I love telling the story of eventIQ and most times people don’t mind hearing it even if I do get a little excited. They understand that while a bit hyper, I am a passionate advocate.

In a few days I will have a new story to tell to a new group. Along with my wing-man eventIQ president Dave Bodnarchuk, I am headed to the North American Association of Commencement Officials (NAACO) 2012 conference in Austin, Texas.

Two weeks ago, I didn’t know NAACO existed. In fact, other than my favourite football team the Dallas Cowboys, I haven’t given Texas much thought either. Did you know the population of Texas is reaching 25 million (or 16 million without the cattle)? … Click here for some more fun facts about Texas.

Actually NAACO is quite strong with 600 members that meet once a year to broaden their knowledge and skills around graduation ceremonies and events. Since we work closely with 40 high schools, the University of Alberta, North Carolina State and Grant MacEwan University, this kind of trade show/convention is perfect for us. Watch our Twitter account (@InviteRight) for updates from the show where I will share some of my experiences from the conference.

I think every sports fan or athlete that hears the word “practice” thinks of the Allan Iverson press conference where he rants about having to practice with his pro basketball team.  Hey; I agree with “the franchise” that practice is not fun — games are fun! I’m sure coaches would agree but they would rather run a practice or do more game preparation than sit at their desk, sifting through paper or their email inbox for a registration.

This is where InviteRight helps. We do all the behind-the-scenes work to create your team and tournament registration forms, including personalizing them with your school logo and colours and customize the fields to your liking.

• Register One or Many  Register students one at a time, whole teams or a bunch of teams — even do all three if you want. InviteRight is totally configurable to your needs.
• Reduce Followup Time A lot of time and energy is spent accommodating late registrations. InviteRight does the reminding for you, allowing you to email your parents and students as much as you want to give them registration details.
• We’re With You From Start to Finish Like a good teammate, we have your back through the entire registration process. In person, chat, Skype, email or phone – we’ll always answer your questions. And we multitask — we can manage season tickets and even register those duffers for a golf tournament.

Just like Iverson put a smile on the face of basketball fans everywhere, InviteRight will make you smile — in appreciation for having more time to run practice.

And, as a special bonus…   in addition to giving your school something to cheer about, now give them something to cheer with!  Cheercards will let your fans cheer using team players’ names – no more “Go Number 7!”

Everyone loves a good story and we’re hoping to collect a few hundred of them starting today.

The $500 eventIQ Graduation Scholarship is now open to all Grade 12 students in Western Canada and all students have to do to qualify is write a short story about how they’ve made graduation extra special.

We want  a short story (250 words or less) about a students positive contribution to graduation at their school. We’re seeking inspiration stories, such as a student arriving for a grad committee meeting after having major surgery that morning; students coming up with creative ways to create excitement around grad; twins writing a grad song together. The more inspirational or different the better!

Competition for the scholarship is going to be fierce so students may want to do something unique by linking to a video, a song or poem. No matter what they choose to do, the application form needs to be complete so we can verify their story.

Students have until June 4, 2012 to send us their application so there’s no big rush. Click here to access the scholarship application.

Think your school has the best grad experience? Send us a message to sales@eventIQ.com and tell us why. And keep watching our blogs, Twitter and Facebook for stories we’ve collected along the way.

Scholarship program FAQs

Where is the application form?
Feel free to share the scholarship form link on your Facebook page, school’s website or Tweet it: https://inviteright.batchbook.com/lists/form/71489

What do students do when they reach the form?
Students should fill out all the fields, then type their personal story (250 words or less) and clicks submit. They will receive an email thanking them for their submission.

When is the deadline for applications? 
Deadline is June 4, 2012.

When will the winner be notified?
EventIQ will review submissions and notify the winner by June 12. We will publicly announce the winner in our June SchoolTools newsletter.

Can students apply more than once? 
No, but there’s no limit to the number of Grade 12 students that can apply from your school. The scholarship is open to any graduating student in Western Canada.

How will I know my application was received? Enter the information on the sign up form and click submit. The individual will receive an email thanking them for their submission.

It takes ideas, effort, drive and passion to plan graduation and we want to hear from students who exhibit those traits. But we’ll need your help to get the word out!

Teachers and parents alike shake their heads at the amount of money spent on grad, but really no one wants to tell them they can’t buy a fancy dress or rent a limousine with some pals on what is a huge milestone for them.

At eventIQ, we agree it’s not right to deny a student their chance to celebrate with their peers so instead we are offering ways they can save themselves some money on the grad celebration. We’ve highlighted some of the ways in previous blogs but we also wanted to share our graduation gift program.

When using InviteRight to purchase tickets, grads can access special offers on goods or services they buy anyway and SAVE LOTS OF $$$.

