How to get an Audience Response System for your Next Event
TIPS & TRICKS
Audience Response Systems (ARS) have been around for a very long time, but it s only recently that I ve started seeing them treated as must-haves by event industry writers. In this post, we introduce you to a few companies that can get ARS set up at your event.
What is an ARS, exactly?
Audience Response Systems allow you to gather live data from your audience, such as opinion polling during a speech or class lecture, for example. The benefits are obvious: increase audience engagement while collecting information, and help your audience feel more connected to the data that they present. Here are a couple of ARS Providers:
Poll Everywhere
Introducing Poll Everywhere from Poll Everywhere on Vimeo.
Some ARS systems actually involve equipment, but Poll Anywhere allows attendees to use Twitter or their mobile devices to respond to presenter questions. The results can be seen live online, or they can be piped directly into a powerpoint presentation. The cool thing about Poll Everywhere is that they allow for open-ended questions. You can ask the audience, for example, What are you doing this afternoon? and the text-messaged answers get posted to an answer board that either just the presenter can see, or everyone can see. Great stuff!
Keepad
Keepad also offers app-based ARS systems that send data to Powerpoint, but they also rent out dedicated hardware keypads for voting, and a little gadget for receiving votes as well. If you re not confident in the wifi or technology available at your venue, or otherwise aren t confident that your audience will have the capacity to vote, getting dedicated equipment may be the way to go.
5 Fancy-Pants Ways to Serve Plain ol Water
TIPS & TRICKS
I don t know what it is about serving specialty water, but people love it: there s something about it that feels decadent. And yet there s really nothing so easy as tossing a handful of fruits or foliage into a pitcher. We ve all got the lemon gig down, but it doesn t cost much to kick it up a notch. Even better? You can match your water to your color palette.
Lavender
Visually arresting and strongly fragrant, tossing a few sprigs of lavender into your water pitchers creates a rural, musky floral scent. Lavender oil is strong, so you won t need much maybe 2 sprigs per pitcher. The water and lavender should soak together for a few minutes prior to serving, so it s good to have multiple pitchers on rotation. (Pro tip: Lavender also does wonders in a pitcher of lemonade).
Cucumber
We couldn t get enough of our first try of cucumber water. Cucumber is famously hydrating, and when we toss it in a pitcher and let it soak, the effect was deeply thirst-quenching: a wonderful mixture of freshness and savory. This one is probably best served in summer, and, unlike lavender water, feels a bit more gender-neutral.
Mint
Too early for a tipple? Let plain ol water stand in for morning mojitos. Muddle up at least 10 sprigs of mint before soaking them in your pitcher.
Goji Berries
Another eye-catcher, toss a handful of brilliant red goji berries into a pitcher of water or at the bottom of each guest s water glass. When the glass is full, the delicate berries slowly float and sink from the top of the glass to the bottom. As they soak, they fatten slightly and a acquire a soft raisin-like consistency. Goji berries are a visual addition only: they impart almost no flavor to the water at all. Bonus: anti-oxidants!
Ginger
Ginger water is excellent in both cold and warm weather, and pairs well with Asian-inspired cuisine. Peel your ginger first, then cut into spears or rounds. Half a large root will flavor a pitcher.
4 Great Mobile-Ready Single Page Event Website Templates
LIVE EVENTS
There are a billion-zillion reasons you might be asked to handle the website end of your event, despite not being in the tech business: the client s web designer is unavailable, and the site needs to go online pronto; the client doesn t want to spend the money on a web design agency or make a big deal out of the event website; the client doesn t want to deal with a ton of different vendors and would rather have you handle everything the list goes on.
Without the time or budget to get a fully-customized site structured, designed and coded, your best bet is to opt for a ready-made site template that you can lightly customize and drop online.
The main advantages here are cost and speed. Pre-designed, pre-coded and imminently affordable, you can purchase these, add your client s event logo, title and content in place of the dummy content, and you re ready to rock. You ll need someone with a basic grasp of HTML to edit them and you ll still need to find hosting, so these don t get you completely off the hook in terms of hiring a web designer, but buying a pre-made template means your event site can be up and running in 8 hours, zero-to-done.
