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[BarcampLondon4] Julius Solaris – The Quest for a complete open source event management solution from Melinda Seckington on Vimeo.

Julius (from the eventmanagerblog.com) talks at BarCamp about his collaborative event management project MyEvent which is what he’s trying to get off the ground.

Its an interesting debate about what people are looking for in a system – you should check out the project and also let Julius know what you are looking for in a piece of software at his site.

I thought I’d start a list of the handy websites that are full of useful event management resources, ideas, tips and articles. These aren’t really the sites of event management providers – but more for those who are ‘about’ events!

I’ll keep popping back and adding more as I find them, but feel free to comment on this entry and add your own, or add them to the event management discussion forum.

So, in no particular order:

Feel free to add some of your own…

There are many reasons for getting a team together for training – it may be new systems within a company, there may be new products to learn. Whatever the reason, face-to-face training is often the most effective solution, and with the correct planning need not be any more complex than writing a training manual.

Training face-to-face allows the trainers to adapt their approach to the needs and understanding of the group they are working with. Trainees can either travel to one central training point (such as a head office or training centre) or the trainers can travel to ‘regional’ training days which can take place in regional offices, hotels or other training centres.

Training often takes place at the same time as some form of reward or team building day – which adds value to the day for the delegates and the management staff.

Training Venues
There are many different things that you need to think about when booking or finding training venues. These factors will help you to find the best venue for your needs, whether it be a room that you already use, or a external venue

Training Equipment
There are a lot of different pieces of equipment that can be used to aid your training – some of them are best to own, others can be hired very easily. To get the most from your training day, it is important to be able to communicate effectively. Trainees constantly expect new ideas and the latest technology, as each business tries to stay ahead

Team building events are often combined with conferences, training days or reward days. Team building events are used by businesses, charities, universities, colleges and other groups for activity-based learning. The events can take place anywhere in the UK and take many different functions.

What are your objectives
It is important to know why your team needs building, and what you are trying to achieve with the day. Team building days and weekends are often split between activity based sessions, and classroom based sessions

Choosing activities
The events that you choose have to be suitable for all those that are taking part. It is important to take into account certain considerations when planning activities

Location
Whilst most activities can be undertaken anywhere in the country, there are several considerations to be made before choosing a specific location

Sporting based events can present a number of their own specific problems and issues. Some of the aspects of running these events can be taken from the ‘Outdoor Festivals’ section of the site.

Sporting Venues
When organising major sporting events it is always worthwhile considering the use of a purpose built sporting event venue – although other venues can be used

Sporting Technical Equipment
As well as similar equipment to the ‘Outdoor Festivals’ and ‘Indoor Concerts’, sporting type events may require specialist timing and scoring equipment

Sporting Infrastructure
Infrastructure requirements will be similar to those of ‘Outdoor Festivals’ and ‘Indoor Concerts’ such as temporary venues, temporary power, outdoor lighting, stages, fencing and portable buildings. There may also be the need for sporting specific items of infrasturture to make the event successful

Site Planning
Designing sites for sporting events can be time consuming, as race lengths and pitch sizes have to be accurate. This is in addition to the elements such as health & safety, as well as crowd flow and venue design which all have to be taken into account. This is particularly important when designing temporay campsites and villages for events

Event Staff
There will be many people involved in running an event of this nature – some will work in the view of the public (front of house) and others will work backstage. There will also be people who run the site

Customers
It is important to look after customers and to ensure that they enjoy the entire experience. There are some simple elements of organising indoor concerts that can be used to keep the audience happy, and to increase your revenue

Many businesses, charities and other organisations launch new products and services, re-brand or launch new ventures each year.

Launch Venues
When choosing a venue for your launch it is important to consider the type of organisation, the product or service they are launching or the demographic of the people who are attending.

Communications
When holding a launch it is vital that you invite the correct people, give them enough time and information about the event, and give them an easy way to respond. It is also important to understand what you or your client wish to achieve by the launch

On Site Registration
It is important to know who is attending your event – so it is a good idea to check people off as they arrive

Product Launch Technology
You will want to show your new product in the best light – hear what it can do and see the new features. Using the correct technology will mean that your product launch will be remembered for a long time and increase the level of impact that it has.

There are several reasons to organise an indoor music concert. From small school recitals to worldwide tours, concerts take place in a variety of venues. Most concerts are designed to make or raise money for the promoter. Others are used to raise awareness for charities and other organisations. Large awards ceremonies for music or film and television are often on the same scale as some of these larger concerts.

Concert Venues
Although there are many places that can hold large numbers of people, organising an indoor concert will be made easier if the venue is suited to its use

Concert Technical Equipment
Bands and artistes who are performing at events, often have specific requirements for lighting, sound and audio visual equiment. There will also often be reasons within the venue to choose specific types and designs of equipment

Concert Infrastructure
As well as the technical equiment, there will be certain elements of infrastructure that are required as part of the venue design, or as required by the particular artiste, set designer, production manager or tour manager

Bands and Riders
Working with bands can be very time consuming and complicated. It is important to realise that many of the larger bands will require very specific items within their dressing room or on stage. Working with contracts can also be complicated – but it is important to understand what you are signing for

Event Staff
There will be many people involved in running an event of this nature – some will work in the view of the public (front of house) and others will work backstage

Customers
It is important to look after customers and to ensure that they enjoy the entire experience. There are some simple elements of organising indoor concerts that can be used to keep the audience happy, and to increase your revenue

Concert Layout
Although there are no specific or legal requirements for the layout of your indoor concert – some elements will combine to produce a successful event.

Almost all not-for-profit and charity organisations use events.

Raising Awareness
Some organisations use events to raise awareness of their cause – the most recent obvious example of this are the Live8 concerts which took place in the summer of 2005. Other events such as charity sports events or dinners can be used to raise awareness amongst potential sponsors or political leaders.

Raising Money
The most obvious use of events within the not-for-profit sector is to raise money. This might be through sponsored events, dinners, corporate days or overseas challenges. Events can be very high profile, a great photo opportunity and give the charity the chance to raise funds.

As a reward
Many charities hold events to thank their main supporters – or to reward those who have worked their hardest to raise funds.

Within eventsecrets.com there are two areas that relate to exhibitions. This section looks at exhibitions as part of a larger event (such as a conference) or as a ‘standalone exhibition whilst ‘exhibition stands’ looks at getting the most if you take a stand at a show.

Exhibition Venues
If your event is going to include an exhibition area, you will require space for this to happen within the venue or close to the venue [more about venues]

Stand Infrastructure
A professional exhibition area will require elements of stand infrastructure, exhibition furniture, shell scheme and technological equipment

Exhibition Staff
Even if the exhibition area is only part of your event, it is still important to manage the area and have the right numbers of the right staff on hand to help should anything require attention.

Exhibition Equipment
It is important to ensure that the correct people are attending your exhibition, and to collect as much data as you can about them, which can be sold or passed on to your customers

The internet has revolutionised the events industry. The ability to search online for venues, suppliers and event ideas has increased the productivity of the industry enormously. There is now also the ability to register delegates online, book accommodation and market events on the internet – in fact if your event, or event company doesn’t have a website, it is considered out of date.