“When we talk about elections and voting often people think first of federal or provincial elections, but you have just as much say, if not more, in local issues” says Dave Meslin.

A self-described “rabble-rouser,” Meslin seeks to inspire the average citizen to pay attention to local issues and take part in the decision-making process. He is an outspoken critic of Canadian election practices and recently founded the Ranked Ballot Initiative of Toronto (RaBIT). Watch his TED Talk where he identifies barriers that keep us from taking an active role in shaping our communities, through the political process, even when we truly care:

We doubt Dave is needed out in Alberta where the sparks are flying between four different political parties in the provincial election.

I have a love/hate relationship with checklists – I hate to see a list full of things to do; the list just stares back at you, mocking you silently. The list reminds you that there’s unfinished business to take care of.

But when you knock off a bunch of items from your checklist you feel vindicated; victorious even because you’ve accomplished something. As a person who doesn’t have the microscopic attention to detail as some, I have come to appreciate the checklist as a tool to make my life easier. After all, my brain can only hold so much information at once (insert your own joke here).

We have a number of checklists at eventIQ to help staff do quality control, stay on top of  individual projects, follow details for events being set up and especially we use checklists to help us stay on top of all the things we need for a trade show.

So checklists can be pretty useful tools and make me less grouchy. And if you can believe it, a person can even have FUN with checklists — it’s all in your approach.

Given that it’s spring and maybe time for some new clothes, I thought this was fun!

“Win or lose, we go shopping after the election.” – Imelda Marcos

If you were to see me rolling a purple suitcase through the airport, you probably wouldn’t take a second glance.

After all, a suitcase is just a tool for storing socks, shoes and toothpaste, right? Maybe to some, but to me the purple suitcase is a metaphor — it represents leadership, responsibility and organization. Since we use this particular suitcase to pack our trade show booth, it’s vital that everything that we need for a show is put in both before and after.

At first blush you think a trade show booth is pretty simple stuff but really there’s so many things that go into it — everything from sharpies to Scotch Tape and extension cords  – that you need a checklist so nothing is left behind either at the office or at the trade show.

And not only am I responsible for what’s in the suitcase but general show preparation as well — what are the goals for the show, booth location, and coming up with a strategy to make us stand out (we like to ask questions, rather than “pitch”).

As you can see, using a trade show check list at the final stages of your event preparation is a valuable organizational tool to make sure all the last-minute details are handled. You can see the famed Purple Suitcase at the Saskatchewan Association of School Business Officials (SASBO) annual conference April 18 in Saskatoon where we will have our trade show booth set up, doing a short demo of InviteRight and giving away a cool tech gift.

If your election is not having the turnout you expected, it could be a variety reasons. If you are letting ElectionBuddy email the ballots, maybe the election start time was not the opportune time, and people first brushed off the voting link email. There are all sort of reasons why people have yet to cast a ballot. Luckily, we offer two different ways of reaching out to people who have yet to vote.

The first way is to resend individual ballots. This feature is most commonly used, when an eligible voter says that they never receive the first ballot. In your admin area, simply click on Voter List and Status to find the email addresses you would like to resend the ballot to. Beside each email address that has yet to cast a ballot, you will see the word Resend. Pretty easy.

The second way is to email a reminder. By using this feature, you can reach out to everyone who hasn’t voted with a custom message. For example, you might want to let everyone know that the polls are closing in 24 hours, so this is a last-minute reminder to cast your ballot before the election is closed. Similarly to resending individual ballots, you can access the reminder from your Voter List and Status link. From there, you can create your own message.

Well, I certainly hope these features help you increase your voter turnout and gives everyone a chance to cast a ballot . Happy voting everyone!

You are young, smart and earnest and want to leave high school as your class valedictorian.

It’s a goal shared by many people in their senior year of high school but not everyone has what it takes. Boosting your grades as well as your social profile while fending off students who view you as competition for the job can be draining; which is why becoming valedictorian is as much about endurance as it is intellect.

Use these steps to learn how to become your school’s valedictorian, even if you already are the top student.

1. Start working on this early in high school

2. Learn how your school chooses its valedictorian

3. Develop excellent study habits

4. Complete all your homework, classwork and tests at a superior level

5. Get involved in your school clubs and activities (especially graduation planning)

6. Enjoy your senior year — ultimately it’s the friends you make along the way that will matter not who gave a speech at graduation.

Even when you win — remember there’s an election for this position — that’s only half the battle. You will need a great speech on an important and inspiring topic in order to be truly memorable.

“What is it we all seek for in an election? To answer its real purposes, you must first posses the means of knowing the fitness of your man; and then you must retain some hold upon him by personal obligation or dependence”

— Edmund Burke

“April is a promise that May is bound to keep.”

– Hal Borland

Combine the words algorithm and plurality into one sentence and you are sure to lose readers — or at least a certain blogger — but it’s all in the approach. Post a video on YouTube, and a cartoon to boot, now we’re talking!

You may or may not know that ElectionBuddy offers three voting methods for your elections and one of them is plurality voting (also known as First Past The Post). The fact is Plurality Voting is the election system that is commonly used throughout North America in government-run elections.

Check out our blog on Plurality Voting — it gives a great explanation on how this works for simpler elections.

Usually it’s great skill, strong desire and an underdog team winning a game versus a heavily-favored opponent that makes March such a great time to watch college basketball.

The famed March Madness tournament is happening only sports fans aren’t just paying attention to the action on the hardwood. ESPN has a unique online vote where people all over the world are deciding who will win the Coolest Name Bracket.

The criteria is simple — the name should be fun to say, fun to spell or funky/unusual. Last year Bubba Day captured the crown. This year the field is extremely competitive but I’m going with Jordair Jett as my pick. Here’s a look at some of your other choices:

• Spencer Dinwiddie
• Peter Pappageorge
• Hippolyte Tsafack
• Robinson Odoch Opong

If you scroll down the Coolest Name results page you will see results from round one with percentages. Looks like California forward Bak Bak led the first round of balloting with 81.4% of the vote followed by Cashmere Wright of Cincinnati with 79.2%.

Can you imagine doing this with paper ballots? The ElectionBuddy team can’t either — not nearly as much fun and I imagine that most ballots would be destroyed after being used as coasters or paper airplanes!