We love to hear how clients are using a la Reg.  Below are some real use cases we learned about this week:

* an Atlanta LL to accept online payments for the family picnic
* a Nor. Cal Humane Society to accept donations online for the first time
* a New Mexico Incubator for non-profits to accept conference registrations online
* a Florida event planner
* a Rowing Organization to accept member payments for their banquets
* a Tennis club to accept RSVPs to their Cinco de Mayo Party
* a California personal trainer to accept payments and enrollment online for the first time

BTW, in most scenarios a la Reg is at least 90% less than the most popular online reg tool...just sayin... 

Please post how you're using a la Reg.

Objectives

It is critical to consider why an event is being held in the first place. It is really important to start the planning off with strong and credible business and marketing objectives based upon what the outcome is that you want to achieve. The event could be held to reach out to new prospects and create brand awareness in the marketplace. Or it could be to make more direct sales or launch a particular product and cross-sell a further range of products down the line.

Measurement

Once you have crystallised the objectives of the event, then you should think about the putting measurements in place that evaluates whether your event is worth the investment you have put into it; in budget, time and resource. It is always best to measure both qualitatively and quantitatively with statistics and sentiments such as number of attendees, spread of companies and sentiment towards your brand and products and if they are likely to buy from you. By putting in place measurement processes you can measure if your event is a success, needs improvement or needs to be reconsidered.

Messaging

The whole point of the event will be to bring together your clients and make them aware of your products, services and brand. Think about the perception and messaging that you will want them to take away with them, and the key messages of your company that you want to get across.

Messaging should be consistent and integrated across everything you do at the event through to how it is delivered and executed. So if you have presentations, master classes or workshops pull out the key messages that need to come across and how it relates to your business’ offering. Make sure that the messaging doesn’t come across as too promotional as this will be off-putting to attendees and they are likely to switch off.

Engagement

Having strong engagement with clients at an event is crucial. Organising a face-to-face event is all about engaging with people, forming and building relationships. Not only is it important to have strong engagement with your clients, you can also give them the platform at your event to meet and network between themselves. By networking with others, attendees will feel that their time is well spent and see value in coming along.

Make engagement more fluid by having staff introduce attendees to each other. Every employee at the event should be given a thorough briefing beforehand about the objectives and purpose of the event. You can also distribute attendee lists and set up your event so mingling and networking is easy.

Using gimmicks that help break the ice at corporate events is a great idea. More companies are hiring branded photo booths at their event that helps to create a buzz. Offering unusual promotional gifts that attendees can play with, such as yoyos, rather than standard pens, create a smile and gets people talking. Giveaways will also be keepsakes for your clients to take away with them.

If you are holding an event where seating at tables is required, then think about a table plan to maximise networking opportunities between attendees.

Sonya works for dreambooth who are a provider of branded photos booths in the UK. 

• No longer do we need the email ping pong between 6 volunteers trying to find a time to meet at Starbucks.  Post the options and let your team note their availability on Doodle.com (link).  Everyone can take a vote for their preferred times or venues.  Put anything to vote and cut out the emails. Brilliant. 

• Take sign ups forms and donation requests online in minutes with a la REG (Link).   Your clients/school community will love the option to register online or via phones rather than printing forms and the organizers will love the efficient excel summary of the data.   Collect unlimited registrations (or donations) in an ad-free custom form.        

• Set time limits for discussions.  We’ve all been to meetings where one topic goes round and round and not only do attendees become frustrated, other topics needing attention are neglected.  If you foresee a tough debate may be in the future, suggest setting a limit of, say, 5 minutes per topic.  If decisions are still needed on a topic, circle back to this one at the end of the meeting.  This way every committee get’s a chance to report and at the very least many other decisions will be made.

• Non-profit and volunteer endeavors do not have the typical workday flow of corporate life.  By setting a typical time to send updates, perhaps it’s Mondays at 3 or everyday at 10am, your committee members learn to expect your updates and are ready to respond. Your time is used more efficiently (as it would be easy to fall into the pattern of responding to every email in real time).  By training ourselves to step back we can also create control of our own time and not feel this volunteer gig has encroached on all aspects of our own time. 

• Create a Shutterfly Team Page for your school, favorite charity or children’s team.  Shutterfly (link) offers free “communication hubs” for teams or schools to share calendars, coach/teacher announcements and newsletters and of course photos.  It’s much more efficient to have one location to visit for all the information, password protected, rather than receive emails or paper forms each week.  

Sale is today through 8:59am PST Friday. You can find designs for professional correspondence, cards for graduates to say thanks, Easter notes, and a specific line for children as well.  TinyPints Site: LINK

Promo Code: Deal0404

LINK to Registration Article on About

If you're going through the effort of having custom lanyards for your hanging name tags, consider having two copies of every nametag printed. Place the two copies back to back in a badge holder, or better yet have your printer print front and back on the tags.  This way, when the badge swings around backwards your attendee names are still visible.  

The large name badges are nice becuase they allow a lot of space for your company or event logos, we just wish they wouldn't spin so often.  

We think you can leave off the person's salutation, unless they are a Dr. or a military officer.  We expect to see Dr. First Name Last name.  For a PhD, list this after the persons name.

As a rule of thumb, make the first name (and the word Dr. in those cases) much larger than all other copy.  The last name can be slightly smaller, followed by the name of the company a couple spaces below.

I tend to leave off titles b/c there are so many different ways to list a title (Sr. Manager, Products vs. Sr. Product Manager vs. Senior Manager).  Who knows their preference? You are sure to get them incorrect on a few, and possibly offend an attendee.

Lastly, if this is a nice event expect the ladies will appreciate magnet backed name tags, rather than pins.

Happy planning.  (if you want more name tag tips simply type name tags in the search box on the left column).

Available in sleek designs and great colors, each bag features attributes Martha Stewart looks for in a tote or case, keeping both style and functionality in mind.  While all are padded, the larger totes come with pockets and dividers for pens, folders, extra supplies. 

If you'd like to win a large computer tote please leave a comment below.  We'll select a winner by end of today.  If you don't win, please visit Staples or Staples.com to purchase one.