A Record-Breaking Year: Event Successes in the Crafting Space for the Modern Quilt Guild’s QuiltCon 2025
QuiltCon 2025, held in Phoenix, Arizona this year from February 20-23, 2025 was a massive success, with record-breaking day pass sales both in advance and at the show. Moving to Ticketbud increased both the volume of day passes sold and kept things more organized than in years past.
"You guys pulled it off, you did all the things you promised you would do and that was huge. It was a huge weight off our shoulders to have that reliability." said Kelsey Bellmore, Events Assistant for the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG).
The Shift to Digital: A Game-Changer
This year, more than half of all passes were purchased online on Ticketbud's event pages—either in advance or on-site. Each year, more attendees embrace digital admission and move away from paying with cash. This transition has streamlined operations, reduced wait times, and made the entire entry process more efficient.
Efficient Ticket Scanning & Admittance from Rentable Hardware
For the first time, the MQG took advantage of Ticketbud’s rentable hardware this year to admit attendees. Wi-Fi issues initially caused some issues but Ticketbud’s devices with dedicated cellular service resolved the problem.
Optimal Scanner-to-Attendee Ratio: The MQG team found that a good rule of thumb is that one scanner could handle approximately 1,000 attendees in a day. The team also found that backup scanners charging and backup battery packs were essential.
Re-Entry & Scan-Out Mode
One learning the team found was around scanning users out. Having dedicated exit scanners could allow attendees to exit and re-enter the event on the same day, providing greater flexibility while maintaining event security.
Data Collection & Vendor Insights
Ticketbud allows for custom questions (e.g. ZIP code to understand travel distance, repeat attendance, craft interests) for attendees which can be optionally shared with vendors to facilitate a better understanding of each attendee. These insights help with future planning and are valuable to vendors and sponsors who often struggle with estimating attendee numbers.
The Value of Exceptional Customer Service
Ticketbud’s responsiveness was a standout factor this year, ensuring any issues were quickly addressed. Unlike call centers, the Ticketbud team provided personalized on-call support, even taking last-minute troubleshooting calls over the weekend during the event.
Final Thoughts
This year’s event demonstrated the power of a well-executed digital ticketing system. Ticketbud delivered on every promise, alleviating stress and ensuring a smooth experience. The seamless integration of digital admission, efficient hardware usage, and actionable data insights have set the stage for even greater success in future events.
As the MQG looks ahead, refining their multi-day admission structure, improving re-entry processes, and expanding vendor data collection will be key areas of focus. With the right tools and support, the transition to a fully digital ticketing experience is not just possible—it’s inevitable.
Special thanks to Jessica Woodall for photo credit for the photos featured above.
Ticketbud: A Secure, Stable & Scalable Event Ticketing Platform for County Fairs
As County Fairs transition from taking cash at the door to web-based ticketing and event platforms, Ticketbud offers unbeatable features for County Fair event organizers nationwide.
We power local event management, ticketing and event entry for County Fairs large and small.
We offer:
Low fees
We’ve priced our services affordably and even offer a discount for events between $5-$20 in ticket prices.
Multi-day scanning
We support events with tickets for multiple days or just one day, offering the flexibility for any kind of attendee.
Merchandise upsell support
We offer convenient ways to list and offer product inventory for sale to issue commemorative t-shirts, hats, mugs & more to your County Fair’s biggest fans.
Reachable, human support
We offer on-shore, on-call and even on-site support to ensure nothing disrupts your event.
Hardware where you need it
Scan tickets on any device you already own or rent scanning hardware optionally connected to Starlink to ensure you never have to deal with your event having scanning or connectivity outages.
No crashes on event day
Ticketbud is hosted on Google Cloud for infinite scalability and >99.9% uptime.
Next steps
We handle County Fairs between 25,000 and 200,000 ticketed attendees. For more information, request a free demo or create a free account to set up your event today.
Tips and Ideas for Successful Back-to-School Events
As the summer winds down, excitement builds for a new school year. For many, this means planning a memorable back-to-school event that brings the community together and prepares families for the upcoming year.
So we’re offering four tips and ideas on how to create an event that sparks school spirit and gets kids ready to hit the books:
1. Host Engaging Activities
Planning back-to-school events means creating a fun and educational environment for the entire family. So, plan a variety of activities that cater to different age groups and interests. For best results, blend learning and play:
Book Exchange: Encourage reading by asking students to bring a book to trade with their classmates.
Carnival Games: Set up fun games like ring toss, bean bag toss, and duck pond. Offer small prizes for winners.
Craft Stations: Create stations where kids can make their own back-to-school crafts, such as decorating notebooks or making bookmarks. This is a great way to introduce them to their art teachers.
Photo Booth: Set up a themed photo booth with props and backdrops. It’s a great way for families to capture memories.
Live Entertainment: Hire local musicians, magicians, or storytellers to perform.
School Supply Drive: Organize a drive to collect backpacks and school supplies for students in need.
STEM Fair: Highlight the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math with interactive exhibits, science experiments, and robotics demonstrations.
Teacher vs. Student Games: Host a friendly competition between teachers and students in games like volleyball, basketball, or dodgeball. Have the P.E. coaches act as officials or referees.
Image by GAI's Consultants.
2. Include Informative Sessions
School brings about new routines for both students and parents. To help prepare families for the change of pace, plan events that expose them to before-, during- and after-school activities and resources:
Educational Workshops: Offer workshops on topics like homework tips, healthy lunches, or digital safety.
Health Screenings: Introduce families to the school’s nursing staff and collect students’ health and emergency contact information. If possible, provide eye exams, immunizations, or checklists that help families navigate what to do if their child is sick.
Meet the Teachers: Arrange meet-and-greet sessions with teachers and school staff.
Resource Fair: Invite local organizations and businesses that offer tutoring or after-school programing and support to set up booths with information and resources for families.
School and Classroom Tours: Provide grade-level tours that prepare students on how to navigate the school halls and important rooms and offices.
3. Recruit and Train Volunteers
Volunteers are essential for the smooth running of your back-to-school event. Recruit volunteers well in advance and provide them with clear instructions and training.
Parents, teachers, teacher-assistants, and older students all make great volunteers. Assign specific and appropriate roles, and ensure they know their responsibilities on the day of the event.
4. Take Advantage of Ticketbud’s Free Ticketing Tools
Whether you’re a school administrator, PTA member, or a community leader, pinning event planning onto a long list of to-dos ahead of the school year can feel daunting. But with the right tools, planning a back-to-school event doesn’t have to be a stressful experience.
With Ticketbud, you have access to all the tools and resources you need to create a successful and memorable school event. From seamless event creation and ticketing to robust marketing and communication tools and detailed analytics, Ticketbud covers every aspect of event management – all on a collaborative platform where others can help out.