And since everyone s using their phones to these days, it s crucial that you choose a template that is optimized for phones and tablets. We scoured the internet and found a few of the best single-page event-themed templates available. Check these out:
Event Landing Page $11 HTML Theme
This basic but very functional theme is not a WordPress theme, but rather a responsive HTML-only theme with three color options.
OnEvent $11 Special Event Landing Page
Created by Dezine Themes, this landing page offers a full-screen photo background, event count-down, speaker list, and more.
EventMe $11 Special Event Landing Page
With multiple color options and all the basics, this mobile-ready single-page theme is perfect for corporate-style events. The unique stand-out feature is an animated event schedule timeline that you can fill in with your event s roster of speakers or workshop times or what-have-you.
VentCamp $11 Event Site
VentCamp is probably the prettiest of the themes we list here. This theme also features a full-screen photo background, lovely thin fonts, and an interesting callout area where you can highlight numbers that focus on the key reasons potential attendees should pony up for a ticket (example: 4 stages! 72 speakers!)
Your A/V Questions Answered: What is Pattern Projection, and What are the Possibilities?
TIPS & TRICKS
At its most basic, pattern projection and mapping is a stage lighting design technique in which a decorative pattern is washed over a large surface area to create a visual effect. In the past few years, stage lighting technology has developed so drastically that s its now capable of lifting cartoon characters out from behind screens and beaming them into real-life.
While your simple projectors might include a couple of gaudy, pre-programmed star or floral patterns in basic rotating laser lights, suitable for a dingy dance floor, more up-market varieties or clever use of mixed-method techniques, can produce stunning effects when handled by experts.
Your standard low-budget version, available for less than a couple hundred bucks, might toss out some basic patterning a la Windows Media Player, 1999:
In stark contrast, here s an example of some of the beautiful abstract patterns you can achieve what happens people who know what they re doing play around in their own studio with with a dual-lens:
These guys created a complete environment using music and pattern projection:
Curious about the future of pattern projection? Look to the East.
Following in their own glorious wait, what? tradition of giant robots and underwear vending machines, a few years ago Japan rocked up to the light-mapping party already packing a double-dose of next-level weirdness. In case you missed the uproar about it at the time, meet Hatsune Miku, an AI rock star with a synthesized voice and a body rendered entirely in 3D holographic light projection. Hitsune Miku s virtual self, backed up by a live band, performed her hit World is Mine to screaming, sold-out crowds:
Wanna play with the technology yourself on a smaller, miniaturized scale? You ll need an iPad, a mosquito screen, a miniprojector, and this video:
Neat, huh?
Image sources: Featured Image by Kevin Dooley
Conference Planning for Geeks: Tips for Engaging a Nerdy Audience
TIPS & TRICKS
What flies at run-of-the-mill events doesn t translate to the geek conference sphere. Here are four tips to help you stay away from the most common pitfalls.
Be Egalitarian
If event managers take a lesson from Eric Shmidt, CEO of Novell and a man with a lifetime of experience managing geeks:
Perhaps the least-becoming aspect of the geek community is its institutional arrogance. Remember, just because geeks have underdeveloped social skills doesn t mean that they don t have egos. Tech people are uppity by definition: A lot of them would like to have been astronauts. They enjoy the limelight. In a power relationship with management, they have more in common with pro basketball players than they do with average workers. Think of your techies as free agents in a highly specialized sports draft. And the more specialized they are, the more you need to be concerned about what each of them needs as an individual.
Of course, Mr. Shmidt is talking about corporate management rather than event management, but the principle still applies. Don t treat your geek attendees as cattle to be herded around or pandered to. Approach them instead like the highly-skilled, intellectually-keen individuals they are, and you ll get better results.
Ideas are Everything
Most events offer content that targets the lowest common denominator in order to capture the widest possible audience, but geeks are fascinated with high-quality ideas. While targeting the majority is always good practice, when your audience is full of technically-minded folks, the lowest common denominator isn t very low. Spend time ensuring that your speakers are addressing more specialized topics that are interesting to a niche audience.
Ditch the Dress Code
This a target market that doesn t place a ton of stock in social conventions, and may actually be put off by settings that encourage attendees to suit up. Don t make a big deal about adhering to a dress code, and definitely don t create an environment where geeks will feel out place wearing jeans and t-shirts.
