Evaluating An Event

As I mentioned in previous Blogs, one of the ways Judi and I occupy our time on the long trips home from a visited event, is to complete an informal evaluation of the event. This series will explore some of the events aspects that we discuss.

Event Promotion

Obviously one of the important pre-event activities is event promotion. Where possible, Judi and I try to look at each event’s promotional efforts.

Advertising and Promotion (Part Four)

Here are some ideas:

• News Releases – sending out News Releases containing information about your event to various media outlets. If the information contained in the News Release is important enough, the news outlets will post your information.
• Signage – Placing signs prior to your event will let people know when and what your event will be offering, when it will be taking place and where. The cost of the signs can be offset by allowing businesses to sponsor the signs.
• Event Calendars -  There are a number of media outlets, including internet websites that offer event calendars to their readers. This is usually a free service and all you need to do is submit your information to them.
• Search Engines - There are a number of specialized search engines that could also be helpful. Again, normally these are free services and all you need to do is submit your information to them. Ontario Visited offers all of these services, including News Pages, Event Calendars and Event Search Engine listings at no cost.

With all of these services, event organizers just need to take the initiative and send the information out in a timely manner. Sending information out a few days prior to the event taking place is not acceptable and will provide little to no benefit for your event. We hope that the above will “start your creative juices”! You and your organization can think of many other ways of promoting your event. Best wishes for success!

(To Be Continued)