Start planning your back-to-school event with Ticketbud today, and make it one for the books!
Reinvigorate Your Class Reunion: a Three-step Planning Process
Planning a class reunion can be a rewarding experience, allowing old friends to reconnect and create new memories. But asking people to carve out time to reconnect with old classmates – who they may already be keeping tabs with on social media – may be a tough sell.
So, we’ve put together a few tips for class reunion organizers looking for ways to entice old classmates to reunite, reconnect, and celebrate the years gone by. Check them out below and get started planning your next reunion on Ticketbud today.
Step One: Pre-Plan Your Class Reunion
Form a Planning Committee: Create a committee of enthusiastic classmates. Distributing tasks among a group will make the planning process more manageable and bring in new, diverse ideas.
Set a Budget:. Determine how much to spend on the venue, food, entertainment, and other essentials. Read our budgeting guide here.
Choose a Venue: Select a venue that is convenient for most attendees and fits the event’s theme and size. Consider hotels, community centers, or even school premises if possible. Outdoor venues like parks can offer a relaxed atmosphere and plenty of space for activities. The venue availability will give you some date options.
Set a Date: Choose a date well in advance to give everyone ample time to make arrangements.
Step Two: Partner with Ticketbud for Seamless Event Management
Ticketbud streamlines the planning and ticketing process for class reunions – from sending out invites and selling tickets to specific activities, to collecting attendee information and managing referrals.
Get started by creating your free event page at ticketbud.com. Then, take advantage of these all-inclusive ticketing features:
Easy Ticketing: Set-up ticket sales quickly and manage different ticket types (single tickets, partner tickets, drink tickets, and more).
Add Collaborators: Allow others on your reunion planning committee to access your event’s dashboard so you can divide and conquer ticketing, promotional, and reporting tasks.
Collect donations: If you want to encourage alumni to support a fundraising effort, you can also collect optional donations at the same time attendees purchase tickets.
Communications and Promotion Tools: Utilize built-in marketing and communications tools to spread the word via email and social media. Upload your class roster to email save the dates and event reminders directly from your Ticketbud site.
Real-Time Data: Access sales data and attendee information in real-time to track ticket sales and promotions.
Secure Transactions: Ensure safe and secure payment processing for peace of mind.
Easily Access Funds: Get early access to ticket funds to promote your event, pay vendors, and cover costs. You are in control of your funds with flexible payout options (daily, weekly, monthly) via secure payment providers.
Customer Support: Get assistance from a dedicated support team to address any issues or questions.
Step Three: Celebrate Memories and Make New Ones
Class reunions serve to keep classmates connected in the present and celebrate the past. So, consider incorporating both elements into your class reunion planning and promotions.
Before the event:
Create a Facebook Group: Invite all of your old classmates. Keep the group open for members to invite friends to ensure no one is left off the guest list.
Create an Event Page on Facebook and LinkedIn: Spread the word with your connections on social media so people can easily track down event details.
Post Throwback Content: Share photos, videos, newspaper clippings, etc from your times together in school and ask members and followers to do the same. Display these memories at the event.
Create a Survey: Ask guests what they’re up to now or create superlatives for people to vote on ahead of the event for trivia and ceremonial fun.
During the Event:
Cater in Class Favs: Seek out food options that remind you of yesteryears. Was there a restaurant where everyone would go to celebrate a big game win, or a lunchtime favorite? Try to keep food restrictions and preferences in mind.
Host a Bar: Everyone is now a legal drinking age, so pop a top and have a little fun.
Hire a DJ or Create a Playlist: Curate a list of popular songs from your days in school. Hosting a karaoke or time-period theme night may amplify the fun.
Hire a Photographer: Get group shots and consider recreating school photos. Pair the photos with old school headshots for a fun attendee souvenir.
Host a Photobooth: Encourage attendees to take group photos with fun props.
Offer Family Fun: Consider ways you can include your classmates growing families in the fun. For example, host a park day or movie night that is family friendly, or offer resources and recommendations for how children can spend their time during adult-only events.
After the Event:
Share Highlights on Social Media: Keep people engaged post-event by sharing photos and encouraging people to tag themselves.
Create a Momento: Put together all the photos from the event to create a printed and digital booklet from the event.
Thank Attendees: Email attendees a heartfelt thank you after the event and encourage them to stay connected with the class via social media. Ask if anyone would like to help organize the next one.
Get Started
Careful planning and creative touches can turn a class reunion into an unforgettable event. By following these steps and partnering with a reliable ticketing service like Ticketbud, you can ensure a smooth and successful reunion that classmates will cherish for years to come.
Remember to take time with your event planning committee to choose a date, location and budget that make sense. Then, keep your team organized by leveraging Ticketbud’s features to take the stress out of ticketing, registration and logistics. This will keep your focus on planning a class reunion that is one for the ages.
Planning the Austin Chicken Wing Festival: Q&A with Event Organizer Jesse Island
In May, people flocked to south Austin to eat endless wings and cast their vote for the best wings in the city at the Austin Chicken Wing Festival. So, we caught up with the organizer of the event, Jesse Island, to learn about his experience planning a festival with Ticketbud.
The following Q&A with Jesse highlights an event manager's experience coordinating a food festival. In it, he shares, from an organizer’s perspective, what it’s like to manage ticket sales and promotions for large festivals and events.
What inspired the creation of the Austin Chicken Wing Festival, and what are the primary goals of the event?
The Austin Chicken Wing Festival was inspired by Wing Fest, which took place in Austin in 2017 and 2018. However, the event dissolved since organizers didn’t have the team they needed for promotion and implementation. So, I met with one of the organizers to see what it would take to make a wing tasting festival of my own. He told me everything they did right and everything they did wrong. So, for everything they did wrong, I hired someone in that area.
How do you select and manage the vendors and partners participating in the festival?
To recruit vendors, I asked everyone on my team to share their top 10 favorite wing places and also added spots published on lists and articles online. Then, we took to guerilla marketing. We showed up to 150 different places in matching gold t-shirts to try the wings and share more about the festival. From there, some restaurants really latched on.
Photo courtesy of Austin Chicken Wing Festival.
One thing I learned from my initial meeting with the Wing Fest organizer was that it was important to put these vendors first. If there are no wings, there is no festival. So, I put vendor management high up on my list and treated them like gold.
Is this your first time planning a festival? How does it compare to other events you've planned?
This is the first event I’ve organized at this scale. However, I have hosted events that required blocking off downtown streets before. I am pretty good with permits, and I know how to coordinate and negotiate with the city. Some people don’t realize the time and cost of acquiring permits for large-scale events.
Having the event outside of the city limits made it easier, but it still required a 6 month lead time. We had to get mass gathering permits, food permits and also needed a fire marshal on site.
