5 Tips for the Perfect Event Badges

Badges. We all want these small items, because they are our gateway to the event. Backstage passes, VIP badges, press badges or regular entrance badges, we’ve all come across them, regardless of the event. Small and sometimes unnoticeable, badges are one of the most important elements that can make an event good or bad. And while a nice badge will make your attendees wear it with pride and keep it as a souvenir, a bad one can also help. It won’t stand out from the crowd but it will do the trick of getting you inside the venue for your event.

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So, badges are important for events, but can also be a big burden for the organizer. Ever wondered how it feels to manually create 100 badges for your event? Well, if you think it’s a pain… try to think about big events such as ICEEfest (3500+ badges) or even WebSummit (40.000+ badges), all of them personalized and separated in different categories. If you’re an event organizer, you know what we are talking about, but if you are just planning your first event, you are about to embark on a journey that could be easily called “the nightmare of badges”. Of course, there are some tips and tricks on how to overcome it.

So you have your event planned, tickets are sold or you have several attendees registered. Now comes the badge part. Once someone comes to the event venue, he will be welcomed at the access point, where he will have his ticket checked and badge given. How do you make the badge attractive, so that people will wear it and use it during the event?

1. Create one badge to rule them all

When it comes to badges, size does matter J. There are different regular badge sizes but generally, the standard sizes are: 8×10 cm and 10.5 x 14.85cm (A6). Basically you can do it any size you prefer, but it’s easier to follow the standards as usually the badge goes into a plastic pocket and unless you want to create a personalized pocket, you might want to go the traditional way.

2. Information is the key

The badge has a limited space and you might want to select what information goes there. It is essential that it contains the First Name and Last Name of the attendee, preferably in that order. Then you might want to add important information, such as the name of the company that the attendee works for or his position in the company. You can add other information as well, but make sure that the text isn’t cluttered. A badge full of text will become unreadable and that is definitely not its purpose.

3. Designing your event badge

badges-2A white badge is not a good badge – it will probably end up in the garbage bin at the end of the event. Badge design is vital for your event, as it reflects the whole image of the event. Besides the graphic elements that vary from one event to the other, you might want to take into consideration the badges for different categories at the event. The regular attendee badge should be different from the VIP badge or Press badge. Also, a complex event can have different venues and different ticket options, so badges can help your organizing staff determine the identity of any attendee. To do this differentiation you can use various colors or designs. Your call.

4. Adding sponsors to the event badge

Yes, badges are the most attractive elements for the sponsors. Why? Because everyone gets a badge at the event and if your main sponsor is well positioned on the badge, everyone’s eyes will see the company’s logo. The badge “spot” is a precious one so you might want to consider a single sponsor to be positioned on the badge. That way you might get a good sponsorship just because you are playing the badge game correctly.

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With Oveit, badge design is easy and fun

5. Additional badge usage

Depending on your event, the badge might also prove useful for other things as well, not only access. For example, by unfolding the badge you might get the map of the event venue, the event schedule, or both. Thus, the badge can turn into your personal event assistant with just a couple of flips.

As you’ve seen, badges can be a lot of things and can be a useful tool for your event. The most important thing, however, is that the badge can be a mirror of your event. If it’s done in a professional way, then there’s a good chance that your event will be professional. Spend time on your badge design and your event will benefit from it. Guaranteed!

We also have a little secret regarding the time spent to defeat the “badge nightmare”. Time to unravel it: Go to Oveit.com, create an account and you’ll find our Badge design tool. Activate it and you can do thousands of personalized badges with just a couple of clicks. You don’t believe us? Give it a try and you’ll never want to use another badge design tool ever again.

July 19, 2016 Business events, Event management, Events, Oveit Features 1 comment

How to plan an indie concert

OK, so the band is doing well, you did some gigs in front of your family and friends and now you want to go to the next level. The best feedback you can get for your band is playing in front of a live audience, but that can prove to be more difficult to achieve without a label or a manager. However, in our times, when internet and social media are the best things that could ever happen to an aspiring music band, planning an indie concert can be a task easier than you might think. But remember… it might be easier, you might have all the right tools, but you’re still going to be putting a lot of effort into it. No pain, no gain.

