Marketing Archives

SPARXO MAKES IT EASY TO ADD AN EVENT CALENDAR TO YOUR WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE WITH ATTENDANCE BREAKDOWN

WHERE SHOULD YOU POST YOUR EVENT? EVENTBRITE, MEETUP, OR FACEBOOK?

A MEATING OF MINDS — HOW THIS COMPANY IS CHANGING THE WAY MEAT IS CONSUMED

LEARN WHAT TICKETING COMPANIES ARE HIDING – A COMPARISON

EVENT PROMOTER’S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EMAIL PROMOTIONS

HOW CREATIVE STARTUP LABS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT THEIR SECRET UNDERGROUND POP-UP EVENT USING SPARXO

HOW THE NIGHTWOOD SOCIETY TOOK CONTROL OF THEIR EVENT EXPERIENCE

NONPROFIT EVENTS: 5 REASONS YOU NEED MOBILE TICKETING

HOW THE HOLLAND DRAG SHOW SOLD OUT EVENT TICKETS DESPITE CRITICAL MAYOR

DATA SHOWS THESE NON-PROFIT EVENTS RASIE THE MOST MONEY

BRAND AMBASSADORS AND INFLUENCERS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

AN EVENT PLANNERS 10 SECRET TIPS TO HAVING A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

MORE THAN JUST WARM BODIES: STAFFING YOUR EVENT THE RIGHT WAY

SPORTS EVENT TREND: WHAT EVENT PLANNERS CAN LEARN

3 SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS THAT ARE AWESOME FOR EVENT PRODUCERS

HOW TO HOST A SUCCESSFUL REAL ESTATE EVENT

13 Mar 2020

How to Host a Successful Real Estate Event

Events are as savvy of an investment as real estate. Putting on an event is one of the best ways realtors and real estate professionals can get their name out there, building their client base and professional network. Events are sure to boost your profile, and possibly boost your sales, too.

But how in the world do you actually do that? How do you find the space, the time, and people to actually show up to your real estate event? Never fear, Sparxo is here with a 6 step crash course on hosting real estate events! Your event will be a hot commodity in no time.

Pick an Event, any Event

The first step? Settle on the type of real estate event you want to sell tickets to. You’re looking at two primary event types: B2C events (client attendees) and B2B events (real estate professional attendees). Since these types of events have totally different types of attendees, they also have different themes and marketing options.

B2C events: Most buyers find their agents through their existing networks, not online portals like Zillow. Referrals and existing connections, the kind made at real estate events, account for over 66% of agent-client partnerships, according to the 2018 NAR Home Buyer and Seller Generational Report. Real estate events will help you meet new clients, building your reputation and exposure among potential buyers. Generally, B2C events are free to attend, or very low cost. B2C events are great for attracting potential new clients, especially by offering food, drink, and some sort of entertainment to draw people in to meet you and your work as an agent.

Client appreciation events are also a great B2C option, especially if you already have an established clientele. Events and marketing focused on your existing relationships are incredibly powerful, as again, over 60% of a real estate agent’s business comes from their existing networks. If you have an existing network of clients, appreciation events can help you leverage it. Client appreciation events tend to be akin to parties, where guests are your star clients and their plus ones. Often, agents rent out bars, night clubs, or even run pool parties. The goal is to provide a fun, easy going experience that leaves attendees with a great taste in their mouths. It helps if that taste is margarita. Costs can run high for client appreciation events, but hosting a party-like event is sure to draw plenty of attention and make marketing the event much easier.

Client appreciation events are also a great B2C option

B2B Events: Networking with other real estate professionals will be the goal for this event type. B2B events will help you meet other real estate agents and agencies, boosting your visibility in the community and industry. For B2B events, real estate conferences are always on the table. You don’t need a massive venue or speaker list–you can host a small network night, allowing local real estate professionals to bump elbows with free food and drink. Another B2B option: educational events. Educational workshop style events can be a great choice, especially as you or your agency have expertise in a certain part of the real estate process, like listing presentation or house showing tutorials. You likely already have all the expertise needed to put on a killer educational real-estate event, and you likely have real estate agents and professionals in your network who attend similar events. Like with conferences, educational events offer attendees a chance to network with other real estate professionals, but they have the added draw of offering a new skill, too. It’s a two for one.

Budget

You shouldn’t have to break the bank to put on a bankable real estate event. If this is your first real estate event, your budget will probably be more of a guesstimate, and probably an underestimate at that. Be sure to round up. It’s better to be safe and anticipate more spending.

Generally, B2C client appreciation events tend to be pricey because they’re essentially just wild parties for clients. Events aimed at new clients may be less pricey, but they still require food, drink, entertainment, and of course venue costs. Although it is best to utilize a listing you or your brokerage has for your venue as a two-in-one stop. It gets foot traffic in the door for the listing for potential buyers and buyer networks, and it is a free space for you! Workshops and B2B events include similar costs, though you may not have to splurge as much on entertainment and attention grabbers as it is a professionally themed event. For first-time event planners, you may not have a great sense of how many people will actually show up. That’s okay. Plan for more attendees than less. RSVPs and ticketing systems can help, but ultimately experience will be the best teacher. Your budgeting will get more exact as you put on more events.

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER BLOG POST ARTICLES:

SPARXO MAKES IT EASY TO ADD AN EVENT CALENDAR TO YOUR WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE WITH ATTENDANCE BREAKDOWN

WHERE SHOULD YOU POST YOUR EVENT? EVENTBRITE, MEETUP, OR FACEBOOK?

