It might be hard to believe, but we’ve officially been blogging about events and fundraising for ONE YEAR!

That’s right, it’s our One Year Anniversary of the IML Purple Carpet Event Blog this month and we couldn’t be happier.

In honor of our first year we decided to look back and identify our  5 favorite blog posts.

Thanks to you, our readers, who helped make our first year of blogging such an exciting and productive experience.  Without further ado, here were our 5 favorite and most popular posts from the last year:

1. Event Planning – 8 Common & Costly Mistakes to Avoid – This post offered up 8 amazingly simple and helpful tips on how to avoid some of the biggest mistakes in event planning.  The mistakes are common ones that many make when trying to organize events of any size, but not hard to correct!
2. Cancer Fundraiser Raises Support in a Unique Way – Sometimes fundraising efforts need a worthy cause to be a very well executed event.   This Cancer fundraiser used the idea of wearing a bald cap for the entire day as a way to raise money and awareness.  This post highlighted how a unique fundraiser can do so much for a great cause.
3. 13 Essential Elements of Successful Fundraising Events – Speaking of fundraisers, this post offered up 13 elements that absolutely cannot be overlooked when planning and implementing a fundraising event.  From setting a goal, to planning the budget to encouraging audience participation via audience response systems (hyperlink this keyword phrase), these tips were helpful and truly essential.
4. Planning an Ethical & Sustainable Event: Top Tips – We’re living in a world that must pay increasing attention to the ethical ramifications of any event or business promotion.  From the event planning to the actual hosting, paying attention to how to make it as ethical as possible is vital.  This post had some very relevant and timely tips on how to stay ethical, and successful, from the planning to the cleaning up of your next event.
5. IML Connector – Another Glimpse into the Future of Audience Response Systems – One of the most exciting developments from IML was the IML Connector, IML’s upcoming revolutionary hand-held audience response system, set to change the way people participate in any kind of meeting or event.  This post covered the exciting new technology and even offered a hands-on video of it.

There you have it!  Five of our favorite posts over the last year.  We’d love to hear which posts you found most interesting or entertaining too.  Or feel free to submit an idea for a future post below and we’ll be sure to address topics and questions from readers. Here’s to another great year.

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IML Purple Carpet Event Blog Turns 1: Our 5 Favorite Posts was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

A simple glance around the economy today, into the trends and highlights of the way people are doing business, will show you that Green is In and the importance of ethics and sustainability is at an all time high.  When it comes to event planning it’s no different and there are things you can do to ensure that your event promotion efforts will be green, sustainable and completely ethical.

Assuming that you’ve attended an event, conference, trade-show or even silent auction in the last few years you’ll most likely have no trouble agreeing that events cause waste and produce a pretty sizable amount of carbon emissions.  This waste comes from the sheer number of paper products, cans, trash and plastics being thrown away and discarded throughout the event.  Carbon emissions that come from that trash being sent to landfills as well as the heating, cooling, lighting and even transportation all add up quickly.  Knowing this, there are a few things you can do during the event planning stage, to reduce these negative effects and give your event a clean conscious from start to finish.  Here are some of the best ways:

• Support Environmentally Conscious & Sustainable Businesses – This might seem obvious, but by supporting businesses with proper sustainability policies already in place can help guarantee you’re setting your event off on the right foot.
• Use Public Transport – By using public transport, rather than hired vehicles, taxis or even people driving their own cars, you’ll cut down on carbon emissions drastically.
• Purchase Carbon Offsets – Using websites like ClimateCare, you can determine the amount of carbon emissions your event will generate and then purchase carbon offsets to help reduce the damage.
• Recycle – When the event is over, rather than just throwing everything away, set up proper recycling policies.
• Hire Local – Hire local whenever possible, this will not only cut down on transportation costs but also promote the local economy.

Following some of these tips as you go forward with your event planning will help guarantee that the ethics and sustainability will always remain intact and your event will maintain the highest standards.

Receive all of the latest news on meetings, event planning, audience response systems and electronic voting systems by subscribing to the Purple Carpet Event Blog RSS feed or by email. Or follow us on Twitter.

Planning an Ethical & Sustainable Event: Top Tips was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

Last week we were able to post something that hopefully many of you found extremely exciting…a glimpse at the IML Connector.  The IML Connector is a hand held revolutionary audience response system device.    By combining features that traditionally lived inside simple handheld voting device sand combining them with features that traditionally lived only inside smart phones or sophisticated AV devices, the IML Connector is a cutting edge audience response system device that affords the best of both worlds.  The marriage should prove to shake up the world of interactive meetings and change the way the audience is able to effectively hear, engage, participate and change the meetings they attend.