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So, here are some nice tricks that can help you organize a small concert:

1. Google is your friend.

You can find anything you want on Google. The real key to using your new best friend is to know what you are looking for. According to Music Think Tank, there are a couple of interesting websites for indie artists that can help any aspiring musician learn a lot about industry, managers and booking shows, like Sonicbids Blog, Rap Rehab, Hypebot and, of course, Music Think Tank.

this-businessYou might also want to check out some interesting books about concerts and tours. One of them is “This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring: “A Practical Guide to Creating, Selling, Organizing, and Staging Concerts” by Ray Waddell.

A must-have for indie artists is: “All You Need to Know About the Music Business” by Donald S. Passman. This book is the definitive, essential guide to the music industry and is now in its eighth edition, revised and updated with crucial information on the industry’s major changes in response to rapid technological advances and economic uncertainty.

2. Mastering the Social Networks

Obviously, when you and your band don’t have big budgets to spend on marketing and promotion, social networks are the safest way to success. It might take some time but if you do it right, the results are guaranteed. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are names that you should be familiarized with, as they are key to a successful event and a growing popularity of your music.

Singer Josh Levi claimed that “social media definitely plays a huge role in success today” and he is right. Either you are trying to promote your song or your concert, synchronize your accounts on every social network and start posting. You might bump into haters so keep calm and carry on posting… You might find out that a hater will only promote your music and some of his friends might actually enjoy it and come to see you play live.

3. “It’s not the singer, it’s the song”

These are wise words from the music industry so you better take them seriously. You can’t have a concert if you don’t have songs. While singing covers will help you fill up the playlist, people will come to see your concert so if you want to be successful, you must have some personal creations. It takes just one good song to hit the charts and be successful but just like in any business, getting to number 1 is hard work and staying there is even harder. So it’s best you prepare a good and entertaining playlist for the people who come to see you.

4. Choose the right venue

Now this is crucial. The selection of the venue can help you have a successful concert. Obviously you must select the venue that fits your target. If you want to organize a jazz concert, organizing the event at a Rock Club is definitely a bad idea. So, depending on what you sing, choose your venue wisely, as the venue itself can generate some audience. After all, it is in their interest also to get people to come inside and spend some money there. And since we’re talking about venues, make sure that the venue has the technical capacity for a proper concert. You might want to avoid places where the sound is bad or where people are cramming in and have no air to breathe.

5. Sell the tickets

You managed to set everything in place. You have all social network accounts working and your website is up and running. You found the perfect venue for the concert and set the date now comes the crucial part: how to sell the tickets and generate some revenue? So what is there to do? Well, take matters into your own hands and sell your own tickets. It’s your show, your money, your time so why not sell your own tickets directly from your website?

Once you advertise the concert on the social networks the people who are interested will come on your website and find more details about you, your band, your music and your events. Your website is the primary source of information for people who want to get to know you so why not sell tickets from your website. A few years ago, creating your own ticketing software was very expensive but now you have Oveit. With just a few clicks, you can set up your event in a couple of minutes and then use an Embed code to paste it on your website, and that’s it. You can now start selling tickets directly from your website. No more telephones to the ticketing platforms, everything you need is in your hands. So now you can focus on things that matter: the concert!

6. Keep your attendees close

It’s the evening of the concert. You sold your tickets and everything went as planned. People came to the venue, enjoyed your music and had a great time. What next? Transform your attendees into your fans. If you used Oveit’s event registration software to sell tickets, you might want to know that you have now gathered a lot of information about the participants. So now you have a data base to use and improve and you can send e-mails, make a newsletter and keep in contact with everyone. The key detail to being successful is communication. Music comes first but it doesn’t matter how good your music is if you lack interaction with your fans. Keeping them happy and satisfied will get you a long way. And now you can do that with your own data base.

Back in the days, getting in contact with your audience was quite difficult. Now, this is not the case. Labels have discovered that organizing events themselves will improve their revenues. Why hire someone to do your concert when you can do it yourself? So if the labels do this, why couldn’t the indie artists do it?

July 15, 2016 Concerts, Event management, Events No comments yet

Escape rooms and Conferences – 5 ideas to combine the two

A phenomenon that is growing throughout the world is the fascinating world of Escape Rooms. Whether played by teenagers, adults or people in team-building programmes, the Escape Room is a perfect way to test your wits in a race against time. The concept is simple and we’ll describe it for anyone that hasn’t experienced an Escape Room so far: a group of people is locked into a room and has 60 minutes to find the way out. Simple… but not too simple. Now – the question is – how can we mix this great idea with the world of conferences and events?