A MEATING OF MINDS — HOW THIS COMPANY IS CHANGING THE WAY MEAT IS CONSUMED

LEARN WHAT TICKETING COMPANIES ARE HIDING – A COMPARISON

EVENT PROMOTER’S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EMAIL PROMOTIONS

HOW CREATIVE STARTUP LABS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT THEIR SECRET UNDERGROUND POP-UP EVENT USING SPARXO

HOW THE NIGHTWOOD SOCIETY TOOK CONTROL OF THEIR EVENT EXPERIENCE

NONPROFIT EVENTS: 5 REASONS YOU NEED MOBILE TICKETING

HOW THE HOLLAND DRAG SHOW SOLD OUT EVENT TICKETS DESPITE CRITICAL MAYOR

DATA SHOWS THESE NON-PROFIT EVENTS RASIE THE MOST MONEY

BRAND AMBASSADORS AND INFLUENCERS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

AN EVENT PLANNERS 10 SECRET TIPS TO HAVING A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

MORE THAN JUST WARM BODIES: STAFFING YOUR EVENT THE RIGHT WAY

SPORTS EVENT TREND: WHAT EVENT PLANNERS CAN LEARN

3 SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS THAT ARE AWESOME FOR EVENT PRODUCERS

24 Feb 2020

3 Social Media Platforms that are AWESOME for Even...

With 3.2 billion people who own a smartphone and 90% of mobile time spent on apps, social media platforms are a no-brainer when it comes to promoting your events. Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn are clearly the frontrunners, but the question then becomes, HOW can you make use of them to gain maximum results for your event?

INSTAGRAM

The most basic of event promotion on Instagram calls for gorgeously curated photos or videos and a well-thought up hashtag, but you can also invite a greater level of engagement with contests and games that involve your audience and motivate them to share your event hashtag.

Instagram Stories, as the name suggests, is all about storytelling. Humanizing your event is one thing Stories does beautifully in bite-sized nuggets (max video length is 15 seconds). Share impactful quotes from event speakers, exciting quips from the organizing team, funny setup bloopers, quick testimonials from past attendees, or candid boomerangs.

Since Stories plays off like a reel within 24 hours, your Instagram audience is treated to a display of what makes your event amazing all in one place — so make sure you add that call-to-action with a swipe up link “See More” to register for your event. You can also boost audience interactivity with polls and questions, making your audience feel like they are a part of the action. Or, you could invite an industry influencer to do an “Instagram Takeover” for a day where they capture short snippets of the event buildup.

Remember though, that Stories do disappear, so a good way to reuse some of that wonderful content is to add them to your Highlights, which will live on as part of your Instagram profile and hence your followers’ feeds.

Appealing to your audience who would like to delve deeper into your world, IGTV is akin to having your very own TV channel. People love watching videos of what they enjoy, so feed them with in-depth interviews with industry speakers, reveal exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, use this opportunity to really emote what the event can mean for them, or share tips that are but the tip of the iceberg of tips they’ll gather from your event.

Instagram is an amazing visual platform that can you help with event promotions

FACEBOOK

First and foremost, creating a Facebook Event page solidifies a place where everyone on Facebook can come to learn more about your event. This is where you can post-event updates and dynamic content to capture more interest, or engage your audience in contests and polls, or share live videos of behind-the-scenes footage or interviews with speakers.

One good thing about Facebook Events is that when an individual changes their status to “Interested” or “Going”, their friends will see your event as one that their “Friends are interested in…” which might be one foot in the door of getting them to your event.

Cross-promotion is an effective strategy when it comes to Facebook. Work with your event partners, hosts, and speakers to add your event to their pages, while you promote them as something to look forward to at the event. You might win over some of their fans.

Searching out Facebook Groups relevant to your event and promoting your event there can also boost eyeballs. People in Groups are already interested in a certain topic, so show them how your event will benefit them in those particular areas.

Best of all, you can push ticket sales or registration directly from your Facebook event page itself. White-label ticketing platforms such as Sparxo can sync up to your event page perfectly so that interested parties never even have to leave the Facebook platform to be able to sign up for your event.

Facebook is a powerful social media platform to share about your events and behind the scenes

The beauty of LinkedIn is you already have a captive audience who not only have the highest average income of any social network, but also a passion for both social and professional events.

If you already have quite a substantial network, promoting your event could be as simple as posting it on your LinkedIn feed. Because you’re talking to a community of like-minded folks, sharing professional details is welcomed here — talk about your objectives for the event, your goals, mission, values, team, struggles that your team has overcome. Think about intriguing content that will pique the interest of professionals, business owners, entrepreneurs.

You can also create your own LinkedIn Event group, adding all your speakers and partners to the group, and inviting people within your network. This is a perfect setting for attendees to connect with each other pre-event, and you can get the conversation rolling with questions and discussion topics, which will give you a clear idea of what the talking points are, and what needs to be addressed at your event.

LinkedIn is a great way to connect with your community and share your event

Just like Facebook, cross-promotion is just as effective on the LinkedIn platform. If you’re in a few LinkedIn groups related to your event, you can post your event there — if allowed. If some groups do not allow such promotion, try igniting professional curiosity through engaging topics related to your event. People can then discover your event organically when they click on your profile or feed.

And of course, with both Facebook and LinkedIn, ads are the paid way to go to reach out to audiences beyond your initial network.

Whether you choose one particular platform to focus your promotional efforts on, or plan to launch a multi-platform social media strategy, the one most important thing to keep in mind is your CTA, or call-to-action. You’ve sparked their curiosity, you’ve piqued their interest, now capture your customer. With Sparxo, your customers can sign up easily with one click without even having to leave the page / your promotional platform. Consider your event as good as sold out!

