A guest post by Girlie Nuqui of UPrinting who shares creative ideas on how to market, design your print postcards.

As a busy event planner, you need reliable tools to lighten your workload. You carry your organizer anywhere you go, turn to your assistant to make sure you're on the right track (and to keep you sane) and even overdose on caffeine to stay alert and awake. Aside from these, you can also add postcards to your event planning arsenal. Below are some event postcards ideas you can try for your business:

1. Thank You Cards to Show Gratitude to Your Clients

Happy and satisfied clients will definitely say "Thank You" a million times for making their special event a huge success.  Return the favor by sending them thank you cards a few days after the occasion. Leave hand-written notes like "I am very glad to be a part of your wedding. Congratulations and thank you for your trust!" This message may be simple, but clients will definitely appreciate your sweet and thoughtful gesture. And who knows? They might even hire you again or refer their friends because of your appreciative attitude.

   

2. Appointment Cards to Remind Clients of Your Next Meeting

Here's the scenario: You canceled your lunch date with a friend because you're scheduled to meet up with a client. To your disappointment, your client isn't there, because she forgot about your appointment and decided to move it to the next day. Save yourself from this stressful situation by carrying well-designed appointment cards with you at all times.

Using reminder cards is way better than writing the schedule on plain paper or napkin, because a colorful card won't be mistaken as trash. This way, you'll be sure clients will hold on to them. They can then stick the postcards on their fridge or place it on their desks to remind them of your next meeting.     

 

3. Greeting Cards to Let Clients Know You're Thinking of Them

Just because social networking is a hot trend right now doesn't mean you can always choose it over traditional media. Try a more personal approach when reaching out to clients during special occasions by mailing greeting cards.  When I say greeting cards, I'm not referring to  the ones you can buy from a store. Instead, create event postcards specifically designed for your brand to make them more special for the clients who will receive them. Ask clients if they can provide you with pictures from the events you planned and use them to create photo cards. 

4. Business Cards You Can Hand to Prospective Clients and New Acquaintances

Our last event postcard idea might sound a little odd, since we're used to seeing small business cards most of the time. However, if you want to try something new, you can use a postcard/business card to add some edge to your branding tools. Your business card's unusual size can be a good conversation starter and even leave a lasting impression on people you hand them to. So, the next time you coordinate an event, arm yourself with oversized business cards to make sure you're ready for any business opportunity there is.
 

Check out UPrinting and Girlie's blog for design ideas and resources to help your print communication truly make an impression.  You can also find more communication tips here.  When you can, say it with a note.  

Party Tents can be an opportunity to create a magnificent space in a not so magnificent location (a parking lot, a field, etc.).  Tents allow you to create a garden feeling in the desert and Christmas in July.  When guests walk into a wedding or special event tent they should be swept away and feel like this is a very special place.  If you don't have a Platinum Wedding budget, there are a few things you can do to make the white tent less "white" without breaking the bank.

Carpet: You can usually find a carpet in your theme color or go with a green to make the environment more inviting. ($500 on up)

Trees: Even three or four trees make the tent a more relaxing environment.  Who doesn't love seeing a tree. ($40-$250 typically)

Uplighting:  If your event is at night you have a wonderful opportunity to shine gobos on the walls in the shape of tree leafs or simply have a color wash effect on each of the walls.   This looks so incredible.

LeCirque effect: My favorite decorating touch is to drape your theme color, in a thin plastic, from each corner and post attachment to the center of the tent, creating a beautiful ceiling and overall happy feeling to the tent.  It's not LeCirque, but it's a great touch.  ($600 on up)

Windows: You can rent tents with pretty windows, which make the tent less confining and more inviting. ($1000 upgrade)

Picket Fence:  If your event is in the day consider adding a picket fence "yard" in place of one of the four walls.  This is a perfect place to set the bars and cocktail tables while adding a few extra square feet to your event space. ($200 on up)

Got some ideas to share? Please add to the blog.



Just a quick plug for our friends at the Ronald McDonald House Charities. 

Now available, raffle tickets for the RMH at Stanford Hospital's Annual fundraiser, the Randy Cross Invitational.  You need not be present to win and the prizes are incredible.  If you'd like to support this charity and order a raffle ticket please drop us an email with your contact info.  Tickets are $100 and below is a list of the items you can win. (only 2500 printed so odds are very good)

* 2010 Maserati Quattroporte From Ferrari Maserati Silicon Valley or $65,000
• Trip for two to Super Bowl XLV  in Dallas, TX. (airfare and hotel included) Value:  $4,200
• Four night stay at The Mondrian in New York City.(airfare included)   Value:  $3,700
• Four night stay at The Mondrian on Miami’s South Beach (airfare included)    Value:$3,700
• Four night stay at The Mondrian in Los Angeles.  (airfare included) Value:  $3,700
• Four night stay at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. (airfare not included) Value:  $2,000

Need not be present to win.

The Ronald McDonald Houses are located near children's hospitals across the country and provide a home for the families of hospitalized children to stay at reduced or no cost.  If this is a charity you support, here's another way to help them out.  (more info)

We recently attended a casual school fundraising event that was run so well it made $25k with no live auction or attendance price.  The committee behind the silent auction did an incredible job and we thought we'd share some of the tricks they used to bring in the cash.