"Having the event outside of the city limits made it easier, but it still required a 6 month lead time."
Jesse Island, Festival Organizer
I should add that the timing of the event was not random either. I had a member of my team research in the Farmer’s Almanac for the driest spring weekend on record. We’d rather have heat than rain.
What marketing strategies did you use to promote the festival?
Our marketing strategy used a little bit of everything. We used paid stuff on Instagram and Facebook and worked with magazines and influencers. We did radio segments where we’d have people call in for giveaways. Our team pass out flyers and put on the gold t-shirts to visit bars and wing restaurants to talk to people about wings. We did pretty much did everything we could think of.
Why did you choose Ticketbud as your festival ticketing platform?
It was important for us to source locally, so I was glad to use Ticketbud. I looked into other options – Eventbrite is super cumbersome and Posh doesn’t offer check-in services. Plus, Ticketbud has less intrusive service charges than other event ticketing platforms.
“Ticketbud has less intrusive service charges than other event ticketing platforms”.
Jesse Island, Festival Organizer
Are there any features or integrations that Ticketbud provided that catered to your event’s needs?
Custom ticket layouts, hidden ticket options, discount codes - I utilized it all. From a user standpoint, it was not difficult to use. And, I was able to easily track and base budgets off of growing ticket sales.
Did using Ticketbud compliment or enhance your marketing and promotional efforts?
I used the referral tracking links to incentivize my team to help with ticket sales. Each person got a unique code to share and earn commission. It was easy to track and helped with promotion.
How has your experience been with Ticketbud’s customer service?
Ticketbud is not difficult to use. But if something ever was, I could just send an email and would usually get a response within an hour. I probably asked about 10,000 questions about how to make the most of the platform for our event and got help implementing every option, including staff support at the event itself. Our entire team enjoyed working with Ticketbud, and I expect a great working relationship for years to come.
Photo courtesy of Austin Chicken Wing Festival.
How did Ticketbud enhance the attendee experience?
Everything was seamless. No one had issues with wrong orders or missing tickets. We utilized Ticketbud’s scanners on event day and it made it so easy for people to get in. There weren’t any long lines. There wasn’t any friction. It was quick, and it was easy.
Did you utilize any of Ticketbud’s reporting and analytics tools? If so, what metrics did you find most valuable?
“It’s true what they say - 50% of your ticket sales will happen in the last 48 hours”.
Jesse Island, Festival Organizer
It's true what they say - 50% of your ticket sales will happen in the last 48 hours. So,budgeting for event can be super difficult. Ticketbud's reporting tools really helped me plan around this.
With ticket reports, I was able to keep track of the money that was coming in throughout the sales cycle. And as we got closer to the event, ticket breakdowns helped us prepare for who was going to what and how we would need to stock things like the bar.
What advice would you give to others planning a festival?
Hire people that you can trust to do things that you cannot do. There is so much that goes into planning an event. You’re not going to be able to do it all. You’re going to need help.
Is there anything you’d like to add about planning a festival or your ticketing experience?
The event exceeded my expectations. It was fantastic to see the smiles on everyone’s faces. Every single person was having a good time. And I can’t wait to do it again.
Photo courtesy of Austin Chicken Wing Festival.
Event Ticket Refunds: A Guide for Event Organizers and Attendees
Handling event ticket refunds with transparency, empathy, and professionalism, strengthens relationships between event organizers and attendees, and enhances the overall event experience. But, deciphering when it’s appropriate to give or receive a refund can be tricky.
By giving event organizers direct access to their funds, Ticketbud trusts event organizers to utilize their best judgment when issuing refunds. Below we share our expectations for Ticketbud site users, along with key considerations event organizers should make when evaluating their refund policies.
Who is responsible for issuing refunds for events hosted on Ticketbud?
Refund requests from ticket buyers are directly overseen by the event organizer, not Ticketbud. Each hosting organization or person will have their own terms and conditions for refunds.
Ticketbud does not have authorization to issue any event ticket refunds. We don’t control the proceeds from ticket sales. These are processed through a payment provider and go directly to the event organizer's account.
However, if you are an attendee and would like to discuss an issue with an event hosted on Ticketbud, please reach out to cs@ticketbud.com and our team will look into the issue.
How should attendees request refunds to events hosted on Ticketbud?
If attendees purchased ticket coverage through Refund Protect, they can follow these steps to request a refund for qualifying situations.
Otherwise, attendees should contact the event organizer regarding refunds to their scheduled event. Event organizers have sole access to revenue from tickets processed via Ticketbud. They may issue refunds if requests comply with their organization’s refund policies. If the refund policy is not clear, contact the event organizer for more information before purchasing your ticket.
You can search for your event here. On the event page, click on the gray “Contact Organizer” button to reach out to your event organizer directly.
If an event organizer is unresponsive to refund requests, ticket buyers are within their rights to dispute the charges with their banks or credit card company. If doing so, buyers should also alert the Ticketbud customer service team. Our team will conduct an internal investigation and may prevent the organization from hosting future events on the site.
Understanding credit card chargeback policies
The policy for credit card chargebacks can depend on several factors:
Card Issuer's Policies: Different card issuers have specific policies regarding the timeframe for initiating a chargeback. The standard policy is usually 60-120 days since the transaction. However check the terms of your credit card regarding disputes for services not rendered.
Reason for Cancellation: The reason for the event's cancellation can influence the likelihood of a successful chargeback. If the event organizers declared bankruptcy or there was another uncontrollable factor like severe weather, the process might be different compared to a cancellation without a justifiable reason.
Date of Discovery: For events purchased months in advance, some credit card issuers may extend the chargeback deadline to start from the date you were supposed to receive the service (the event date) rather than the transaction date. This means the timeline for requesting a chargeback might start from the date the event was scheduled.
Documentation: Keeping all documentation related to the purchase and cancellation is crucial. This includes emails about the event's cancellation, your attempts to contact the organizers for a refund, and any responses received.
Communication with the Event Organizer: Before initiating a chargeback, attempt to resolve the issue directly with the event organizer. If this fails, documenting these attempts can strengthen your case when you approach your card issuer.
Contacting your credit card issuer as soon as you learn about the event's cancellation is advisable to clarify eligibility and initiate a chargeback. If the event is postponed but has not been rescheduled within the chargeback period, you need to decide your comfort level on trusting the organizer. Decide if you’re prepared to risk access to a refund via chargeback by not taking action before the window closes.
When should event organizers consider issuing event ticket refunds?
Our number one recommendation to event organizers is POLICY CLARITY. Manage expectations and minimize disputes by establishing clear refund policies at the time of ticket purchase.