In short, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn are three very powerful platforms to promote your event. Keep in mind, though, that they are also three very different tools with different audiences, so you have to adjust your messaging for each of these platforms. If you master each of them and launch a multi-platform social media strategy, your event is as good as sold out!

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER BLOG POST ARTICLES:

SPARXO MAKES IT EASY TO ADD AN EVENT CALENDAR TO YOUR WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE WITH ATTENDANCE BREAKDOWN

WHERE SHOULD YOU POST YOUR EVENT? EVENTBRITE, MEETUP, OR FACEBOOK?

A MEATING OF MINDS — HOW THIS COMPANY IS CHANGING THE WAY MEAT IS CONSUMED

LEARN WHAT TICKETING COMPANIES ARE HIDING – A COMPARISON

EVENT PROMOTER’S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EMAIL PROMOTIONS

HOW CREATIVE STARTUP LABS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT THEIR SECRET UNDERGROUND POP-UP EVENT USING SPARXO

HOW THE NIGHTWOOD SOCIETY TOOK CONTROL OF THEIR EVENT EXPERIENCE

NONPROFIT EVENTS: 5 REASONS YOU NEED MOBILE TICKETING

HOW THE HOLLAND DRAG SHOW SOLD OUT EVENT TICKETS DESPITE CRITICAL MAYOR

DATA SHOWS THESE NON-PROFIT EVENTS RASIE THE MOST MONEY

BRAND AMBASSADORS AND INFLUENCERS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

AN EVENT PLANNERS 10 SECRET TIPS TO HAVING A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

MORE THAN JUST WARM BODIES: STAFFING YOUR EVENT THE RIGHT WAY

SPORTS EVENT TREND: WHAT EVENT PLANNERS CAN LEARN

22 Feb 2020

Sports Events Trends: What Event Planners Can Lear...

Sports events are crushing the events industry. Sporting event revenue segments to about $10.9 million in the U.S., and is expected to grow about 5.9% over the next 4 years. Even better? Sports events have powerful brands and offer even more powerful experiences to attendees, keeping fans glued to their seats. Take notes, event planners.

How do they do it? What do sporting events have that event planners in other sectors can take advantage of? Here are 5 Sports Event Trends going into 2020, and what event planners can learn from them.

Striving for Social

Sporting events are social. There’s always cheering, drinks, and laughter. By the end of the game, friends go home closer and often go home with new friends, too. Businesses take clients to ball games, companies go to games to bond the same way fans do. Networking, personal and even professional, seems to be one of the biggest reasons people attend sporting events. Attendees go to bond with the people sitting next to them, even total strangers. In 2019 and going into 2020, this is even more of a priority.

Attendees want a social experience. How can event planners make their events more social, to facilitate the networking attendees are after? Games are always classic. Watching a game is great, but playing one can be even better, getting attendees comfortable with each other before the event even properly starts. A pre-event social or happy hour is another more relaxed way to got attendees comfortable chatting. Seating arrangements are another great way to facilitate meet-and-greets. At sporting events, attendees agonize over and compete over getting great seats, and more importantly, getting seats together. How can you make this easy at your event? Can you seat parties together, as well as parties with similar interests nearby? Last, the tried and true way is just to encourage attendees to say hi to the person next to them. Give them a few moments to chat, maybe even promoting them to see what they have in common. These small steps can go a long way in facilitating attendee networking, one of if not the main reason people will attend your event.

Ticketing Could be in Trouble

Ticketing could go through more turmoil. College sports, football especially, have been struggling with ticketing. More and more empty seats go empty each year. Sales have been going down, forcing vendors to raise prices, meaning even less cycle.

Sparxo is an approved ticket printer for the California State Athletic Commission, so we like to think we know a few things about sports ticketing. We also have a bone to pick. Ticketing platforms often take big chunks of ticket sales, forcing organizers to require donation upfront before attendees can even buy season tickets. Secondary markets are popular as they let attendees pick and choose specific games of the season, but they often come with even higher service fees. Clearly, losing money in ticketing costs both the event planners and the attendees.

Event-planners in all sectors are looking for a free way to sell tickets and keep as much revenue as possible, giving you the resources to put on an incredible event at an affordable price. Unfortunately, most ticket sales software take big percentages of ticket sales, cost too much, promote competing events, and eclipse your nonprofit’s brand. You can use Sparxo to post your event and sell tickets for your event anywhere, letting you sell tickets directly from your website with no redirects – all for free! Sparxo let’s you:

Keep 100% of your ticket sales
Import your guest lists and sales lists from other systems
aggregate all of your customer data in one place
White Label, greatly improves SEO and Brand

Brand and Familiar Faces

Sports events are all about brand. Teams have their own style, their own logo, a distinct personality and history that attendees care about. Attendees care about particular players and athletes because they understand their brand, where the player comes from and what they’re like. Attendees can follow a team’s journey online or on TV, reading up on their stats and style. This holds true for just about any event. If attendees understand what you stand for, if they can follow the event’s journey, they’ll be so much more invested. Is your event on social media? Do you use ‘storytelling tactics’ when presenting your mission, giving attendees a clear value proposition with a story they can relate to? The power of an accessible event brand that attendees can follow will make all the difference.

