Hey L.A. Event Planners!

Zvents is exhibiting on June 5th at the L.A. Event Style Expo, and we’d love to meet you there! Get a free pass to the show (a $60 value!) when you register and use the promotional code PPLA. This special one-day event takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Stop by the Zvents Booth (#530) and Mention this Blog Post and get a Free T-Shirt!

Show admission includes these special events:

10:15 - 11 a.m.
Keynote Presentation by Lynda Resnick
The marketing mind behind brands like POM Wonderful and FIJI Water, Lynda Resnick knows how to integrate events into successful branding campaigns. Matching the right events with the right customers is key to her success. During this keynote presentation, discover the strategies she employed at high-profile events such as the Academy, Golden Globe, and Emmy awards to ultimately make her brands household names. She’ll offer keen insights into today’s competitive marketplace and share tips for the ultimate event business success.

3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Behind the Scenes at the GRAMMY Awards: What it Takes to Make Mega Events
In this session, Erick Weiss will moderate a discussion with top event producers from a cross section of industries: Branden Chapman, VP with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Len Iannelli, VP with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, David Finch, CMP from Amgen and Judi Froehlich-Pascoe with Americas, BCD Meetings & Incentives and the eWomenNetwork. The discussion will focus on the commonalities and differences between the various industries and what it takes, behind the scenes, to produce world class mega events.

Panelists:
Erick Weiss, President - Honeysweet Productions
Branden Chapman, Vice President, Production & Process Management - The Recording Academy
Len Iannelli, VP of Special Events, Marketing - 20th Century Fox Film Corp.
David Wellington Finch, CMP, Sourcing & Compliance Manager, Meetings & Conventions - Amgen
Judi Froehlich- Pascoe, Director of Business Development, Americas BCD Meetings & Incentives Managing Director - LA eWomenNetwork

BizBash LA Event Style Awards 2008
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
See the events that dazzled! Celebrate the year’s best events at the BizBash Event Style Awards 2008. Glimpse best practices and get new ideas when more than 15 event categories are honored for outstanding industry contributions.

Interested in the full conference program? Visit the BizBash site for more information about the day’s educational sessions, and use discount code PPCONF for a special rate!

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Ethan Stock, Zvents CEO and Founder, was recently captured at The Kelsey Group’s “Drilling Down On Local ‘08: Marketplaces” Conference. In his presentation, Ethan discusses Zvents’ business model and how time-based promotions are an essential online marketing tool for all local merchants to get consumers in through their doors.

With the overwhelming and startling growth of local advertising revenue, Ethan Stock explores how Zvents is leading the evolution of local search - showing its impact on the advertising industry and what trends to expect in the future.

Check out the video below!

Online Videos by Veoh.com

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Let’s face it, promoting events can be a lot of fun, but managing the event registration, ticketing, and attendee lists can be a real pain without the right tools. Today, more and more event participants expect to be able to register online for events, which means you may need an easy and inexpensive way to facilitate registrations, collect payment information, and manage your attendee list.

If you host small, infrequent events or large events (where there are few types of attendees), all you may need is an event registration tool that allows you to:

• Collect credit card and registration information
• Process credit card charges
• Set up a basic registration form that you can link to from your Web site
• View/export a list of people who registered for your event

Two services to check out are Eventbrite and Brown Paper Tickets.

Eventbrite

With Eventbrite, there are no set up or monthly fees, or ticket fees for free tickets or events. All major credit cards are accepted, and final payment processing is done through Google Checkout or Paypal. Some nice functionality Eventbrite provides is the ability to send email invitations, customize and brand your event registration page, offer discount codes and group discounts, track affiliate/partner ticket sales, and track RSVPs from invites.

Eventbrite also goes a step further and offers to publish your event in search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and…Zvents!

Fees: 2.5% of the ticket price, with a minimum fee/ticket of $0.99 and maximum fee/ticket of $9.95.