Navigating the waters of event ticket refunds requires a delicate balance between meeting customer expectations and protecting your event’s financial health. Ultimately, a blend of empathy, integrity, and business pragmatism should guide the decision to refund tickets.
Some key considerations include:
Force Majeure Events: Refunds are typically expected if your event is canceled or greatly impacted by circumstances beyond your control (e.g., natural disasters, pandemics, government regulations). Transparency and clear communication are essential to reassure ticket holders and maintain trust.
Event Changes: Significant changes to the event, such as venue, date, or lineup alterations, may warrant ticket refunds. Communicate these modifications and any options for refunds or exchanges promptly and clearly to ticket holders.
Unforeseen Circumstances: Personal emergencies or unforeseen circumstances affecting ticket holders, such as illness or family emergencies, require compassion and flexibility. While it is not always feasible to offer refunds, providing options for ticket transfers or credits may mitigate disappointment.
Customer Dissatisfaction: If attendees express genuine dissatisfaction with the event experience due to factors within your control (e.g., poor organization, false advertising), offering partial or full refunds show a gesture of goodwill. Gathering feedback from dissatisfied customers can also inform future improvements.
Legal Obligations: Consumer protection laws and regulations in your jurisdiction may dictate your obligations regarding event ticket refunds. Failure to comply with these requirements may lead to legal repercussions and reputational damage.
Brand Reputation: While denying refunds may save short-term costs, it can tarnish your brand image long-term and deter future attendance. Prioritize customer satisfaction and goodwill whenever feasible.
Money Talks: Defining an Event Budget
Ensuring a successful event begins well before venues are booked and tickets are sold. It starts with time invested in creating a realistic event budget.
Imagine purchasing tickets to a highly-anticipated event promising exclusive talks with podcast celebrities and a panel with the actors from Supernatural and Harry Potter. Now, imagine showing up to the event, hearing that most speakers backed out after not getting paid, and then being asked to help cover the costs of the event’s outstanding hotel bill of $17,000.
It sounds like a nightmare, but that was the reality for DashCon 2014, an event where attendees paid witness to one of the most important lessons in event planning – don’t bust the budget.
Today, creating an event budget has become increasingly difficult as things get more expensive. According to a recent Maritz Industry Trends Report, most meeting expenses are up over 20 percent since before the pandemic. But, most budgets haven’t budged. Instead, event planners are living within the constraints, increasing the need for proper planning and financial forecasting.
Why event budgets are important
A budget serves as a financial blueprint for a successful event. That being said, i's important to align expenses with desired outcomes and ensuring financial viability.
Creating an event budget provides a framework for decision-making, enabling event organizers to strategically allocate resources. By delineating expenses across various categories such as venue, marketing, and entertainment, event budgets help prioritize spending for maximum impact. This foresight prevents overspending and optimizes funds in areas that help organizers reach their goals.
Additionally, creating an event budgets is a risk management tool. By estimating costs and revenue streams beforehand, budgets help identify possible financial gaps. This enables organizers to devise backup plans, forge partnerships, and negotiate favorable deals with vendors. Altogether, this ensures the event stays on track throughout planning and execution.
The basics of event budgeting
Creating an event budget demands meticulous planning, attention to detail, and adaptability. To define a robust budget that satisfies both financial constraints and event goals, start with the basics:
Establish event objectives. Outline the event's purpose, goals, and expected outcomes. These aspects influence every budgetary decision.
Research and forecast needs. Gather information on the event's requirements to estimate expenses accurately. Consider previous similar events, industry standards, and projected costs.
Identify sources of revenue. Forecast potential funds coming in from ticket sales, sponsorships, merchandise, or donations to establish a baseline for your budget.
Understand expenses. Break down, prioritize, and allocate expenses into categories such as venue, catering, marketing, staffing, technology, permits, etc.
Set up a contingency fund. Set aside 10-20% of the total budget to buffer any unforeseen expenses or emergencies.
When taken together, these considerations help event organizers determine if it is possible for the event to happen or not.
Nine steps to creating a comprehensive event budget
1. Start Early
Organizing a financial game plan early on puts power in the hands of the event organizer and alleviates stress throughout planning. An early start means more time to shop around for bargains, establish partnerships, and negotiate with vendors. However, starting too late can mean fewer options and premium rates.
2. Create a Spreadsheet
Event organizers muststay organized. Creating a spreadsheet or utilizing relevant event software will help categorize and itemize costs, estimate expenses and revenue, and track spending.
Tools like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel offer budgeting templates with formulas that make calculating expenses against income easy. When modifying or building a spreadsheet, event organizers should include categories such as:
Administrative expenses, such as ticketing, registration or accreditation
Communications and marketing spends
Vendor costs, including food and beverage, entertainment, photography, AV, cleaning, security, decorations, speakers, etc
Staffing needs
On-site expenses and material needs, such as printing costs, wifi, restrooms, transportation, etc.
3. Prioritize Expenses
Some items, such as venue, catering and entertainment are sure to come with a higher price tag. So, it’s important event organizers have a firm grip on what will give them the most bang for their buck, or the biggest return on their investment. This is where understanding event objectives and overarching goals plays a pivotal role.
“We don’t have the luxury of doing anything and everything that we want anymore because of the state of the economy and the state of the industry right now. So you have to be even more strategic about where you put those dollars and what you do with them to make the most impact,” Jitter Garcia, vp-event marketing and brand experiences at TelevisaUnivision, told Event Marketer.
4. Research and Negotiate with Vendors
A request for proposal (RFP) is an important document used to communicate needs and expectations to vendors in order to receive a quote for the services provided. Creating one requires a good understanding of the event’s requirements and goals.
As quotes are collected, event organizers should track them within their budgeting spreadsheet to easily view and compare prices. This provides a general understanding of the competitive cost for services provided and gives organizers negotiating power when following up with top vendor choices. For example, if a preferred vendor comes in at a higher cost but is available for multiple events throughout the year, the organizer may negotiate bulk pricing or long-term contract for a lower rate.
5. Consider How to Cut Costs
Beyond using competitive knowledge and relationships to negotiate with vendors, event organizers should consider other ways to reduce spending. This may include keeping event planning and management in-house – unless it interferes with other organization priorities.
“In-house teams bring a level of efficiency and cost-effectiveness that is hard to match. They can streamline processes, negotiate better with vendors, and leverage existing relationships. Their continuity and familiarity with their brand lead to better planning, execution, and crisis management,” Chaviva Gordon-Bennett writes in an article for Bizzabo.
To further reduce spending, organizers can leverage free social media and email marketing tools, as well as utilize the power of word-of-mouth from partners or loyal audiences. If hosting multiple events, spending can also be limited by digitizing signage or handouts or choosing evergreen banners or swag that excludes dates or specific event information.
