As I think that the best way to get EventManagerBlog content is via RSS feed, I decided to give away the pdf only to subscribers.

If you don’t know what RSS is visit this section.

There are two way you can subscribe to EventManagerBlog

- You can subscribe to all the content by clicking on the Full Feed icon at the top right corner of the page or alternatively you can click here

- You can subscribe to Partial Feeds by clicking to the small icon next to each category.

By subscribing to the Full Feed you will also get a Link Roundup. This is a weekly post with useful links I’ve found on the Internet and usually related to Event Management.

In order to get a copy of the Events Toolkit you should send an email to itsbeenalongtime (@) gmail (dot) com and you have to write which was the last link on the Links for 2008-02-13 post?

I’ll reply to you with a copy of the Events Toolkit for you to enjoy!

Hint: In order to see the link roundup of the 13th of February you should query your reader to show you “all items” or “previous entries”

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This list is not complete and needs your participation to become thorough. So if you feel you want to add a link just contact me and I’ll put it straight away pointing out the person that sent it. Please use the contact me section also to report bad links and I’ll immediately try to solve the problem. Should you have general comments or want to suggest new sections, please use the comment form below. Do not post extra links in comments as I’d like to make the list complete.

There we go:

Basics

- What is a BarCamp?

Official Wikipedia description of what is a BarCamp

- What is an Open Creative Community

These guys are my personal heroes. They organized the Toronto Transit Camp and got this article published on the Harvard Business Review.

- What to expect at a Barcamp

The official BarCamp wiki gives info. Two articles about the Preparation and the Event day.

- The Rules of BarCamps

Few rules that I personally suggest to integrate with OST

- Previous BarCamp events

You need to have a look at what has been previously done. What tools have been used? How has the wiki been modified?

- The Open Grid

Some BarCamps have adopted this method to run the camp. I really like it personally.

- The BarCamp official Google Group

Where I got most of the inspiration. You’ll find great people in the group!

Get things done new!

- How to get Started

Great info for the planning stage. Sets you clear objectives and an idea of to do’s.

- The BarCamp Template

A great starting point. Not only for BarCamps but for any kind of event. Gives you a clear picture of what you need to evaluate.

- Making your BarCamp accessible

The most important for me. The concept behind Open Source is accessibility. You need to ensure that if you’re hosting any kind of event but even more if you’re up to a BarCamp.

- BarCamp Kit

Great information on what you should bring along when planning a camp

- Planning and Budgeting

Again BarCampLA planning and budget. Great information on what you need to consider.

- BarCampLA guide

BarCampLA has been a successful BarCamp. I was very inspired from their work. Have a look at how they managed audience education.

- Set up a free Mailing List

BarCamp Online Groups allows you to do that

How to’s

- 10 Steps on how to run a BarCamp

This is a great post with practical information. It really helped out. Great tips for promotion and wiki setting

- Advice on how to run a BarCamp

A great post with great information. I’d suggest it is more about telling you what your approach should be. It worked for me.

- Dummies Guide to BarCamp

Every respectful discipline has its own dummies guide. This one is particularly comprehensive and gives you precise tips based on an BarCamp experience. I loved the local approach of the post.

the (Pb)wiki

- On using the wiki

If you’re hosting a camp you’ll probably end up using pbwiki

- How to format the wiki page

Pbwiki formatting can be tricky I suggest to have a look at previous BarCamp events to get inspired

- Advanced Pbwiki Formatting

If you want to customize, insert a table of contents, change color of font and so forth.

Videos

- BarCamp Nashville

More than 530 people. They claim to be the first unconference!

- BarCamp Orlando - What is a BarCamp

A great video to explain what is a BarCamp. I’d use on of them to explain crucial things such as the wiki, the blog, the culture and the approach.

- BarCamp SF - What is BarCamp

Great interviews with people talking about BarCamps

- BarCampMilwaukee2

I really love this video. I think it gives you a clear idea of what happens ina Camp

- BarCampLondon

A very useful collection of videos on this Camp as well as the future of BarCamps

External resources

- Eventbrite.com

A lot of BarCamps have relied on this platform to manage subscriptions. You can also set a price for the ticket if you wish.

- MeetUp

Some camps us MeetUp to manage interaction and meetings

- Project Management Resources

What I’ve collected for your project management needs.

- Ustream new !!

We’ve set up and run 2 rooms to broadcast the event. Nice and easy with the chance to moderate comments and to interact in a chat. If viewers have their own channel they can be added to the show making it a video conference.

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1. Get a Facebook account here

2. Invite your friends to join

It is likely that they (and you) already have an account but just in case let them know you’re on.

