MAKING AN EVENT A HIT, UNDER A TIGHT BUDGET

Hi all,

It’s Gail here, fresh from the Coin-Op TV event this past weekend. I met the host of Coin-Op TV, Rob, back when I was an event coordinator at Activision, and since then we kept in touch (thank god for MySpace!).

A few months ago Rob gave me a call asking if Starfish Creative Events could assist him with his Coin-Op TV Anniversary party, and of course we were happy to. He planned on inviting major press outlets in the entertainment and video game worlds, so this party had be as great, if not better, than all other industry parties.

His big concern was keeping everything under a very tight budget, so we came up with some cost saving ways to keep the event under budget yet still be the stand-out event he was hoping for. And stand-out it did! With press from GameTrailers, E!, Variety, IGN, Spike TV, G4 TV, Joystiq and DirecTV among many others, this was THE party of the weekend.

Here were some of the cost-saving tips that Rob utilized, that we’re passing on to you to help you scrimp on money, but not on quality.

1. Avoid buy-outs. Instead of paying to buy-out the entire venue for the night, find a bar or lounge that will let you use half of their venue. That way the venue doesn’t have to turn away their regular customers for the night (and charging you for that lost business), but instead have you bringing in an entire group of people that will be drinking and eating their food in addition to their regularly scheduled business. It’s a win-win for the venue. Plus in case of a surplus of guests your party can begin to overtake the other half of the venue, but in the case of not enough guests showing up you can limit your party to the half that’s yours – therefore avoiding an empty looking venue.

2. Skip the DJ. When a party gets crowded the DJ can get lost in the crowd. Skip the DJ altogether and instead design a playlist of your favorite party songs on your iPod. Plug in your iPod to the venue sound system, and let the playlist run throughout the night. That’s an easy way to save $400.

3. Bring your own entertainment. Everyone enjoys activities at events. It controls the crowds by breaking them up into different areas, and prevents them from getting bored for lack of things to do. Plus they’re great ice breakers. Rob had an Xbox 360 at home as well as the video game Rock Band, where players can rock out on an actual drum set, guitar and microphone. He brought in this full gaming station and set it up on one of the venue’s plasma screens. The game was the hit of the night! Strangers were seen jamming with each other, sharing microphones as they sang along to the songs and dancing around like they’ve been in a band together for years. All at no cost to Rob!

4. Nix the giveaways. Unless you’re willing to spend a good chunk of change on a high quality giveaway that guests won’t throw away once they leave the party, don’t even worry about buying these. Instead, hire a photographer (post an ad at local colleges for inexpensive help) for two hours of your event to come in and snap photos of your guests. You can then send out these pictures via email to your guests the next day, with each photo branded with your logo. Face it – everyone loves pictures of themselves. So much that they will probably email the picture to other friends, and post it on their Facebook or MySpace, giving others the opportunity to view YOUR logo on photos from YOUR event.

5. Be choosy about free drinks. It’s inevitable- there are going to be people at your event that you’ve never met before. Why should you be buying their drinks?! Instead, limit the free alcohol to just a group of guests. Hand out VIP bracelets for those VIPs that deserve to have their drinks paid for. Everyone else will be so excited to be at your event with those VIPs that they’ll gladly purchase drinks from the cash bar.

So get out there and throw a snazzy, inexpensive party! And don’t forget to invite us!

Gail