6. Identify Sponsors and Partners
Sponsors and partners play a major role in event production. With funding and support from outside organizations, event organizers are able to save money on event production, attract new audiences and realize important or elevated aspects of their event.
However, this requires careful research and conversations. Attracting these types of partnerships requires an understanding of the marketing value of the event, as well as the values in which the organization or event may align with the prospective partner.
7. Charge for Value-Adds
Outside of ticket revenue and sponsorship dollars, event organizers can create many other avenues to generate revenue at their events. Consider:
Event merchandise
Drink tickets
Meal tickets
Upgraded seating
Access to content after the event
Fast passes for check-in
Passes for multiple or exclusive sessions
VIP ticket packages or ticket bundles that combine experiences and services
8. Track Expenses and Revenue
The event budget spreadsheet is not just a tool used for initial planning. Instead, event organizers should reference and update it throughout the planning process to ensure their event is on track. Keeping a pulse on the event budget allows organizers to make adjustments accordingly. For example, if revenue from ticket sales seems low, an event organizer may choose to run a limited-time promotion to boost sales.
Did you know? With Ticketbud, event organizers can access ticket funds early to cover early event costs. Learn more at ticketbud.com.
9. Report on Performance
Any person or organization that invested time or money into producing an event will be curious about its overall success. Event organizers can utilize the data tracked in their spreadsheet to produce performance reports related to the event, its budget, and any revenue or marketing value gained.
Creating a budget, then demonstrating ROI is of the utmost importance in maintaining stakeholder trust. It also ensures an event can be reproduced in the future.
Keys to creating an effective event budget
“To get the best value from long-awaited meetings and events and mitigate against rising costs, corporations will need to plan further in advance, budget carefully, and adopt a disciplined approach to managing meetings and events across the organization,”
- Beau Ballin, global head market development, CWT Meetings & Events, told skift meetings.
Events are only getting more expensive. Dedicating time to create a well-thought-out event budget in the early stages of the planning will avoid problems from planning through production.
Seven Strategies to Plan Next Year's Events Calendar
As the current year winds down, event organizers are gearing up for the next round of exciting programs and gatherings. And they’re right to do so. The success of full events calendar often hinges on meticulous preparation and foresight.
Planning your events calendar a year in advance provides the framework for a seamless and successful series of gatherings. It also reinforces marketing and branding initiatives geared toward creating cohesive messaging and consistent experiences for your audiences.
In this guide, we’ll explore seven strategies to masterfully plan out your event programming for the coming year, ensuring each season is filled with memorable experiences.
1. Take time to reflect
Before diving into your events calendar planning, take a moment to reflect on your events from the past year. Highlight your successes and challenges, understand feedback from participants and sponsors, and identify lessons learned.
Once you’ve understood your past performance, you can set benchmarks for the coming year and align your events calendar with your organization’s strategic goals. It’s important to be specific and clearly articulate your objectives in order to prioritize spending and planning.
Are you aiming for increased attendance, higher engagement, or a more diverse lineup of activities? Defining key performance indicators (KPIs) will help you allocate spending on elements that directly contribute to achieving those objectives.
Estimate the potential return on investment (ROI) for your events calendar by assessing both tangible and intangible benefits. Consider factors such as increased brand visibility, participant satisfaction, and long-term partnerships. These evaluations will help garner support from partners or sponsors on future events.
3. Build your events calendar around flagship events
There might be certain events that act as anchors to your annual event programming. These are events that your audiences might come to expect every year, raise the most money for your organization, or foster an important partnership with an outside organization.
To keep these flagship events at the forefront, plan ahead to book venues and secure highly sought out entertainers, speakers or vendors. Remember, logistics take time. The earlier you can sign a contract, the better chance you have of nailing down special rates. And the sooner you can share details with your audiences, the easier it is for them to block their calendar.
Once set, you can work to fill in the time between your major event(s) with other programming that supports your goals and messaging. Consider a tiered system that offers diverse event types and formats – webinars, workshops, meet-ups. Mixing up your offerings caters to different preferences, expands your reach, and positions your organization as a community leader.
4. Build out your event marketing calendar
By mapping out your events for the entire year, you can avoid scheduling conflicts with other industry events, holidays, or peak times and refine your marketing timeline to avoid gaps or channels with low ROI. This ensures better attendance and engagement from your audience and ample time for strategic marketing and promotion.
You can use this extra time to build anticipation, create targeted campaigns, and engage your audiences across platforms. So, work closely with your marketing teams to build content across web, social and email marketing channels that echoes your event messaging and vice versa.
Seeing how audiences engage with content can inform plans for your next event, giving you plenty of time to refocus and adjust if needed. If helpful, you might consider creating themes for different months or quarters. Themes add coherence to your events calendar programming and can help in marketing and branding.
5. Identify potential partners
Establishing your event messaging and goals well in advance will help you prospect potential sponsorships or partnerships whose values align. These relationships go a long way in reducing costs and enhancing the overall event experience.
Refer to your past year’s event analysis. If an organization helped you out in the past, they may be willing to do so again and at a higher-level. Reach out early to gauge their interest and build their trust by engaging them in the planning process. Input from these key players may influence event themes, speaker selection, and overall event strategy. It can also open new opportunities for resources and cross-promotion.
6. Understand your events calendar budget
Planning ahead allows you to allocate resources more effectively. This includes budgeting, staffing, and logistics planning. As mentioned above, early planning can help you negotiate better deals, secure preferred venues, optimize marketing efforts, and lock-in sponsor funding. The more you understand about each of these components, the easier it is to budget for the entire calendar.
Start with budgeting for your flagship events. Because these happenings are staples to your overall event strategy, more time and resources should be committed to ensuring they are produced successfully. So, create a comprehensive view of how much you will need for the venue, marketing, entertainment, catering, equipment rentals, staff, etc.
Once you’ve budgeted for your most important events, revisit your tiered event programming structure and develop a budget for each event. These smaller events should require less money and resources. But if your marketing and events budget is thinning out, you might have to scrap events in order to cut costs.
7. Create contingency plans
While planning your events calendar a full year in advance provides numerous advantages, its essential to remain adaptable. Flexibility is key to successfully navigating the dynamic nature of the events industry.
Luckily, getting a head start on event planning allows time for a more thorough risk assessment and to develop and budget for contingency plans. You’ll be able to more easily pivot and adjust based on feedback from prior event attendees or changing circumstances without compromising your overall events calendar or strategy.
Planning out your event calendar a year in advance is a strategic endeavor that requires careful consideration, collaboration, and adaptability. By defining goals, analyzing past performance, and aligning with broader strategies, event organizers can create a well-rounded and dynamic events calendar that caters to diverse audiences and ensures a successful year of memorable experiences. The key to success lies in the details, and a well-executed plan is the foundation for extraordinary events.