We partner with local businesses to offer deals that are timely and targeted to grads. We already have Earl’s Restaurants on board for the second year in a row and are securing deals with limo companies, florists and formal wear companies.

But there’s many more possibilities than that – why shouldn’t students access deals on activities like paintball, golf; even dentists! If you know of a business that supports grads, contact sales@eventiq.com or call 866-811-3144.

To see how grads buy tickets online, you can access a free demo on our website or call us to set up a personalized demonstration. There’s no commitment or cost to this – our goal is simply to inform you of how online ticket sales not only save you time but save your grads money.

Many people look back on their high school years and say it was the best time of their lives because of the lasting friendships you make and how you start discovering the type of person you will eventually become. OK, but I always joke that high school is a time of great awkwardness: not knowing where to sit in the cafeteria, acne, growth spurts, braces… regardless of how good/bad of an experience high school was, it usually is celebrated with a party.

It’s tradition, at least in some provinces, that new graduates spend a final night with their friends and peers with whom they have shared many happy and sad moments over the years. As parents, you want them to have a wonderful evening, but what will they will be doing when the school-sponsored graduation banquet or prom is over?

Fortunately, this graduation season has passed without incident and that is at least in part due to the efforts of parents who have worked hard all school year to plan a safe, alcohol and drug-free environment where the party can continue.

Being in the graduation business, myself and the rest of the team at EventIQ have a vested interest in seeing these young people stay safe and set a good example for the next wave of grads. And if there’s anything we can do to help your planning of a safe grad event, like we do for ceremonies and proms, just send an email to ken.fisher@eventiq.com

In the meantime I want to share some tips on how to keep teens safe during their social highlight of the year:

Be in the loop on grad season

Really there’s no excuse for being uninformed. Most schools publish details about graduation on the school website and often those details are given out to students in an assembly early in the school year. These details almost always include updates on the post-prom events and some schools go so far as to have a special website dedicated solely to this event.

Talk to other parents

Being involved with grad events will give you the opportunity to compare notes with other parents about setting curfews and how to reinforce lessons about not giving in to peer pressure. My parents always made it a point to be awake when I came home (never underestimate lights and coffee people!) from being out with my friends and they talked to other parents to compare our stories. Any gaps in our stories and we were busted!

Initiate a conversation with your teen

Teens will live up to your expectations. Having a frank discussion on good decision-making and setting the bar high when it comes to appropriate behaviour will hopefully keep them from straying. Most of all you want grads to have fun as this is their big moment. And since we all probably have a story or two about our own graduation, I don’t see the point in trying to pretend unsanctioned events can be dangerous. Here’s a few tips to consider on different models of Safe After Grad parties:

Plan something fun

• Depending on your school, the After Grad party is sometimes endorsed by the school and sometimes not. Those that are sanctioned involve a myriad of events taking place after the prom at a nearby venue. Most times students taking part in this event are bussed from prom directly to the After Grad, where they are the watchful eye of parent volunteers.
• Parents do an incredible job of planning so much stuff that no one will want to leave to go somewhere else where drugs and alcohol might be present: there’s magic shows, hypnotists, music pumping and people dancing, all kinds of food, games, etc.
• Some events have a mock casino theme while others adopt a mardi gras theme with costumed masks.
• Prizes are available thanks to corporate sponsors.
• Students in some school districts are bussed from the hotel where the prom is happening back to the school. They are then locked in the school gym until dawn.
• Guests from outside the school have to pass a rigorous screening process.

Prom is about lasting memories. Some careful planning can make sure that in 20 years these teens will look back on their graduation party as memorable for all the right reasons.

We know how super busy grad coordinators are and getting buy in on a new process from administration AND keeping parents happy can be like walking through a minefield.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you and your team to learn more about how InviteRight works for buying grad banquet tickets.

Click to access your free InviteRight demo and you will experience how easy it is and how much time is saves a student or parent:

* Buying banquet tickets simply and easily and even setting a limit to the number of tickets purchased
* Seeing how grad crashers are stopped by ensuring that only valid students can buy tickets
* Seating your guests using our interactive seating chart so friends can sit together without extra work for you
* Paying by credit card which gives parents reward points (and saves you from writing bank deposit slips)
* Printing sample tickets  – an optional feature, but you can use your iPhone to scan tickets at the grad

You might be skeptical as to why we’re giving you this free demonstration. All we want is to show off InviteRight and help you visualize how easy and fun this is compared to the process you’re used to. Just click here to access the free demo or if you’re curious about what else InviteRight can do, check out our graduation page then call us for a full-fledged demo at 866-811-3144.

Commencement day has arrived and all your hand-wringing and extra hours of hard work is displayed as students walk across the stage to receive their diploma.