Attendees go to sporting events for familiar faces. They usually have a favorite player or an athlete they know or follow. This connection makes the attendee go to all their games, the familiar face bringing them back again and again. The power of a familiar face is universal, a kind of human branding that can make all the difference. When attendees get to know a member staff or an event planner personally, they become so much more connected to the event, the experience connecting on a human level. Often, a handshake and a pleasant conversation with an event planner will bring attendees back again and again. They’ll be invested in the future of the event, staying interested in newsletters and updates. As an event planner, meeting attendees or at least VIP attendees personally is one of the most important steps you can take to keep them happy and keep them coming back.

Grab-N-Go Food & Drink

At fast-paced sports games and big stadiums, grab-and-go food & drink services have really taken off. Grab-N-go gives attendees options while seriously reducing wait times. At any event where food & drink are not the focus, Grab-N-Go services can be a convenient way to give attendees variety while keeping things moving. Waiting in line at a sports event can mean missing the best moments. That’s just as true for any event. Opting for a convenient Grab-N-Go catering style could save your attendees valuable time, ensuring they don’t miss key networking, learning, or just plain fun opportunities at your event.

Free Races to the Front

A major draw of live sports events? Free stuff. Promotions, giveaways, swag bags, and merchandise has been and will continue to be a reason attendees love live sports events. Even better? The freebies tend to be exclusive, usually branded, often only on offer for people who actually attend the event. Attendees can’t usually get freebies by watching the game from a computer screen. Sure, not every sports attendee wins a car or a season pass, but there are usually t-shirts and grab bags to be had, or at the very least peanuts. Raffles and promotional contests are also a great way to get attendees involved, occasionally even bringing them up onto the field to make a pitch or battle a mascot.

Consider adding giveaways to your event. Swag bags are always popular, giving attendees a thank you while also spreading your brand. Raffles and contests could even be money makers for your event. Give attendees something they couldn’t possibly get if they’d stayed at home. Not only will this make them feel appreciated, but they’ll have a memento to remember the event by. And what event planner doesn’t their event to be remembered? Freebies are a deceptively simple way to impress and draw in attendees. It works at sporting events, and it could very well work for you.

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER BLOG POST ARTICLES:

SPARXO MAKES IT EASY TO ADD AN EVENT CALENDAR TO YOUR WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE WITH ATTENDANCE BREAKDOWN

WHERE SHOULD YOU POST YOUR EVENT? EVENTBRITE, MEETUP, OR FACEBOOK?

A MEATING OF MINDS — HOW THIS COMPANY IS CHANGING THE WAY MEAT IS CONSUMED

LEARN WHAT TICKETING COMPANIES ARE HIDING – A COMPARISON

EVENT PROMOTER’S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EMAIL PROMOTIONS

HOW CREATIVE STARTUP LABS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT THEIR SECRET UNDERGROUND POP-UP EVENT USING SPARXO

HOW THE NIGHTWOOD SOCIETY TOOK CONTROL OF THEIR EVENT EXPERIENCE

NONPROFIT EVENTS: 5 REASONS YOU NEED MOBILE TICKETING

HOW THE HOLLAND DRAG SHOW SOLD OUT EVENT TICKETS DESPITE CRITICAL MAYOR

DATA SHOWS THESE NON-PROFIT EVENTS RASIE THE MOST MONEY

BRAND AMBASSADORS AND INFLUENCERS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

AN EVENT PLANNERS 10 SECRET TIPS TO HAVING A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

MORE THAN JUST WARM BODIES: STAFFING YOUR EVENT THE RIGHT WAY

13 Feb 2020

5 Steps to Planning an Eco-Friendly Event

Most of us know the importance of reducing our impact on the earth and keeping trash out of our ever-expanding landfills, not to mention the tons of plastics and other waste that are polluting our waters. And many of us do what we can on a personal level, dutifully recycling and trying to minimize waste in our homes.

However, if you’re planning an event, the idea of minimizing waste may seem like a daunting project. Yet, given the tons of waste that large events produce, many people are finding it’s not something they can ignore. Fortunately, there are many dedicated people and organizations committed to more eco-friendly events. Some even aspire to zero waste.

What Is Zero Waste?

While technically zero waste means just that — no waste going to the landfill—most organizations understand that achieving zero waste is very difficult. “It’s not about perfection; it’s about making better choices,” says Kathryn Kellogg, a zero-waste lifestyle blogger and author of Zero Waster’s Travel Companion. “We’re all human. We’re all just doing the best we can and that’s OK.”

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities facilities department offers a resource about planning zero-waste events. They define zero waste as 90% or more waste being diverted from a landfill, Further, “as a philosophy, zero waste is about much more than just recycling and composting. It promotes a circular economy in which materials can be used and reused without harm to humans or the environment.”

Is A (Nearly) Zero Waste Event Possible? Yes!

Some major events have successfully met the goal of 90% or more of their waste being recovered, or diverted from landfills. Some examples are:

The Super Bowl. In 2018, 63 out of 69 tons of waste were successfully diverted from the landfill, according to Environment and Energy Leader. Sixty-two percent of the waste was reused and the rest was composted. As a result, they achieved a recovery rate of 91%, meaning only 9% of the waste was trashed.

Green Festivals. These large events have been dedicated to reducing their impact. Greenamerica.org boasts that the festivals have an average rate of above 91% of trash recovery.

The Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit successfully diverted 110 pounds of trash from the landfill in 2018.

Waste Management Phoenix Open. In 2019, blogger Kathryn Kellogg attended and reported on this week-long golf tournament and charity fundraiser, noting that, with 700,000 attendees, it’s the biggest zero-waste event in the world. The previous year, the event successfully recycled 56% of its waste, composted 26%, and donated 9%, and another 9% was sent to a waste-to-energy plant.