Planning a Last-minute New Year's Party
As the countdown to the New Year begins, the pressure to plan a memorable celebration can be daunting, especially if you're doing it last minute. But with some quick thinking, resourcefulness, and creativity, hosting a knock-out New Year's party on short notice is absolutely possible.
The good news is, event planners have noted a rising trend of last-minute ticket buying, meaning many people will likely wait until after Christmas to lock-in their New Year’s Eve plans. But to ensure your event is on their radar, now is the time to make quick decisions on venues and vendors and start spreading the word about your event.
Create an event registration page in less than 10 minutes
Visit ticketbud.com and click "Create an Event" then follow the prompts to sign-in or create a free account.
Complete the event details form and click “Continue to edit event page” at the bottom of the screen.
The information from the form will be transferred to the event page editor. You’ll still need to add a banner image, event description and ensure all time and location details are correct.
Before you can activate your New Year's party, you’ll need to create ticket types and configure a payment method if you plan on selling tickets. You can complete both of these steps using the event dashboard on the left. Select “Tickets” to customize and manage ticket types. Select “Event Settings” to link a payment processor. If your event is free, you don’t need to configure a payment method.
Once you’ve completed all these steps, your New Year’s event is ready to go live. If it’s your first time using Ticketbud, you can also click on your Account Dashboard (the Ticketbud logo or your own logo/Initials are shortcuts to this). Consider updating your Account Profile Page with website and social media information.
When everything looks good, it’s time to start spreading the news.
Get the word out about your New Year's party quickly
Time is of the essence, so utilize digital invites via social media, email, or messaging apps. You can use the “Promotion” option in the event dashboard to send invitations. Or, you can cast a wider net by sharing the link to the event page directly on your website, social media pages or other communications channels.
Be sure your event messaging and branding aligns across all channels. This will make people more likely to see and recognize your event. Which in turn, may secure their registration.
Don't forget to have a little fun with your promotional campaigns. The New Year is a great time to look towards new goals as well as to look back at the year’s highlights. So, engage your audience with posts or giveaways inspired by their future plans or favorite memories.
Focus on the Experience
People want to bring in the New Year with friends and family. So exert your energy into designing an inviting atmosphere that people want to invite their loved ones to, fostering an environment for enjoyable conversations and shared memories.
Need some fun ideas for your New Year's party? Try:
A culinary celebration with special NYE food traditions from around the world
Pajama party
Vision board crafting
Cheers to seizing the moment and creating unforgettable memories!
A Year in Review: Conducting an Annual Evaluation of Your Events
The end of the year is a natural time to reflect on achievements and failures as you prepare to adapt and refine in the year ahead. And, conducting an annual evaluation of your full calendar of events in order to prepare for the next one is no different.
Event evaluation is an ongoing process throughout the year. But understanding the value of your annual event programming more broadly, and how it advances or hinders your organization’s overall strategy and values, requires a holistic review.
To conduct your an annual evaluation of events, begin with the following steps:
Step 1: Create a Snapshot of the Year
Start by establishing an overview of the entire year of events, include:
The number of events hosted
The average attendance for events
Total money spent on events
Total revenue gained from events, or a value estimate of the new business/clients gained from the events
If necessary, include a breakdown of stats by event types or category, such as small recurring events, large seasonal events, virtual, in-person, etc. Make note of any outliers, such as those with the highest attendance or those that garnered the least amount of revenue.
As you create the snapshot, be sure to include highlights from events that brought about notable engagement or resulted in press coverage. If putting together a formal presentation, include photos that capture important moments from events to bring the year in review to life.
Step 2: Revisit Initial Goals KPIs
As mentioned above, Q4 should not be the first or only time you’ve planned or conducted an analysis of your events. Instead, now is the time to take a look at your event data as a whole and see how it compares to KPIs (key performance indicators) and goals set for your marketing or programming at the beginning of the year.
If using Ticketbud as your event ticketing platform, use the reporting tool to generate sales or scan (attendance) reports for each event. You can then compare the amount of ticket sales to your total expenses to determine your event profits. Don’t forget to include any money made from sponsorships and any costs associated with staff or volunteer training. You can also compare a report on ticket sales versus check-ins to determine attendance at each event.
Beyond monetary and attendance success, it’s important to evaluate how your events progressed your core strategy and values. For example, if your goal was to engage new demographics, were those audiences present at your events? If you had sustainability initiatives, did your event help move the needle forward?
As you evaluate, consider the reasons behind your successes and failures and whether some events may need to be reproduced, rethought or simply left as a memory.
Step 3: Look at Social Media Engagement
Most social media sites provide the tools and analytics you need to gauge the success of posts and campaigns related to your event, offering data on likes, comments, shares, clicks, etc. To understand how events may have impacted your overall social media growth and strategy, review any tags, mentions, or increases in followers.
Special event hashtags can help capture engagement from user generated content. If you did not do so this year, make sure future event marketing campaigns include a specific hashtag for the event or encourage others to tag your organization when posting about the event.
Understanding social media engagement will provide insight into how to reach and interact with your audiences more effectively for future events. It might also offer another avenue to gather feedback and stakeholder impressions of your event.
Step 4: Review Feedback and Testimonials
It’s best to gather feedback when the event is fresh in people’s minds. So if you did not do so this year, be sure to develop a plan to collect responses from attendees, vendors, partners and staff through surveys during or shortly after each event.
Then, review this data in its entirety at the end of the year to determine any consistent wins or pain points. Monitoring feedback from each event can demonstrate how you improved from event-to-event and established best practices. All of this is important information to take with you into the next year of events.
If any feedback is particularly positive, consider using it as a marketing tool for future events. Whether it’s a strong quote or a consistently high rating across attendees and event dates, this data will demonstrate to audiences that an event is worth their time.
Step 5: Evaluate Partners and Vendors
In addition to digesting the feedback of your stakeholders, it’s important to assess the value of each relationship. Perhaps certain events could not have been done without the financial support of sponsors or contributions of partners. So, consider why they chose to contribute, what they got out of it, and how you can ensure they’ll help in the future.
It’s also good to maintain a directory of vendors you have worked with – both good and bad – and make note of any info that might make it easier to work with them moving forward (for example: responds best to email, needs attendee numbers 1 week ahead of event, requires payment upfront, etc). This living document will make it easier to plan and delegate vendor communications for future events.
It’s also important to note if working with outside organizations allowed you to tap into new audiences. So, ask your partners for any details and analytics related to any social media posts, newsletters or emails they produced related to your event.
Step 6: Debrief with Your Event Teams
Report your findings with your events committee or decision-making teams. Together, you can discuss the return on investment (ROI) of your events, or whether the events you hosted were worth the time and resources that went into producing them. Are there any areas of fat you could trim to make the planning processes more cost and time efficient? Are there any best practices you could replicate to ensure no event eats into your ROI?
