How to Drum Up Good Volunteers for Your Event
TIPS & TRICKS
Need more helping hands than you ve got? Don t have the budget to have your paid staff picking up litter? No matter what your event topic is, there s someone out there who desperately wants to go but can t afford the ticket. Even better, there s someone out there who loves your theme so much, they d be thrilled to have back-stage, hands-on access in exchange for a couple of perks. Here s how to catch and keep these lovely unicorn-people.
The Big Leagues: Call in the Heavy Hitters at the Work-Exchange Team
Running a massive festival or concert? The Work-Exchange Team by Shimon Presents is one of the industry leaders for large-scale event volunteer recruitment (there s also a pool of volunteers with Oxfam America, but they are typically only available to concerts featuring Oxfam-supporting artists). The major draw is WET s vetted database of potential volunteers, many of whom have worked festivals before in exchange for free tickets.
Some crucial deets: Our website has been specially developed for the management of volunteers for events. It is secure, easy-to-use and has over 50,000 registered users. Our online application will go live, and our marketing team will begin sending out branded HTMLs to our lists of over 90,000 past WETs to help you recruit your volunteers. It is very important that your event also provide marketing services to recruit your volunteers, as your volunteers will ultimately come from your group of fans. As applications are submitted, we continue discussions with your event and begin deciding on volunteer hours and placement. The event deposit will then go live, at which point volunteers will lock themselves in with a ticket-price deposit that secures their spot on the team and their services for your event.
DIY Recruitment
Plenty of festivals do their own recruitment, and interested people will check your site for volunteer opportunities. Knowing that, this one s a no-brainer: your call for volunteers should start going out on social media, on your website, and via your newsletters and collateral shortly after the event dates are announced. Putting your volunteer opportunities on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks allow people help to catch that I can t, but my friend might be interested crowd.
Got a Good Cause? Use Allforgood.org
Allforgood is a great platform to hook willing volunteers up with volunteer opportunities. Unlike other volunteering sites which focus more on long-term, repeat organizational volunteering, the Allforgood platform is more conducive to posting short-term opportunities.
No cause? Then perks are everything.
If you aren t giving volunteers the chance to serve the community, what are you offering? Free tickets, naturally, but what else? T-shirts? Goodie-bags? Backstage access? Meal tickets? Unless your event is highly exclusive, very expensive or super-famous, you ll need to entice the best help with the best incentives.
Make work hour expectations clear
To avoid misunderstandings (hah!), it s crucial that you let potential volunteers know exactly what you ll be asking of them. Here s a good example of volunteer pre-wrangling done right: Bonnaroo Volunteers page does an excellent job of outlining the volunteer experience, including how many hours volunteers will be expected to work, who can volunteer and what to bring. You may also notice that quite a few major festivals require volunteers to pay a significant deposit (up to $400 for some) as part of their application, refundable after the volunteer discharges their duties (all too well can we imagine the situations that lead to the need for that rule).
I ve got volunteers: Now what?
This astute post on the When I Work blog notes, Good volunteers are attracted to good organization and bad organization repels almost everyone who might otherwise give you their time. Show them you re organized by explaining your mission, the work description, and time goals in detail and be sure to communicate effectively. We couldn t agree more: nothing drives away present and future volunteers like trying to help someone who doesn t have it together. So, get organized, and make sure you have a management strategy in place for your volunteer team.
If you ve got a large pool of help to oversee, call us: Decibel s pretty darn good at herding those cats.
4 Ideas for Integrating RFID Technology in Your Next Event
EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
So what is RFID, exactly? I could tell you that RFID stands for Radio-Frequency Identification , but that doesn t clear things up much. Basically, RFID is the technology that makes your touch-and-go credit cards work. RFID sends out a little data signal that can be read at a short distance by RFID readers. Do you have a public transportation card that you touch to a turnstile to gain access to a bus or subway? There s probably an RFID chip in that card. Does your apartment complex have a card lock gate? RFID.
The technology is not particularly new, but it is cheap to use, gaining in popularity, and its applications for event managers are myriad. Here are a few ideas on how you can make your life easier with RFID tools.
Event Access Control
Here s the obvious one: putting RFID chips in attendee badges means you don t need someone at the door checking tickets. Placing multiple points of authentication around your event in front of each distinct zone or area, for example also means you can keep track of who went where, data that might be valuable in terms of sponsorship opportunities down the road.
