Can unusual events be your thing?

Being an event planner offers you the chance of hosting many great events. I think that every one of us dreams of hosting the perfect concert or conference that will forever remain in every attendees’ heart and mind. But I also think that many of us would love to host all sort of unusual competitions, championships or festivals, but are too scared to do it. Why?Because “what will people say?”, “who will attend?”, “it’s too weird” and so on. Considering the fact that there’s some “Chemical X” in all of us I think that sometimes we just need someone whispering “everything is possible” –  and we will find the power to follow all these weird ideas. And in this case, I would just love to be one shouting that every unusual idea can be transformed into a very successful unusual festival (contest, race etc). So I gathered a list of some famous, but curious festivals/contest to show you that every idea can be transformed into a successful event.

Air guitar Championship 

Have you ever dreamed of playing your guitar in front of a hypnotized crowd but then realized that you never actually learned to play it? Good news: Finland hosts Air Guitar World Championships, where you don’t need a guitar for a great guitar solo. Here moves are more important than the music so at AGWC only the passion with which you play your imaginary guitar counts. If you plan on becoming the new guitarless Jimi Hendrix you should know that the next edition of AGWC will take place between the 22nd and 24th of August (as part of the Oulu August festival).

participants on stage at Air Guitar Festival

source: airguitarworldchampionships.com

World Beard and Moustache Championship 

Beards and Moustaches. As we all know facial hair is a simple sign of a high testosterone level, and which man doesn’t want to show off with that? Hmmm…maybe this contest is not so unusual after all. There are multiple local/national beard and mustache contests but also an international one – World Beard and Moustache Championship.

Baby Crying Contest

Do you know the popular theory that a crying baby is a healthy one? Well, in Japan there is even a contest of crying babies. This hundreds years old “contest” is meant to help babies scare off the demons, so the louder the scream the longer/healthier the baby’s life. The participants (little babies) are held on stage by sumo wrestlers that encourage them to cry by wearing masks or simply “whispering” them to.

Rock-Paper-Scissors

Rock-Paper-Scissors is not an unusual game (as for years and years decided for me and my friends who will go to the store or take out the garbage) but a World Championship…that was new (to me). Unfortunately, there are some issues with the event and Worldrps.com announces that currently there aren’t any scheduled for Rock Paper Scissors International World Championships but there are plenty of local tournaments to prove you have the skills.

Wife Carrying Festival 

The wife carrying contest originated in Finland and, over the years, has spread around the world, similar competitions being held in North America, Australia or the United Kingdom. Beside multiple local contests, enthusiasts can participate to the Wife Carrying World Championship (if they are good enough, of course) held where else than in Finland. The first 20 editions have all been won by Europeans, I think it’s time for this to change.

Ironing can be transformed into an unusual competition 

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think that ironing is a very annoying task, but it seems that things change when you add some adrenaline to it. Otherwise, I can’t understand why Extreme Ironing even exists – you can do some extreme sport without carrying your iron board with you, right? Extreme ironing enthusiasts organized a World Championship back in 2002 and 12 team took part at it, demonstrating that even ironing has its fans (or maybe it was the adrenaline rush activities that gathered them, we will never know for sure).

Shin-Kicking World Championship

As the name says this sport involves getting your shins kicked…ouch! Originated in England, this sport still attracts great crowds to the Cotswold Olimpicks. I wouldn’t dare to look, not to mention taking part in a “shin fight”, but if you fancy yourself in the middle of the action you must know that the next event takes place on the first of June, 2018. May the Shin be with you!

October 26, 2017 Event professionals, Events, Festivals No comments yet

Dear event planners, Volunteers are part of your team

If volunteering can change the world than I think it’s safe to say that volunteers can change your event. My colleagues and I saw many events were volunteers’ contribution was so important that I don’t really know if those events could have been possible without their help. And this is perfectly normal – large events (especially festivals, exhibitions, and conferences) mean large crowds so any extra help is greatly cherished. There are many reasons for which people volunteer at events and there are many reasons for event planners to reach out to volunteers. But for this to work you, the event planner, should:

picture of 4 volunteers holding fists together

Find out where you need help

Before you contact volunteers you must know what you actually need them for, meaning you will need to evaluate your needs for personnel. Find out which departments would need some extra help: marketing and communications, sales, technic department etc. so you know who to look for. People like volunteering but they also like to know what they are volunteering for and it wouldn’t do you any good to look for someone to help with registration when you actually lack a sound technician.

 

Ask early

My biggest problem when growing up was that I always waited until the last minute when I wanted/needed something. And, as life taught me (the hard way, how else?!), things tend to get rough when time isn’t on your side.

Spread the news that you are looking for volunteers early on otherwise you can you can find yourself in the unpleasant situation of not having enough personnel on site.

