Blog » Event Tips

We offer a lot of little tips and tricks for events—like doing social media for events, planning events, knowing event industry terms, and more. And this little corner of our blog is where you’ll find all of those event tips. Good luck!

What you Need to Know about Event Disasters

As an event planner, you should live by this mantra: if you plan for the worst you will never be surprised at what happens. On the plus side, the worst very rarely comes into play. On the downside, you never know when something could go horribly wrong. Here are the three questions you need to answer: What types of event disasters are most common? What is the best strategy for preventing these disasters? What process should you follow if a disaster strikes your event? Let’s start out with the first question. Here are some of the most common event disasters: Bad […]

Running The Perfect Summer Event

We’re in the heat of summer (literally) and you know what that means – time to start looking at a few outdoor venues. After all, if the weather’s beautiful enough, you might as well give your attendees the chance to enjoy it, right? Of course, there are a few things you’re going to need to take into account when figuring out where you should situate a summer event. In a lot of ways, running an outdoor event is actually more challenging than hosting at an indoor venue. In addition to all the standard considerations involved in venue selection, there are a […]

Five Days On Which You Should Never Plan An Event

One of the most important steps in any event planning process is deciding when you’re going to host it. The date you set for your event could very well make or break things, and it’ll impact everything in the planning stages, from the venue you choose to the volunteers you go with right down to your potential suppliers, vendors, and attendees. Not surprisingly, this means that certain days and months are a better choice for event hosting than others. This also means that certain time periods are completely out of the question. Here are a few days on which you […]

Why You Need To Plan For When Something Goes Wrong

There’s this old saying which has come to be known as Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong; will. As an event planner, this is a principle with which you need to be very familiar. Although the real world is hardly as grim as Murphy’s Law makes it out to be – and you shouldn’t go into your events with the assumption that something’s going to go horribly wrong – it definitely pays to have a plan handy for when things go wrong.  As far as the law of averages is concerned, it’s going to happen eventually. Maybe one of […]

Live Music for your Next Event: Good or Bad Idea?

When planning a corporate event, you must consider every aspect of the experience. From the check-in process to the tradeshow floor to the food, there is sure to be a lot on your mind. At some point, especially if you are planning a multi-day event, you need to consider the steps you can take to keep attendees occupied and having a good time. In many cases, this means choosing the right type of music. Generally speaking, you have two options: Hire a band to play live. Hire a DJ. There are pros and cons of both, meaning that the decision […]

How to Handle Negative Social Media Feedback During and After an Event

Putting on an event is a big deal. From a one day get-together to a multi-day trade show, you are well aware of the challenges. Let’s be honest: it is hard to make it through an event without at least one person getting angry. Many years ago, dealing with such a situation was simple. You would wait for the issue to be presented, and then deal with it one-on-one. The matter was kept rather hush and taken care of in person. In today’s world, where social media is in charge, things are not nearly as clear. Rather than take up […]

Top Tips for Hiring a Catering Company

When putting together an event, there are 101 things that you need to plan for. Obviously it is hard to get every little thing perfect, there is one thing that you should give a little more attention to: the food. You have a lot on your plate (no pun intended), including the task of hiring a catering company. Make the right choice and you will have attendees drooling. Make the wrong choice and you could soon have a problem on your hands. How to Hire an Event Catering Company The catering industry checks in with annual revenue of $9 billion. There […]

Keeping Your Attendees Entertained

Today, we’re going to be addressing a question which has doubtless plagued many event management professionals in the past: how does one keep their guests entertained without sacrificing the value of an event? How much novelty does one need to keep people interested – and how can one tell they’ve crossed the line and lost sight of their event’s original purpose? It’s not an easy question to answer, but I believe I’d like to start with a simple truth: presentation is everything. Every single factor, ranging from what sort of equipment you use to how the conference hall looks right […]

Catering 101: Working Out The Details Of The Perfect Menu

Catering is as much a part of event management as sound design, tech, or marketing.  Making the wrong choice where food’s concerned can be just as bad as selecting the wrong keynote speakers; it could completely ruin the look and feel of an event. That said, it’s not terribly likely that you’ll be designing your menu by yourself (you can, but I’d not recommend it). You’re going to be hiring on a caterer to handle the details involved in keeping your attendees fed and watered. Thing is…that caterer can’t do their job if they don’t know what you expect. For […]

Selecting The Right Music For Events

When you’re applying for a job (or really, doing anything else in life), how you sound is just as important as how you look. Why should event management be any different? A bit of musical flair can be the difference between a good event and a great one. Today, we’re going to discuss what’s involved in making your event sound awesome (literally). Know Your Attendees The first question you need to ask yourself is “who’s going to be attending?” A group of distinguished business professionals aren’t going to enjoy the same music as a bunch of millennial tech geeks; neither […]

