InviteRight eliminates seating chart-induced headaches with its Interactive Map. If you want to move a guest, table or booth you can do so simply by clicking and dragging.

To find the individual guest you want to move:

If you know the table number where the group or guest is sitting:

• Click on the Table Number tab above the map. This changes the map view from seats available to show table number
• Click on the table number that your guests are at

To move guests or a group of guests:

• After identifying the table or guests, review the groups sitting at the table. Each registered group will show as an icon with three little people and each guest in that group will appear as an icon with 1 person.
• You can move either the entire group, or an individual person from one table/booth/team to another. Click and drag the group or individual.

TIP: contact the moved guests by re-sending the confirmation to any guests that you have moved; this will avoid any confusion on where they will be sitting on the day of the event.

Check out this visual cheat sheet to learn more about making your seating chart clickable. And if you want to learn how to add a guest to a full table, click here.

If your annual giving program is feeling a little under-the-weather, David Kravinchuk can give you a remedy.

A fundraising consultant and self-proclaimed dispenser of free advice, Kravinchuk dolled out plenty of tonic at the Edmonton Association of Fundraising Professional luncheon April 4. Believe it or not, direct mail should still be part of your campaign strategy.

“I’ve been talking a lot to clients who are examining their annual giving programs and are wanting to go to the next level. Mail still forms the backbone of gift programs across the country.”

(more…)

When it comes to graduations and school events, InviteRight SchoolTools‘ membership list is key. Today we’ve introduced major improvements to this feature that will make graduation coordinators and event organizers look even smarter to their students and attendees.

In case you’re not familiar with what the membership list is or how it works — Typically schools will use the Membership List feature to limit the number of tickets sold at one time. By restricting the Student ID to only be used one time, the organizers ensure that only those eligible to attend the event or graduation ceremony are coming.

Another example of how the membership list can be used is to ensure that any outstanding student fees are cleared up with the school before the student is allowed to proceed with buying tickets for their grad banquet.

The membership list is also a great tool for giving discounts to volunteers or students who have done fundraising and for those events that involve free and paid tickets. Now that you’re caught up, here’s what’s new with the membership list:

• Ability to set organizer member holds and enter custom description of hold (reason for hold)
• For organizers – now your list loads 2x faster
• Improved filtering and searching capabilities
• Improved adding and editing existing members
• Membership discounts can now be applied incrementally based on how many times they use their ID

Hear an audio clip from a graduation coordinator at St. Francis Xavier High School in Edmonton that used the membership list feature to recover $70,000 in outstanding student fees. Click here to listen.

To learn more about adding and editing the membership list, read our FAQ pages which answer common questions or call us at 1-866-811-3144.

When was the last time you gave yourself time to plan?

If you answered this morning, while you were getting into your vehicle or stepping onto the train on your way to work you would be like most people reading this blog. At the risk of offending some, that’s a bit backwards. Think about it – do you put your tie-on before you pick out your shirt or even pull out a pair of shoes before deciding upon what garments to wear?

Recently, I came across the Money Watch blog that talked about preparing for your day the way a teacher prepares for their day. Regular visitors to EventIQ’s blog know we deal with a lot of schools so this instantly caught my attention.

As Laura Vanderkam points out, there’s about six periods a day and teachers are responsible for being in their classroom for about five of them. So what do they do with their “spare” period?

They are not kickin’ back in the teacher’s lounge — they are figuring out their lesson plan so when they go back in front of students they are prepared.

So next time you feel like you’re being buried under paperwork or that you’re being held hostage by your to-do list, think like a teacher and put aside 60 minutes just to prepare.

It may be true that “every girl is crazy about a sharp dressed man,” but EventIQ president Dave Bodnarchuk proved dressing for the part can also be profitable.

The same man who once spent his whole pay-cheque on suits, won a contest for being the best dressed Canadian during a reception largely made up of U.S. citizens at a conference in Washington, D.C.

He was wearing — what else — a hockey jersey, with a big Canadian Maple Leaf (the symbol, not the team) on the front.

Besides the hospitality shown by the NAACO conference organizers and meeting a lot of awesome people, Dave winning a Tim Horton’s card was definitely a highlight. A Timmie’s Card is about as familiar as a Hoser to our friends below the 49th parallel so Dave was the envy of many Canucks in the room.

Upon hearing his name called, Dave immediately lept up out of his seat and bounced around the room; his elbow narrowly missing another delegates’ chin.

Next year the event is in Seattle so the hockey jersey may not be that foreign to those folks…but to win another Tim’s Card, Dave may have to bust out his Don Cherry-like suits from the closet (kidding Dave – you have way better style than Cherry!).

Simple is a good thing, right? We here at eventIQ like to think so and in our experience we’ve found that most people who organize events agree that a simple approach to things is best.

With InviteRight you can create your own invitation and forward it to your guests from your own email program. You may send as many invitations as you wish, however, there’s a limit on how many RSVPs you can receive based on the package you buy.

