3 fixable mistakes that new events make

A few weeks ago, my family volunteered at an outdoor fundraising event to benefit the nephew of a close friend.  My friend joked that I would find a few gems to write about for my blog, and she was right!

Luckily, I had my camera and was wearing my ‘volunteer hat’ instead of my “wench-on-wheels-event-manager-hat.”.   The latter is quite a sight, and it smells bad too.

Here are three ‘gems’ that are common mistakes of new events – and are easy to fix for next year:

1.   All signs should be at least 5 feet off the ground.   If there is a line, or crowd of people in front of a table with signage,  then the messaging is lost.   I see this alot at events where there is a registration table.

Hanging signs off the end of a table seems sensible, but use an easel or a tent pole when you can so people can see it.

2.   Items for sale should be in dollars only, not cents.    You have a captive audience, so keep the money simple.  I always tell my clients that are selling shirts to make sure the price ends in a zero (0) or a five (5).  It saves alot of monetary headaches.

It is enevitable that your customers will pay with a $20.  Make sure you start with enough money to provide change.

3.   Be prepared for the food donations you receive.  This event was fortunate to receive lots of food and beverage donations.   A volunteer thought ahead to bring a toaster, but no knives to cut the bagels and spread the cream cheese.  BTW, there was no power to available to use the toaster.  

I am a big fan of using the website signupgenius.com to organize tasks and donations for schools or small events.  You can plug-in all the things you need for your event and your volunteers can respond to the invitation by choosing a time shift, or items to bring.

Overall, the event was a financial success and raised awareness about a disease that needs more research dollars!