Event Parking
RFID can go a step further than controlling which cars are authorized to come into and go out of a parking lot. According to an article by RFID journal, RFID sensors can also be used to tell drivers where empty spots are located.
The monitoring system comprises infrared Wireless Sensor Network Modules from National Instruments (NI), mounted at the parking garage s entrances and exits, which are read every time a car drives by. These events are collected in NI s LabVIEW software application. The data is analyzed to determine the number of available parking spots on the monitored floors, based on the total number of spaces on that floor, as well as on the number of cars that each sensor detects entering or exiting.
Neat, huh?
Real-Life Facebook Liking
Ooh, this is a neat find from Event Manager Blog: Coca-Cola used RFID devices to allow attendees to Facebook Like in real life, by printing out like buttons equipped with proximity readers:
Keep people from stealing babies
No, seriously. RFID is also the technology they use at hospitals to keep newborns safe. Baby bracelets are typically equipped with RFID chips that sound an alarm if an infant is moved outside a designated area. If your event is offering childcare and the space and budget allows for it, this
4 Super Creepy Event Venues for your Halloween Party Planning
VENUES
Looking for the perfect location to throw a Halloween chills-and-thrills bash? We ve selected four of America s lesser-known event venues, all of which come complete with real-life ghost stories.
Sloss Furnace, Alabama
Once a functioning blast furnace, Sloss is said to be haunted by the spirits of the laborers who died there. These days, Sloss Furnace is a national landmark and modern metallurgy handicraft center. Its industrial aesthetic make it a perfect location for spooky corporate events and parties.
The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida
According to Wikipedia, the Coral Gables Biltmore is reportedly haunted by the ghost of Thomas Fatty Walsh, a mobster who was murdered there on September 7, 1929 during a gambling dispute. Claims include that his ghost haunts the hotel elevator. Claims also include that of a woman who was said to have jumped out of a window to save her child and a woman in white clothing in their rooms. The Biltmore has dozens of event venue spaces, from 3,744-square foot areas (with capacity for 300-500, depending on space usage) to much smaller areas for more intimate occasions or break-out sessions.
Redstone Castle (Osgood Castle), Colorado
Redstone Castle, a gorgeous Tudor-style mansion built in the late 1800 s, is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of John Osgood, the castle s builder and a famous American coal magnate. The curator of the grounds has spoken of ghostly cigar smoke in the passageways, and manor guests have reported strange incidents. Redstone is currently undergoing renovations, but sign up for their mailing list to be the first in the know when they re-open for events.
Fort Delaware
Fort Delaware, a Civil-War era detention facility for Confederate prisoners and federal detainees, is said to be haunted by imprisoned Confederate soldiers who died there. Managed by Delaware State Parks, the location hosts several yearly outdoor activities and festivals, including paranormal ghost tours.
Fort Delaware photo from Wikipedia. Biltmore photo from the Biltmore website. Sloss Furnace photo from Wikipedia.
Eventception: Events about Events, and Other Conferences Event Planners Should Check Out
EVENT INDUSTRY
Event planners: always the bridesmaid, never the bride. After creating all that fanfare for others, it s nice to be a guest in your own right, chill with industry experts and get inspired. Don t miss these industry-specific events, tailored just for you.
BizBash Live
Site: bizbash.com
The semi-annual BizBash get-togethers are the de-facto conference musts of the year. In their own words (and their words do not lie):
The Expo is the largest one-day gathering for event and meeting professionals in local markets. Held annually in South Florida, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, the shows attract thousands of meeting and event organizers eager to see the latest and greatest trends in the industry. Through education sessions, entertainment, and exhibits, attendees learn, network, collaborate, and most of all are inspired to create incredible events.
The Special Event Show
Site: thespecialeventshow.com
Created by the folks at Special Events Magazine, the Special Event Show is a 3-day conference and exhibitor hall with speakers, workshops, galleries, you name it. Attendees can choose from a variety of tracks to tailor their experience, including a wedding track, design track, management track, and more.
