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.

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 recently married man and new home owner, I’ve come to learn very quickly that the Do-It-Yourself attitude can save you lots of money. Sure, it may not always save you heartache and frustration but if you’re trying to save every penny, that’s the way to go. The real question is, when do you decide to Do-It-Yourself and keep costs down and when do you pony up for the professional? This is a constant struggle for the Grad Coordinator. Ask any of the Grad Coordinators that attended the Graduation Best Practices Seminars in Edmonton and Winnipeg and they’ll tell you that there’s no easy answer when it comes to Grad.

It goes without saying that most schools with over 100 graduating students would cater their on graduation banquet. Nor would they ever consider having an amateur hobbyist photograph their ceremony. And try as I might with teaching our Grad Coordinators how to DJ their own dances (see below), most everyone would agree that we should probably leave the music to the professionals. But what about distributing and selling tickets? Let’s not forget that the graduation experience often starts right here.

Ultimately all of those other professional services mentioned above are chosen every year by Grad coordinators to ensure that their guests “feel” like they’re getting their money’s worth. And of course there’s also a price in creating that experience.

As I had mentioned at the Edmonton Best Practices Seminar, the average cost of a banquet ticket in Edmonton is $62.00. By comparison, you’d be edging towards floor seats at Leonard Cohen for $67.00. That should spell it out very clearly for everyone that graduations are big time events and should be treated as such. It’s unlikely that you would ever purchase tickets for a big concert and not know where you were seated – simply put, that ‘s just what you  expect when you go to a big show. But is that more than what is expected of a sixty dollar banquet ticket? Concert promoters know full well how to craft your concert experience from the time you see your first poster, to when you purchase tickets, to when you walk out of the venue back to your car.

After having hosted four of our Graduation Best Practices Seminars, I can tell you that graduation party planning is extraordinarily complicated. Just look at all of the new graduation ideas that pop up on Pinterest every day! Walking that tightrope between costs and savings is never an easy one. And in the end, it all boils down to the kind of show you want to put on…

Though, I’m sure if any Grad coordinator were to actually DJ their own grad, it would surely be a night to remember!

Special thanks to Maria Crawley at St. Francis Xavier High School for attending and spinning our Graduation Best Practices Seminar – you rock!

Cold? Tired? Dreading the impending winter? Our Graduation Best Practices Seminar is the perfect cure for the pre-winter blues!

If you are a teacher, business manager or vice-principal in Edmonton, Calgary, Regina or Winnipeg then you will be interested in this networking and idea-generating event.

Register today!

Edmonton: Jasper Place High School – Friday, October 26th – Noon – 4 pm

Winnipeg: Garden City High School – Monday, October 29th – Noon – 4 pm

Regina: Connexus Arts Centre – Thursday, November 1st – Noon – 4 pm

Calgary: Western Canada High School – Tuesday, January 29th 2013 – Noon – 4 pm

Not surprisingly many of you are wondering how to approach your principal so you can be vacant from your classroom or school for a half-day (lunch included).

We’re about as objective as Santa Claus is about Christmas when it comes to talking about the benefits of this seminar but here’s a few reasons you can give your principal on why you should attend:

1. Incredible value for teachers: This is a way for educators and business managers to share their best practices, have their questions answered and to network. In a survey of participants from last year’s events, 97% said other teachers would find this beneficial.
2. Capitalize on the group brainstorming: Learn from each other! Ask questions or discuss challenges and see what your colleagues have to say. What is the best way to find a grad venue (if you’re looking for a change), negotiation tips with suppliers, how do you keep your grads from missing class and going to get their hair done instead?
3. More buzz for your buck: Using Twitter and Facebook is a great way to engage with the grad class and parents as well as keep them informed. Hear from grad coordinators who are social media mavens.
4.  You will take away: As soon as you register, you will receive a questionnaire to list questions or topics you would like answered during the seminar. We will discuss these questions but also compile the answers and share with attendees.
5.  You will see first-rate examples: You won’t be sitting in a session wondering how the tools and processes can be applied to your school. You will hear first-hand how you can implement these ideas right away!

I want to make clear this is not a sales seminar dressed up as a networking event. By attending we don’t expect your school to endorse eventIQ or our SchoolTools product going forward, and no one will be there shoving a pen and contract in front of your face.

All we ask is that you are objective and bring your best ideas for planning grad and school activities.

We do guarantee you will leave better informed and with a few new connections after engaging with fellow teachers.

