TaylorMade Best Practices

March 31, 2016
in Events, TaylorMade Best Practices

Annual conferences are a great way to facilitate networking and cultivate learning among industry professionals, but events like these can get stale over time. The biggest mistake a conference host can make is to use the same event formula each year—no one wants to attend a conference when there is nothing new to learn or hear. Keep your conference attendees engaged, and your agenda fresh by incorporating the following tips. Refresh your content Conferences come in all shapes and sizes, but the most important aspect of creating a fresh event is to refresh...

March 3, 2016
in Events, TaylorMade Best Practices

With so many moving pieces, an event is a breeding ground for miscommunications—and these types of errors can be costly to businesses. According to this Holmes Report, companies experience an estimated $37 billion in losses as a result of employee misunderstanding. That’s a whole lot of money that could easily be saved with better communication. Overall, effective communication can prevent common problems in every aspect of business—especially with the event planning process. If you want to make sure your message is getting across—and that your events are running according to plan—try...

February 25, 2016
in TaylorMade Best Practices, Tips for Nonprofit Fundraising

An event auction is a fantastic way to raise funds. Sponsors and vendors can donate must-have prizes, attendees will feel good about donating to the cause while trying to take home some new treasures, and your event will raise funds in the process—everyone wins! But while auctions are a go-to event fundraising activity, they can easily get out of control. Over the years, we’ve learned exactly what works and what doesn’t—here are just a few of the do’s and don’ts we’ve learned firsthand: DO have a live auction with a solid plan...

February 4, 2016
in TaylorMade Best Practices

As a kid, receiving a goodie bag was the highlight of any birthday party or event. Now that we’re adults, the same is true for swag bags at a conference, gala or similar event. People of all ages love to get useful items as a parting gift from a memorable event—and these giveaway items will help your guests remember you, your company, and the event for years to come! In fact, I still have an amazing engraved silver pen that was in one of my swag bags once upon a time—and...

December 3, 2015
in Events, TaylorMade Best Practices

When the event is over, the work is far from done. Any event manager worth their salt knows there’s still plenty left to do after the guests have said their final goodnight. We’ve spent many years managing events, and the experience has left us with a solid after-event game plan. This game plan has helped us manage many excellent events and still stay upbeat and positive for the next one. Want in on our MUST do list? Check it out: Clean up – literally After the event has ended, there’s always stuff to be...

November 19, 2015
in Events, TaylorMade Best Practices

We’re so glad the dark days in event management are behind us—days filled with printed stacks of registration lists and hours spent sifting through these lists to find event attendees’ names. As a result of all that paper shuffling, there was always a bottleneck of frustrated attendees waiting to check in at registration. Now with the use of on-site event registration technology, all we need to do is type in the first few letters of a name and an attendee’s name will pop right up on our iPad. We can edit...

November 17, 2015
in TaylorMade Best Practices

Event sponsors are worth their weight in gold—sometimes literally! Sponsors offer much-needed revenue to help with event operations—and you’ll want to build close relationships with them over time. The trouble can be, after spending so much time, effort, and resources to attract new sponsors, the strength of a new partnership can easily start to wane after the first year. In the beginning, the newbie is treated like a VIP—they’re given lots of attention and fanfare—but as time wears on, the attention might shift to newer sponsors. It’s all too easy to take...

November 5, 2015
in TaylorMade Best Practices

While we can’t stress enough how important annual events are for your non-profit organization or company, we do know that these events come with a big price tag. The good news is that you don’t have to foot the bill alone. You can increase event revenue by securing some really great sponsors. Easy solution, right? Not so fast—getting sponsors on board with your event and mission can be a lot of hard work. If you’re looking to attract sponsors to your next event, the following tips will help you start some lucrative...

October 22, 2015
in TaylorMade Best Practices

Every small business, large corporation, and nonprofit needs to be flexible and nimble if they want to keep up with competition, market demand, and business trends.That’s one of the reasons outsourcing is so popular – and why companies like TaylorMade Experience exist. Let’s face it: You don’t need to have a full-time, in-house team that is dedicated to event planning and fundraising. You might not need an in-house general counsel or CPA or digital marketing team, either – but you do need them in your Rolodex. There are numerous advantages of outsourcing,...

October 1, 2015
in TaylorMade Best Practices

Everyone thinks they are a VIP, and you know what? They are absolutely right! Here at TaylorMade Experience, we make sure all of our clients and customers are given platinum-level treatment. After spending years catering to important event guests, celebrity speakers and entertainers, politicians, diplomats, we now have some tips and tricks in place that make all of our clients feel like total rock stars. If you’re looking to take a few plays out of our playbook, here’s how we work with the VIPs we encounter in our field. Board members From the very...