Casual Articles - Business

Art Fundraiser for NonProfit Groups
A fun way to raise funds is doing an art raffle fundraiser. Essentially, you host an event where local artists donate a sample of their work and your group sells a select number of high-dollar raffle tickets, usually the same number as donated art items. The tickets are then randomly drawn at a gallery-style event and each ticket holder selects their artwork right off the walls.Getting started To pull of this type of fundraising event, you'll need extensive contacts in the art community to get donated artwork, an upscale location for the event, and some good publicity to attract well-heeled art patrons.While an art gallery would be a great location, it isn't absolutely essential. A corporate headquarters location, convention center, or community meeting place will also make good locations. You need a well-known location with plenty of parking and permission or permits

e even by the people in back. When selecting the venue, you will also need to keep in mind the acoustics of the room. High ceilings and flat walls with lots of windows and no curtains to muffle the sound are not optimal environments for bands. Work with an experienced sound person to mix the band and equalize the room and eliminate feedback.

Hold Onto What You've Got
You probably spend a great deal of your time looking for new customers or clients. However, are you sure your doing enough to hold onto the ones you've got. One of the least costly ways to grow your business is to get customers to come back and buy more of your product or service.How many customers have you lost this month? I'm sure it's not something you want to think about too much, however it's inevitable that you'll lose customers and clients for a whole range of reasons many of which are out with your control.I read a survey some years ago that suggested customers leave a business for four basic reasons: 14% leave because they're dissatisfied with the quality of the product or service, 9% leave because of price, 5% leave for other reasons and a whacking great 72% leave because of "supplier indifference".Too many suppliers give customers the impres

Involving live music into any corporate event is not as easy as it seems. Besides deciding on the band, there are 4 aspects you must consider in order to have a hope of having a successful event. They are, in the order of importance:
1) Venue
2) Agents
3) Technical Set Up
4) Band Character

In a moment I'll tell you the details of the crucial issues that can aggravate and potentially ruin an otherwise beautifully accomplished occasion. It will just take a few minutes, but as you read this page, more and more, you will start to feel better and better about hiring live music for your next corporate or social event. Most importantly is . . .

Venue Selection As an event planner, your ability to keep numerous things in mind when hiring musicians. Selection of the perfect venue is the first ingredient you will need. This ability alone may distinguish you as a professionals in an industry filled with amateurs.

When choosing the venue, be certain the room size is in proportion with the number of guests who will be attending. I got into this business as a singing piano player. When I am performing I need to connect with the audience. If the room size is proportionate to the crowd size, I can do my job successfully. If the room is too big and there are not enough warm bodies in attendance, the audience will feel too intimidated to approach the band. When you keep the band close enough to your guests will feel comfortable enough to interact with the musicians and vice versa.

Have you noticed yet that keeping the venue small so the band can be close to your guests will increase your chances of having a successful event? Depending on the act, you can leave a little dance floor in front of the band. But all in all, keep the crowd near the band and allow the band to be an integral part of your event.

I have frequently worked with party planners who are clueless when it comes to what size stage is needed for a band.

"If you fail to plan ahead, then you are planning ahead to fail."

Here are the stage specs for various sized bands:
3 Piece - 8 feet by 16 feet
5 Piece - 16 feet by 24 feet
12 Piece - 16 feet by 32 feet

With the is newly acquired information, experienced event planners will always prefer to go with a room with a stage rather than just placing the band on the same level as attendees. Proper planning for stage requirements avoids major headaches the day of the show. Also, having the band on a stage allows them to be seen by everyone even by the people in back. When selecting the venue, you will also need to keep in mind the acoustics of the room. High ceilings and flat walls with lots of windows and no curtains to muffle the sound are not optimal environments for bands. Work with an experienced sound person to mix the band and equalize the room and eliminate feedback.

The Winning - Customer-Focused Team
For many years my family owned one of the most influential retail wine operations in the country. Maria was our Italian wine expert, and she loved Italian wines, as well as many other varieties (actually only Italian wines, come to think of it!). To her, Italy wasn’t the center of the fashion world; it was, without question, the center of the food and wine universe!Maria left our company to work at a wine importer. The company had an exquisite portfolio of Italian wines. She was excited to try her hand at selling. Her first six weeks were terrible. Her boss was all over the board, hot and cold, good and bad, reversing herself, unpredictable. And she was consistently inconsistent. She changed direction almost every day. Poor Maria didn’t know whether she was coming or going.This situation is all too common in business today. Part of “Hitting the Grand Slam” with cu

or social event. Most importantly is . . .

I have frequently worked with party planners who are clueless when it comes to what size stage is needed for a band.

"If you fail to plan ahead, then you are planning ahead to fail."