Here’s your chance to get another quick glimpse at the IML Connector as CEO Richard Taylor once again has the opportunity to show it off at InfoComm2010.

The future is right around the corner and the tools to achieve more than we ever thought possible with audience response systems, interactive meetings, voting and even silent auctions are almost here.  Be prepared for the landscape of the industry to change.  The IML Connector, once released, will do all of that and more.

Receive all of the latest news on meetings, event planning, audience response systems and interactive voting by subscribing to the Purple Carpet Event Blog RSS feed or by email. Or follow us on Twitter.

IML Connector – Another Glimpse into the Future of Audience Response Systems was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

Interactive meetings, live voting and audience response systems are on the brink of a major breakthrough.  Coming this September, a new level of interactive engagement will provide limitless possibilities for originality, innovation and achievement among your audience.  That’s right, the IML Connector is coming this September.

Watch this interview with Richard Taylor, CEO of IML, and learn about the newest, latest and greatest of all IML devices, the IML Connector.  See how the addition of a microphone and speaker will allow each person in the audience not only to speak, but directly hear all communication at an event.  An OLED screen will allow exceptional battery life in addition to the capability for companies, events and hosts to put logos, moving graphics and animations on the screen.

One of the best aspects of the new IML Connector is the ability to completely manage the order and methods in which people can interact with the meeting, event hosts and speakers.  Whether it’s through a ‘first come first served’ basis or a queued list, or whether their questions and votes will be heard through voices or through text messaging, all of these methods can be accessed quickly and efficiently.

When it comes to interactive meetings, audience response systems and interactive voting, the IML Connector should prove to be the best tool yet.  Please check out the full interview with IML CEO Richard Taylor and learn even more about what should shake up the entire industry!

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IML Connector: Upcoming Device to Revolutionize Interactive Meetings & Voting was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

It is no secret that a properly planned, hosted and executed event can be an amazing asset to your business.  It’s extremely important that when you are planning your next event, you gather as much crucial information as possible before you ever get started. Some of the most common mistakes made during event planning may seem rather obvious, but they can easily occur amidst your busy planning schedule.

What are the most common mistakes and how can you avoid them?  See the bullets below and print this checklist to help you avoid making these common mistakes.

1. Short Marketing Cycle – Always make sure you allot enough time to effectively market your event.  Too little time means too few attendees.  This article from Scribd says a good rule of thumb is 90-120 days in advance for any medium-sized event averaging around 75 attendees.
2. Competing With Yourself – Avoid promoting multiple events too close together.  If you send out invites for multiple events at the same time, or too close to one another, potential attendees may get confused.
3. Not Delivering on Your Promises – This is a key.  If you make promises or offers in your marketing, make sure you have a list that guarantees you will remember when, where and how to deliver on all activities or concepts you’ve promised.
4. Losing Control of the Room – Maintaining control and order over the audience is absolutely necessary to stay on schedule.  Implementing an audience response system can be amazingly helpful as it allows questions to be queued up, and asked in a timely fashion.  Keep control the easy way – automate it.
5. Poor Scheduling – Proper order of your speakers can directly influence the smoothness of your event.  Generally, place the keynote speakers at the best times and revolve other, less important speakers or presentations around the keynote.
6. Being Cheap – If people are paying good money and time to show up at your event, make sure they are getting their money’s worth.  Don’t make them pay for drinks or refreshments, think about throwing in some giveaways or even donating money to charity in their name.
7. Closing Your Office – Just because you’ve been doing a great deal of event planning doesn’t mean you should shut down your office.  You’ll only be losing money and your customer’s confidence by doing so.
8. Mismanaging the Event – A properly managed (and properly planned) event will help ensure a successful event.  Time management, traffic flow and proper layout is key.

As you move forward with your event planning, remember that while it might feel overwhelming, staying organized and on plan will be instrumental.  As we mentioned in the 4th tip, implementing an audience response system can be amazingly helpful in guaranteeing that everyone at the event feels like their voice is being heard and votes are being counted, without giving up the control of the room.

Receive all of the latest news on meetings, event planning, audience response systems and interactive voting by subscribing to the Purple Carpet Event Blog RSS feed or by email. Or follow us on Twitter.

Event Planning – 8 Common & Costly Mistakes to Avoid was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

In any industry, in any business and in any country there is an ever-present commonality that functions as an integral part of operations:  Member Meetings.  Whether town hall meetings, board meetings or shareholder meetings, some member meetings can appear to not be worth the time and effort it takes to organize and hold them. Often times, meetings seem to actually slow things down rather than push them forward.

