Zvents’ network of partners continues to grow at an exponential rate and we can barely keep up with all of the excitement!

We’re now powering several NBC local television stations, which include:

• NBC Connecticut
• NBC Dallas-Fort Worth
• NBC Los Angeles
• NBC New York
• NBC Philadelphia
• NBC San Diego
• NBC San Francisco Bay Area
• NBC Washington D.C.

In a recent article published by MediaPost, John Wallace, president of NBC Local Media, explains:

“These sites are a departure from what we’ve done in the past and the next step in our mission to provide truly relevant local content to consumers on the media platform of their choice.”

We are proud that NBC has selected Zvents to provide the local search experience for events, promotions, and things to do in NBC’s key metro areas across the U.S. Now, advertisers can reach consumers at an even greater local-level, given these highly targeted and dynamic marketing channels.

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As event marketing professionals, you’ve got to keep things fresh with new ideas or else you’ll fall behind. It’s your role to stay up-to-date with the industry standards! That’s why we’ve put together a list of 2009 conferences and exhibitions for trade show and event marketers. With all of the other things you need to plan ahead for, make sure to mark your calendar and save room in your budget. Before registering, you may want to consider the top 5 reasons why you should make an effort to attend:

1. Stay informed on the latest and greatest - Learn from your peers and the top leaders in the event marketing industry.

2. Make sure to network - Build your inside connections while attending conference seminars, mixers, and parties (sure, you’ll learn some interesting stuff while sitting in those sessions, but personally engaging in conversation with conference attendees is a huge benefit).

3. Pitch speaking opportunities - Your business can gain excellent visibility as a guest speaker (plus, you’ll be well-respected as a thought-leader), so encourage your executives to get on the speaker list.

4. Get noticed in the Expo Hall - Exhibit your products and evangelize what you do!

5. Drum up new business & maintain client relationships

*Special Note: Make one-on-one contacts with industry media - Conference organizers often provide a pre-registered press list upon request. This presents a great opportunity to meet reporters in person rather than pursuing them blindly with an email or phone call!

Here are some of the upcoming events listed in chronological order:

The Special Event 2009 will be held from January 28 - 30, 2009 at the San Diego Convention Center. This event is for any professional who produces events (weddings, parties, corporate events, and celebrations). There will be over 300+ vendors on the showroom floor. We attended last year’s conference in Atlanta, GA and were surprised by the huge extravaganza of entertainers, caterers, decorators…acrobats, balloons, and color galore!

2009 Event Solutions and Catersource Conference & Tradeshow will be held at the Las Vegas Hilton and Convention Center from February 22 - 26, 2009. This event will host more than 7,000 attendees and 1,000 tradeshow booths, this is the biggest show in the events and catering industry. Educational workshops/seminars with a wide variety of key learning sessions are available. You can now register here.

Exhibitor 2009 will be held from March 23-25, 2009 at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The event, which is hailed as being a “world conference and exhibition for trade show and corporate event marketers,” is produced by Exhibitor Media Group. 6,000 attendees and 300 exhibitors are expected to be there.

ISES Eventworld 2009 will be held from August 6 - 8, 2009 at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel in San Francisco, CA. 500+ attendees and more info will be provided as the date gets closer.

If you’re aware of any additional event marketing conferences that aren’t listed, please feel free to leave a “comment” and we’ll be sure to include it!

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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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We’ve been cooking up new ways to promote local businesses and events, and we’re thrilled (exhausted and relieved!) to announce that the Enhanced Listings beta period is officially open.

What are Enhanced Listings?
A new way to make your event or venue listings stand out from basic listings, and benefit from enhanced features and design options.

By upgrading your Basic Listing to an Enhanced Listing, you can:

• Tailor your marketing messages with special offers, news and announcements and promo codes
• Appear prominently in search results with a colorful, highlighted listing
• Increase brand awareness by adding your company logo
• Upload a video ad, commercial, or virtual tour
• Stylize your listing with colorful custom graphics
• Enhance your brand experience by removing advertisements or user reviews

We offer two packages - and Enhanced Detail Page package and a Search Results package. You can also add additional upgrades, such as removing ads and user reviews, or adding custom graphics to the border on your listing.

Here’s an example of an Enhanced Detail Page Package for Sibby’s Cupcakery in San Mateo:

The Search Results Package highlights your listing in search results:

For a limited time (a few weeks, most likely), you can create Enhanced Listings for your business, venue or events - for free! Join the beta now.

And remember…every listing created on Zvents is shared with our growing 250+ Zvents Media Network partners too.

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What’s that saying for the month of March, “In like a lamb, out like a lion”? While this usually applies only to the weather, March was a great month at Zvents, and a more appropriate saying for our March is “In like a lion, out like a pack of lions”!

In addition to the six partners we launched a couple weeks ago, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of four more media partners:

The Charlotte Observer: Serving Charlotte, North Carolina

Greenwich Time: Serving Greenwich, Connecticut

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Serving Santa Cruz, California

Stamford Advocate: Serving Stamford, Connecticut

Cute lion cub photo courtesy of Arno & Louise.

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Last week we wrote about Eventbrite as an inexpensive and easy-to-use event registration and ticketing service. Yesterday, they announced the beta launch of the Eventbrite Partner Affiliate Network, which enables affiliates to earn money by referring event publishers and promoters to use the Eventbrite service.

While ticketing affiliate programs have been around since about, oh, Day 2 of the Internet, Eventbrite’s program puts a new twist on the model - an affiliate receives a cut of the revenue on every ticket sold by an event publisher who signs up for the Eventbrite service through the affiliate’s web site

If you become an affiliate partner, here’s how it works:

1. Run Eventbrite ads on your site.

2. An event promoter or publisher sees the ad, is intrigued by its promise of easy and cheap event registration and ticketing, and goes to the Eventbrite site.

3. The same event promoter learns more, says “Hey! This makes my life easier and helps me sell more tickets to my event”, and signs up to manage one of their upcoming events through Eventbrite.

4. Let’s say the event is a music festival, and 3,000 tickets are sold at $50 each through Eventbrite. The service fee for each ticket is $1.25. As the referring affiliate partner, you receive 35% of all the service fees collected (3,000 x $1.25 x 0.35), so you earn $1,312.50.

Eventbrite also offers a traditional ticketing affiliate program: if you sell tickets to their events, you earn a commission for every ticket sold through your site.

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