ISES Live
Site: iseslive.com
Billed as the International Conference for the Creative Event Professional , ISES Live is an international conference created to deliver an experience of stimulating ideas and knowledge sharing with other creative professionals from around the world. Uniquely designed, ISES LIVE centers on the role of CREATIVITY, INNOVATION and COLLABORATION in live event experiences. Join us for 2 days of engaged conversation with top creatives in varied fields including event planning and production, film, fashion, music, art and design.
IMEX
Site: imexamerica.com
Specifically tailored for professionals in the meetings industry, IMEX is a three-day event and the largest meetings industry trade show in the U.S. Extremely business-focused, there are learning sessions, dedicated networking areas and events, forums and expert panels, and naturally, an exhibition area.
Academic Event Professional
Site: aep-edu.com
Specialize in throwing soir es for the intelligentsia? Better check out the AEP annual conference. AEP presents educational and networking opportunities for like-minded professionals in the academic event arena. Conference attendees come to exchange ideas, experiences, and information with colleagues who face the same challenges in their day-to-day professional life.
You know you re an event planner when An industry infographic
EVENT INDUSTRY
Fact: Not everyone was cut out to be a shock troop in the never-ending battle against deadlines, wilting flowers and sprinkler systems that explode at exactly the wrong time, but those that make it love every hectic minute. How do you know when you re knees-deep in the industry? Our clever colleagues at Event Manager Blog polled their readers, asking them to pinpoint those little indicators that set event planners apart from the rest.
The best answers were created into a great infographic by Chris Shipton which we know you will love as much as we did:
Throwback Thursday: 6 Incredible Vintage Crowd Shots from Large-Scale Events
EVENT INDUSTRY
Event managers respect a sizable crowd the way survivalists respect a rattlesnake treat it firmly, but don t scare it, and don t get complacent, or it might sink two inches of fang into your leg. In wrangling large-scale events we depend heavily on the help of technology can you imagine dealing with this kind of turnout without the help of mobile phones, walkie-talkies, computerized ticketing?
Staring at these pics, we re faced with bazillions of unanswered logistics questions about historical events. How did advanced ticketing work, and could you get another set of tickets if you d lost yours? Were newspapers and posters the only way to promote your event, and if so, how much did it cost to print and distribute them? And is there such a thing as a turn-of-the-century Porta-potty?
Spectators
This incredible panorama is far too wide to be shown clearly in this narrow space go here to see the full picture. Created in 1919 by Charles F. Allen, this picture shows thousands up thousands of attendees gathered to watch a boxing match.
Soldiers
We don t know very much about this striking image, except that it was estimated to be taken in 1942, near the start of WWII. The source of the picture is telling: it was provided to the Library of Congress by the U.S. Army s Office of War Information, Overseas Picture Division.
Citizens
The multitudes gather outside the White House for the 1921 U.S. presidential inauguration of Warren G. Harding.
More Citizens
Here s another presidential shot from a little further down the line: Herbert Hoover in 1932.
Patriots
In this 1918 picture, Douglas Fairbanks, a popular movie star at the time, speaks on the steps of the U.S. Treasury Building in New York city in support of Liberty Bonds.
Sports Fans
A whole lot of people took themselves out to the ballgame at the 1925 World Series, where the Pittsburgh Pirates beat out the Washington Senators.
Heads Up: The 2015 Parade of Trains is Looking for Sponsors
LIVE EVENTS
The good folks over at Grand Central Terminal in New York City recently let us know about a great sponsorship opportunity for the 2015 Parade of Trains, held May 2 & 3, 2015. They re currently offering a number of levels, both the title sponsorship (hey, big rollas!) and supporting sponsorships. Of all of the venues that we work with annually, Grand Central Terminal is one of our favorites, and this is an amazing chance to get your name in front of a huge audience in a great location for a unique event.
The presenting sponsor package includes alignment with one of the largest, most-visited landmarks in the world, and the sponsorship includes access to activate in half of Vanderbilt Hall during the Parade of Trains event. There will also be an additional activation in Vanderbilt Hall for an additional date in 2015. For this additional activation, the rental fee will be waived.
This is an extremely high profile and very advertised event. The presenting sponsor will also receive MTA Subway advertisements, branding on event tickets that are printed at home, logo recognition on main concourse banners, archway banner and additional signage in the terminal and on 42nd St. outside of the terminal.