You’ve seen this scene play out year after year, but seeing students dressed in their traditional graduation garb makes forgoing your lunch hour and putting in OT all worth it.  You can simplify collecting cap and gown sizes using our free cap and gown sizing form  and here are some other tips to make your job easier and improve the commencement ceremony for everyone:

Signage: Venues usually have a TV screen somewhere showing what events is in what room, but in our experience parents and guests don’t always see them. Make it easy for your guests and grads by putting up signs or having a greeter give them some direction.

Have your commencement and banquet in the same venue: Make it easy for your guests, especially those who have mobility issues or who are from out of town, to enjoy both events. Not every school has a grad banquet and commencement at a venue, but if you do we suggest having them at the same place and on the same day.

Photo opportunities: Highlight the best photo opportunity spots outside (and inside) of your venue and allow time the in the schedule for families to take their own photos.

Random cheering: Encourage guests to whoop and cheers for grads as that diploma is put into their hands.

Honour Guard: Having your school police office dress up in their dress uniforms and act as an honour guard on stage is a great visual reminder of the importance of the day and makes each graduate feel extra special.  The school mascot in a gown can also be a nice touch too, but is less formal!

Invite Local Dignitaries: Your mayor and other elected officials or famed alumni are also a nice touch, whether to add words of encouragement with a speech or to shake each graduates’ hand.

Start your commencement on time: There’s nothing more disruptive than these latecomers clambering up metal stairs. If you advertise a start time, stick to it. Leave a volunteer at the door to greet the time-challenged and act as usher to find a seat inside.

One of my favourite parts of a movie is when the credits roll and scenes of the actors cracking up or flubbing their lines are played.

One of those moments occurred when I was working on a video testimonial with one of our customers, Mike House from the University of Alberta’s School of Business. If you know Mike give him a pat on the back; he was just elected to the Citadel Theatre Board and is president of the the Association of Fundraising Professionals Edmonton chapter. I was setting up the camera and tri-pod, trying to find the best way to fit in both Mike and the School of Business logo in the frame.

One of Mike’s coworkers strolled by, watched intently for a few minutes, then shouted: “Hey Mike, your head is blocking all the letters!” Mike took this in stride and joked he will now go by the name Alberto — a reference to his head blocking out the ‘a’ in Alberta. To watch the testimonial, head to our website.

The comment about Mike’s noggin was made in jest. His mound is not so round that it blocked out the letters behind him! But it was a missed opportunity nonetheless (sigh!).

Mike and I filmed the rest of his heartfelt testimonial and while he was a great sport — I made him stand, sit and even crouch — the best part of the morning was hearing what he had to say:

“We used to spend a lot of time making sure people’s addresses were correct and mail merges happened. We decided to go to an online system and we have found our alum is now more responsive to online requests. We’re thrilled to use InviteRight — it has helped us engage our alumni the right way.”

You won’t see bloopers in this testimonial, but you will see an impactful example of how InviteRight is used to make alumni engagement smoother.

Imagine going into your attic or crawlspace and pulling out an old shoe box, looking inside and finding some treasures that remind you of your high school days. Shoe boxes full of faded pictures and buttons are fun, but I’m not sure they will have the same appeal to kids in 2012.

Recently, I came across the term Infographic and realized that it does the same thing as the shoe box in the sense that you can use this tool to collect memories.

If you break down the word you can probably guess what an Infographic is — but the definition (I am paraphrasing Wikipedia here) is that Infographics are graphics that represent information, data or knowledge. They can convey complex information quickly and clearly.

So I got to thinking, this is a great tool for teachers! Infographics probably have plenty of uses in the classroom, especially when it comes to helping students better comprehend data sets. But here is a more practical idea.

Have students create an Infographic of their high school career and noteworthy events that took place in their life during this time — sort of like the shoebox idea. This is just one of many visual tools that teachers can use when trying to engage students and (to me) it would be a heck of a lot of fun to have the students interpret each others’ Infographics to see if they agree on what the most important or most memorable events from high school were.

What a great way to chronograph grad!

For many young sports fans watching their favourite Edmonton Eskimo or Edmonton Oiler play up close or even up high in the “cheap seats” section is commonplace. And the same can be said for those who make it a habit to watch a play or musical.

But for some youth, seeing their sports idols play in person or watching a professional symphony or theatre production may never be a reality for them. A family-friendly partnership between eventIQ, Northlands and non-profit foundation Kids Up Front will result in one Alberta youth having an “event experience” of their choice, whether it’s sports, theatre, or even a concert at Northlands.  The free tickets for a student and three family members is part of the Grad Give Back Program, announced Oct. 26. The program also includes a $500 scholarship and some free time-saving tools that are on our InviteRight SchoolTools website.

Please spread the word about this fantastic community program and watch our blogs page for future announcements. If you are on the grad committee or are a community-minded businessperson that want’s to participate in the program, contact eventIQ at 866-811-3144 or via email at sales@eventiq.com.