3. Add apps to Facebook

Your party will be managed through Facebook Apps. Follow this link to see how you add apps.

4. Define your Party

You can use several apps to decide what your part is going to look like. We liked:

Party On is the base of your party. You can manage all the decisions regarding theme, templates for invitations, guests, RSVP’s, location, date and time.

5. Manage tasks with Party Planner

Party Planner makes it the greatest event ever by creating tasks and sharing them with your friends.

How it works

1. Create tasks in Party Planner for that event
2. Invite your party guests to use Party Planner. You can either assign them tasks or they can volunteer for them

6. Manage party’s expenses with My Expenses by Zoho

This app from the famous expenses tracker Zoho lets you easily manage income (should you have one) and expenses quite easily. Add items and their costs and share them with your friends.

7. Poll the menu with Xat Poll

Xat Polls allows you to easily create polls. Choose six possible menus (Vegetarian, fish, meat, BBQ, Asian, Italian, etc.) and ask them which one they prefer. Or you could ask what they want to drink (Spirits, Beer, Wine, etc.). You have up to ten choices and a nice 3D format.

8. Share the location of the party with Your Map Spotnation

Easy App that uses Google Maps to generate your points of interest and allows you to easily share them with your friends.

9. Make your playlist with Project Playlist

“Create custom playlists with party songs, love songs, holiday songs, your songs & more…you are the dj”.

10. Make pictures and videos and share them with Photos and Videos

The default Apps Photos and Videos allow you to upload your party photos and videos easily. If you don’t want to use them I suggest Youtube Video box for videos.

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It is crucial that everything is at the right place and everyone knows what to do.

The self made bride who does not want to use any wedding planning service should know that planning well is 90% of the job. The rest is luck.

In order to reduce your risk I suggest you use the following template. You can print it on a large paper and post it to your wall. It will help to scheme things out and sort them in packages of activities.

It is a Work Breakdown Structure. I invite you to read more on WBS so you could think of assigning tasks and give them a chronological value.

Enjoy it.

Download the wedding-work-breakdown-structure.pdf

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Therefore I decided to put my passion for parties and the free flavor of the Google world together to help you manage your Christmas party.

1. Set up a free Google account

If you don’t have one do not panic. Your time management is going to benefit from this. Go to the Google Account page, choose a username and password and enjoy it.

2. Start by using your Google Groups

Groups is going to be your basic platform to involve others. Create a group and share it with your friends by emailing them the link.

Edit your Google Group by:

• Creating a page called “About this party” in which you will explain everything about the party. Theme, dress code, ticket price (should you have any),etc.
• Creating a discussion post with a link to your map (see item 3)
• Creating a discussion post called “Menu choice” in which you collect feedback on possible menus.

3. Create a Google Map

Go to Maps website, enter your address and generate you personal map. Copy the link and publish it on the dedicated post on the discussion page or in the “About this party” page (see item 2).

4. Create a Google Calendar

Google Calendar has a nice feature that allows you to share an activity. The good thing about it is that you will directly send the invitation through Calendar and you’ll be able to collect RSVP immediately.

5. Use Google Docs

This will help you to manage the party internally. Go to Docs and create:

• a spreadsheet with attendees’ list and collected RSVP (see item 4)
• a spreadsheet on venue management. You’ll be able to collect all the info about catering, decorations, supplies, etc.
• a spreadsheet with a budget. A successful event relies on a sound budget. Keep track of your expenses and revenues (if you plan to have any)

6. Manage music with Gspace

Gspace is a Firefox extension that allows you to store your files.

• Create another Gmail account
• Share the password with your friends via Google Groups
• Invite them to download Firefox and the Gspace extension
• Invite them to upload their playlists onto Gspace
• The day of the event use your PC to play the music with the integrated player

or

Become a vee-jay with Youplayer

“… YouPlayer is a video player with playlist similar to the one in Winamp. You may add/drag a YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe or MySpace link into a playlist window. When you double-click on it, it will be shown in the video window. You may drag a link to a browser window or right-click it and open in a new tab. You may also add/drag other links, thus the playlist will work as a bookmarker. YouPlayer also allows you to download video files! Just right-click it on the playlist and select ‘download’.”

Get the extension for Firefox and enjoy the Playlist!

7. Take a lot of pictures and create a gallery on Picasa

• Collect your pictures
• Go to Picasa
• Edit the Pictures
• Share the gallery with your friends on the Groups Page

8. Video-record your party and upload it on Youtube

• Go to Youtube and follow the easy instructions.
• Link back to the video from Google Groups.

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What is Openproj?

