You know you’ve got some great clients + potential clients. And spoiling them with a party has likely crossed your mind. But what a daunting (and possibly costly) task.
Most people expect good food, drinks and company from a party. If there’s a theme and some entertainment – that’s bonus.
Photography by Ron Sombilon Gallery
So how do you create a remarkable event without extravagant pricing? Here are some tried and true suggestions:
1. Partner up. Think of businesses that could use some exposure and work together to create something memorable. Some examples may include:
Utilizing another business’s facility or speciality has many benefits. Most notably include promotion of the event through their network and the offsetting of costs as you “share” your customer base.
2. Choose your food and beverage quantities wisely. Of course, you won’t want to run out of either, but if you are footing the bill (meaning you haven’t coveted an alcohol or food sponsor/partner) you’ll want to be careful about how you make your purchases.
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Mix catered dishes with purchased snacks (ex. crackers, breads, chocolates)
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Work with a caterer who understands your budget and needs and can help create something spectacular.
3. Pick a theme tied to a cause. Support a charity and show your community spirit. You’ll have an easier time getting donations for your event. You may even have luck forming a theme via the charity. Supporting Dress for Success’s theme could be a dress up event where WaterCan’s could be “everything in blue.”
4. Choosing to work with an expert may seem expensive at first, until you breakdown how much money you’ll likely save as a result of the connections, discounts and money saving techniques an event planner has.
5. Music is part of the fun. Do you know of any local bands that your clientele would also like? If you can’t afford to hire a DJ, consider renting speakers and creating a great playlist. (If you don’t have a musical ear – ask a musical friend. You might be surprised that they are happy to put together a playlist that they can add to their IPod later.)
6. Make sure your event is remembered long after the party hats are put away. Send your guests home with a gift. Goodie bags that have a good surprise in them are always crowd pleasers. (Try not to crowd the bag with too much promotional material). I have used Ultimate Gift Cards for some of my most recent events and they have been quite powerful. Both cost effective and impactful.
You will also want to look into any permits you’ll need such as a special event liquor license.
And, for every event you do, make sure you use what you’ve learned and accumulated on your next event. Write to do and check lists before your event and revise afterward. Add it to the file of things you need to throw your own successful party.
electronic filing reasons
Yes, I admit it – I am on my strata council. In fact I am the Vice President of my strata council. I am the one who isn’t afraid to insist we work towards greening our building. For example, we invited the Lighthouse Sustainability Centre to give us their How to Green Strata Seminar earlier this autumn. (But alas, you can’t please everyone…)
Not so coincidentally, I rallied to change the way we deliver strata minutes to the 88 owners that live in the building. Every year we spend approximately $1,000 on printing (on traditional copy paper) + postage just to mail monthly minutes. I thought it would be an easy task to get the owners to switch to emailed minutes that they could electronically save. I even attempted to “bribe” them with free gym passes and gift cards. It didn’t take…
The reason for owners not wanting to make the shift was surprising. They didn’t want to have to file electronic copies. What? I thought this was the norm – and then I looked around – paper paper everywhere! Even I’m guilty of it.
So – three easy e-filing lessons (that I am using – can you imagine the chaos if I wasn’t using these??)1. Think about your filing cabinet – now organize your e-files the same way.
a. Are you a date or word type of person? Choose one system and stick with it. I like words followed by dates for my actual files (words for my folders).
b. Think about a file you were looking for a year ago. How did you find it? What did you think about to jog your memory as to where it was stored either electronically or in hard copy form. Write your file names so you can remember them. (Just a hint – numbers DON’T work- you wouldn’t think, “hmm, that was number 5 of 25 from last May … or would you?)
2. Some client filing examples (email me if you want some more hints – truthfully though, I’ll likely just send you to a professional organizer…Oh Tracy….)
a. Example: I have dozens of clients – so each has a special file with the same sub categories:
email communication (with emails dated mm/dd/yy),
advertising (sub files include different advertisers we are currently using or are considering working with)
email newsletters (the majority of my clients are on newsletters) – sub domains here: image bank, and then by mm/yy
Financials – invoices and receipts
Web – sub domains: web files, seo, blog
Events – sub domains: mm/yy, event ideas
Design – branding, image gallery
Marketing – [enter title here] project (aka brochure or booklet or business card)
b. Another example: general work information categories
Marketing – sub domains: idea bank, sources (websites I like etc), marketing quotes, my marketing material (templates for quotes, logos,
Printing – sub domains: quotes, contacts, samples
SEO – my ebooks, quotes, general information
Writing –idea bank, articles, blog (my various blogs published and not), the book I’m secretly writing 
3. Establish a system
a. Every Monday is office day at Polished Promotions – myself and my designer, Michelle get together and listen to boy bands in our pajamas – I mean…. we work on creative print, web and designs together, setting the tone for the rest of the week where I free Michelle to work in her pjs from home.
b. I make Friday’s my organizing days so I can have Monday’s to be freshly creative. Friday’s I clean out my inbox (there has to be less than 50 emails in there – which is usually the amount of “working on” projects happening on any given week), delete or save sent messages, remove everything from my desktop (both my computer and my desktop)
c. Finish the week with a soothing sigh of “ahhhhh….” rather than a stressed out exclamation of “AHHHHHHH!!!!!”
…oh yeah - and save trees while doing it!