So how do you know whether or not your proposed meetings have strategic value, and after you know, how do you increase value it if it falls a bit short?  There are 4 key areas of measurement to help determine the meeting’s strategic value:

1. Portfolio Management – The value of an organization’s overall meeting portfolio and the management of meetings as an investment.  This involves measuring effectiveness and efficiency and stressing importance on why you’re holding the meeting.
2. Measurement – Essential to understanding the meeting impact.  Measuring can be done at various levels to help make decisions concerning your past, current and future events that might be in the queue.  In a simple sense, your ROI.
3. Meeting Design – Shaping both the form and content of member meetings.  A properly designed meeting allows efficiency and effectiveness to increase as behavioral outcomes are controlled.  If you maximize interactivity, your return on investment will rise.
4. Advanced Logistics – Includes everything from venues to travel arrangements to lodging to contracts, as well as the environment the meeting will take place in.  Sometimes, just selecting the right venue and environment can help the success of the meeting.

Once these 4 key elements are assessed, you can start implementing changes to ensure all meetings are beneficial to your business.  It’s important to think outside the box when you are designing and planning meetings.  Always focus on the individual impact items that build an event in order to benefit the company and meeting members.

Can increasing interactivity among members yield a higher ROI and better managed portfolio?  To learn more about interactive member meetings, including audience response systems, visit http://www.imlaudienceresponse.com/.

Receive all of the latest news on member meetings, unique fundraisers, event planning and interactive voting by subscribing to the Purple Carpet Event Blog RSS feed or by email. Or follow us on Twitter.

4 Key Elements of Strategic Member Meetings was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

The pairing of the IML pledging system and the Robin Hood Foundation proved to be a massive hit to help raise millions of dollars for charity.  The Robin Hood Foundation’s annual event takes place in the 150,000 square foot Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.  The 2010 event hosted a record breaking 3,600 guests and broke yet another record raising $87.8 million for underprivileged New Yorkers.

Read more about the Robin Hood Foundation and IML’s pledging system collaboration:

Bizbash New York – LiveNation producer Dan Parise, meets Alex Coletti Productions (a production company so exclusive the website is simply a business card), meets floral design by DeJuan Stroud (featured on Martha Stewart) to deliver a star-studded event and record breaking evening.  The event design represented six verbs the Robin Hood Foundation uses to explain where the money goes: teaches, heals, feeds, nurtures, trains, and shelters.  Each verb was showcased in a streetscape installation within the cocktail area.  Brian Williams from NBC served as the night’s M.C. with a special comedic appearance from late-night TV host, Jimmy Fallon.  Stevie Wonder was the music headliner with a surprise acoustic performance by Sting.  And of course, the $87.8 million could not have been raised without an IML pledging system for silent donations during dinner.

Bloomberg News – Wall Street’s largest single-evening fundraising event brought in a record breaking number of guests including executives from Wall Street banks, hedge funds and private-equity companies.  Donations exceeded last year’s $72.7 million by over $10 million and go toward 200 of New York’s poverty-fighting non-profits.  The event board, including Paul Tudor Jones II (Tudor Investment Corp.), film producer Harvey Weinstein, and actress Gwyneth Paltrow, ensure all proceeds go to the organizations.  After dinner-pledges raised $26.4 million, thanks to an IML pledging system that allowed guests to submit silent donations.  Actors Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, and New York Jets coach, Rex Ryan, were among those in attendance.

Wall Street Journal – Wall Street’s biggest fundraiser helped raise a remarkable $88 million for charter schools, food programs and job training.  After a great trading day, the Robin Hood Foundation’s annual event, a favorite of the hedge fund community, gathered 3,600 guests for a gala evening of celebrities, food and entertainment.  Held at the large Manhattan Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the event was kicked off by a live acoustic performance from Sting, followed by a comedic lineup of Saturday Night Live head writer Seth Meyers and late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon.  The night’s event helped raise the largest amount the charity has seen since it was founded in 1988.

@RobinHoodNYC – The Robin Hood Foundation’s official Twitter has been updating and linking to all sorts of stories and articles that highlight the success of the event.  Click to follow and find out more!

Learn how silent auction systems like the IML pledging system can help make your fundraising event a record breaking success.  The ability of attendees to quickly, quietly and instantly pledge their donations is an amazing way to increase donations!

Receive all of the latest fundraising and silent auction system news by subscribing to the Purple Carpet Event Blog RSS feed or by email. Or follow us on Twitter.