As for its website

“OpenProj is a free, open-source desktop alternative to Microsoft Project. OpenProj has been downloaded over 150,000 times in the first weeks since it was released and has quickly become one of the most popular open-source applications.”

Now, you can believe me when I tell you I am a busy person and I got no time to waste. I can tell you this software is extremely easy to learn, even if you have no previous experience with project management software. It is a clone of Microsoft Project and it is very intuitive.

Hopefully I convinced you by now. So what you need to do is downloading your free copy of Openproj here. If you’re on Windows download the .zip file, for you Linux mates out there I don’t think you need explanations, just select your platform.

Now you need to download the event template I’ve prepared for you to enjoy. You can find it here.

Now let’s have a look at what you’ll find in the file.

In the starting screen you can edit this column according to your needs. I must say this list is very comprehensive. It has been conceived with two purposes:

- Giving you budget Items to think about

- Clearing the path to create a comprehensive WBS

On the right hand side you can see the Gantt outline which has a preset time interval of 1 day between every item. You can modify that according to your needs and estimates. Very easy to use…

By clicking on the fourth little box on the right you can decide everything about people working in the project. You got cost per hour, emails and you can divide them in groups of competency.

You can also add machinery cost, even though we don’t really need this feature for events.

This section will allow you to easily allocate resources to tasks and then it will automatically compute costs which will appear in your budget…awesome. Change this section according to your needs.

You also got on the sixth little box an automatic WBS… again super easy.

I’ll let you explore the rest of it.

If you have any question either comment on this post or mail me (address on the right column)

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Coming up with a correct WBS could be a delicate task and that is why I felt there was the need for more examples. This post shows more WBS examples for different occasions.

This example goes through the planning and the operational phases.

This one is very useful to organize expenses on a budget

Where to budget on WBS Levels

This example shows the promotional tour of a book

This is about promotion and selling requirements and here its relevant Gantt

The first level of a music festival, the second level , the third level and the Gantt chart of the event

Getting Things Done is David Allen simplification of project management applied to everyday life. The process in itself is a Work Breakdown Structure that simplifies process. Here a nice wallpaper that explains the process or a summary of it.

Hopes this helps.

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I previously posted on Microsoft Office Templates for Gantt. Let’s have a look at one of them.

Gantt Template for Marketing Event Planning and Execution

Let’s see….Highlighted in red we have task names, When defining our WBS, we’ve identified packages of activities. That’s where the name of the activities will go.

Highlighted in blue we have duration. Now if you’ve listened to the podcasts I pointed out previously, you should be aware that every task has a duration. There are various ways to assign duration to a task. Some techniques are quite specific and extensive. For small events I’d suggest to rely on common sense, previous experience or talk to team members accountable for specific areas (which are indicated in the Resource Names section).

As you’d understand coming up with time weight is a very enjoyable practice in that it gives us the total time required to develop a specific project (highlighted in green). Both you and your boss will be happy about that because you finally have deadlines!

The light magenta part of the screen shows us the very useful part of Gantt. On this side we can see graphically organised tasks according to a calendar. The black lines show us summary of the entire activities and most of all their sequence. It’s complicated to collect speakers from the airport if we haven’t contacted them in the firs place. Gantt imports the logical sequence of WBS, PERT and CPM and shows it graphically.

This is an overview of what a Gantt Chart does. Now let’s scroll to screenshots of this particular Gantt chart, as we can get useful tips on what to consider in designing an event. I invite you to have a look at the tips section to get more items for your event.

Define and plan the Event

Speakers

Venue

Printing

Registration

AV Equipment

PR

Giveaways

Shipping Event Material

Event Day

Measure Event

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Here is a collection of WBS samples. I tried to search for those that apply to most event management scenarios.

Conference 1


Conference 2 (via UTS)

Project Management Process (via Cornell)

A Baloon Festival

Team Management (via Spotty dog)

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For those interested in Gantt charts and plans, here are few templates you might want to consider.

The first template is for project management. Although very simple it gives a clear picture of what needs to be done to develop a project, so it can be of substantial help for those starting out.

The second template answers to several requests I had for an Event Gantt Template. This in particular is for Tradeshow planning.

The third template is quite similar to the latter but it gives a different perspective on Marketing the Event. I find this event very thorough and a good basis for a Work Breakdown Structure. I really enjoyed the RSVP part of it.

The fourth template gives a quick look on wedding planning. It is a bit brief but if used in conjunction with the above or with some other software we’ve been talking about might result in a pretty detailed plan.

The use of these tools is again to summarize things and they could be adopted in a brainstorming phase of a project. The rule as previously stated is not too deep not too superficial to make the most out of them.

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