Fakers Won t Make It
Geeks can smell disingenuous gimmicks from a mile away, and being branded a poser is poison for your event brand. If your event content or promo material sounds like it was created by marketing interns pretending to be experts in javascript, your event is looking down the barrel of some bad reviews on social media. The solution for non-geek organizers planning a geek-friendly event? One, be humble and honest about who you are. And two, surround yourself with geeks that can give you feedback on your tone and approach.
Crowd Dynamics: How to Prevent (and Survive) a Human Stampede or Crowd Crush
TIPS & TRICKS
Human stampedes are tragically common in certain parts of the world, namely India, where heavy population density and a high tolerance for crowded spaces create gnarly conditions that can easily turn deadly. But stampedes and crowd crushes are by no means limited to the Third World, as shown by last year s New Year s Eve stampede in Shanghai, and the Germany Love Parade disaster of 2010.
Crowd safety expert Paul Wertheimer takes care to differentiate between a stampede and a crowd crush , pointing out that stampedes are usually created when a crowd is started or fleeing a danger or perceived danger, while a crowd crush is created by the press of human bodies on a central point or points.
How do these things happen?
It seems difficult to imagine how exactly these things occur, but make no mistake: crowds are dangerous. If the crowd is big enough, it can exert enough pressure to bend steel. While every situation is different, this documentary outlines the official findings from the Love Parade crush, during which left 21 people dead and scores more injured.
Scary. So how do you, the event manager, make sure these situations don t happen? And what do you, the living, breathing human that wants to stay that way, get out alive if they do?
How to prevent a stampedes and crowd crushes at your events
When it comes to crowd control, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Crowd panic often rises slowly, and there are plenty of break points in which you can ensure that things don t get out of hand. Ensuring that exits are clearly marked, that attendees are aware of safety procedures, and that maximum space capacities are adhered to can help ensure a safe event.
Researcher Jens Kraus, crowd evacuation and control method researcher, has been developing some new science that suggests that placement and manner of security personnel is critical:
Krause s team analyzed the behavior of 200 volunteers in an arena with a diameter of 50 meters. The arena could only be evacuated safely and quickly if the security personnel were posted in the corners of the arena or in the middle of the crowd. Only the personnel, and not the members of the crowd, knew that the aim was to evacuate those in the venue to a safe place on the edge of the arena. Krause illustrated his findings through computer animations.
He also found that there is no need for security personnel to be dressed in an identifiable uniform. As long as those in the crowd are aware that there is someone who will lead them to safety, the theory works.
The experiment worked quickly from the very start: the security personnel moved very determinedly and firmly to the edge of the arena. Although there was no verbal communication, the other members of the crowd recognized the resolute behavioral characteristics of the personnel and followed them intuitively. Behavior alone is enough for the crowd to recognize if somebody has certain information, Krause concludes in the study, which he will publish shortly.
If you re caught in a human stampede
In a recent interview on Safebee, Mr. Wertheimer urges those caught in a crush to be sure to stay on their feet, adopting a boxer s stance to maintain balance and keeping hands up by your chest to protect your breathing space. He goes on to say:
Use the accordion technique to weave your way to safety. When a crush surge passes, a lull will likely follow, says Wertheimer. Crowd surges are like waves along the shore. They move back and forth. In between the tide, there is a moment of calm. That is when you make your moves. So, it won t be a straight line to safety and comfort. Your exit route will use the weave technique as you move in and around people in zig-zap style, likely in a diagonal direction to the periphery and freedom.
Further Reading
Check out these related articles for more interesting forays into crowd control:
Tips & Tricks: How to Rent a Public JumboTron
TIPS & TRICKS
The word JumboTron is actually a trademarked brand name owned by Sony, though one that has become synonymous with all mega-sized televisions, particularly those mounted in stadiums and public squares. But you knew that already. What you didn t know is how to get your marriage proposal, event announcement, or congratulatory message up there.
Who do I contact to rent?
