Special Events On the Cheap

Transcription

1 Special Events On the Cheap A presentation for the 3CMA 2009 Annual Conference Enita Jubrey Town of Windsor, Connecticut

2 CURSES! Special Events are fun - but they can be costly! Break the curse with these tips and tricks: Creative Funding and Promotion Use Local Talent Recycle/Re-use Stock Up Event Checklist Seek Needles in the Haystack Creative Funding and Promotional Techniques Start fundraising early! Partnering with other organizations, businesses, schools and senior citizens is key as it widens your scope of influence. Know your town s business and their interests. Approach them with ideas that complement these interests and get them talking! Tie into existing events, campaigns or promotions they may already be doing. For instance, jewelry stores or florists for a Valentine s Day event. Offer them a promotional consideration if they sponsor a portion of your event or offer drastically discount services. We paired civic organizations (who had the $) with school PTOs (who had the kids/parents for labor) to collaborate on floats for the 375 th anniversary parade. In addition, 20 neighboring communities, (daughter towns) were invited to participate resulting in 18 beautiful parade units at no cost to the planning committee. A wide range of sponsorship levels appeals to both small and large businesses, as well as individual donors. The Windsor 375th Anniversary edition of Windsoropoly reaped a profit of $7500 by offering sponsorship levels ranging from $25 to $1500.

3 Use Local Talent Stunning photographs on the covers of Windsor s community magazine, There s a lot to do in Windsor have been graciously donated by a retired dentist in town who is a professional photographer. Since its inception in 1996, 37 issues have been published featuring his work at no cost to the town. If any newspaper, radio or TV personalities live in your community, ask them to be celebrity judges or honorary chairs for events. They will probably provide free promotion for your event. Be sensitive to which non-profit organizations are the favorites of local politicians and local area corporations. When you do an event, offer to include a particular nonprofit as a partner or co-sponsor. When you do that, you often get financial or promotional support from the corporation. If you are fortunate enough to have an elected official with a sense of humor, enlist their assistance in promoting your event during televised meetings. Our Mayor has worn a clown nose to promote a children s Clown Day event, and most recently posed in colonial attire for the cover of a promotional publication for Windsor s 375th anniversary. All in good fun, and really draws attention to your event. Local veterinarians volunteer for Windsor s Just for fun Dog Show. Each year, a free dog show is held on the town green to remind residents that June is dog licensing month. Every dog wins a blue ribbon. The 4-H club sells refreshments, signs are reused from year to year keeping the cost of this community event at a minimal $50 (for ribbons) with a big pay-off in public relations. Kids and dogs always get great media coverage. For our Windsor 375 Costume Gala, local gardeners were contacted early in the planning phase to request their advice and help in planning centerpieces and event decorations. They volunteered to grow the appropriate flowers for the event cutting the cost for decorations drastically, because all plants and flowers were free. (this approach also works with local landscapers, because all plants borrowed for an event can be returned none the less for wear and they are willing to just let you use them.)

4 Recycle/Reuse Signage: make generic signage (event parking, restrooms, information, first aid, etc.) that can be used at all events. Take event signs back to vendor each year to have date only changed and re-use the sign. One department s trash may be your treasures! We once had our Public Works Department save logs cut from Birchwood trees they were clearing and we assembled the logs into reindeer for a holiday parade float: Up on the Housetop (pictured below). Birchwood logs from Public Works Department transformed into reindeer. Mechanical horse borrowed from Library and transformed into Rudolph. Wooden trail marker signs for Revolutionary Windsor event of no use after the event was over. Created chili fun facts, laminated, covered trail markers and now use each year at the chili cook-off event as tables. Steven Spielberg Tree - Used at Windsor location shoot of War of the World s movie starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. Plastic garbage barrels Parade float for annual December torchlight parade (pictured above): Snowman with smoking pipe made of garbage barrels from Public Works Department and a traffic cone for the nose. Employees collected cardboard paper towel dowels that were transformed into candles for Windsor s 375 th anniversary birthday cake parade float. Paper towel dowels Traffic cone

5 Recycle/Reuse (continued) Peace on Earth float for annual Torchlight parade (pictured to left and above) featured a giant spinning earth made with tobacco wire donated from local farmer with the paper mache applied by town employees. Foam core boards for Peace on Earth sign donated by local sign vendor, Sinsigalli Signs. Each Memorial Day, large sized American flags are loaned to Windsor Town Hall by Carmon Funeral Homes, Inc. After being displayed, the flags are set aside at the funeral home and reserved for people for which the flags have special significance.

6 Stock Up When purchasing or gathering supplies for events, try to gather more than you need and stock leftovers for the next event: Yellow caution tape Balloons Wire H-frames (like real estate agents and politicians use for little lawn signs) S-hooks for hanging Temporary fencing Confetti cannon reloads Ribbon (all sizes up to the wide grand opening size) Plastic table coverings Zip ties Duct tape Twine, clothes line, rope Small C-clamps. They are cheap and will hold lots of things together Long wood stakes for posting big signs Corex signs (Turn them over and use the back for a new sign) Register-to-win ballot boxes. Buy a couple and use them forever When you order signs, ask the vendor for extra arrows. They can be used to change directional signs at the last minute. Extra numbers will allow you to change the date of an annual event and re-use the old signs.

7 Event Checklist Why start every event with a new list? Use the attached checklist and update as needed for your event. Event: Large & Page Communications Event Checklist Event Date/time: Setup Date/Time: Ballot Boxes Banners Baskets B-Roll/EPK Bucket & Clorox for food sterilization Cable ZIP Ties Camera, Nikon Camera, Polaroid Camera, Tripod Camera, Video Confetti Cannon & Streamers Clipboards Easels Event Backdrop Extension Cord/s Gaffer s Tape Hand wipes Masking Tape Media Book Plastic Table Covering (color) Polaroid Film rolls Portable Sound System Press Passes/lanyards Press Releases/kits Scissors Shipping tape, clear S Hooks exhibition hall style Site layout/plan Sound system Step Ladder Step Stool Table Skirting & clips Two-way radios Two-way radio batteries Two-way radio chargers Utility Knife

8 Seek Needles in the Haystack Funding from businesses or corporations can sometimes be found in very unlikely places. Keep fellow staff members informed of your needs for special events, even if they are not involved in the planning. Recently our Economic Development Director was making a routine visit to a CEO of a local corporation and the CEO expressed interest in supporting something music related. A short time later, his company donated $500,000 to Summerwind, Windsor s outdoor music venue. We now have a listing of various Windsor non-profit organizations and their missions that the members of the Economic Development Office can use when they are rubbing elbows with local businesses. When planning for a Revolutionary War re-enactment event, the planning committee was contacted by a local corporation whose CEO had heard about the event and was a history buff. His personal interest in the revolutionary war resulted in his company becoming the naming sponsor of the event. If you distribute window banners promoting your event to local retailers, ask them to include your event in any newspaper advertising that they are planning to run. Have a logo and a cutline available to give to anyone who agrees. Contact Information Enita Jubrey, Assistant to the Town Manager Town of Windsor 275 Broad Street Windsor, CT jubrey@townofwindsorct.com

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