Events

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...

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...

September 10, 2015
in Events, TaylorMade Best Practices

There are a million details involved with planning an event—from booking the venue in advance to sending thank-you notes to your guests. However, with so many moving pieces to manage, it’s easy to overlook a few crucial details. Specifically, there are five major—yet easily avoidable—mistakes you could make during your next event. Making these mistakes could cost you attendee engagement, exposure and awareness, donations, or ROI. If you want your next event to be a smashing success, then you’ll want to prevent the following mistakes from ever happening: Not including a testimonial For non-profits,...

August 20, 2015
in Events, Lessons Learned, TaylorMade Best Practices

Whether you’re a corporation or a non-profit organization, annual events are a key component to your company’s success. Before we dive into the importance of why you need to have annual events, let’s talk about the why they need to happen annually. While we understand an event takes time, energy, and resources, it is vital to have one at least once a year—especially for non-profits. Here’s why: You want to stay in front of your customers and donors.  If you hold bi-annual events, you run the risk of donors or customers forgetting...

March 13, 2015
in Events, Lessons Learned

Planning red carpet events usually comes with an extra level of stress. Since you are working with VIPs and celebrities your job ends up seeming like a very precarious balancing act, trying to keep things orderly, flowing and on time. We know it's not easy so we came up with some tips to keep in mind. 1. Make two separate lines. The key is to keep the red carpet clear and free. Make a separate line for non-VIPs to go directly into the rest of the event. This way photographers and media can...

February 3, 2015
in Events, TaylorMade Best Practices

1. Who are you? Description of organization and fund use. This is key for new prospects but is also a good reminder to your existing donor base. To both new and current contacts, this description answers the “Why?” question – why should I support this organization? This is your opportunity to share your mission, key programs, and the anticipated use of funds received as a result of your fundraising efforts. This is also your chance to use logic or if you’re a non-profit an emotional appeal to pull on the heart strings...

August 11, 2014
in Events, Lessons Learned, TaylorMade Best Practices

Are you getting a lackluster performance out of your board or event committee? Are you not producing the results you had desired? Are you rallying the teams and just not getting anyone to bite? We feel your pain! Effective boards and event committees are essential in creating outreach lists for invitations, sponsorships, and cultivating new donors, so their lack of involvement can be a significant problem to your bottom line. Whether your board or event committee is uninvolved, hard to engage and excite, or just totally unresponsive, there are several ways...

August 5, 2014
in Events, Social Media, TaylorMade Best Practices

Our previous post on social media for events took us through the “5 W’s” – who, what, when, where, and why. This follow-up post will expand on the much-related “how” of social media for events. Now that you have answered your “W” questions, the how includes the all-important action items needed to maximize your social media integration efforts. Here are a few of TME’s best practices: Persevere. Many organizations utilize social media for their general mission and organization, but quite a few do not carry this over to their events, creating a...