With InviteRight you can also:

• Set up your events so guests can also forward the invitation
• Print the invitation and send it to guests
• Edit the invitation before sending to guests
• Add an attachment – keep in mind this sometimes prevents emails from being opened due to spam filters

To read more about invitations and InviteRight, read our FAQ page. When you’re there check out the page about sending reminders — a really useful feature!

Planners are always seeking an edge and for new ways to entice donors to give from the heart and using Valentine’s Day as your theme is just one idea. Here’s a few suggestions on how to make this happen:

• Paint the hall red - Ask your attendees to wear read and decorate your banquet hall with red streamers and red balloons.
• Hand out red roses and balloons - great for interacting with your guests and a much more personal gesture than other trinkets.
• Have the right soundtrack - Depending on what your audience is in the mood for you can choose from pop idols, like Taylor Swift, the silky voices of Barry White or Ben E King or even some romantic Honky Tonk like Willie Nelson.
• Sell gift baskets - these can be made from a combination of items including perfume, candy and flowers and sell them at your fundraiser. Having customized baskets available would be an even bigger attraction.
• Create personalized Valentines – with not only a message suitable to the occasion but also your organization’s name and logo.
• Theme your silent auction items - hit up businesses for items like hotel getaways, movie tickets, wine and gift certificates to romantic restaurants. If you sell raffle tickets, hold the draw a week before V-Day so Mr. or Mrs. will look like a hero to their significant other.

We always encourage organizers and planners to use event management software like InviteRight to help them reduce some of the administrative work. We have a wonderful system made with love that includes an interactive floor map.

As a recent college graduate I can attest to the fact that student volunteers are a rare breed – they give until it hurts in the name — or pursuit — of resume references and meaningful work experience. One things that sets them apart from other volunteers perhaps is that they are “in the zone” when it comes to learning new things and practices.

Based on my experience, I found that charities and non-profit groups are more than happy to take on a student volunteer because students are generally eager to get some valuable hands-on work experience. When I went back to school it was later in life, so I had a little extra work and life experience to draw on. In some cases, I was even older than my volunteer coordinator. Yet, despite my age and experience, the perception seemed to be that students are only good for basic tasks, which is an attitude that has rankled me ever since.

Recently I came across a fantastic blog from Sam Lee – originally published in One+ Magazine. Lee pointed out that students are equal to short-term employees, provided they have the skill set you’re looking for, and your company or organization has a clear idea on how they will be utilized (I mean, besides coffee runs!).

Lee gave a few tips on how companies can use student volunteers effectively:

1.    Learn from the traits of your co-workers: Appreciate who it is you’re working with. A lot of student volunteers are enthusiastic, cheerful, ambitious, willing to learn, flexible and full of creative, fresh ideas that can be used by their more experienced peers.
2.    Find the best talent for your position: Contact the university’s career center, where there is a larger student database, which may be able to connect you with a wider range of student talent.
3.    Find effective methods for motivating the best student talent to work for YOUR organization: To recruit the best talent, you have to give them clear reasons to work for you. Clearly convey their tasks, how they’ll benefit and how their responsibilities are meaningful.

Read the full article here and we’d love to hear your thoughts on leadership, mentoring and volunteering in the blog comments.

I went to a talk recently on the topic of persuasive sales techniques, and interestingly,  the speaker started out by making a bold statement: everyone is a salesperson.

Everyone’s eyebrows suddenly started arching towards the ceiling like Eugene Levvy’s. What came to my mind was an image of that stereotypical tacky-dressed salesman who will bully you or attempt to trick you into buying something!

So, as I looked at my tasteful outfit and perfectly normal eyebrows, I wondered how is it possible that everyone is a sales person?

The speaker elaborated that ‘selling’ is basically persuading someone else to do something. He pointed out that even though you might not be a salesperson by title, everyone may try to persuade a coworker, convince your boss you deserve a raise, or even convince your kids to do chores from time to time.

I looked around the room to see if anyone else had just been blindsided with that logic. I wasn’t alone – a lot of heads were nodding in affirmation.

(more…)

Students these days don’t seem to have a problem downloading music or the latest app, but when it comes to learning how to keep their piggy bank full they are lacking in practical knowledge.

That is changing thanks to the Chartered Accountants Education Foundation of Alberta (CAEF), which created a financial resource learning website, called themoneyproject.ca.

Budding bankers at Holy Trinity High School tested the site and gave it a good review. Most of the comments were around how they realize IT IS possible to save for university or college, even while working part-time.

While the website is geared towards high school students, anyone can jump on the site to read tips, articles and videos on financial literacy and take a survey to see what kind of spender you are. To take the survey, follow this link: http://www.themoneyproject.ca/resources/moneysurvey.

Let me know if you take the survey and whether it will influence your behaviour around money.