Here are the stage specs for various sized bands:
3 Piece - 8 feet by 16 feet
5 Piece - 16 feet by 24 feet
12 Piece - 16 feet by 32 feet

Outward Show – Going For Interview?
Another name of Outward show is manifestation or Appearance. As soon as we hear the word appearance, bells of physical look ring in our minds. As we all know that today’s world is a world of appearance. Appearance plays a big role in achieving success. Not only human being but in another prospects, like products (food, clothing, electronics etc). If they are in attractive packaging they sell. People get attracted towards the appearance very easily & quickly which leaves a huge impact on their mind.Did you know that the people that you meet are creating observations and making judgments about you and your character from the first moment they lay eyes on you? They are checking out your dress, your jewelry, your facial expression, your hair, hands, body language, and your overall demeanor. Studies have shown that within the first 10 seconds a person has already formulated 11 or more

room is too big and there are not enough warm bodies in attendance, the audience will feel too intimidated to approach the band. When you keep the band close enough to your guests will feel comfortable enough to interact with the musicians and vice versa.

I have frequently worked with party planners who are clueless when it comes to what size stage is needed for a band.

"If you fail to plan ahead, then you are planning ahead to fail."

Here are the stage specs for various sized bands:
3 Piece - 8 feet by 16 feet
5 Piece - 16 feet by 24 feet
12 Piece - 16 feet by 32 feet

Use World Class Service To Recruit World Class Talent
Have you been to a restaurant and been totally amazed at how great the service was?Have you ever made a purchase from a website and been impressed with how efficient, simple and stress-free it was to use?Have you gone back there? Have you told your friends about them?In a world of ultra competition and infinite choices, as consumers we have enormous power as to where and with whom we spend our money. There are plenty of businesses that can deliver goods and services at similar prices – but those businesses that succeed in providing us with great service will succeed in winning our custom.Exactly the same principle applies to recruiting great people.In the same way that we as consumers are more discerning in our purchases, as a workforce we are also much more discerning about where we choose to work.Those businesses that treat potential can

are clueless when it comes to what size stage is needed for a band.

"If you fail to plan ahead, then you are planning ahead to fail."

Here are the stage specs for various sized bands:
3 Piece - 8 feet by 16 feet
5 Piece - 16 feet by 24 feet
12 Piece - 16 feet by 32 feet

The Promise of Your Brand
Often times, the decision to conduct business rests on how a customer interprets your brand identity and brand promise,-- a simple impression, comment, or action, perceived or real. She determines if your service or product is unique and provides the sought-after value. Without accurate articulation of your brand identity and promise, you may lose the advantage of uniqueness and potentially the sale.What is a brand identity and why is it important?Your brand identity is YOU, controlling all the elements that impact your company’s image, in a focused and controlled way to influence the customer. It is the promises you make to yourself, your business and potential clients. Keeping these promises will position you as unforgettable, unique and special, and form your brand identity.Developing a brand identity is important because it impacts directly on your pocket

Agents There are only a handful of very few good professional bands anymore. If you don't know a good booking agent, you will be hard pressed to find them. A good agent will be the one to help you thru the minefield of mediocre, amateurs with amps that have no volume control knobs. As an event planner you need to figure out your event theme and then contact a talent booking agency to see if there are bands that fit.

The most popular bands play a wide variety of styles. A good group of musicians knows songs from the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s. Frank Sinatra has never gone out of style. So make sure the band plays what we call "Jazz Standards". Depending on your event and your geographical location, it is either "Country Music is King!" or "Classic Rock Rules!". Know your demographics before hiring a band.

As with any vendor, you get what you pay for. Let's talk about budget. I wonder, even as you continue to read this report, if you realize the amount of time a band puts in before receiving a paycheck to practicing their instruments, learning and memorizing repertoire and coordinating lights and choreography. Most bands require anywhere from $1,200 to $45,000 per gig. Experienced booking agents will be able to place the right band for the party. With any event, experience wins every time. Ask for references and testimonials.

Technical Set Up Once your musicians are booked, you now need to cover logistics. Tech setup includes the movement and placement of equipment and sound checks. Bands usually bring their own equipment.

Amplifiers, instruments, a PA system for vocals, lighting towers all the way down to carpet for the drums need to be set up and placed and checked and moved and double checked again. Allow enough time for all of these details to be adequately addressed well before show time. Because it is not IF something goes wrong, it's WHEN something goes wrong. And it always does with a band. Give them enough time to fix it.

Sound check must take place no later than 3 hours before the performance start time. Load in should occur 1 or 2 hours before that. The sound check should take no more than an hour, and after that, let the band go back to their rooms, freshen up, take a nap, grab a meal. They should return NO LATER than 30 minutes before their performance.

Band Character Musicians have traditionally had a reputation for being evil practitioners of any number of very colorful vices. It has been my experience, however, that we are no different than any other industry be it stock brokers, medical personnel or city workers.

Use these simple rules and you will notice you can keep any group of performers in line.

- Band members should not eat any food in buffet lines or inside the ballroom area. They should have a separate area or a "Greenroom" where they can

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A use case details a flow of events that are executed in order to accomplish some business task.

Is cold calling a good idea or a bad one? How can you use the phone to grow your business?

Previously, we talked about giving yourself time to percolate your ideas into an attractive and strong registration system. But what about your attendees? In this article we give you suggestions on the next step to online registration success.

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