Budget Buster - Part III

It's time to see bank accounts go up - returns and exchanges week! Save some greenbacks with these event tips as well:

An appropriate number of food stations that each feed a portion of your audience (“recommended for 50 people”) will cost you less than a per person price for each station, while offering a nice variety of selections to your guests.

Did you forget to include signage in your budget? Print posters at Kinko’s and use snap frames instead of poster board. After two uses, the frames will pay for themselves and they look much nicer. Bonus tip: Spend the savings on magnetic name tags. Your attendees will thank you for keeping their clothes intact.

As exhausted as you may be post-event, don’t forget to review, review, review those invoices. Did you order that bottle of champagne on the bill or did someone make a mistake? Were all of the service charges pre-approved via the contract or other written agreement? No charges are final until the check is cut.

And that ends my budget busters installments. Happy saving!

Budget Buster - Part II

It's probably bad form to talk about money so early on a Monday but these are strange times, so here I go with some more tips to help control your costs:

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a look is worth a million. Do not underestimate the value of a site visit. Bring along a detailed checklist. Only a visit will tell you that a restroom or coat check needs to be installed!

What you do not ask, you will not receive. Are you renting a meeting room? Ask for office space. Spending $10,000 on individual audio-visual equipment? Ask for a bundled price. Always remember to mention repeat business or referrals you can send their way.

Having a small or short function? Have drinks charged to your master bill upon consumption, rather than an inflated open bar price. If open bar is the only way to go, make sure your final numbers include the standard 25% drop-off in attendance.

Be a Budget Buster - Part I

I can't think of a better time to post my budgeting tips. Holiday parties may not be possible this season and entire event budgets are on the line for 2009. Before cancelling all events, it may be a good idea to reconfigure budgets that have some flexibility.

Start off by truly evaluating if an event is the proper vehicle to attain your goal. Before contracts are signed, it can only benefit you to weigh your options, whether you’re marketing, recruiting, celebrating or honoring.

Do your research. Hotel rooms may cost 20% less in Denver but flying to Chicago could save much, much more, depending on where your attendees live and the number of room nights you’ll need. Be sure to include all possible costs in your budget – you can always forego unneeded items later.

Be flexible. The more date, time and setting options you have, the more bargaining power you control.

Stay tuned for more tips on being a budget buster!

Non-Profit Partnerships

My last event of the season was an annual conference and reception for women executives in partnership with a charitable cause. This year's recipient was Bottomless Closet, an organization that helps women transition into the workforce by providing business attire and career counseling. Besides the benefits to the charity, working with a non-profit organization is a great way to create goodwill for your organization, increase attendance and gain press for your event. The event last month, the Women's Law Forum, replaced its registration fee with a donation to the charity, but if your budget doesn't allow for that, there are many other ways you can give back.

Awareness fuels fundraising. Non-profit organizations are constantly searching for opportunities to spread their name. The more awareness there is about a cause, the more funds find their way back to the organization. Select a charity that aligns with your event goals and ask if they would like to be featured on all of the event materials at no cost. Perhaps they can add to your content if the executive director or a board member has a relatable story.

Each time I attend an event, I think about all the materials that went into its development, particularly events with extensive decor. It's important to discuss with vendors - before contracts are signed - the policies and procedures surrounding materials disposal. "Leftovers" doesn't just mean food. The Special E (www.thespeciale.com/works.html) will also pick up centerpieces, empty cans, wine corks and promo items, among other things.

As we struggle individually with the current economic times, we must remember the small steps we can take to help others. Non-profit organizations are a vital support system to our communities and if we can keep this in the forefront of our minds, the opportunities to give back are endless.

Power to the People

Actorfest was almost a week ago but it seems like longer since I rushed right into handling another big event 5 days later. But l'd like to give Actorfest it's due! A post devoted to an interesting and exhilating day. It all started at 3 a.m. (see previous blog on sleep preparations). At 3:45 a.m. I arrived at the Hammerstein Ballroom to find everything as it should be, cleaning and production underway and 80+ boxes to be unpacked.

As an independent event planner, I'm often helping non-profits and other "stream-lined" organizations that can't afford a full team of people to help at an event. This event was better than most in that we did have about 30 staff. An additional 20 volunteers came to help at 6 a.m., tough for a Saturday morning, but a mere two hours before doors opened at 8 a.m.

So we moved. We moved boxes, we moved signs, we moved stantions. We moved computers, printers and books. My shoulders ache just thinking about it. But these people did not stop. Every time I turned around, there was a person at my shoulder asking for the next task.