Brown Paper Tickets

As the “fair-trade ticketing service”, Brown Paper Tickets is here to change the ticketing industry, as stated in their Bill of Rights. BPT offers similar functionality to Eventbrite, and also includes 24-hour phone orders, assigned seating, password-protected prices, comp ticket and media pool ticket distribution, festival-style ticketing, and the option to print paper tickets (for a nominal fee).

Unfortunately, Brown Paper Tickets does not publish their event information to any of the event sites or search engines (Hey BPT, we’d love to hear from you if you want to give your clients this option).

Fees: 2.5% of the ticket price, plus a fee per ticket of $0.99.

Event Registration Services For More Complicated Events
Planning a more complex event, such as a conference, trade show, or series of events? Idealware wrote a fantastic in-depth post about the features and benefits of several event registration and ticketing tools, including Acteva, 123SignUp, Cvent, and RegOnline.

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Are you an events professional interested in furthering your professional development, networking with industry peers, and keeping up with the hottest trends in professional events? If your answer to any or all of the above is YES, then attending one or more of the following conferences is a must in 2008. Shows are listed in chronological order.

1. The Special Event Conference 2008: Atlanta, January 15-18

Touting itself as “…the Premier Annual Tradeshow and Conference for Event Professionals in the United States”, it is hailed as the fastest-growing trade show and conference for event professionals. This year they expect to have over 8,300 attendees and over 300 exhibitors.

Known for its educational sessions, this year’s conference features over 150 hours of content divided into eight educational tracks. Topics include Event Management, Design, Sales & Marketing, Food Services, Weddings, among others.

If you’re attending this conference, make sure you stop by booth #1718 and meet the Zvents folks!

2. MPI Professional Education Conference: Houston, February 2-5

With over 23,000 members in 68 countries, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is one of the largest and most respected global meeting and events industry communities. Their mission is to “help our members be their best by building human connections to knowledge, ideas, relationships, and marketplaces.”

Learn about the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation, and attend any of the dozens of specialized Knowledge Sessions. Keynote speakers include Mary Boone, Kay Caldwell, Jeff De Cagna and Richard Laermer. Over 2,500 attendees are expected to attend.

3. Event Solutions Idea Factory: Las Vegas, February 24-28

Produced by Event Solutions magazine, the Idea Factory promises “4 days, 100 classes, 4,000 attendees – 1 million ideas to take home”.

Maybe it’s because this show takes place in Vegas, but I have to say it looks fun! With a creative bent, Idea Factory focuses on trend-setting ideas to help you create cutting-edge events. Significant attention will be devoted to food and beverage services too, as the popular catersource Conference has merged with Idea Factory.

This show is designed for event professionals from corporations, associations, non-profits and independent event producers. Featured speakers include the Hearty Boys, Robyn Waters, and Oprah’s preferred event planner – Colin Cowie.

4. 2008 Experiential Marketing Summit: Chicago, April 21-23
In its sixth year, details are yet to be announced for EMS (formerly the Event Marketer Summit). Produced by Event Marketer magazine, over 1,000 event marketers are expected to attend.

5. MPI World Education Conference: Las Vegas August 9-12
Featuring education sessions for all levels of event planners, this MPI conference has a more international focus than their Professional Education Conference.

Session and keynote details have not been announced, but based on the 2007 event, expect more than 100 sessions divided amongst the following tracks: Novice Meeting Professionals, Senior Meeting Professionals, Small Business Owners, Sales & Marketing, and Strategic Meeting Management. Approximately 3,500 people are expected to attend.

6. ISES Eventworld 2008 – St. Petersburg, FL 8/21-23

Produced by the International Special Events Society, Eventworld 2008 features education sessions, leading industry experts, and networking opportunities. ISES also sponsors the Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP) designation and the ISES Esprit Awards.

