees, target businesses in the area that are most likely to appeal to music fans and night-lifers, such as bars, restaurants, liquor stores, cafés, record stores, etc. Ask them if you can post a few fliers about your event, and be sure to mention the cause to which the money raised is going. Most places will already have a bulletin board for community happenings and will be glad to support your charity.

In conclusion, the more you plan ahead and think through the details, the smoother your concert event will run! Have fun and rock out!

Hope for the Best; Plan for the Worst

"'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." – Benjamin Franklin

We are very aware of the fact that many uncertainties must be considered when planning an event. Weather is certainly one of these. While it would be nice to be able to control the weather, ezWeather is ultimately a child of our imaginations here at ezEvent™. For now, we'll have to continue to rely on meteorologists and information from places like The Weather Channel. 

Really good event planners know that planning to contend with the unlikely can make or break an event. Hope for the best, and plan for the worst is the mantra of event planners with the skill to keep guests entertained and comfortable, while dealing with meltdowns, crises, and malfunctions behind the scenes. Coordinating an event brings together many different vendors, talents, and personalities. Negotiating all of these when a freak hailstorm or weather event threatens to dampen spirits is a talent that comes with planning, skill, and experience.

Outdoor events are most susceptible to weather changes, but even navigating to and from indoor events can leave guests subject to wind, rain, etc. You could plan an event in a luxurious ballroom, but in the case of a power outage, your guests would be in the dark if you failed to plan ahead and check that a generator in working order was on standby for just such a disaster.  

Too much sun and high heat can be every bit as uncomfortable to guests as wind, rain, or snow. When planning an outdoor event, think about the time of year and the likely weather issues you may face. Provide places of shelter and shade for guests when they need respite from whatever nature has in store. Attractive umbrellas on hand can offer guests relief from surprise rain showers, and can also double as parasols to protect sun-sensitive people. You can coordinate the umbrellas with your event's decorations and color scheme.

We'll talk more about pitfalls to avoid and opportunities to contend gracefully with problematic issues at events as this blog develops. In the meantime, as you are planning your next big event, think ahead like the pros. If you can imagine an obvious potential disaster, think of clever ways you would like to be able to deal with the circumstance.

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.