Wisdom is gained in experience, and failures can help guide future planning efforts. So, outline the lessons you’ve learned along the way, and use your knowledge to refine your approach.
Step 7: Set Future Goals
Your reflections should inform your aspirations as you set new goals and establish KPIs for next year’s event calendar. Make sure these goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART):
Specific: Find a way to simply and specifically define success so you and others can easily evaluate whether you’ve achieved it in the end.
Measurable: Though events result in many valuable qualitative results, it’s helpful to be able to quantify measures of success. So, consider creating numerical benchmarks for ticket sales, revenue, media placements, social media engagement, new clients or relationships developed etc.
Achievable: Goals need to be aspirational but realistic.
Relevant: Make sure the goals you are setting are in alignment with your organization’s values and overall strategy.
Time-related: Events have a clearly defined timeline; but if you’re hosting a series of events, your goals may be something that you work toward across a calendar year.
Make annual evaluations of your events a regular practice. Consistently reviewing your goals and progress leads to continuous improvement in the planning and execution of your events.
How to Plan a Holiday Party that's Worth People's Time
The end of the year brings on a frenzy of work parties, get-togethers, school events, holiday shopping and more. Creating an holiday party that breaks through all the noise takes careful planning and execution, with great consideration about your audiences’ time, preferences and needs.
Getting Started with Holiday Party Planning
The sooner you can get on people’s calendars, the better. So, determine a date, budget and timeline for the holiday event and planning process, and quickly.
Remember, venues book up fast, with just a handful of Fridays and Saturdays to work with before the new year. You may need to consider other days or times that might work for your particular event and audience. Remember to prepare for any weather or other unforeseen circumstances that might affect your plans.
After you’ve locked in you day, date and budget, it’s time to conduct market research. This will help you understand the types of events your holiday party will be competing against:
Check out community calendars and competitor’s websites for other holiday events.
Start a spreadsheet to record information about each event’s theme, target audiences, planned activities, ticket prices, etc.
Review the marketing of competing events, such as event websites, social media posts on and offline promotions.
When you understand what your holiday party is up against, you can consider offering a unique differentiator, such as a theme, special activity or exclusive sale. This will be key in persuading your audience to register for your holiday event. So, be sure to emphasize it in any marketing or promotions.
A themed event provides an anchor for planning your event. But, be mindful of how any activities or themes could impact who can attract to your event. For example, if you're planning an event for a general audience, you may be more successful if you stray away from religious traditions. Incorporating these elements could be beneficial, however, if they align with your audience’s values.
Here are some themes and activities for inspiration:
Winter Wonderland
Holiday Hoedown
Holiday Movie Night or Series
A Light Show
Ugly Holiday Sweater Party
Pajama Party
Fun Runs or Polar Plunges
A Gift Exchange
Christmas Tree Auction
A Visit from Santa
Black Tie NYE
Candle Making
Christmas Cookie Bake Off
Holiday Bar Pop-up
Gingerbread House Competition
Crafting Classes for Wreaths or Ornaments
If successful, the holiday party you plan may provide your organization brand power year after year. Take for example the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. For nearly a century, people have looked forward to the annual event; and thus, have positive associations with the brand and those tied to it. In fact, the three-hour holiday spectacle has become so successful over the years that companies will shell out $120,000-300,000 to sponsor the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade .
Boost Ticket Sales with Marketing and Promotions
Cross-channel marketing campaigns are a must when promoting any event. So, create a robust plan for direct invitations and email, social media promotion, digital and print advertising.
Reflect on your initial competitor's analysis to evaluate successful ways you might market your holiday event. And remember, holidays are about cheer, giving and savings. So, consider how you might incorporate these elements within your promotional messaging.
Themed Marketing Campaigns: Get inspired by the traditional advent calendar or the “12 days of Christmas” to create a countdown to the event. Each day, you could host a giveaway, encourage engagement, share photos from past events or teasers for the upcoming event.
Referral Codes and Gifts: Incentivize people to invite friends, family, and contacts to your event. With Ticketbud, you can issue unique referral codes to those who’ve already registered for your event. Event organizers have the ability to track these codes. So, if the code is shared and used, the person who shared it could be entered in a raffle or receive a discount from the organizers.
And while it’s fun to receive gifts, the holidays are a time for giving. Using ticket sales to raise money for a meaningful cause or local charity may also influence people to take part in the event. So, make sure you have the ability to add donation options with your ticket sales.
Sales and Discounts: Early bird sales are an effective way to get people to commit to your event before their calendar fills up. These sales are enticing because they offer discounted ticket rates for a limited amount of time, forcing the buyer to act fast.
Ticketbud allows event organizers to create a free event website and host registration for free and paid events. Our site offers a suite of ticketing and communication tools to make event coordination easier before, during, and after the event.
The Ticketbud ticket editor can be used to create and sell a range of ticketing options, such as individual or group tickets, early bird or regular sale tickets, general admission or VIP tickets, and more. Organizers are also able to edit and automate sales timelines, so they can set it and forget it.
Ticketbud also allows event organizers to communicate with attendees via email directly from the ticketing platform. Use it to send important information about venue access and check-in leading up to the event, or to issue thank you emails and gather feedback after the event. Learn more about how Ticketbud works and how we can help ease the stress of holiday event planning.
Sustainability in Event Planning: Nine Ways to Go Green
A growing global awareness of environmental concerns has encouraged many industries to realign business practices according to greener values. This holds true for event planning, which when done with sustainability in mind can help the environment, as well as improve an organization’s reputation, cost efficiency and long-term success.
According to a study published in Nature Communications, the global events industry accounts for more than 10% of global CO2 emissions annually. And, another study found that events contribute 2.5 pounds of landfill waste per person per day. These findings demonstrate why 80 percent of meeting professionals consider green initiatives when planning events.
Sustainability is Good for Business
One in three U.S. adults say they spend more time thinking about the climate than they did before the pandemic; and 68% of highly empowered consumers report choosing brands that reduce their environmental impact, according to Forrester research.
Choosing greener practices not only engages these audiences, it can also reduce the costs of energy, water and waste management. And the good news is event planners can start small. It’s not necessary to reimagine and reorganize an entire event to have a positive impact.
Below, we offer nine ways event organizers can incorporate more sustainable practices into event planning, while motivating partners and attendees to pass it on.
Festival planners of Lollapaloza in Chicago, Illinois strive to reduce environmental impacts of the event year after year.
1. Host Virtual, Hybrid or a Series of Satellite Events
Research by MeetGreen shows that air travel by attendees, speakers or sponsors accounts for 70% of an event’s carbon footprint. Meaning, reducing travel is one of the easiest and most significant ways to make a large environmental impact.