Call 866-811-3144 if you have questions. Otherwise we look forward to seeing you at the event!

In our monthly InviteRight newsletter we introduced a new feature this month — Meet the Meeting Planner. We want to give those hard working folks, who make incredible events like Christmas parties, weddings and charity events come to life, their due by profiling a new individual every month. We hope to give our readers a glimpse into the personality and persona of planners — and of course make their phones ring with new business!

Name: Caitlin McElhone
Organization/Company name: CMinc. Events | Weddings | Design
Job title: Owner & Lead Planner
Education: University of Alberta – Human Ecology Bsc. with Business Minor

Previous jobs and related activity: My first introduction to the special event & wedding industry came when I worked at Notables Stationers for many years assisting with invitation and stationary design for wedding couples. After University, I was then very fortunate to have six extensive years planning corporate events, galas, VIP receptions, weddings and private events with ComLinks Events & Marketing in Edmonton.

Key responsibilities: Details, details, details…Planners are always thinking about the details. Planning the details, confirming the details and then executing the details for each event. We are the one main contact who brings all the puzzle pieces together to make an event happen and run smoothly.

Three common challenges: Sometimes getting clients or suppliers to see and share your vision for an event or space can be challenging. You can see how amazing an idea will look in your head, but it can be hard to articulate that vision to everyone involved with the event. There are always bumps along the planning process as well. Lots of troubleshooting and compromising is done to get the vision as close as possible before the event.

Most rewarding moments:  I love the room transformation. Starting with an empty space or ballroom in the morning and transforming it into something elegant, themed or wacky just hours later is very satisfying and fun! It is also very rewarding to watch the look on guests faces when they enter a room for the first time. The ‘Wow’ moment when you open the doors and guests faces light up by how beautiful and magical a space looks with the right decor, set up and lighting elements is really special.  It is also an amazing feeling when an event runs and ends exactly on schedule.

Knowing what I know now: It would’ve been great to have known that the special event and wedding industry existed when I was younger.  It is often not an industry that parents, teachers or family encourage you to pursue unless they already know about it. Now that I understand how extensive and in-demand this industry is, not only in Edmonton, but all over the world, I make sure to let young adults I meet know that this is another wonderful option and industry to consider with lots of opportunities for different skills and talents. It’s not just about planners, the industry is comprised of so much diversity, including;  caterers, hotels, online registration & website outlets, audio visual, media, florists, graphic design, production designers, rentals, decor, entertainment and so much more!

If you want to be featured in the newsletter and our blog, email ken.fisher@eventiq.com and fill in your information next to the headings like Caitlin did.

EventIQ’s free Graduation Best Practices seminar has become an essential event for Alberta schools in planning their graduation.

This year we’re expanding to Regina and Winnipeg and we’re overflowing with excitement about teachers being able to share their ideas and tips across Canada.

With over 50 administrators, business managers and graduation coordinators participating last year, you will not want your school to miss out – just ask Ross Sheppard High School, Western Canada High School, Monsignor McCoy High School and all of our schools.

At this free seminar you’ll receive a fantastic lunch and spend the afternoon networking with your colleagues. Plus the tips you’ll learn will lower the cost of your graduation, lower your stress and most importantly, make your graduation a huge success!

Don’t wait, register now!

Edmonton: Jasper Place High School – Friday, October 26th – Noon – 4 pm

Winnipeg: Garden City High School – Monday, October 29th – Noon – 4 pm

Regina: Connexus Arts Centre – Thursday, November 1st – Noon – 4 pm

Calgary: Western Canada High School – Tuesday, January 29th 2013 – Noon – 4 pm

Small business owners understand the value of a good idea. At eventIQ we often get together as a group and put on our Captain Creative outfits.

No, we’re not some kind of weird subculture of wannabe superheros; just a bunch of smart people who like to bounce ideas off one another. EventIQ president Dave Bodnarchuk never subscribes to the “throw it up against a wall and see what sticks” theory so your ideas have to be well thought out. And that’s why we collaborate so often — to see if our innovative idea to improve InviteRight or better connect with our awesome customers will work.

Recently a great article came to my inbox and it couldn’t have been more timely. We’re “sharpening the saw” in preparation for Alberta and Canada waking from its summer slumber.  Courtesy of One+ Magazine, here’s some tips on how you can nurture creativity in your workplace:

1. Take Away the Easy Answer
A fair amount of good ideas end up on the cutting room floor because they seem impossible to execute. But that attitude, says Gogi Gupta, founder of online marketing agency Gupta Media, amounts to cutting off the creative process before it even gets started.
“Especially with my designers and developers, there is an unwritten rule: Don’t ever say that it can’t be done,” Gupta said. “When you take away the easy out, people get creative in solving problems.”