The International Special Events Society is comprised of over 4,000 professionals in over 35 countries representing special event producers (from festivals to trade shows), caterers, decorators, florists, destination management companies, rental companies, special effects experts, tent suppliers, audio-visual technicians, party and convention coordinators, balloon artists, educators, journalists, hotel sales managers, specialty entertainers, convention center managers, and many more.

Did we miss something?

If you know of other trade shows, conferences, or programs that benefit event professionals, let us know. We’ll do a follow-up post on other relevant events.

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The Special Event Conference has been hailed as being the largest and fastest growing tradeshow and conference for event professionals. Last year’s Special Event Conference attracted over 8,300 attendees, and featured over 300 exhibitors from a plethora of companies ranging from event products to services.

One attendee shared her experience:

“Attending TSE has become a requirement for our continued business success as the information and industry contacts and resources we acquire there help keep us competitive in our market.” - Peggy Terrey, Owner, Exceptional Events

This year, the Special Event Conference 2008 will take place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA from January 15-18, 2008. During the four-day session, Special Event attendees can participate in educational sessions for learning opportunities in the following categories:

• Event Management
• Entertainment
• Design/Creative
• Food Services
• Sales and Marketing
• Wedding Planning
• Event Tools and Resources
• Event Technology

Register online to attend and we’ll see you there! Come and meet us at Zvents’ Booth #1718!

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We are barely a week away from the most significant online local marketing and search conference of the year as industry resources The Kelsey Group and Search Engine Strategies have combined their experience and insight to host ILM:07 & SES Local.

I’m sure you know how we feel about local search; without question one of the most important verticals for marketers as, though the majority of transactions and interaction with a business still transpire at the brick-and-mortar location, the internet is increasingly the first (and last) source of information for your audience. With 80% of the U.S. population online there is no better medium for reaching your audience. Local search allows you to specific requests for your business, genre, products, services, or events. Knowing the players and marketing options available to you are critical to navigating the amazing set of opportunities available to grow your business.

Hear from Google Earth and Maps Director John Hanke, Citysearch President Jay Herratti, Intuit Small Business VP Allison Mnookin, Facebook’s Chamath Palihapitiya, RHDi (RH Donnelley) President Jake Winebaum, and our very own Ethan Stock, CEO and founder of Zvents:

• Services and opportunities for search marketers from those and other important resources in the local search arena.
• Case studies from search marketers who’ve successfully leveraged the local search channel.
• Learn how to take advantage of the unique search optimization and advertising challenges posed by local search services.
• Participate in Q&A sessions with experts in local search.

Register to attend November 28-30 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. We’ll see you there!

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We had a blast at SES San Jose, re-introducing Zvents as the local search engine for things to do. As we continue to reinvent local search around the store and business events rather than the business listing, Local SEO’s are quickly recognizing a tremendous opportunity to drive in-store and online traffic for their clients by promoting sales, in-store event, and grand openings. Instead of paying to advertise those opportunities, we’re helping them do so for free.

While there, we took the opportunity to give away a flip video camcorder. Netconcepts‘ P.J. Fusco won the drawing and we had a chance to chat with P.J. who shared that the most readily overlooked opportunity in SEO is simply targeting optimal search traffic: that which provides a serious ROI while not neglecting blogs and social media. Netconcepts is a full-service search engine optimization serving big brands and IR 500 ecommerce sites with intelligent search solutions. They deploy a remarkable technology called GravityStream which P.J. explains as an opportunity for local businesses, “Even if the native site cannot be optimized due to allocating resources, GravityStream, a cornerstone NSO platform, can do it for them.” As you might imagine, netconcepts is encouraging their clients to use Zvents to take advantage of those overlooked opportunities and to drive local traffic through our free business and event listings. Asked of her favorite discovery on Zvents? “Our clients’ events”

Next opportunity to engage with us? I’ll be in Seattle next week at AMA’s Hot Topic Series about Search Engine marketing. Visit MarketingPower.com to register. Then, though plans are still being made, on to SMX Local in Denver and SES Local in LA.

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