• Publish items in advance - Creating a thorough description of the items that will be available for the auction at least one week in advance allows guests to pick out some favorites they plan to bid on
• Ask for participation - If this is a church or school fund raiser your attendees are probably happy to donate various items they own (like a vacation share, gift cards or wine).  Some really prefer to participate this way over asking retailers to donate
• Round Tables - Round tables work very well if you have more than 10 auction items.  Your guests can mill around admiring and conversing - rather than feeling crowded along a straight row of tables (often along a back wall)
• Create groups of items - Little items like a manicure at the neighborhood spot, a facial at a salon and a high end bottle of lotion make a great set - alone, not so impressive
• Stagger the Closing - Close the tables from one side of the room to the other in ten minute increments - rather than shutting down the auction all at once, you can announce, "Three minutes left to bid on the items on Table #2" and see a rush of your bidders to see what they're winning
• The Bid Paper - At each item you'll have a sheet of paper for guests to write their names and bid amount.  I found it enticing to see a detailed description of the item at the top of the sheet - not just "spa package".  Always have a pen at every item (need to make it easy, easy to participate). 
• Charitable Reminder - At some point in the evening it's helpful to have one of the leaders prod the group a bit and remind them what their contributions will provide to the community.
• Classy Raffle - Rather than walk around with the roll of tickets and try to sell these for $5, offer the opportunity to purchase a "key" to open something really high end.  In this case it was a pair of $4k earings and the "keys" were $400 (since money went to a school people were happy to donate). The audience watches at the end of the night as each buyer walks up to a box to try her key.
• Vino- Because we're in Northern California everyone has vineyards - right?  Well we do love our wine and this auction team asked everyone involved to donate 1-2 good bottles of wine which were then grouped into three baskets with a description of the wines printed in front of the basket.  The value of the baskets were $400-$700 which created an easy $2000 profit for the event right there.

Enjoy your Auction planning and please share any other silent auction tips you have on this post. 

LA based Rungtong Stationery has come up with another beautifully designed, modern card for those wanting to send sweet notes to loved ones.  Their signature whimsical feel comes through with lines like Use with Caution against a vintage love potion bottle in the new Valentine Line.  Perfect for February 14 as well as any occasion that warrants sending a little love, the presentation is also a treat. The card sets arrive in delicate vellum packaging neatly held together with a brown satin ribbon.  

If you're not familiar with Rungtong below are a few of our favorite designs in their 2010 collection.  The paper feels thick and is nice to write on - not flimsy and not too shiny.  The card sets arrive in a beautifully decorated box, making a perfect hostess gift.  And with their brand new online store, it's easier than ever to obtain these fine boutique cards.  Rungtong Stationery Site.

When hosting a seminar or conference it's extremely valuable to engage the audience in real-time feedback.  Whether in the form of voting for their favorite presentation or submitting real time questions, utilizing current technology allows the audience to become active participants rather than just attendees.

It used to be cumbersome, as well as expensive, to rent the basic hand held voting devices. A company called Busy Event has come out with a number of solutions, at a great price point, allowing your audience to engage with the speaker.  With the "BeLink" product your attendees contact information as well as all sessions are part of their profile.  When attendees download presentations or answer survey questions you know exactly who is sending the information.  As a conference producer you can chose to display survey results instantly on the stage or save the data for later analysis.  There are few things more valuable than instant feedback.

Kudos to Busy Event for coming up with so many useful tools for conference organizers.  Check out their site for product demos and other helpful event tools. 

Did you read About.com Rob Hard's article this morning titled: Don't send the Secret Service to Handle an Event Manager's Job regarding the White House party crashers?  This clever headline made me chuckle and recall all the silly excuses and attempts (successful and thwarted) we've heard over the years as people try to get into closed events.  If you have a good story please add it in the comments section.

Every year during our Internet company sales conference two or three people always appeared who were not part of the guest list and had actually flown themselves on their own dime (some attempted to get the travel desk to pay - not a brilliant idea) and bunked up with their pals.  They even attended the long sessions - so they weren't just there for the free drinks...

One of my favorite crasher memories (it's funny now, not so funny in the moment) was at a very high brow golf tournament where we entertained many, many VIPs.  Two of the charming sales people, with a few cocktails in them of course, convinced the five star hotel front desk they were the head of Nike Marketing and his collegue but lost their IDs on the golf course - could they please check into their room?  Not only were these two pranksters guilty of upgrading themselves to the nicer hotel, their client actually showed up at 10:30pm.  When I got a call from the sold out hotel that a second "Mr. Nike" just arrived, and not knowing who had checked in earlier, we pulled the nearest host to run into his room and pack up asap.  We learned to warn the hotel front desks at future events not to trust even the smoothest talkers - when in doubt, call the event manager's cell.

We've taken a long break from the blog entries to welcome a baby girl to the family.  Hope you're enjoying the older posts and please share your own tips on the SHARE section.  Good ideas are best shared.

Cheers!

If you're based on the west coast you may want to consider attending the LA BizBash Expo in June.

It's a great networking opportunity in this tough market with over 2,000 event and meeting planners, marketers, and communications professionals in attendance. When I've attended in the past the speakers were interesting but I got a lot out of meeting with decor designers, linen suppliers and top caterers face to face. We found even attending for a few hours can be beneficial to finding great vendors for future events.

The event is June 11 at the LA Mart in Los Angeles. Click here to visit the official site BizBashExpo