There will be VIP access to trains on Friday for the presenting sponsor, dedicated Mail & Ride inserts that are sent to 32,000 Metro North Railroad commuters, as well as logo recognition on e-mail blasts to 20,000 subscribers. You ll also see your sponsor ad included in the event brochure and in Connections Magazine, distributed in Metro North train cars. And naturally, there ll be the flood of social media posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
Sound appealing? You can contact our very own Dana Lipson directly for more info:
Dana Lipson, Decibel Management
: C: 717.271.6309, E: dana@decibelmanagement.com
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.
Unique Event Formats: Silent Disco
LIVE EVENTS
Heard of this trend? Silent Storm, a dedicated provider of silent disco sound equipment, describes the format as a unique way of experiencing live music whether it be a DJ or even a live band. Guests wear wireless headphones and a silent atmosphere instantly transforms in to a high energy musical performance.
If you wanna get thoughtful about it, the idea is fascinating in that you re essentially creating a kind of duality: two wholly separate experiences in the same space. To guests wearing the headphones, they feel like they re participating in the real party , that their voices and words are masked by the volume of the sound. To guests with headphones off, it s almost as if they re looking beneath the veil created by chest-thumping noise. The result of combining these two parallel experiences in the same space is fascinating to watch, but you don t have to be a social scientist to throw one of these shindigs.
Check out a couple of these videos to get a sense of the look-and-feel.
Uh, why?
Lots of reasons:
1) Amped-up bass carries a lot further than the buzz of human voices. Particularly in densely-packed urban areas, you very well may have the perfect space that can handle the noise created by guests speaking to each other, but isn t soundproofed for powered audio.
2) You may be able to get your hands on a crate of headphones more easily than on projective sound equipment, or your space may not be rigged up to handle amplification.
3) Even the guys in the back can hear the music perfectly.
4) The format opens the door to creative variations, like different performances happening in adjacent rooms at the same time, with a different broadcast channel for each.
5) Guests can get out of the noise without going outside. Anyone who wants to speak to each other at normal volumes can just take off the headphones without being separated from their
6) The real reason, though? It s something different. It s a new experience, and people like new experiences. People flock to these things for the same reasons they love launch parties and restaurant openings: doing something new means something to talk about on Monday.
It Just Ain t That Hard: Social Media is not Black Magic Rocket Science
TIPS & TRICKS
A few months ago, Julius Solaris at Event Manager Blog pushed out a great post centered around his Slideshare presentation on avoiding the most common event management social media mistakes.
We laughed. We cried. We blew kisses at the screen. So true. So, so true. Check it out:
Julius mentions that his original post received a lively response, and I m not surprised. I kind of wish I was surprised. Social media isn t a new-baby business tool anymore, but it s alarming how often event managers still need these tutorials, crave them, lust after them. It means we re behind. It means it still feels new and optional to know everything there is to know about social media. It s not optional anymore, but that s ok, because you wanna know a secret about becoming a social media expert?
It s just not that hard.
Time consuming? Absolutely. Even scary at times. But it s just not that hard.
Julius has a lot of specific, and spot-on, pointers. But if you look at the cohesive root of his message, Julius is just saying one thing: there are real people on the other side of those keyboards. Those are real people that might be willing to help you promote your event, or to attend it, if you re nice to them. Real people like to be treated courteously. They like being treated like cherished friends and treasured customers. They like feeling unique, irreplaceable, interesting and smart. Just because there s a computer between you doesn t morph other human beings into Enigma Machines.
Real people like it when their messages are replied to, directly, by a real person. Real people don t like getting form letters, or talking to an automated answering machine which is what it feels like to them when your social media software sends an automated response to their direct message.
Real people feel cool when someone re-tweets or otherwise re-publishes their posts. If we re gonna get all cynical and Psych 101 about it, we might even say that it fills a very human need for external validation. Re-tweeting is a form of flattery. People like flattery. And when it s genuine, it costs very little to give.
Julius says: Don t Beg. And he s right. Why? Because real people don t like to be forced into awkward charity situations. Even our best friends, who presumably owe us at least a little loyalty, don t enjoy that. Why is it then OK to ask strangers, with whom we have no emotional capital, for favors?
There are real people sitting behind those keyboards. Your event s social media strategy will thrive if you remember that.