If the content allows, make the event virtual, or create hybrid options to limit the need for people to travel. Researchers from the University of Cambridge found that hybrid conferences combined with the promotion of land-bound travel “could be a feasible compromise to reduce emissions by almost 90%.”
If in-person is necessary and resources allow, organizers might also consider hosting several satellite events in convenient locations across states or countries to meet audiences where they are at.
2. Go Paperless
Embracing sustainability requires adopting innovative event technologies and practices, replacing physical needs with digital solutions. This reduces the need for paper products and can increase efficiency and effectiveness of event planning and execution.
Start with registration. Ditch paper invitations and registration forms. Instead, create a free event website and online registration form with Ticketbud’s event registration platform. Ticketbud also issues electronic tickets which can be scanned at event check-in to reduce printing needs.
During the event, trade out traditional posters or brochures for digital visuals. Use AV to broadcast important marketing or event content, and host important speaker, sponsor or event information on an app or website.
To help people access the materials, simply post a QR code at check-in or email instructions ahead of the event. Driving web traffic or content downloads can also capture important information about audiences and their engagement.
Above, we mentioned how air travel can inflict a large environmental toll. When working toward a more sustainable event, it's important to educate attendees on the impact and provide recommendations on how to work around it.
Whenever possible, promote eco-friendly transportation. For example, festival planners at Lollapalooza encourage event-goers to take “low-emission” routes to the festival, such as buses, bikes, or carpools. It may be economically and environmentally beneficial to partner with an e-bike or rideshare program to offer free rides or discounts to guests commuting to the event.
Also, don’t neglect any freight and shipping involved with gathering supplies or swag for the event. When possible, opt for local vendors and scheduled pick-ups.
4. Find an Eco-Friendly Venue
Venues make up a large part of the event budget. To make sure it’s money sustainably spent, look for venues that have third-party sustainability certifications, such as LEED, APEX/ASTM, Green Key, or IACC Green Star. Or, ask about the location’s energy use or water or waste management practices, such as low-flow toilets or recycling.
For local events, select a centrally located venue that is accessible by public transport. If expecting out-of-town guests, choose somewhere close to an airport or train station to reduce travel. If possible, identify outdoor venue options.
5. Choose Event Partners and Vendors who Align with Sustainability Goals
Denver’s Great American Beer Festival has a strong environmental backbone. Its sustainability program includes waste reduction, resource recovery, energy use and education. These efforts are supported by like-minded organizations featured on its website: ZeroHero, Freeman Exhibit Services, Colorado Convention Center, Centerplate Catering, and the Colorado Carbon Fund.
Through these partnerships, the festival is able to turn a profit during its annual event while realizing large-scale environmental goals. So when looking for vendors or sponsors, lead with sustainability targets and ambitions.
Forge relationships with vendors with well-documented ESG initiatives, such as printers that utilize recycled paper products or caterers that source locally. Find vendors who are members of the Green Business Bureau, an association committed to clean transportation, waste management and other green practices.
Though it may come at a higher cost, a locally sourced farm-to-table menu will result in higher quality food with less impact on the environment. To further reduce the event’s impact, consider offering a plant-based meal or courses.
The World Wildlife Fund estimates that up to 18% of global methane emissions come from livestock. So, swapping out meat for more veggie options can be a strong demonstration of dedication to hosting a sustainable event.
And, remember that quantity is just as important as quality. According to MeetGreen, more than 20% of waste created by an event is organic material, including food and compostable serving ware. To avoid food going to waste, have guests preorder food or close registration before catering numbers are due.
This is easy with Ticketbud’s ticket editor, which allows planners to modify and automate registration timelines and create custom questions for guests to answer when registering for the event, such as “Will you be staying for dinner?” or “Select chicken, beef or veggie.” Get started here.
7. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Of course, food waste still happens. So, come up with a plan to avoid putting it in the trash, such as partnering with a local shelter for food donations. If choosing this route, inform the event and catering staff in advance so they know to box and properly store any leftover food.
If donation is not an option, look to the example set by the U.S. Open. Since taking on green initiatives in 2008, “Nearly 900 tons of food waste has been converted into nutrient-rich compost for gardens and farms,” including the flower beds at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
But remember, food and compost waste is just one fifth of waste at events. To avoid sending the other 80% to the landfill, devise a plan to manage waste and educate attendees on the process and importance. If the venue does not offer recycling or composting, contract out the services. A vendor can provide bins, signage and removal services. Extra staff or volunteers may be required to help collect, sort and encourage attendees to dispose of waste in the proper manner.
8. Get Event Attendees Involved with Sustainability Initiatives
Hosting a sustainable event goes beyond event day and considers its lasting impact. So, how can an organization motivate attendees to carry the mission forward?
Start with education. Make clear in event marketing and messaging why the organization is taking action and the impact it hopes to make. The more people understand the why, the more likely they are to act. This will encourage them to be more compliant during the event and may inspire them to be more sustainability conscious after the event.
Some organizations may choose to incorporate volunteer projects within the event itself, giving attendees an opportunity to get hands-on with the mission and efforts. Or, they may direct attendees to their social media pages or newsletters, where they post local initiatives or projects with volunteer opportunities.
If welcoming travelers to the event, create a welcome packet and email a recommendation list of businesses or restaurants that support sustainable initiatives. Or, encourage attendees to help the organization offset event emissions by participating in a donation program which contributes to achieving carbon zero or other green initiatives.
Using Ticketbud’s ticket editor, event organizers can create a separate fundraising line to accept online donations directly from the registration page. Learn more about how to add various ticketing options such as donations on Ticketbud.
9. Start Early and Hold Yourself Accountable
From the early stages of the event planning process, design with green in mind. Include sustainability goals alongside all event KPIs and lay out a timeline of objectives and tasks that will help achieve it.
Utilize online tools, such as SAM or Sustain.Life, to determine the carbon footprint of the event and identify areas that can be improved: energy efficiency, waste reduction, transportation, etc. Then, share these projections and goals with potential attendees and partners to encourage participation and support.
After the event, put together an impact report to compare goals and results. Distribute the findings to partners and attendees to communicate the impact and show gratitude for their participation and contributions. This demonstrates that the organization is dedicated to the cause and fostering supportive relationships around it. It could also be the reason a person purchases a ticket or a sponsor contributes more funding to a future event.
In sum, incorporating sustainability initiatives into event planning demonstrates social responsibility and may attract new attendees, clients, and partners whose values align. It shows that the organization is concerned not only with profits but with the well-being of the community and the planet. It’s good for the brand, and it feels good to know an event can create both lasting memories and a meaningful impact.