The short (and rather unhelpful) answer is that you ll need to contact the owner, which can be a private individual, an ad agency or sometimes an institution. If you re looking to rent the JumboTron at a sports stadium, for example, you d need to contact the stadium administration office directly, and you ll probably need to call in as a surprising number of stadiums don t offer JumboTron message information online. The Jumbotrons in Times Square (here s a list of contact info for those) are each owned by private individuals or companies. so you d first need to identify the exact screen you d like to rent, then contact the owner for specifics.
How much does it cost?
There s a marked difference between costs for advertising on a Jumbotron versus costs for displaying a personal message (like a marriage proposal or anniversary announcement). Messages displayed on the scoreboard at Michigan Stadium, for example, cost $250 for a maximum of 50 characters, but you have no control over the design and placement of your message. Advertisements, on the other hand, can run anywhere from $3,000 to $20,000.
Some more examples of popular public JumboTrons in the US:
Yankee Stadium
Messages on the Pepsi Fan Marquee scoreboard at New York s Yankee Stadium cost $100 per message, with a maximum of 10 messages per game, allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Freemont Street Experience
At 135,000 square feet, the Viva Vision screen in Las Vegas is the second-largest screen in the world. Placing a custom message on the Viva Vision screen costs $500. If you want to include photo or video, you ll have to contact the administration for a quote.
Big Screen at Texas Motor Speedway
Positioned in the middle of the backstretch perched above Burnout Alley, Big Hoss TV features 20,633.64 square feet of HD LED display that consists of 4.8 million pixels and 281 trillion colors. The state-of-the-art video board is the largest ever built by Panasonic and surpassed fellow Speedway Motorsports, Inc. facility Charlotte Motor Speedway (16,000 square feet) to claim the Guinness World Record for the world s largest HD LED video board. The size of Big Hoss TV is 79 percent larger than the video board at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, which stands at 11,520 square feet. Contact for exact prices.
Event Logistics, Freight and Shipping: Questions to Ask When Choosing a Provider
EVENT INDUSTRY, TIPS & TRICKS
Organizing a large-scale event often means ensuring that bulk amounts of oversize items arrive on location, right on time. Considering that precision is so vital to a successful event, it follows that contracting a sloppy logistics company can quickly turn into a nightmare. Here are a few vital questions you should ask before you sign that contract:
Can I speak to some of your clients?
This one s a no-brainer: reputable logistics companies should have dozens of clients with solid recommendations who are willing to vouch for the company s timeliness and follow-through. Naturally, no one s going to give you names of unhappy customers, so it also makes sense to Google around and check reviews online to make sure there haven t been any major complaints. If you do find bad reviews, don t be shy about having a what happened there? discussion with the company reps.
What technologies are you using?
Tech-forward companies are forward-thinking companies, and logistics providers that have the foresight and care to employ the latest tracking and communications tech are more likely to have a better handle on where your stuff is at any given time. It s a good idea to ask when their back-of-the-house system was built, installed or updated. If the answer is more than five years ago , that should raise some eyebrows. You might also consider asking if they have an in-house IT guy or tech team, and whether or not they have a client-facing tracking portal, as a good provider will be able to keep you informed and relaxed with a system capable of providing to-the-minute updates on the location and condition of your stuff.
Have you shipped to our destination country before?
Did you know you re not allowed to import mineral water to Nigeria? That you can t bring electric fishing equipment into Lithuania without permits? Just because a provider has handled overseas shipping doesn t mean they ve got a handle on shipping to your specific destination. Every country has its own import laws, required documentation and shipping quirks, and if you need to move supplies internationally, you don t want any surprises on the other end. Ideally, your logistics provider will have a history of moving items to the destination country, will know the ins and outs of the local customs bureau, what types of items that country is likely to flag as problematic for cultural or legal reasons, any typical wait times in terms of cargo clearances, taxes and fees, and other place-specific issues.
Where are you going to store my stuff?
At some point during a long trip, it s likely your gear is going to be placed in storage. Tent sailcloth can get awfully moldy sitting in a poorly-cared-for facility, rats can chew on electrical cables, and in some places, warehouse theft is rampant. Get storage policies in writing, and make sure your provider clarifies how much liability they hold if your items are damaged, stolen, lost, or destroyed while sitting in a temporary holding space. And speaking of which
How can I verify your insurance policy?
