1. How to Plan and Produce a Successful Event Joy M. Doyle & Tily Morrin North Tahoe Business Association February 3, 2015

2. NTBA Events ●Clean Up Day ●Kings Beach Snowfest Parade ●NTBA Member & Volunteer Holiday Party ●Music on the Beach ●Passport to Dining ●Small Business Seminars ●July 3rd Fireworks & Beach Party

3. Developing Your Event Idea ● Who is your target audience ● Who will help with your event ● What will your event be ● What is your goal ● When will your event take place ● Where will your event take place ● Why are you doing an event Speaker Notes: Be realistic with what you are trying to accomplish, partner with others to accomplish common goals, consider forming an event committee to help you. Don’t put events on by yourself! Draw up a simple event layout schematic so you can easily explain it to others, set-up the flow of the event, what signage you will need, staffing requirements, equipment needs, etc.

4. Creating and Adhering to a Budget ● What are the expenses you may incur? o staff time, advertising/marketing, insurance, decorations, food/drink, venue, printing/graphics, entertainment, giveaways ● Ways to generate event income o sponsorship, grants, ticket sales, raffle, auction, food/drink sales, merchandise sales, ● What to expect with your first or young event Speaker Notes: Remember, events are a form of marketing and might take 3+ years to become profitable. For a new event, budget for a net floss. Look at your loss as a marketing expense. Remember to tie your budget back to your goals. Perhaps your goal is to capture potential customers’ email addresses or generate awareness for the service you provide.

5. Obtaining Partners & Sponsors ● What benefits can you offer sponsors?  Assign value to each benefit ● Who will benefit from a partnership or as a sponsor?  Look for shared target audiences ● Cash versus In-kind Sponsors ● Document sponsorship agreements  Under promise and over deliver Speaker Notes: step #1 - develop a list of sponsorship benefits and assign a value to each benefit. Benefits could include logo placement on collateral materials, on-site at the event, business name listings/mentions, opportunity for sponsor to market their product/services through giveaways or sampling. If appropriate create sponsorship levels which will appeal to a variety of budget sizes. Sponsors will be interested to know the size and demographics of your actual or estimated audience if you can provide these statistics. Consider surveying your event attendees to gather demographic info. Don’t let sponsors guerilla market your event. Think about companies that share your target audience. Sponsorship success will be achieved through professionalism and persistence. Document sponsorship agreements in writing describing in detail what the sponsor will receive and what the event will receive so there are no surprises for you or your sponsors (under promise / over deliver).

6. Affordable Marketing Ideas ● Press release to local media ● Online resources, calendars, e-invites o GoTahoeNorth, Tahoe Weekly, Visit Reno Tahoe, Tahoe.com, AllLakeTahoe.com, EventCrazy, NTBA, Eventbrite, Brownpaperticket.com ● Email ● Facebook, Instagram and Twitter ● Posters, flyers, handbills (require graphics) ● Word of mouth Speaker Notes: Press release - a written communication to announce your event. Include date, time, place, what the event is, call to action, list your sponsors, call to volunteers, broad description about your event, include details that will grab your audience and a brief description about your business and your contact information.  free marketing, pull your info together and credibility through earned media. Email – Mail Chimp, Constant Contact or Get Response. Great and affordable tools to distribute information. Social media – target your audience, can market to specific audience with a small budget Posters, banners – get done professionally, put up throughout town and include call to action.

7. Recruiting Volunteers ● Ask employees, friends, and neighbors ● Spread the word through o Business Association / Chamber o Craigslist o Hands on Tahoe o High Schools and local colleges ● Provide perks if necessary ● Liability release Speaker Notes: Where do you start with organizing volunteers for your event? Make a list of all the volunteer positions you might need to fill and include brief descriptions of each position, shift times and expectations. Don’t assign yourself or your key helpers assignments. One volunteer assignment should be checking volunteers in. Give perks if you have to. Have volunteers sign a liability waiver.

9. Retaining Volunteers ● Be prepared ● Provide good training ● Create fun and interesting positions ● Pair volunteers if possible ● Be honest about time and tasks ● Show your appreciation and ask for feedback Warning! Volunteer positions involving wine pouring can get messy!

10. Using a Work Plan ● What is a work plan and why is it necessary? ● Include each task, person responsible, partners involved, start and completion dates, time spent and status ● Give yourself cushion with deadlines ● Assign one person the responsibility of overall work plan execution Speaker Notes: Work plan = step by step guide that includes every event task. Include all asks, the person responsible, partners involved, start and complete dates, how much time spent on each task for future planning and status to track progress. Allow at least 60-90 days to plan a small event and up to 1-1.5 years to plan a large event. Consider including sponsor and volunteer tasks, marketing tasks, permits, tasks related to income sources such as raffle tickets, cash box and cash needs, sourcing and purchasing any supplies or decorations, etc. Be sure to include all sponsorship deliverables into the event work plan. Pad your completion dates to account for potential hurdles and set-backs you may encounter. Be as thorough as possible. Review the work plan with your key players or committee members to make sure it makes sense and nothing has been forgotten. Assign one person the responsibility of the overall work plan execution.

12. Executing Your Work Plan ● Track progress including expenses to budget ● Have periodic meetings to check in with key players ● Be prepared to make changes/additions as you go ● Consider a separate day-of event checklist Speaker Notes: suggest using Excel for your event work plan because it can easily be sorted by person responsible, start, end date etc. Consider using Google Sheet and sharing with your event committee and people responsible for tasks so they can reference and input their progress and you can track others progress. Have periodic meetings to check in with key players or committee members. Consider creating a separate day of event checklist, a mini work plan, it you will to help you stay organzied with all of the tasks you need to execute on your event day.

13. The Big Day ●Setup ●Anticipate Last Minute Unforeseen Challenges ●Follow Day of Checklist ●Event Photography (assign a volunteer) ●Take care of and pace event staff ●Take care of and pace yourself ●Breakdown of event Speaker Notes: First of all, you can’t anticipate everything. Try to get as much done as possible the day before. Organize yourself with all the paperwork and information you need for the day-of including volunteer schedule, schedule of events, copies of permits or licenses, etc. Prioritize your checklist so the most important things get done first. Have a staff member or volunteer as your helper that day. If you have a lot to do on your event day, prioritize and get the most important things done first. Keep track of the unexpected things that come up during the day so you can adjust your plan for the future. Assign a volunteer to take photographs.

14. Post-Event Procedures ●Document what worked and what needs improving ●Post event meeting with key players ●Thank and request feedback from volunteers/partners ●Tally and document financial results ●Provide recap to sponsors and partners ●Share your event photos on social media channels, your website and in press release Speaker Notes: remember it takes 3-4 years for events to generate success. Do a recap the day after your event while ideas are fresh. Get feedback from volunteers, partners, etc. Tally your results to see what worked and what could be improved.

15. How Events Can Benefit Your Business & Your Community ● Generate awareness for your business and the community ● Bring potential customers into your business and community ● Creates a sense of place and excitement in your community ● Presents you and your business as an involved community member

16. Thank You! Questions & Answers www.NorthTahoeBusiness.orgwww.NorthTahoeBusiness.org - 530-546-9000