Planning Your Zero Waste Event

Here are some suggestions from those experienced in organizing successful zero-waste events.

Go paperless. Use online ticketing vendors (like Sparxo) for ticketing and event updates. Use social media instead of print ads — you’ll reach more people this way for less. Email or social media messages sent out in advance of the event can alert people that the event will be “zero waste,” to help prepare them for thinking about what they do with their garbage instead of just tossing it in the trash.
Partner up. Work with vendors and the venue to figure out how to make sure your event minimizes waste. Green Festivals organizers ask their food-service vendors to use compostable service ware. In addition, “ all Green Festival vendors sign a statement that they will not distribute plastic disposables.”

Working with the venue is also key, says Ashley Weisman of the GreenLight Solutions Foundation, who has worked on several zero-waste events: “Even if the venue’s staff has not engaged in anything sustainability-related before, you would be surprised at their adaptability and openness to learning. Nevertheless, it is important to find feasible solutions together that work for both parties.” By meeting with a venue representative beforehand, you’ll be able to identify where and how the venue is already doing some of this work, and what else might need to be done, such as adding compost bins or setting up additional recycling collection bins.

Plan where and how to collect recyclables and compost. While most of your event-goers will probably appreciate you “going green,” you still have to make it easy for them. Setting up bins with clear signage and instructions will go a long way toward encouraging participation.

“Generally, people will not recycle or compost unless bins are directly next to the trash bin, as opposed to having them at opposite sides of the room,” notes Weisman. “Hence, make sure you have enough compost and recycle bins for every trash bin.” Many zero waste experts recommend also limiting the number of trash bins available, so people won’t be tempted to use them instead of other receptacles. The Waste Management Phoenix Open does not provide any trash bins for public use at all.

You’ll also need to figure out what facilities are available nearby for recycling if this isn’t already set up with the venue.

Recruit help and teach attendees. You can hire a business that specializes in green events, but you might also look into an organization that recruits volunteers eager to help make a difference.

Volunteers can help most by standing near bins and being available to provide direction and reminders for using the bins correctly. They can also help with sorting after the event is over, to be sure everything goes to the right place.

Weisman emphasizes that “it is crucial that you have bin guarders and signs. I cannot stress this enough. The attendees are not taking better habits home with them if they are not recycling and composting correctly; make this a learning opportunity for everyone attending the event.”

Look into donating. Some suggestions include donating leftover food to food pantries and offering flower arrangements to hospitals and nursing homes. Consider partnering with a children’s club, like the Boy or Girl Scouts, to take back bottles and cans for deposits, where they can keep the cashback.

Of course, these aren’t the only ways to be more eco-friendly. Other areas to consider when planning an eco-friendly event is thinking about ways to reduce water and electricity usage as well as reducing gas spent on transportation and using eco-friendly vendors.

Encourage feedback from your team, participants, and your partners. And remember, you don’t have to cover all your bases at your first event. If you run events regularly, you might consider adding something more each time that will further help minimize your impact.

At Sparxo, we’re all about helping people easily and efficiently plan your event, and you can do it all without wasting any paper! Sparxo enables you to enter event registration and ticketing on to any website with no other brand or logos, produce media-rich pages to assist with your brand and selling efforts, offers a straightforward guest arrival app and permits you to possess all of your information, therefore, you’ll be able to track your progress. Everyone has full access to all features, despite the size or type of event-free or paid!

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER BLOG POST ARTICLES:

SPARXO MAKES IT EASY TO ADD AN EVENT CALENDAR TO YOUR WEBSITE

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE WITH ATTENDANCE BREAKDOWN

WHERE SHOULD YOU POST YOUR EVENT? EVENTBRITE, MEETUP, OR FACEBOOK?

A MEATING OF MINDS — HOW THIS COMPANY IS CHANGING THE WAY MEAT IS CONSUMED

LEARN WHAT TICKETING COMPANIES ARE HIDING – A COMPARISON

EVENT PROMOTER’S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EMAIL PROMOTIONS

HOW CREATIVE STARTUP LABS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT THEIR SECRET UNDERGROUND POP-UP EVENT USING SPARXO

HOW THE NIGHTWOOD SOCIETY TOOK CONTROL OF THEIR EVENT EXPERIENCE

NONPROFIT EVENTS: 5 REASONS YOU NEED MOBILE TICKETING

HOW THE HOLLAND DRAG SHOW SOLD OUT EVENT TICKETS DESPITE CRITICAL MAYOR

DATA SHOWS THESE NON-PROFIT EVENTS RASIE THE MOST MONEY

BRAND AMBASSADORS AND INFLUENCERS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

AN EVENT PLANNERS 10 SECRET TIPS TO HAVING A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

MORE THAN JUST WARM BODIES: STAFFING YOUR EVENT THE RIGHT WAY

1 Feb 2020

How to Plan a Non-Profit Event with No Money

So you want to plan a non-profit event. Congratulations! Hosting an event is a wonderful way to raise awareness for your non-profit, find donors, and spread your mission of change. The catch? You have no money. You can hear the flies buzzing from your nonprofit’s wallet. Never fear! Sparxo will show you how to start putting together an incredible non-profit event without an incredible budget. Or any budget, really.

Find ‘Fresh’ Venues

What you can’t fix, you feature. Sure, your non-profit might not have the funds to rent out the Ritz, but this could be to your advantage. We’ve all attended a stuffy event at a stuffy venue, they’re a dime a dozen. With a low budget, you’ll have to get creative with your venue, finding a less known, possibly even public venue. But the uniqueness of these cheaper venues could help your event stand out.

