I’d like to think I have a decent grasp at history. My dad is a huge history buff and is quite the library in his home office. I love listening to him telling me a neat detail or fact he picked up in some history book.

But last week when I asked I pondered to myself “Who was the first democratically elected female head of state?” I drew a blank, so naturally I asked my dad. He didn’t know, but he was more surprised I asked him a history question instead of using “the Google” (as he likes to call it.) He was right, every time I come home for a dinner, we also seem to ask ourselves random question: Where was the first subway system? (Britain) When and where did people first start using toothpaste? (obviously not Britain – source Austin Powers) While it is fun to try and figure out all of life’s mysteries on our own, it amazes me that we still need to have a 20 minute conversation on the first subway system, because it always ends with me going on the Internet for the answer. Seriously…. there’s is no need for arguing or asking questions in this day and age. Just Google everything. If you have smartphone, you don’t even have to leave the dinner table! It’s amazing.

I digress. In any case, in the the time it took me to dial my parent’s house I was able to launch a web browser and search for the answer…

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“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” ~ Vince Lombardi

Former head coach of the legendary Green Bay Packers football club was a quotable fellow but had a reputation as a master motivator. While this quote may pertain more to football, I think it should be on the front door of every office and school because one thing that can’t be taught is passion.

I remember the first time I got to vote in a serious election. I was in my first year of college, and Canada was gearing up to elect a new Prime Minister or go with the incumbent. Sure I voted for NHL All-Star Teams in the past, and less impactful votes. But the All-Star thing was easy, just simply select which ever Montreal Canadiens player was on the ballot and check of their name. There was no real thought put behind the selection.

But the ’06 federal election was different.

Unfortunately it wasn’t the glamorous affair I was expecting. It was just an empty room set up in my dorm, with an old desk and even older lady sitting behind it with a ballot box. But it felt good. It felt like I was actually doing something good for our country. And because I voted, I earned the right to complain if my chosen candidate didn’t end up winning!

While the saying is true, “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain,” there is a bigger lesson involved in your first time voting. And that is the right to vote.

Voting gives you a power and a voice. It provides equal opportunity and a democratic way of deciding on major issues.

It is not something to take for granted either. It’s a privilege to be given the right to vote. Not everyone has the same advantages and a say in the issue at hand.

These were all things I learned when I first stepped into the voting booth (or at least that’s what it was marketed as).

What were your experiences like in voting in your first “serious” election? Why is the right to vote important for you? Leave us a comment below or let us know via Facebook or Twitter.

Does my vote really matter?

Yes. Of course it does. It’s true that in a larger election, the election is probably not going to be decided by one vote. But if the. The same thing for eating a hot dog or chocolate bar. One is probably not going to make a difference, but enough of them are going to have an impact. A negative impact in the food analogy, but a positive one if you get enough people out to vote.

There’s a saying that goes  “if  you own this company, you can dress any way you want.”

My boss, Dave Bodnarchuk took those words to heart. He’s the stuff of legends in the financial services circles because, while interning with a bank as a university student, he invented some software that saved the bank a bunch of time and money. His software performed functions in hours that normally took days, so his bosses were pretty happy with him.

Not too many of us get to name our price so Dave seized the opportunity to negotiate two things: a guaranteed fall job and that he be allowed to wear Topside brand sneakers, without socks to work. Dave now owns EventIQ, which works with high schools to sell tickets for their events online.

Dave’s story reminded me of another good story, which I read in the book  Secret Formulas From the Wizard of Advertising which was about some successful people who were also notable for more than their quirky dress.

Roy “The Wizard” Williams, author of the aforementioned book, retells a story about his initial meeting with Willie Kocurek, who always wore a red bow tie. Williams later learned that the mysterious stranger was a civic leader in Texas who was well known for his decades operating a department store and for being a dedicated community booster.

Kocurek left the appliance business at age 67 and entered law school because he “didn’t want to be tired or re-tired.”At age 70 he earned his law degree and started his own law practice, becoming the oldest person ever to graduate from the University of Texas School of Law.

In his book, Williams compares the success of Kocurek to another southerner, Colonel Harland Sanders (of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame). Sanders is instantly recognizable because of his white suits and long black string ties; not exactly the uniform in corporate America. Sanders’ success, Williams concludes, had less to do with the 11 herbs and spices that coated his chicken parts and more about his unmitigated audacity and his extraordinary confidence.

Williams says unmitigated audacity and extraordinary confidence are qualities that only two types of people share: the amazingly successful and the extremely deranged and for the record he says neither Col. Sanders or Willie Kocurek were deranged (the jury is still out on Dave — ha ha!).

There’s plenty of people who share these qualities which is nice to know. Hopefully someone who is graduating high school this year reads this post and gleans the same lessons that many others have, that your future success is about substance, not style.

And you will be the one wearing a red bow tie or a white suit. And while Dave doesn’t wear sneakers to work anymore, he does love his golf shirts!

“Our actions are all that separate our daydreams from our goals.”