 

Define your expectations 

If you don’t know where you’re going how will you know when you get to the destination? Things aren’t very different if we speak of a new task or project: if you don’t know what you want to achieve how will you know if you did a good job? Things are even more unclear for volunteers, so you will need to explain to them what should be the end result of their work. It’s easier to evaluate your work when you have some clear goals.

P.s. this doesn’t mean that you must micromanage your volunteers, don’t get me wrong

 

Don’t “save” obnoxious tasks for volunteers 

You and your team should act like leaders and don’t use volunteers for the jobs that nobody wants, instead offer them the chance to do something meaningful. This way you can count on their help for your next events (and will be able to add some experienced people to your team).

 

Form groups and offer training 

After everybody has chosen a role it’s time for you to host a training for the whole team.

I saw that, generally, things work great when you create mixed workgroups (volunteers + team members) and offer the same “training” for all. Encourage socialization between your team and volunteers because, after all, you are all in the same boat, so you need to act like one big team.

Before your event starts “walk” everybody through the whole process at least once, so they all get the big picture. Seeing how a rather tiny role in the process actually helps things move forward will make everyone more enthusiastic about their role in the event.

 

Praise volunteers for their hard work

“How you feel is often more important than what you earn”. We tend to value words of appreciation more than we value financial rewards, studies reveal. But if you think that words of appreciation are so used so often that they start to lose their value…think again.Genuine words of appreciation are rare and hard to forget, so are able to make you really known and appreciated within the community of volunteers.

 

…and don’t forget that VOLUNTEERS ARE PART OF YOUR TEAM.

October 13, 2017 Business events, Event management, Event professionals No comments yet

Infographic: 17 to-dos when planning a street running event

“Marathons are a great way to bring people together and also one of the best ways to raise money for charity.”

We wanted to add some data behind this statement so we randomly studied about 200 street running events/marathons for which organizers created events on Facebook and noticed that, on average, 1350 people stated their clear intention of participation (meaning they’ve selected “Going”) and over 3100 selected “interested”. This means that, on average, every marathon that has an event on Facebook has interacted with 4500 people – at least. To this numbers, we must add the exposure offered by a marathon – especially if it takes place on city streets, and we can see why more and more NGOs select marathons (marathons, half-marathons or other types of runs) to raise awareness and collect money.

We gathered 17 ideas that you must have in mind when planning a street running event:

infographic about running events

October 6, 2017 Event management, fundraising events, Infographics No comments yet

4 great reasons why people attend conferences

“That glorious vision of doing good is so often the sanguine mirage of so many good minds.” Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

man on stage at a conference

What is the connection between attending conferences and one of the most appreciated novels ever written? Talking to a friend about Dickens’s novel I realized that I have my own personal story about two cities (better said about the people that live in those two cities). Two cities that, on the same day, will host two great events which Oveit proudly supports. On the 25th of October,  Gary Vaynerchuk and Steve Wozniak, 5500 miles apart, will help thousands of people find the courage to follow their dreams. And being involved in both events made me realize that, no matter the culture we belong to, when it comes to conferences we all have the same reasons for which attend them (and, more or less, the same expectations). In my personal experience, I noticed that people attend conferences for:

The chance of meeting their idols

As kids, most of us have athletes, movie stars or singers as idols. As we grow up and see the world from a different perspective we start to appreciate more the people who invested their time and energy to really make a difference. And some of the today’s leaders are entrepreneurs that influenced the world: Bill Gates, Gary Vaynerchuk, Steve Wozniak, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and many more. It’s reasonable to say that people will go the extra mile to meet their idols, so having a well-known leader on your speakers’ list will generate more interest for your event.

People attend conferences for networking

Conferences offer great networking opportunities, and many attend them just to find themselves surrounded by people with similar interests. A great way to encourage people to attend your conferences is to communicate the demographics of your past audiences (or if this is the first edition to make it clear to whom you address your conference). People hope to meet new customers, partners or even mentors at a conference, so let them know that this is possible.

Event badges will work as “icebreakers” within events, this is why we developed an app that allows #eventprofs print beautiful personalized badges – on the spot!

Hearing new ideas

If you think that the internet is full of new ideas…you’re right. But I can bet that every speaker has some great ideas that he keeps for special occasions, and speaking in front of hundreds (or even thousands) really sounds like special. Not to mention that the emotion of hearing it LIVE from your idol will make it very hard not to apply it; so conferences also work great in those moments when we lack not ideas but the motivation to apply them.

