Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Social Media Event Planning and a Fundraising Opportunity
We all know online social media is the big craze these days. But what does it mean for our businesses? Well, if you plan meetings, conferences, or other events, I just came across a useful article in the Indianapolis Examiner on "15 Ways Social Media Can Make Your Next Event a Smashing Success". It does a nice job of summarizing the wide variety of social media tools that are either directly related to or that can be used for event planning. Some of the more interesting ones include event planning sites like Upcoming (just used this on myself!) and Eventful, to ways share photos and video on Twitter.
On another topic, we've just announced a really unique opportunity tied to my upcoming show, The ART of Magic! at Five Points in Washington, IL. We're allowing local community organizations and charities to partner with us, using the show as a fundraising vehicle for their groups. In a nutshell, they help us sell tickets to the show, and in return, they get a generous cut of the price of each ticket they sell. If you're part of a group that might benefit, send me an email right away for details.
On another topic, we've just announced a really unique opportunity tied to my upcoming show, The ART of Magic! at Five Points in Washington, IL. We're allowing local community organizations and charities to partner with us, using the show as a fundraising vehicle for their groups. In a nutshell, they help us sell tickets to the show, and in return, they get a generous cut of the price of each ticket they sell. If you're part of a group that might benefit, send me an email right away for details.
Monday, July 27, 2009
New Conference Communication Resource
Hey, meeting and event planners, if you're planning a large conference of any kind, here's a really interesting new resource I just stumbled across that may make your life a whole lot easier. GuestAssist is a mobile phone/ text based, interactive communication system that allows conference planners, staff, attendees, and others to communicate in a variety of useful ways. Here are just a few uses:
- Questions can be answered
- Information can be sent or downloaded
- Schedules can be updated
- Alerts and updates can be sent
- Feedback can be given
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Upcoming Public Appearances
Well, my show at the Apollo Theatre in Peoria went well. And now that it's over, I'm looking forward to a few other public performances in the coming months.
- July 11 and 12th I'll be doing two shows each day at this year's Marshall-Putnam County Fair.
- On July 17, I'm performing in a special FREE CONCERT at 5 Points Washington, called The Art of Music and Magic.
- On August 1, I'll be performing at 2-Cylinder Days at the John Deere Historic Site in Grand Detour, IL.
- And I'm really excited to announce we've just confirmed I'll also be back at 5 Points Washington for my own The ART of Magic! one man theatre show on September 19.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Social Media and Networking
I'm always looking for better ways to stay in touch with my clients, friends, and anyone else interested in my entertainment programs and events.
I just found an interesting statistic. According to a recent survey, a majority of meeting planners are using online social media sites as ways of keeping touch with customers and event attendees. 61% use Facebook, 58% for LinkedIn, but only 13% are on Twitter.
If you're on one of the social media sites, and you'd like to stay in touch, keep up to date on my activities, or just follow me on any of my various social media pages, you can become a "friend" on my MySpace page, or my Facebook page, connect with me on LinkedIn, or follow my "tweets" on Twitter.
Oh, and if you'd like to stay up to date more directly, you can subscribe to my email list, and receive my email newsletter The Magic Word, by sending me an email asking to be added to the list. For immediate attention, put "Subscribe to MW" in the subject line.
I just found an interesting statistic. According to a recent survey, a majority of meeting planners are using online social media sites as ways of keeping touch with customers and event attendees. 61% use Facebook, 58% for LinkedIn, but only 13% are on Twitter.
If you're on one of the social media sites, and you'd like to stay in touch, keep up to date on my activities, or just follow me on any of my various social media pages, you can become a "friend" on my MySpace page, or my Facebook page, connect with me on LinkedIn, or follow my "tweets" on Twitter.
Oh, and if you'd like to stay up to date more directly, you can subscribe to my email list, and receive my email newsletter The Magic Word, by sending me an email asking to be added to the list. For immediate attention, put "Subscribe to MW" in the subject line.
Friday, May 15, 2009
PeoriaMagician.com
I now have a new version of my website, specifically for the Peoria area. It's at www.peoriamagician.com. It has some subtle differences from my main site, including my promo video: UNFORGETTABLE EVENT ENTERTAINMENT on the homepage.
I also just learned about a new tool for helping to integrate your social networking. If you use more than one social networking site, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or MySpace, Ping.fm is a way to update all of them at once! How cool is that? (I got this tip from my friend and business associate, Cindy Fleming, President and founder of VisionShift. Thanks, Cindy!)