— Roy H. Williams

What separates most of us from the inventor of Facebook, besides a few billion dollars in our savings, is acting on our dreams. EventIQ is the product of someone not being satisfied with the status quo. If you are graduating high school or are in a position to help young people, please share this quote.

Time travel is logically impossible but it doesn’t make it any less fun to talk about. After attending some graduation banquets and ceremonies on behalf of EventIQ last month,  I have decided I want a do-over of my teen years, like in the movie Peggy Sue Got Married.

Gawd! I’m really showing my age here now — there’s so many other variations on this theme (switching places with your teenage self or son/daughter) since Peggy Sue came out in 1986, but this is my favourite. In the movie, Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) is a 43-year-old woman facing divorce who goes to her high school reunion only to faint and wake up in 1960 as a high school senior. There’s no time machine here, no magical hot tub or transporter that sends people backwards in time; just some mystical force at play that gives her a chance to fix her life at the junction where it went wrong.

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I was channel surfing through a number of televised sporting events one Sunday, when I came upon this show called Party Mammas.

Airing on the Slice Network, the basic premise of the show is following around moms (and sometimes dads) while they plan overly-extravagant parties for their children. And push savvy event planners to their limits.

Normally I wouldn’t spend even a few seconds watching this type of show. I’m definitely not their target market;  especially since I really don’t care whether a sequined bustier would bring out the orange sheen of someone’s skin or how to protect my treated hair.

Regardless, whether it was boredom or morbid curiosity, I left my finger off the channel button.

I watched in fascination as Eva, a single working mom, brushed off suggestions from her 13 year-old son Aidan that planning for his Bar Mitzvah was not going well.

A Bar Mitzvah is a life-altering event yet no planning had really been started.

In fact, I almost rolled off the couch when I heard that with one month to go before his birthday, she had no location booked. No guest list. No entertainment or menu.

By the time Aidan took control of the situation, engaging a party planner through his smart phone, I’m sitting upright, screaming at the TV in an attempt to get this pair to hear me: “Use EventIQ! You could have avoided some of this stress .”

They didn’t listen, which is no surprise. Yelling at the TV doesn’t work during hockey games either.

Finally, Eva relented and accepted the help of event planner to organize things. The event planner was surprised Aidan was calling the shots, even if his demands were a little flighty.

A contortionist? Really? And I thought having a Pinata was a big deal.

The morale of this story? It isn’t easy organizing events and just the thought of the work that has to go into a major event can make one want to hide under the covers. Which is why software like ours can make tasks like sending out invitations and managing the guest list a little easier.

Also helpful is reverting back to the Five W’s (who, what, where, why and when) when planning an event. As in, who will you be inviting to your event? What is the event all about?

Decide in advance how guests will gain access to your event (tickets, invitation only, a pass) and any restrictions on guests like dress code or knowing how to dance the Flamenco.

For more event planning tips visit www.easyeventplanner.com.

Curious about how the show ended? Somehow, I stuck around until to see how this train wreck would end. Of course, the party was pulled together and everyone was happy. Ahh, Hollywood.

The example I used of a clueless Diva-like mom may be extreme. However, a little advanced planning can go a long way to making sure you don’t end up as reality TV fodder.

Hey everyone!  Erik Einsiedel at EventIQ here and I will be your host on this newly launched blog, which means we should probably get to know each other.

The truth is I’m still the “new guy”: I only just joined the amazing team at EventIQ a few weeks ago so I’m still learning the ropes, but this team is too good to be kept a secret, so I’ll be introducing you to each of them eventually.  And I’ll try not to include any embarassing photos of them.  Unless it’s requested, of course.

But for now, I’ll go first and introduce myself.  As the Marketing Director, I’ll be spending most of my time talking up this fanastic little thing we’ve got called InviteRight.  Which won’t be hard, because once you see how it’ll make your life so much easier when you plan your events, I can probably just shut up and let you run with it.  I remember when I first saw the Interactive Floor Map, which is now my favorite feature – if only I had that to use when I was planning my wedding several years ago, I could’ve saved so much money on aspirin.

… sorry, I’m getting sidetracked.  There’ll be plenty of time to talk up InviteRight later.  I’m supposed to be introducing myself.  So here are 3 things you probably don’t know about me:

1. I was born in Ohio but grew up here in Canada, mostly in Calgary and Edmonton.  Please don’t make me choose between the Flames and the Oilers.
2. I studied theatre at the University of Alberta and used to act in local theatre productions here in Edmonton.  I’ve even been featured in a few reviews that appeared in the Edmonton Journal (mostly about how bad I was).
3. My favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption.  My actual favorite movie is Road House. (shh!)

Anyway, thank you for reading and I’m hoping you’ll keep coming back to meet the rest of our EventIQ team, and so I can share some of the exciting things we’re working on.

We’d love to hear from you so please feel free to leave comments or email me.  In the meantime, don’t wait for me to start yapping about how great InviteRight is.  If you’ve got an upcoming event and you need an easy way to do online registration or ticket sales, go check it out for yourself to see how InviteRight means More Guests, Less Work, and  Looks Great for your event.