Photos Courtesy of Bryan Derballa

IML Pledging System and Robin Hood Foundation – Right On Target! was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a Washington DC based non-profit, will be flying the flag of unique fundraising ideas at their forthcoming annual Washington DC Brady Center Gala on May 18^th, 2010 with the use of IML’s silent auction systems The event will take place at the National Museum of Women in the Arts at 6:00 PM.

Encouraging participation can be a real challenge for non-profits when asking for donations at their fundraisers but the Brady Center will be doing things a little differently this year.  They have enlisted the help of IML, experts in event fundraising technology, who are revolutionizing the way non-profits collect donations at their events.

At the event, guests will be invited to instantly pledge donations via IML’s silent auction systems.  They are free to donate as many dollars as they can afford, there is no donation too large or too small, but participation is key, and the Brady Center has designed a friendly competition to encourage everyone to take part.

The room will be divided into 2 teams.  During the evening a real-time animated “scoreboard” will provide a tangible display of the percentage of people pledging a donation from each team.  It will be up to the “Team Captains” to encourage their teams to reach the 100% mark!

Asked about what the silent auction system is going to bring to their event Samantha Konstandt Assistant Director, Special Events remarked “It’s an immediate call to action for our guests, and they will get an instant sense of how they can make a real difference. We are very excited to be working with IML.”

Silent Auction Systems Create Unique Fundraising Event was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

With significant local, state and federal legislation – like healthcare reform – town hall meetings have once again been resurrected as a way to give citizens a voice.

Have you been tasked with organizing and executing a town hall meeting for your community?

Take 25, a preventive child safety campaign created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), offers several tips to help effectively coordinate a town hall meeting. We’ve added a few of our own tips here:

1.  Organize a Committee to Help Plan – The more people from different backgrounds – business owners, educators, government officials, etc. – the more diverse points of view you’ll have to plan your meeting.

2.  Create a Contact List – Include potential speakers, officials, volunteers, local business owners and all the people who could provide a service to help in either the planning or execution of the event.

3.  Determine the Meeting Strategy – What are the goals of the meeting? Has the issue been addressed somewhere else already? What is the agenda, and how will you keep the meeting on track?

4.  Plan the Details – Next, it’s time for the many minute details involved in the meeting. For example, who should speak? Where will you hold the meeting?

5.  Reach out to Media – Draft a list of media reps from TV, radio and newspapers to attend and cover the event.

6.  Engage the Community – You must have the town to have the town hall meeting.  How will you get them to attend, and how will you advertise? Consider advertising in area newspapers, distributing flyers in highly trafficked areas or posting the information at local businesses (i.e., banks, hospitals, department stores).

7.  Encourage Audience Interaction – Make your town hall meeting interactive by including an audience response system in which people can vote live, text, and even offer instant feedback through a built-in microphone.

8.  Follow Up with Supporters – After the meeting ends, make sure you have a plan to follow up with those that attended and supported you. Act on the goals discussed.

Follow these helpful planning tips, and your next town hall meeting will go off without a hitch.

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8 Tips to Plan a Town Hall Meeting was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com

Which company’s CEO has listened to and heeded shareholders’ demands to step down and give up the title of chairman inside the company?

1. Wal-Mart

2. Whole Foods Market Inc.

3. McDonalds

If you guessed “2. Whole Foods Market Inc.” you are exactly right!

The chief executive officer of the organic supermarket Whole Foods Market Inc. has finally given in to years of petitioning and demands by shareholders that the two roles be separated out and filled by different people.

ABC News reports that the co-founder and current CEO of the company, John Mackey, recently agreed to hand over his title as chairman.  This marks the first time in three years that the voices of a shareholder activist group have been heard, as they’ve been petitioning for the change all along.

Clearly, the group was in need of a more effective shareholder voting system. At last year’s annual shareholders meeting for Whole Foods, the proposal was unsuccessful; soon after the group called for Mackey’s all-out removal.

Perhaps the ordeal could have been avoided with an electronic voting system for shareholders to make them feel as though their opinions were being feelings heard.  The ability for shareholders to cast their vote with 100% accuracy at annual meetings would have meant that Whole Foods could have tackled this much more efficiently.

Looking for more of the latest trends in shareholder voting? Subscribe to the Purple Carpet Event Blog RSS feed or by email. Or follow us on Twitter.

Shareholder Voting Heard: CEO Gives Up Title of Chairman was posted at Purple Carpet Event Blog. | http://www.purplecarpeteventblog.com