No one wants to imagine the worst, but it does occasionally happen. Better to ask in advance: Does insurance cover the gear during each leg of the transportation process, or only some? What will happen in case of embargo? What is the process for filing a claim, if one is required?
Check all those boxes, and that ll be one more load off your mind.
4 Truly Useful Associations Providing Services for Event Producers
EVENT INDUSTRY, TIPS & TRICKS
The event industry is a connected, supportive place where you don t have to go anything alone. These great groups specialize in creating industry-specific networks where event producers can share resources, trade insights, and stay inspired.
International Festivals & Event Association
You want the most bang for your membership buck? Look no further than the IFEA, whose membership benefits include workshops, yellow pages, market places, award ceremonies for best-in-class work, industry surveys and worldwide support for overseas events. Members are also eligible to drum up further cred by writing for IFEA s magazines and publications, distributed to industry professionals all across the globe.
Event Marketing Institute
It s not just you: everyone feels a little bit behind on their event marketing know-how, a state of affairs EMI aims to overthrow. Their membership benefits list is extensive, including exclusive access to industry analytics, marketing training, quarterly conference calls with an EMI analyst, and custom educational programs.
International Association of Speaker s Bureaus
You can t join the IASB unless you re part of the speaking industry specifically, but they do offer a membership search page where you can dig through association-approved speakers bureaus (in case you wanna find a local firm or vet your existing one). And in an uber-meta move, the IASB holds their own conferences. With speakers. That speak about about speakers.
National Association of Catering and Events
NACE takes a holistic approach to event management and catering with the tagline One industry. One association. True that where s there s people, there should be food. If you re looking for a catering pro to plug into your event or as a partner for your event production shop, do have a peek at the NACE s member directory. And if you re seeking inspiration and business connections for planning your next mega-banquet, NACE s Experience! Conference and Expo is a can t-miss.
Don t Be a Turkey: Four Tips for Throwing an Unforgettable Thanksgiving Party
TIPS & TRICKS
There s no better holiday for collecting a little feel-good karma than Thanksgiving. No matter what your background or beliefs about Starbucks new holiday cup, Thanksgiving offers something we can all get behind: stuffing our faces until we can t move. Capitalize on all that good will with a Thanksgiving event that is sure to rock people s worlds while reminding them that there are still new innovations that can be brought to Turkey Day.
Go Au Naturel with Your Decor
As a holiday designed to mark the bounty of harvest (in addition to probably apocryphal celebrations between the Pilgrims and the early Native Americans), Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to make the most of your natural surroundings. Bring the great outdoors in with DIY table settings and decorations based around warm colors and seasonal flourishes. From mini-pumpkin bowls to wheat stalk bouquets, from autumn-leaf candle holders to pinecone place card holders, natural adornments offer a classic and classy way to celebrate the changing seasons.
Present New Spins on Classic Bites
While everyone has their own quirky traditions on Thanksgiving roasted turducken, that weird sweet-potato-marshmallow thing, Jones Soda s monstrous Green Bean Casserole soda most people are satisfied to stick to the tried-and-true turkey/stuffing/sides formula. This means two things for your event: 1) You should stick loosely to the classics without 2) trying to compete with homespun favorites (catered stuffing will never taste like mom s). So what s the answer? Go for innovative canap s that present a new twist on old Thanksgiving favorites. For example, what about these spiced turkey tartlets, courtesy of The Tiffin Box, or butternut squash croquettes from Chicago caterers George Jewell? Small bites like this are sure to pique people s interest, without filling them up ahead of the big day.
Make Thankfulness Interactive
No one likes Forced Sharing Time, but what people do like is remembering their blessings. Give people the option to do just that with luminary bags. Simply place paper bags by every place setting and allow people to write down what they re thankful for. The bags are then incorporated into a luminaria display, for a simple but lovely expression of Thanksgiving s meaning.
Go Green with Doggy Bags
There was a time when it was considered gauche to bring home extra food in doggy bags but no more. Show that you value an eco-friendly lifestyle (not to mention people s desire for late-night munchies) by setting up a leftovers station for unfinished food at the end of the night. Turn this into part of the event s curation by having your staff pack up well-balanced leftovers into specially labeled containers, giving people a beautiful package to take home.