Here's my video, in case you haven't seen it:
I also just learned about a new tool for helping to integrate your social networking. If you use more than one social networking site, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or MySpace, Ping.fm is a way to update all of them at once! How cool is that? (I got this tip from my friend and business associate, Cindy Fleming, President and founder of VisionShift. Thanks, Cindy!)
Here's my video, in case you haven't seen it:
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Press Release
I just put out a press release on our upcoming show at the Apollo. You can view it HERE.
We're really excited about how the show's coming together, and about our support for Look! It's My Book! They've only been operating since January, and they've already adopted two schools in the Peoria school district, and have raised enough money to date to add a third school
Great work!
We're really excited about how the show's coming together, and about our support for Look! It's My Book! They've only been operating since January, and they've already adopted two schools in the Peoria school district, and have raised enough money to date to add a third school
Great work!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Two Save the Date Resorces
Here are two more online event planning resources to share.
WhichDateWorks gives you a simple, easy to use way to decide on a date for an event. Basically, you create an invitation to your event, enter the email addresses of the people you need feedback from, and send it out. You can choose a range of dates from the entire year down to limiting it to two days from which to vote on. The recipients don't need to sign up to use the service, they simply follow the link that arrives in their email and select the date that works best for them.
If you need to do the same thing, but want to include more detail than just the date (specific times, locations, activities, etc., for example), you can use Doodle. It gives you more variables and it also integrates with Facebook. Also, with Doodle, you don't necessarily need each person's email address, just a way to get them the link where they can vote on event details.
One of these days I'll have to compile all the various online event planning resources I've written about in my blog so they'll all be in one place... Maybe in my next newsletter? Speaking of which, if you're not already on my email list for my newsletter, The Magic Word, that's filled with news and updates on my activities, a "trick of the month" that you can learn, event planning tips, and lots of other fun stuff, just send me an email with Subscribe to MW! in the subject.
WhichDateWorks gives you a simple, easy to use way to decide on a date for an event. Basically, you create an invitation to your event, enter the email addresses of the people you need feedback from, and send it out. You can choose a range of dates from the entire year down to limiting it to two days from which to vote on. The recipients don't need to sign up to use the service, they simply follow the link that arrives in their email and select the date that works best for them.
If you need to do the same thing, but want to include more detail than just the date (specific times, locations, activities, etc., for example), you can use Doodle. It gives you more variables and it also integrates with Facebook. Also, with Doodle, you don't necessarily need each person's email address, just a way to get them the link where they can vote on event details.
One of these days I'll have to compile all the various online event planning resources I've written about in my blog so they'll all be in one place... Maybe in my next newsletter? Speaking of which, if you're not already on my email list for my newsletter, The Magic Word, that's filled with news and updates on my activities, a "trick of the month" that you can learn, event planning tips, and lots of other fun stuff, just send me an email with Subscribe to MW! in the subject.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Magic, Music, Art, and Harriet
Just a quick announcement. Here's an opportunity to see me in one of my public performances.
On May 31, as a kickoff event for the One State: Together in the Arts Conference in Peoria, I'm doing a special show at a really cool little theatre, the Apollo Theatre, in downtown Peoria. I'll be performing my one man theatre show, The ART of Magic. Joining me on the program will be Edith Barnard with her one woman portrayal of author Harriet Beecher Stowe. We're calling the show Magic, Music, Art, and Harriet, and you can learn more about it or order tickets HERE.
On May 31, as a kickoff event for the One State: Together in the Arts Conference in Peoria, I'm doing a special show at a really cool little theatre, the Apollo Theatre, in downtown Peoria. I'll be performing my one man theatre show, The ART of Magic. Joining me on the program will be Edith Barnard with her one woman portrayal of author Harriet Beecher Stowe. We're calling the show Magic, Music, Art, and Harriet, and you can learn more about it or order tickets HERE.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Online Meeting Planning Resource
Just a quick note to share another event planning resource I just came across. It's meetingpages.com, and it's a very comprehensive set of online resources for meeting planners, including a searchable database of vendors and a variety of meeting planning tools, including free enhanced meeting planning software.
The only drawback is that they are targetted mainly to events and services in Colorado, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. But if you're planning an event in one of those areas, I think you'll find this very useful. And even if you're planning your event somewhere else, there's certainly enough helpful information and resources that it's at least worth taking a look!
The only drawback is that they are targetted mainly to events and services in Colorado, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. But if you're planning an event in one of those areas, I think you'll find this very useful. And even if you're planning your event somewhere else, there's certainly enough helpful information and resources that it's at least worth taking a look!
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