How to Throw a Kickass Event on a Shoe String Budget

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns How to Throw a Kickass Event On a Shoestring Budget Presented by Emily Miethner Founder, President

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns What You Will Learn 50+ event planning tips that will help you produce an awesome event All the tips include free or cheap services and strategies for keeping costs low

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns What We’ll Cover –  Venue hunting tips –  Choosing the day of the week to hold your event –  Differences between Eventbrite, Meetup, Facebook and protips for use of all three –  How to approach partners and sponsors –  Minimizing check-in awkwardness –  And more

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns About Me Founder, President 30+ events for 1,400+ guests

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Know Your Goals –  To build a community –  To expand your network –  To promote a product –  To make a profit –  To support an organization –  To help the community –  To celebrate an achievement

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns First Things First –  Location –  Date –  Time –  Name of the event –  RSVP page

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Venue Hunting –  Dont look for space, offer an opportunity –  Find a place whos mission aligns with yours –  See where similar events are hosted –  Learn about the space’s goals before you reach out

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Pick a Day of the Week –  Monday: Doesn’t leave time for promotion –  Tuesday: Better, leaves one day for promotion –  Wednesday: Good for networking events –  Thursday: Good for more party-like events –  Friday: Good for party-like events or happy hours –  Saturday: Good for conferences or social events –  Sunday: Good for conferences or social events

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Where to Post the Event –  Are you trying to create a community? –  Is your event one time only? –  Is the event free or are you trying to make money? –  Do you mind getting last minute RSVPs? –  Are you able to take cash at the door? –  Do you want commitment from attendees? –  Are events a supplement or your main thing?

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Meetup PROS –  Get discovered by 9.5 million members –  Members have profiles –  Members are alerted about new events CONS –  Can only create one ticket price –  You don’t get attendee email addresses

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Meetup PRO TIPS –  Gather email addresses when people join the group by making it a required question –  Max out your Meetup’s topics –  Don’t let users email your mailing list (change in settings) –  Use your welcome message and keep it updated

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Eventbrite PROS –  Plenty of ticketing options –  Customizable widgets to advertise your event –  Discount codes creation and management CONS –  No community

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Eventbrite PROTIPS –  Use their 24 hour phone customer service –  The countdown widget drives the most sales –  Create tracking links track sales from different sources –  Export email addresses into other mailing lists –  Add news and updates to event page –  Collect custom information when people buy tickets

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Facebook PROS –  Acts as a great “in your face” reminder –  You can easily invite friends without being invasive CONS –  People forget to officially RSVP –  No customization of event page (photos, logos, etc)

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Facebook PROTIPS –  Adjust the event name to cause a notification –  Send message reminders –  Always create a Facebook event as a supplement… it’s worth it

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns General Event Page Tips –  Creative the main RSVP page on your organization’s website (use Eventbrite widget) –  Make the RSVP link big, bold, and obvious –  Keep info minimal on pages directing to main RSVP –  If your guest list is impressive, show it off

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Finding Sponsors & Partners –  Emphasize what you can offer them –  Find companies who have done something similar –  Reach out on multiple platforms (email, Twitter, etc) –  Announce what you need through social media –  Under-promise and over-deliver

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Pitch Tips –  The shorter the better –  Anticipate questions and answer them in your pitch –  Make your pitch specific to the company you email –  Write a succinct and explanatory subject line –  Always try to find a referral to avoid “cold calls”

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Promoting Your Event –  Promote your sponsors and partners –  #FF speakers and partners –  Tweet at organization who may retweet to their community –  Find other organizations who will tell their members and offer a discount –  Use free industry event listing sites like Gary’s Guide and keep on ongoing list

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Speaker Preparation & Care –  (For panel and networking events) –  Create a Google Doc one sheet with all information (your contact, arrival time, sample questions, etc) –  Send information in the email and link to Google Doc –  Figure out your email schedule. Don’t send too many, but don’t let them forget about the event –  Always have a phone call with them if possible to create a stronger connection

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Check In –  Make your first impression a great one –  Have at least two people on the door, one to handle checkins and one to handle issues –  Don’t create a bottleneck. Think about the set up of check in table, name tag tables, etc –  Using the Eventbrite Entry App is the easiest –  Smile!

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Sample Run of Show –  6:00 - Set up starts –  6:30 - Bartenders arrive –  7:00 - Doors open –  7:30 - Jenny welcome –  7:33 - Emily welcome –  7:35 - Ashley welcome –  7:37 - Julie welcome

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Sample Run of Show (con’t) –  7:42 - Speaker –  7:47 - Speaker –  7:52 - Julie closes –  7:55 - Mingling starts again –  8:50 - Start letting people know were closing up –  9:00 - DJs turn music off –  9:00 - Clean up

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Post Event –  Send a follow up email to attendees with photos, blog entries, etc. Do this within one week if possible –  Put a link to your site and sponsor shout outs in captions of event photos on Facebook –  Create a wrap up report for any partners

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Miscellaneous Tips –  Trader Joes is great for cheap food, beer, and wine –  Event drop off rate: Free = 50% no show, Paid = 25% no show (goes down the higher the price) –  You can most likely get away with adding Eventbrite fees on top of the ticket price

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Miscellaneous Tips –  Are you going to be doing another event soon? Promote future events at events –  Photos and videos are worth it. If you have a budget, this is where you should spend. You will use the content as marketing for future events –  Make a shot list for photographers and videographers

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Helpful Tools –  Rapportive – learn about contacts through your email –  37signals– task management and CRM –  Hootsuite – social network management –  Mailchimp – email newsletter creation –  Google Docs – share word docs, powerpoints, etc

By @EmilyMiethner of @NYCinterns Contact emily@nycreativeinterns.com twitter.com/emilymiethner

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How to Throw a Kickass Event on a Shoe String Budget

by Emily Miethner

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