Integrating an escape room experience into a business conference can bring excitement, team-building opportunities, and unique engagement. Here are five ideas on how to achieve this integration:

1. Conference kickoff escape challenge: Begin the conference with an escape room challenge that sets the tone for the event. Participants can be divided into teams during registration, and the challenge can be centered around a business-related theme or problem relevant to the conference. This activity not only introduces attendees to each other but also sparks enthusiasm for the event while encouraging teamwork and problem-solving right from the start.

2. Workshop-style escape room sessions: Incorporate escape room sessions as workshops within the conference schedule. These workshops can be led by professional escape room designers or team-building facilitators. Participants will work together to solve puzzles and complete challenges, with a debriefing at the end to discuss how the experience relates to real-world business scenarios. This approach allows attendees to learn valuable lessons in a hands-on, enjoyable environment.

3. Networking escape rooms: Create escape room spaces that facilitate networking opportunities. Set up escape room stations or booths in designated areas where participants can join impromptu escape room sessions during breaks or networking hours. This interactive setup encourages conference-goers to mingle, collaborate, and exchange ideas while having fun solving puzzles together.

4. Gamified learning sessions: Integrate escape room elements into specific conference sessions to gamify learning. For instance, during training sessions or workshops, incorporate escape room-style puzzles and activities to reinforce key concepts. This approach enhances engagement, retention of information, and active participation among attendees.

5. Closing keynote escape room challenge: End the conference with a memorable escape room challenge presented as the closing keynote. Invite a dynamic speaker or escape room expert to lead the activity and tie it to the conference’s central themes and takeaways. The challenge can involve solving a final puzzle or unlocking a “treasure” that represents the knowledge gained during the event. This unique finale ensures that participants leave the conference on a high note and with a sense of accomplishment.

Remember to ensure that the difficulty level of the escape room experience aligns with the audience’s preferences and abilities. Additionally, consider providing clear instructions, ensuring safety measures, and having facilitators on hand to guide participants as needed. Integrating an escape room experience into a business conference adds an element of excitement and interactivity that can significantly enhance the overall event and create a lasting impact on attendees. After all – this is what Oveit is all about – providing great experiences for conferences and their visitors.

July 12, 2016 Access management, Event management 3 comments

The TEDx Phenomenon

Even though we live in an era where technology offers us any kind of information we want with the cost of just one single mouse click, people seem to lack knowledge more than they did a couple of decades ago. Why is this happening?

We can blame it on the fact that younger generations keep away from libraries and books. We can also blame it on the media, always on the run for the sensational, and, of course, there is the internet… the place where freedom shakes hands with snooping eyes. But really, why are there signals in the media about the fact that some youngsters grow up in the darkness of ignorance? As the Daily Telegraph claims it in a trending article, children grow up with a lack of role models.

According to Helen Wright, the president of the Girls’ Schools Association, children “during this journey through their lives, from being a baby to being an adult, need to develop more of a perspective on life and they gain that from trusted adults; be they school teachers, be they family members, be they people you work with in the community. That’s our socialization, that’s how we move through from childhood to adulthood and start to understand the world.”

The lack of role models in our society is something that people have looked upon from the last decades of the previous century and this is why in 1984, Richard Saul Wurman set the cornerstone for what would become a leading conference phenomenon that influences and inspires millions of people worldwide: the TED talks.

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Originally, TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) was an event that merged three different fields. In the first TED event, people witnessed a demo version of the compact disk, the e-book and also a couple of interesting 3D graphical revolutions presented by Lucasfilm. During this first event, mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot showed the attendees how to map coastlines by using fractal geometry. Though the themes presented at the first TED were very interesting, the event was not a financial success. It took 6 years for Wurman and his partner Harry Marks to do the event again. Now, however, times have changed.

In 1990, the TED conference held in California was a major success and it became an annual event. The number of attendees grew and although it was an invitation-only event, more and more people became interested in the themes that were being discussed at the TED talks.

A new era for the TED talks began in 2000, when Wurman decided it was time to find a successor for his project and approached new-media entrepreneur Chris Anderson. Anderson’s NGO Sapling Foundation acquired TED for £4m and soon TED became a world-wide phenomenon. Its purpose now goes beyond Technology, Entertainment and Design. It soon became a platform for “ideas worth spreading” meant to make the world a “smarter and better place”.

There have been numerous speakers at the conferences, some of them being world-famous personalities such as Bill Gates, Bono, Jamie Oliver, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Stephen Hawking, Julian Assange and many more. All the speakers are chosen by Anderson personally, as he also hosts the conferences and decides what talks go online.