Your first venue choice: public or private? A public venue, like parks and plazas, can be great for more active events. They’re also normally, totally free. You could plan a relaxed picnic-style event, with active games and plenty of room for meeting new people in a casual environment. This can also attract bystanders in the public space, spreading awareness for free. However, even with a public venue, you’ll still have to consider costs other than rent. Will you need insurance? Permits? Parking? You’ll also likely have to bring food, and ensure there are restrooms nearby. While there is no obvious entry cost at a public venue, these smaller costs add up. However, the unique, casual atmosphere of a public revenue could very well set your event apart.

A private, or commercial venue, is pay-to-play. You rent this space, but it will come with event accommodations like insurance, parking, bathrooms, and seating. If you can find one of these venues on your budget, it’s definitely worth considering. Be sure you reach out to all your own contacts too: someone may be able to offer you commercial space at a discounted price or be familiar with a venue that will fit your budget. This is especially common for non-profit event planners, as their message of positive change makes contacts more likely to help them or give them special deals. If you decide to go with a commercial venue, we recommend that you choose a venue with a smaller staff. The more staff needed to run a venue, the more people you’ll likely be paying for. Smaller staff will likely mean a smaller bill.

After you’ve narrowed down your list of affordable (or even free!) venues, send the venue manager an email explaining your event and how it will benefit the venue. As a non-profit, you’ll want to stress your mission statement, the good the event will do, as well as how your attendees’ presence could benefit the venue. You can find a sample venue request letter here.

Master Mailing Lists & Social Media

Throwing more money into marketing is not always the answer. Sure, money can help, but free tactics like an email list, newsletters, and social media have proven effective time and time again.

Your first stop: a newsletter. Setting up a newsletter system with a service like Mailchimp is free for up to 2,000 contacts and unlimited emails. This will help you craft personalized newsletters and allow anyone interested in your event to stay up to date. Everyone on your newsletter mailing list is there because they’re actually interested in your events, meaning the returns on sign-ups will be high. But a mailing list is a long-term investment: you won’t instantly get thousands of sign-ups the second you create a list. However, over time and over many events, your mailing list will grow and help you immeasurably. Progressive newsletters can urge members to attend future events, ad even donate, boosting your nonprofit’s budget.

But what do you do get sign-ups now? Reach out to people in your personal network. Sent them a personalized email asking if they’re interested in joining the list for this event and future events. This is a great place to get started. Word of mouth and plenty of hustle is the first and extremely critical step for marketing an event with no money.

You can also add a mailing list to your website, linked to some sort of free giveaway, to incentivize sign-ups. A free brochure or even a discount can be a great incentive. Free website builders like Weebly, Ucraft, or Strikingly can create a landing page for your event, where you can put key information and promotional pictures. This will also make it easier for attendees as all your information will be in one place, plus you’ll get more eyes on your brand, a key advantage when selling tickets. This will help your SEO.

Consider creating a Facebook event page. Not only will this let you post promotional pictures and links to the event, but Facebook Events allow you to invite all your friends to like the page. You can go one step further: send your Facebook friends a personalized message, with one or two words on why they specifically might enjoy the event. This personalization will greatly improve the amount of page likes you get, in turn boosting your event’s visibility. Another way to boost social media visibility? Follow and interact with attendees. When someone buys a ticket or even signs up for your site, follow them on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Not only will this make them feel more connected to the event, but these social media platforms give greater visibility to events with interaction. It’s a win-win.

As a non-profit event planner on a budget, you’re looking for a free way to sell tickets and keep as much revenue as possible, giving you the resources to help spread your nonprofit’s message of change. However, most ticket sales software take big percentages of ticket sales, cost too much, promote competing events, and eclipse your nonprofit’s brand. You can use Sparxo to post your event and sell tickets for your event anywhere, letting you sell tickets directly from your website with no redirects – all for free! Sparxo let’s you:

Keep 100% of your ticket sales
Import your guest lists and sales lists from other systems
aggregate all of your customer data in one place
White Label, greatly improves SEO and Brand

Back to Basics

Data shows these non-profit event types get the most donations. The most lucrative type? Food, wine, and music events. Your nonprofit event doesn’t need a yacht, fancy dining rooms, or expensive speakers. Sure, those things can help, but when you get down to it, basic food and drink events bring in the most donations anyway. This sort of simple nonprofit event is very do-able with a shoestring budget, especially because you’d need food and drink at pretty much any other more complex event type anyway. But how can you make these basic event types engaging? You can keep it easy and personal. First, offer plenty of value upfront, with the event clearly geared toward attendee experience rather than donations. Give attendees opportunities to interact with each other in a stress-free environment. Consider orchestrating some simple party games or ice-breakers. Once everyone is comfortable and having a good time, check-in personally with attendees. This personal level of intimacy and warmth can take your event to the next level. Finally, make it as simple as possible for attendees to donate, with credit card readers and pledges available at your event. Many attendees will only feel inspired to donate at the event when emotions are high. Logistics can make all the difference.

As long as attendees are having a fun, relaxing time, your non-profit event doesn’t need a complex theme or advanced auction to raise funds. Focusing on the basics, like atmosphere and logistics, is an affordable way to make sure your event shines. This way you can raise awareness without destroying your budget.

Secure Sponsorship

Sponsorship will not only boost your event’s budget but boost future event budgets, too. Establishing a relationship with a sponsor will streamline your event planning events, giving you the resources you need.

Typically, sponsors will support you if they can benefit from access to your attendees. Sponsors give you resources, visibility, and assistance because your audience will be interested in your sponsor’s organization. In plain English, sponsors want to take advantage of crossover interest.

