15 Free Ebooks About Event Planning

Photo by libraryman via Flickr

A little bit more indulgence. Hard days of researching to bring you effective tools for your event planning business or career.

Download them on your PC, ipod, pda and read them. I am sure you will get inspired and remember that every little bit counts.

Management

1. Practical Project Management
2. Event Management Tips and Guidance for Success
3. A Project Management Primer or “a guide to making projects work (v2.0)”

Planning

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Top five ways to keep your career going

Photo by James Gordon

If you are experiencing the negative impact of the economic crisis or you find very difficult to keep up with new technologies this post will help you in keeping up.

I am not sure if you are aware but there is a community of event professionals which is facing new economic and technology challenges brilliantly. I talk to them over twitter, I see them interacting in the Linkedin Discussions, I meet them at free networking events or at BarCamps. They save money using free software, the cut budgets promoting on social networks the maximise satisfaction by integrating new technologies.

There are few easy steps to keep yourself ahead of the game and be up to date with what is going on with Event Planning 2.0. I’ll be happy to assist you in this and you will notice most of the first steps involve me. Nonetehelss, as soon as you’ll join, you will find like minded people willing to help, possibly in your area and with great expertise.

1. Join the Linkedin Events Group and add me as a direct contact there.

Get in touch with me, send me messages and participate to discussions.

You cannot afford to be shy or to just read. Get active.

I’ll be soon hosting a free webinar on how to get a better job using Linkedin, followed by an online speed networking session. You should not miss that! All the info in the Linkedin Events group discussions.

2. Join the group networking events in your area.
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Interview @ expacklyMondo

Have a look at an interview I recently gave at expacklyMondo, which is a great blog.

Enjoy it!

Free is the new black

Photo by kalandrakas

The horrible economic trends as well as the impressive movement of user generated events is challenging the traditional scheme of paid events.

If you charge for your events you may soon be in real trouble. If you charge a lot for your events you are probably already facing tough challenges.

The Economy

Pretty straight forward. There are not enough money to be spent on events as before. Companies buying tickets for your conferences are now hesitating on such expenditure. There is simply not the disposable income there used to be. As simple as that.

The Technology

Online meetings are now preferred to conferences. Linkedin/Xing is now preferred to your 3000£/$/€ networking event.

User Generated Events

Meetups, BarCamps, unconferences and the like are now offering free alternatives to your paid events. Getting together a location and asking people to pay for their drinks is now accepted. Nobody wants to mix any more with sponsors, stalls, banners and so forth. Meetups are run by users and most of them are not sponsored. The conventional infrastructure around events is shaking.

Scarcity

You cannot rely any more on scarcity.

I don’t have to wait for big exhibitions to come along in order to network with top professionals. It’s all coming to my city and for free, possibly on a monthly basis.

Now, how do you deal with that? How do you compete with free, zero, nada, niet, niente?

Innovate

You will soon realize that if you manage events conventionally, the demand will drop sensibly.

Few tips.

If you use social media and social networks, if you know what twitter is, if you integrate sponsors gently and wisely, you will definitely find new ways to engage and make a profit.

If you think this is not going to happen and you feel safe where you are, start reading another blog!

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Virtual Trade Shows are Around the Corner

Image courtesy of ON24

This is a guest post by Cece Salomon-Lee. She is the author of PR Meets Marketing blog and senior marketing communications manager with ON24. While her company recently launched a virtual show product, the thoughts expressed in this posting are not representative of ON24 and are personal views of the author.

I recently read Julius’ post about the 5 signs that you event is Web 1.0. Since virtual trade shows are starting to emerge as another technology offering for event planners, I offered to write a post about this. Consider a virtual show as a lighter version of Second Life.

They’re not exactly an immersive 3D environment. Rather it’s like take a webcast to the next level with a mix of social networking, online presentations, and booth staff.
Virtual trade shows seem a natural way to reduce costs while meeting the exceedingly difficult task of generating results with your marketing programs. But ONLY if you go in knowing what to expect.

There are some distinct differences to be aware of if you plan to participate in or plan a virtual show:
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