David Binder on the Arts Festival Revolution

During the years of him being the TED curator, Anderson expanded the conference so that it covered all topics possible, including science, business and personal development. He built a Fellows program that now has over than 300 alumni and established the TED Prize which is being awarded to outstanding people that have “one wish to change the world”. In just a decade, TED went on a journey to become more than a conference. It is now a worldwide stage for thinkers and doers from many areas who share their ideas and make people dare for more.

In 2009 Anderson made TED a global brand. Now quite the star on the internet and throughout the world, Anderson took the motto “ideas worth spreading” to a whole new level. He introduced the TEDx initiative which offered TED licenses to organizers from all over the world so they can create their own TED events. Until now, there have been more than 8,000 events all over the world, generating an archive of over than 60,000 TEDx talks available on the internet.

In 2016, Oveit became a partner of TEDx Bucharest. A locally organized event, licensed by TED, TEDx Bucharest began its activities in 2009, aiming to make a positive impact on the development of the local and national community of thinkers and doers. The latest event, Women of Now, held on the 16th of June 2016, was a well received as it presented the local community a conference focused on the women of today: women who are mothers and daughters, best friends and role models but also business partners, top leaders, innovators and achievers.

The TED phenomenon is growing and necessary. In a world where the darkness of ignorance seems to be growing, every TED speaker is a beacon of light, a living proof that the future generations will not only have plenty of role models but eventually will grow up into becoming role models themselves.

June 28, 2016 Event professionals, Events No comments yet

Top 5 Summer Festivals for Indie Music Lovers

No plans for this summer yet? Here are some cool festivals to attend the following months, all over Europe. If you are a music fan, and your favorite indie band is playing at a festival, there is no better way to see them live! Plus, it is a really good way to discover new artists that you might like: a lot of emergent artists and bands play for their first time on minor stages at festivals.

Open’er Festival, June 29-July 2, Gdynia (Poland)

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A music festival which takes place on the North coast of Poland, the event was given the Best Major Festival prize at the European Festival Awards ceremony in 2009 and 2010. This year’s lineup include popular local and international artists, such as Sonar and Wiz Kalifa.

Mainsquare Festival, July 1-3, Arras (France)

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Happening in the stunning Citadelle Vauban, this event boasts an impressive alumni list like Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Placebo, Muse and Metallica. This summer, you can listen to Iggy Pop and Ellie Goulding. All you have to do if you get there is have fun and not worry about having to carry cash with you: at Main Square Festival, you can buy stuff “Cashless” – a contactless payment system, thanks to a microchip in your bracelet, which will make your life easier when shopping during the festival (drinks, meals, merchandising, etc.).

Indietracks, July 29- 31, Derbyshire (UK)

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Indietracks is a summer music festival which combines steam trains and indiepop music. Quite smart, right? Visitors are free to enjoy steam train rides, railway attractions and museums, discos, art and craft workshops. Each year around 50 new and established indie pop artists perform across a range of stages at the festival. However, if you can’t make it for the festival, every year the organizers release a download compilation album featuring bands playing at the festival. In 2016, Saint Etienne, The Aislers Set, The Spook School, Emma Pollock, Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern, Comet Gain will be performing at Indietracks.

Spellground Festival, August 12-14, Capidava (Romania)

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A music and arts festival that takes place this summer, that will host dozens of famous singers and bands, such as The Kooks, Amber Run, Soul Clap of Noir. The festival is located on the way to the Romanian seaside, next to the Capidava Citadel, on the Danube shore, at a distance of 160 km of Bucharest or 65 kilometers of Constanta. The organizers also provide camping accommodation for those who want to live a full festival experience. Long story short, this is what you get for less than 50 euros: 72 hours of live music, 3 concert stages, art performances and various workshops.

Summer Well Festival, August 13-14, Stirbey Domain, Buftea (Romania)

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This year, Summer Well marks its sixth edition. If you choose to attend the event, you will get the chance to listen to The Chemical Brothers, Hurts, Years & Years, The Neighborhood, Crystal Fighters, Milky Chance, BØRNS, Blossoms, Sundara Karma and HÆLOS. There is no accommodation provided, but there is that a dedicated bus available for the festival, linking Piata Victoriei in Bucharest to Domeniul Stirbey in Buftea, so you can get to the festival and back home, free of charge.

Did you make up your mind? Then just pick your favorite event, pack and go! Enjoy your summer!

June 21, 2016 Events, Festivals No comments yet