Investing in themselves

The only 100% secure investment is the one made in yourself. Today, more than ever, we live in a world where everything is possible and knowledge can break any barrier. Education offers us the chance of a better life (and the possibility to make the world a better place) and the Internet offers the opportunity of showing the world what we are capable of – with just a few clicks. People attend conferences because they see them as a great investment in themselves and self-investment is the key that will open any closed door. Create your event around powerful new information and your target audience will want to attend it.

These are some of the main reasons for which people attend conferences. But it’s important to remember that the overall experience will determine if people will come to your future events or not.

Apart from some cultural differences (that we all should accept and appreciate) we all want the same things when planning to attend a conference: to buy tickets with fewer clicks (remember that any extra step is a barrier that your possible attendee needs to overcome); to avoid queueing (cashless payments systems based on NFC really changed waiting times at big events; innovation (technology makes it easier for you to engage your attendees, making them feel important and appreciated – which they are); valuable information – the main reason for which people will attend your conference.

September 28, 2017 Access management, Business events, Events No comments yet

Do you use email marketing to promote your events? Learn how to increase the open rates.

Remember our article about email marketing and how it can help you increase the number of attendees for your events? Hope you’ve read it. Today I want to talk to you about what you can do to increase the open rate of your emails (in the long-term). We all want to have as many opened email as possible but with over 2.5 million email being sent every second it’s obvious that is harder and harder to gain people’s attention. So, without any further introduction, here are some ideas that will help your emails perform better:

open envelope

Timing will influence the open rates

“…timing is an art”. And fortunately, with email marketing, you can become a real artist.  Email marketing services help you gather relevant information about your subscribers, information that will help you contact them at the right time. Find out their time zones (you can add this into the registration forms, so every subscriber will enter the preferred time zone) and send emails accordingly.  When speaking about open rates you will see that there are some days and some hours that perform slightly better, but I strongly recommend testing to see what works better.

 

So will do the subject line

Almost half of the email recipients decide if they will open an email or not based solely on its subject line; just like people decide to read articles based on their title.  If you want to increase the conversion rates of your email campaigns (clicks, goals etc), you will have to start with the open rates and to do this you will need to work on your subject lines. How? I gathered I list of the most common ideas:

p.s. The best way to see what works and what doesn’t is to use some A/B testing for subject lines, sending the same email with two different subject lines. Your subscribers will help you out.

 

Don’t use long subject lines as more than 50% of emails are opened on mobile devices, devices that will cut down the displayed length of the subject line. It’s fine to use shorter subject lines as they just need to provoke the interest of your subscribers. Don’t over-communicate within subject lines, just do your best to make people interested in what’s inside.

Sell the sizzle, not the feature. In other words, you must concentrate on your subscribers, not your products/services. What ‘s important for them and how will you help them achieve what they want? If you plan a conference tell your subscribers what they will learn if they attend (this is what really counts), not that you have a 20 years experience in the event planning industry.

p.s. for example when talking about a cashless payment system (based on NFC technology) we know that the benefits are: less time in queues, no more fraud, increased order value and more…so we don’t start talking to our partners about the communication protocols (until after they see how NFC can help them).

 

Add a personal touch. Generic email addresses tend to make us lose interest, so try to use your personal email to send information. Although technically speaking you send a newsletter, a no-reply email address will make things difficult for your subscribers that want to get in touch. Take this “risk” of using the email address of a real person and you will see an improvement in the engagement of your subscribers. We use this method here at Oveit and I can confirm that you will see an improvement in no time.

 

Don’t get spammy. If you search information about ways to improve open rate of your email you will find many great bits of advice from countless professionals. As you probably already know people react to scarcity (it’s one of the six big principles of persuasion from doctor’s Cialdini famous book) and you will find many articles encouraging you to use the ideas of urgency and scarcity to convince people to take action. But be aware that is a very thin line between a great subject line that involves urgency/scarcity and a spammy one. And if you use it (in some cases you must apply it) don’t go “the tabloid way”: LIMITED TIME! OFFER EXPIRES IN X HOURS doesn’t sound like a professional way to announce that your early bird offer will expire, especially if we talk about a premium business conference (and also can trigger some spam filters – read more here).

 

Offer useful information

Although your subject line is very important because it influences your open rate is what you communicate to your subscribers that will determine their next action: will they respond to your CTA or will they unsubscribe from your marketing list? If you deliver what you promised (and offer useful information about your next events and one-time deals) people will have a reason to open your email (and give you some of their time). If you use spammy or misleading subject lines your subscribers will soon lose interest (not to mention that, in some countries, misleading subject lines are against the law).

Newsletters are a great way to stay close to those interested in your events and convince them to attend. You can share information, promote special offers or ask for feedback. As said before, you are the sole “owner” of your subscribers’ list and this makes it extremely valuable for every event planning organization, no matter its size or budget.

September 15, 2017 event marketing, Event professionals, Events No comments yet