2. Encourage Experimentation
Rarely are the best ideas born fully formed. More often, it takes a process of trial and error before you’ve created something viable.

3. Make Room for Failure
“The truth is that we’ve all got ideas and are not short on creativity,” Belsky said. “However, we seldom feel welcome to take risks and experiment with the ideas that we come up with.”

4. Pay Attention to the Physical Environment
Several years ago, Kevin McConkey, principal at Grip Design, noticed that some people on his staff would experience seasonal depression during Chicago’s cold, dark winters. When he realized that might have a negative impact on the office vibe, he made a change.
“When we purchased a building to house our new agency, a major architectural improvement was to add as much natural light as possible,” McConkey said.

5. Unplug
New emails pour in every minute. New tweets pop up every second. If you don’t manage your time carefully, you might find yourself constantly in reactive mode. And the problem with reactive mode is that you never get to work on your own ideas; you spend all of your time responding to other people’s ideas.

To read the entire article written by Tara Swords, click this link. This article was originally published on August 7 in One+ Magazine, distributed monthly to Meeting Planners International members.

Event planning can be stressful.

You’re probably giving me a well choreographed eye-roll at that statement or maybe you let the word “duh” slip from your lips.

Organizers plan everything down to the smallest detail — everything from the flowers that grace the centre of your table to the actual venue. It’s evident, then, that event planners have enough to worry about. Technology can enable planners to focus their energy on more pressing issues.

Here’s four ways technology has transformed the event services industry:

1) Bring Client Ideas to Life

The day of the binder stuffed with event details and spreadsheets is coming to an end. All of the information you could ever need to access right at your fingertips through event management apps on your iPad.

I create demonstrations all the time when I want to show people how user-friendly InviteRight is when it comes to registering for events and buying tickets. Whether it’s a coffee chat or more formal meeting,  I want people to show how InviteRight can help them, not just tell them.

2) Streamline the Planning Process

Planning represents the single most time consuming step in hosting an event, hence employing an Event Planner allows a client enough relief to focus his or her energies elsewhere. An iPad app can not only be a great sales tool but as an effective planning tool as well. Schedule appointments, send emails and create schedules with the touch of the screen.

3) Communicate With Clients and Vendors

Communication is key when it comes to event planning. Online event management software not only helps you sell tickets and register people for events but also allows you to create numerous reports so you can communicate details like attendance numbers, food choice and special seating requirements to your client and venue.

The nice thing about InviteRight is it is so user friendly and there’s so many little features that make for a better guest experience — my favourite is the printable tickets with QR Code. You can even put a logo on the ticket or some type of image to make tickets even more personalized. What’s your favourite InviteRight feature or event app?

Check out our website or contact us at sales@eventiq.com to learn more.

You’re handed the task of organizing the company staff retreat — this is a great responsibility but one that doesn’t have a significant budget. You’re starting to realize the reason this project was given to you in the first place was because you’re a magician with the budget.

I came across a great article on Charity Village about organizing a company retreat on a tight budget. Dave Kranenburg, executive director of Toronto-based Meal Exchange and Ben Peterson, co-founder and executive director of Journalists for Human Rights gave their perspectives on the challenges and successes of organizing staff retreats on a shoestring budget. I’ve summarized the tips below — hope you enjoy it. I sure did!

Be creative
Finding a retreat venue on a small budget takes resourcefulness. Kranenburg says creativity has been key to finding a place that will accommodate Meal Exchange’s modest staff of five, either at an affordable price or free of charge. He says in future he will budget for retreat costs, but the aim is to reduce costs through in-kind donations.

View simplicity as an asset
Rather than focus on what can’t be done without a lot of money, consider that a no-frills retreat may establish a greater sense of community and bonding among staff, and perhaps, when it’s time to work, an increased level of focus.

Set the expectations
Kranenburg says the annual staff retreat is an opportunity to check in with staff on their strategic priorities, “to evaluate how we’re doing and to use that as a starting point about where we’re going.” He usually only consults with the program director prior to the retreat, but says one of the first conversations the whole group has when they convene is what everyone hopes to see accomplished over the few days.

This article was originally published in November, 2011 and was written by freelance writer Jodie Shupac. To read the entire article, click this link. And keep watching our blogs  for more great insight like this.