The (Not So) Little Details

So you’ve worked for month securing a location, finding the perfect guest speakers, and marketing your event like crazy. You’re exhausted and it may feel like a good idea to skip over some little details. Well, I hate to break it to you but it really isn’t that great of an idea. The food, entertainment, and music can make or break an event. If someone with a gluten allergy is unable to eat any of the food all weekend, I bet that would hold in there memory longer than even the best guest speaker. This week, we are going to […]

The Ten Best Technological Tools For Guest Speakers

The best guest speakers are those who know how to inspire the people who attend their presentation. They’re compelling individuals and natural storytellers, with magnetic personalities, great voices, and boundless energy. They also know their tech – and how best to use it to make their point. The truth is, in many ways the difference between a good guest speaker and a great one is simply how they use the tools they have at their disposal. With that in mind, today’s piece is going to focus on a few presentation tools and gadgets a speaker can use to enrich their […]

The Event Planner’s Guide To Being A Better Guest Speaker

Forget paying for an advertising spot or schmoozing around at a trade show; guest speaking is among the best ways to promote your event management firm. As a guest speaker, you’ve an opportunity to engage with an entire room filled with prospective clients – provided, of course, you fully understand what the job involves. As a result, there are too many guest speakers who are boring or irrelevant, even among event organizers. You want to avoid being one of those. You want to be exciting, interesting, and informative. You want people to leave your presentations passionate, interested, and engaged. How can […]

How to Run an Effective Social Media Contest

Are you looking for a creative way to boost event registration numbers? Are you hoping to get your audience excited about an upcoming event? While there are many ways to make this happen, here is one that you may have overlooked: a social media contest. Social media is hot. Just how hot, you wonder? Here is what Social Times has to say: “Did you know that there are more than two billion active social media users worldwide, representing a global penetration rate of 28 percent?” This statistic alone proves that you are missing the boat if you aren’t using social media to […]

Leveraging The Most Common Types Of Speakers At Your Event

As I’m sure most of you have noticed by now, everyone has their own unique ‘style’ when it comes to speaking. Some people are better at weaving an engrossing, entertaining story, while others can get an audience pumped up just by speaking a few words. Some people know exactly what they’re talking about – and how to present it to the audience – while others are simply able to hold the attention of people based on who they are. As an event manager, it’s important that you understand how to recognize the different types of guest speakers – and how […]

How To Avoid Hiring A Bad Guest Speaker

Even if every other element of your event is planned out flawlessly, a bad keynote speaker could ruin the whole experience for your attendees. Maybe their delivery is boring as watching paint dry. Maybe they’re shamelessly plugging a business or brand the audience doesn’t care about, or peppering their presentation with awful-poorly designed slides. Maybe they’re late – or don’t show up at all. Regardless of why, a guest speaker who isn’t good at their job can become a dark, foreboding cloud over an otherwise fantastic event. It goes without saying that you want to do everything you can to […]

Five Things An Exhibitor Should Never Do

If you’re setting up a booth at a conference or trade show, you’re there to connect with people. You’re interested in one of two things: selling a product, or connecting with people who’d be interested in buying from you (or working with you).  Both are pretty important, right? Today, we’re going to be going over a few of the biggest – and most common flubs – exhibitors tend to make on the show floor. If you’re an exhibitor, have a read-through to make sure you aren’t committing any of these mistakes yourself. And if you’re an event planner, well…you can […]

Stand Out In A Crowd

Last week we focused our series on handling all of the different events that an event planner may be asked to do. This week, we are switching gears and focusing on how to be a good speaker and exhibitor at an event that you are invited to. We want you to be able to make the most out of your situation. Whether you are paying to be at an event, or you are the star of the show, we want to share with you tips on how to get the most out of it for your brand. Stop wasting time […]

How Can You Add More Diversity to Your Tech Conference

The notion that the tech industry has a diversity problem is right up there alongside “water is wet” in terms of startling revelations. By now, mentioning the issue of gender, race, and culture inclusivity in tech seems akin to beating a dead horse. Everybody already knows the problem exists, and they’re getting sick of hearing about it – but no one seems willing (or able) to fix it. As an event management professional in the tech sector, you’re in a unique position to bring about change. After all, your events are (presumably) the place where influencers from all over the […]

The Story Of Suresh Doss Drives Home The Real Cost Of Event Management Blunders

Today, I’m going to tell you about a young man by the name of Suresh Doss. He is – or rather, was – an amateur event planner and freelance food writer. Today, he owes the City of Toronto $36,000. His is a cautionary tale, a story that drives home the importance of knowing who you’re working with and what you’re doing. See, Doss was part of a 2013 experiment to put food trucks in parks all across the city. Armed with an array of different meals, the trucks would keep hungry park-goers fed and content – and make a bit […]