Start by finding sponsors that might have an interest in your audience and their demographics. Who attends your events and why? What are their interests and needs, where do they shop? What problems do they need to be solved? Review your event demographic data until you have a very clear picture of your attendees’ habits and wants. Then seek out sponsors who market to audiences with similar demographics to your non-profit event attendees. Once you have sponsors in mind, craft a personalized pitch. Tailor the emails to the sponsor, with details about the sponsor’s organization to show you’ve done your research and care about their experience in your potential sponsorship relationship.

As a non-profit, your mission for change may help sway potential sponsors. Stress the good your non-profit does in your pitch, especially how your event will contribute to that good. You may also want to put it in a ‘story’ format, with specific examples of lives made better by your non-profit. This ‘storytelling’ can help make your pitch more human, and connect to sponsors.

For small scale donations, consider crowdfunding for your Non-profit. Tools like Kickstarter and Indiegogo allow you to get small sponsorships without the hassle of going from door to door. This is no substitute for proper sponsorship, but every little bit helps when you have no money.

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2 Jan 2020

The Secret Code for Compelling Event Descriptions

Your event description is your pitch. It doesn’t just tell your attendees about your event, it tells your attendees why they should come to your event. People will glance at this description and decide if it appeals enough for them to attend, so it’s essential that your description is compelling. But how do you craft a compelling event description? We have 6 pointers to get you rolling.

Name of the Game

A great event name is the first step to getting people to actually read your event description. Great event names grab attention while communicating the gist of your event. A strong event name is not necessarily a summary of the event, but it captures the type of event and entices people to learn more. It should also be memorable and compelling enough to go on promotional materials. Some examples of strong event names:

-Free Shakespeare in the Park

-Happy Hour Silent Disco

-California Academy of Sciences Teen Night

-Exploratorium: Museum After Dark

Raise your Voice

Your event description doesn’t just tell attendees what will happen at your event, it tells them what your event will be like. The voice, or personality, of your event description, gives attendees a sense of your event’s personality. Will the event be a formal dinner? A casual meetup? An exciting trail run? The voice of your event description should match your event’s personality, so potential attendees can get a sense of what sort of atmosphere they can expect at the event.

How do you decide on what sort of voice to use in your event description? You can start by reading descriptions for similar events, getting a sense of their voice. Also, consider your attendees. What are they expecting to get out of the event? What experience would they like to have? Do they want a playful atmosphere or something more serious?

Above all else, your voice should be snappy. You have very few words to capture everything great your event has to offer. Every word needs to serve a purpose, giving key information and incentive to come. You don’t have room for any filler words. When writing and editing your description, strive to make it as lean as possible, cutting unnecessary words while still maintaining your description’s voice. You want to end up with a concise description that captures your event’s key details and personality.

It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It

Your event description needs:

-Date, time, and location

-Event purpose and activities

-Ticket price

-Appealing details

-Call to action

Once you have those elements, it all comes down to how you put them together. If you stuff your description full of filler words and numbers, leading with boring facts, your attendees will likely be overwhelmed and disinterested. But if you stress enticing details like well-known speakers at the event or the good the event does or even free food, your reader will be able to connect with the description.

You’ll want to paint a picture for your attendees with your most important and appealing details, not just throw facts at them. You can always add an FAQ to the bottom of your event description if you have more facts or figures. Not only would people prefer to see the benefits of attending before the time and cost, but reading about the reasons to attend first makes them more likely to accept that cost.

Reading the Room

Where will your description be read? The location of the event description can shape its format and content.

The description on your own website:

Event description on your website gives your extra control, allowing you to shape its format and presentation easily. You can include enticing media like videos and high definition images, as well as links and call-to-action like ticket checkout. Event description on your site is extra effective if your tickets are also sold directly from your site, allowing for direct conversions. You can use Sparxo to post your event description and sell tickets for your event directly from your website with no redirects – all for free! Sparxo lets you:

- - Import your guest lists and sales lists from other systems
  - aggregate all of your customer data in one place
  - Keep 100% of your ticket sales
  - White Label, greatly improves SEO and Brand

Event Description in Email:

An event description needs to stand out more than ever in a crowded inbox. You’ll want to use a short subject line, ideally under 60 characters, personalized with the recipient’s name. Including some value proposition and urgency (Free Shakespeare, Tickets Limited!) may increase the email’s open rate. Making a picture of your brand and company name visible from the inbox will also help, especially if the recipient has opened your emails in the past.

In the email, the event description should especially be concise and compelling. The description should still stress incentives and the appealing details upfront, but everything should lead to a call-to-action button. Put one of these call-to-action buttons at the top and bottom of your email, making finding it as easy as you can. On your website, potential attendees are likely already in your funnel, tickets always a few clicks away. But in email, your goal is to get them into your funnel by clicking your call-to-action button. Your description should entice attendees to attend your event and learn more about this event by clicking the call-to-action.

Event description on social media:

Social media event descriptions will likely be extra concise, as you have less space and less control than on your own website. You’ll also want to take advantage of social media graphics, using thumbnails that grab interest. Including pictures of people in your thumbnail, especially emotional and expressive people, have been shown to increase click rates. On Facebook, inviting all your friends to the event can increase event visibility, especially if you invite them with a personalized message, stressing how they personally can connect with the event. You may also want to consider employing social media advertisements for your event, which tend to be more reasonably priced and accessible than other paid event advertising. Just be due the ad targets people in the event’s area and target demographics.