Once we moved supplies, it was time to move the people. They were lined up down the block and needed to get through the exhibitors, casting calls and to the workshops. Hammerstein is an incredible venue but not intuitive. We labeled every wall we could with directions but nothing moves people like other people.

There were questions, there were requests, there were people on all sides. And these staff and volunteers handled all of it with patience, brevity and humor.

So after all the ups and downs that come with every event, I walked away from this one with just a single overpowering thought...that there is just nothing like a good team when it comes to a creating a successful event.

This Saturday is ActorfestNY

This weekend I will be at ActorfestNY at the Hammerstein Ballroom. My client, Back Stage, is a Nielsen Media publication that produces this event each year in NY and LA. We're expecting 4,000 actors to come to the casting calls, networking cafe, exhibits and workshops, such as "Auditioning for Film and TV: The How-To's of Winning a Role" and "Actor's Lab: Rehearsing with Tony Winner Marian Seldes." Last year, people were lined up at 5 a.m. to get some of the remaining time slots to meet with NBC, Telemundo, Nickelodeon and The N.

If you know any actors in the area, tell them to visit www.actorfest.com and sign up! Did I mention that entry is free?

And check back here next week for an update on the event...

Revving Up for Event Day

My event in 2 weeks starts at 8:00 a.m. As you can probably gather, most event planning work is done before an event (hence the term planning!). Once you're on-site, it's monitoring and problem-solving but if you're not well-prepared, there is only so much you can do. So the day before, and the morning of, are critical.


If I'm low on sleep, I will barely make it through the event. I know, I've tried. So I have a system (of course). There is no sleeping in on weekends during events season. For a recent event, I started to go to bed early 4 nights prior: 10 p.m. to get up at 6 a.m. then 9 p.m. to get up at 5 a.m. Not too tough.

But my upcoming event requires a 4 a.m. alarm which seems so much worse than 5 a.m. I plan on starting my sleeping regiment for that day five days prior working my way up in 30 minute intervals. Extreme, you think? Not to me on the night before, when I can easily fall asleep at 8 p.m., have 8 hours of peaceful rest before a 18 hour day leading production, staff, volunteers and attendees.

Don't underestimate the power of sleep! If you have any other tricks (chamomile tea, anyone?), I'd love to hear them before I start my regiment!

Balancing Better

I find that one of the greatest challenges in my life is balancing. Perhaps that is why I enjoy yoga so much. I'm fairly good at tree pose and when I raise my foot to my thigh and put my hands in prayer position, I finally feel balanced, centered. That and the 10 minute nap at the end of class. Yet as soon as I step that foot off the yoga mat, the to-do list comes rushing back.

In the next month I'll be handling a conference for 400 lawyers, an expo for 4,000 actors, an all-day affair for 150 women executives, and a move from two apartments into one. In addition, I'm helping my significant other with his ongoing grad school applications, my singing group with their fundraising and promotional efforts and following up on proposals I've just finished for spring events.

I take breaks from these work efforts by thinking about trick-or-treating with my niece, and planning a reunion of friends at my sister's home in Pennsylvania and upcoming trips to New Orleans, Barcelona and Denver. But this just means that the brain is still churning! Perhaps I should take up meditation. Or medication?

What do you think? Any ideas? How do you get balanced and centered?

Here Goes Something!

Once upon a time, I was an avid journal and letter scribe, but since joining the working world and churning out an email each minute, the enthusiasm for writing had waned and the journals now sit on a shelf gathering dust.

A year ago my best friend moved to Ireland and started a blog (visit it here: http://deejkat.blogspot.com/) and I was introduced to the weblog world. Each day I visit the page, hoping for the next hysterical installment. I certainly don't envision anyone searching out my entries with the same obsession but I like the idea of throwing one's thoughts out to the world and seeing what boomerangs back.

So a little bit more about me just in case I lose interest and/or time and don't write again for a while.

I grew up in Babylon Village, Long Island, NY and attended college at Towson University in Maryland. I've been living in the NY metro area since then (Brooklyn and Hudson County, NJ) and working in NYC until starting my home-based event planning company a year and a half ago (www.gingerdonnanevents.com). I love what I do (except maybe at midnight after an 18-hour event day) and feel like I'm living my dream life. I just hope no one pinches me. My friends, family and colleagues/clients are very important to me, and I cherish opportunities to expand the circle, so I invite you to comment on my posts and introduce yourself!

Till then, take care.