Keywords Are Key

Crafting an event description is a key step in search engine optimization or SEO. You want your event description to be seen by as many people as possible, but also as many interested people as possible. Use keywords in your event description that people interested in your event might search for. Pick out a few keywords, like, and then be sure those keywords are featured prominently and often in your event description. If your own website is already optimized for similar keywords, using free software like Sparxo to put your event description and ticket sales on your own website could improve SEO for this event and future events

Go Easy on the Eyes

TLDR (too long didn’t read) is the kiss of death for event descriptions. But too long doesn’t just mean there are too many words – it means the paragraphs were too long, that your event description contains big blocks of text that nobody has time to comb through.

Don’t overwhelm your reader with text. Instead:

-Split description into sections

-Use bold headings

-Use bullet points instead of long paragraphs

-Restate the important details at the top and bottom

An easy-to-read event description means more of your description actually gets read, which means more attendees.

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER BLOG POST ARTICLES:

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27 Nov 2019

Event Apps – All Hype or Worth Every Penny

Apps are taking over the events world.

Everyone from a world-class event production agency to small local event management services providers are adopting various apps that help to plan various tasks, interact with attendees, and promote your brand.

However, there’s one question that many event planners often ask – do the most popular apps live up to the hype, or are they just technological fads that will go away in a few years?

Well, to answer that question, we decided to explore the subject of event apps and see which (if any) apps can be an actual improvement over organizing events the old-fashioned way.

Ready to get started? Then read on below.

APPs for Networking

As any event agency will tell you, networking plays a vital role in almost any business event, and so it’s not surprising that apps are offering to streamline the process and make it more effective.

Apps that are available today can make networking before, during, and after events much easier, seamlessly integrating with social media platforms and helping people connect and find colleagues that are relevant to them.

For instance, the Whoa app completely changes the way event attendees make plans – it allows planning attendance of various panels and sessions according to their chosen focus.

It also provides bios and social media links for the speakers and participants, which makes it much easier to connect with the right people and know exactly how to get the most out of every event.

For those organizing events themselves, Attendify offers the option to create their own private social network where attendees can post updates, share photos, and communicate with one another.

APPs for Conferences

Another popular category of apps that are used by event management services providers in the UK and beyond are conference apps.

These apps also cover similar aspects to those discussed in the previous section, but they are uniquely designed to suit the needs of conference organizers and attendees.

It allows attendees to plan their itinerary quickly, learn more about the speakers and participants, network with others, and even discuss various aspects of the events with their peers on the app itself.

Apps like these are designed to help attendees get the best possible experience from the event, so any event production agency is naturally interested in using these tools to make that happen.

Some apps, like Guidebook, even allow you to create a completely customized app experience for your event using their intuitive drag-and-drop system.

This allows you to remain on-brand and focus on the areas and functionality that you deem are the most important to your audience instead of having to rely on a generic layout that is the only option in some of the other apps.

APPs for Consumer Events

Finally, we need to go over apps that are designed to fit the needs of consumer events such as festivals or public gatherings.

As you probably know, today’s consumers expect brands to offer personalized experiences that are catered to the individual’s needs and preferences.

With the help of a few apps, you can do just that, allowing attendees to plan ahead and make the most of their time, participating in the activities that they deem the most worthwhile.

You can even customize the apps to send push notifications so that the person is reminded where an artist or speaker that they want to see is about to perform.

These types of apps can work for a range of consumer events, including music or art festivals, food festivals, or even gatherings related to a particular event.

In the end, these apps help visitors get the most out of their experience, which is the goal that every event planner tries to achieve anyway. The difference with apps is that a lot of the processes can be automated, freeing up the time of the event’s staff to focus on more productive tasks.

Apps like Sparxo even offer convenient branding and advertising opportunities, which gives you more flexibility to not only promote your own events and company but also strike deals with partners, increasing your revenue in the process.

Final Verdict: Are Event Apps Here to Stay?

Now that we’ve gone over some of the most popular uses of event apps, we need to reach a final conclusion – are event apps worth using and will they become even more prominent in the future?

Well, at this point, you probably know what the answer is.

Event apps make the lives of the attendees easier by offering various features, helping them get the most out of their time, and providing useful information about speakers, performances, activities, and people that the attendees may be interested in connecting with.

But even more so, they help event planners increase the satisfaction levels of their guests, as well as free up time it would otherwise take guiding the guests in person for more productive activities.

Apps help streamline a lot of the processes that were previously harder to control – by providing people with information and also giving them a platform to communicate and connect, these apps will continue to be on the rise, as more event companies see the value of getting their events into the mobile devices of the attendees.

If you want your attendees to start reaping the benefits of using apps, you need to figure out which ones work best for the types of events you want to put together or consult with a professional event production agency on how to get the most out of what today’s app technology has to offer.

About Sparxo

There are many details to take care of when planning an event. Sparxo is the platform for you. You will need to provide information about the event, like what type of venue it is, how many attendees you expect, and if alcohol will be served. If your organization runs several events, multiple event coverage is also available. Sparxo enables you to enter event registration and ticketing on to any website with no other brand or logos, produce media-rich pages to assist with your brand and selling efforts, offers a straightforward guest arrival app and permits you to possess all of your information, therefore, you’ll be able to track your progress. There are not any layer levels of access to options. everybody has full access to all options.

Author Bio
Sarah Hill is a content writer at Seven Events Ltd – an event agency in Birmingham, offering event production and conference organising services in the UK. She started her career in the events industry almost a decade ago as time progressed she became an avid event blogger sharing her insight on corporate event planning.

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER BLOG POST ARTICLES:

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