Event Badges for Mixing and Mingling

I have a secret.

I am terrible with names.

Say what you will about mnemonics, making an effort, and repeating names two or three times upon original introduction. I just can’t remember your name. It’s nothing personal. Sometimes I forget my husband’s name—just for a moment. Actually, he’s a real lifesaver. Seeing that I’ve clearly forgotten the name of the person to whom I’m talking at a party, he’s fast to introduce himself, thus allowing my conversational partner to share his or her name without making me look ridiculous.

But my husband can’t accompany me everywhere.

For instance, chapter meetings for a national organization in which I have a position of some responsibility. I should remember all these women’s names. I know I should. But I don’t.

That’s why I ordered a stack of fancy event badges for our meetings. I explained it as a courtesy to new members, and everyone seems to love the idea, but mainly, these event badges—ID badges, really—have saved the day in many ways.

Event badges, printed with the names of group members serve several purposes:

• Help members remember each others’ names
• Keep unwanted non-members out of our snacks
• Make taking attendance a breeze

Before every meeting, I just lay the badges out in alphabetical order on the table at the back of the room. Everyone picks up their own badge, and our secretary can take a quick scan of those badges unclaimed at the beginning of the meeting to determine who hasn’t shown up. At the end of each meeting, she collects the badges again.

I was able to print these event badges online for just pennies a badge. I sent the company our organization’s design files, so we could use our own logos and background. I included a file with every member’s name, and every few months, as we attract new members, I collect those names up and send them back to the printer. They keep my files forever, and anytime I want to make a new order, it’s simple: I just ask for the same product, with these new names. They know exactly what I want, and everyone’s badge looks the same whether they’re old or new.

There was some talk about printing different badges for officers, which, it turned out, would also be simple, but we decided that we should all keep the same identifiers.

Now, no one has to spend time filling out names on paper stickers. And best of all, I never look like an idiot because I can’t remember the name of a lady who’s invited me to her home many times. I just glance surreptitiously at her name badge and no one’s the wiser about my little problem.

{ 0 comments }

Lance Trebesch, CEO, TicketPrinting.com

While I appreciate my employees every day and make a concerted effort to offer positive feedback whenever I witness good performance, I find that the company party is the best way to help my staff form cohesive bonds and cultivate the attitude that TicketPrinting.com is, in fact, a great place to work.

As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, happy employees create happy customers, who in turn create a business that thrives. That’s why I like to plan two parties a year to reward everyone in the company for making our organization the best that it can possibly be. Our annual holiday party in December is a grand affair, with dedicated party-goers celebrating the season until the early hours of the morning.

Summertime, of course, is the season for another much-appreciated celebration: the company picnic. It’s a great way to encourage folks to let their hair down, help individuals working in different locations to mix and mingle, and to assure everyone that the company is indeed prospering, thanks to their hard work.

If there’s interest among your employees, it’s not too late to start planning your own company picnic. It’s pretty much the simplest type of party you can host. You’ll need:

• Location:
  • Public park
  • Nature preserve
  • State forest
  • The beach

• Food:
  • Hamburgers
  • Hotdogs
  • Veggie burgers
  • Buns
  • Portabella mushrooms and grilled vegetables
  • Condiments
  • Salads
  • Side dishes
  • Watermelon
  • Other desserts
  • Plates, cups, cutlery, napkins

• Drink:
  • Ice water
  • Iced tea
  • Sodas (regular and decaffeinated)
  • Plenty of ice cold beer (if your employees imbibe)

• Activities:
  • Intramural sports
  • Field day games
  • Nature hike
  • Sing-along
  • Trivia contest
  • Water balloons

• Sundries
  • First aid kit
  • Sunscreen
  • Mosquito repellant
  • Wet naps
  • Tablecloths
  • Barbecue tools

Plan well in advance. Double check on the venue’s rules about alcohol, campfires, dogs, music, and barbecuing. You may very well require a permit or a reservation to have a picnic in your chosen location, particularly if you expect a large number of people to attend. Speaking of guests, as with any company gathering, an honest examination of your current finances should dictate whether this party is employees-only or if people may bring their families. More people will attend and they will stay longer if they’re accompanied by spouses and children.

Spread the word and remind everyone in the weeks leading up to the picnic. Set up a website site or social network page for the event, where you can post reminders beforehand and pictures and discussions afterwards. Hang flyers around the office, send emails to help people plan for the event, and hang sign-up sheets for those who wish to participate in the sports competition or bring extra dishes to share. You can even send postcards to remind everyone about the big day.

Appoint a knowledgeable person to be in charge of food preparation. The last thing you want at your company picnic is to disable some part of your staff with food poisoning. Make sure all meat is property thawed before it hits the grill, and that the person working the grill is aware of food safety standards. Foods that spoil easily, like potato salad, should be transported in coolers full of ice, served out of the sun, and cleared away before they have a chance to turn.

Make sure you have all the necessary accoutrements, too. Will you bring paper or plastic plates, cups, and utensils? For smaller groups, you can use real dishes and cutlery, provided someone is willing to wash them. Biodegradable and environmentally responsibly silverware and plates are available, and your employees may appreciate your commitment to a green party. Doing as much prep work as possible in advance, in a real kitchen, will improve the experience for everyone.

If you’ll be serving alcoholic beverages, make sure that your guests drink responsibly. You may want to ask a non-drinker to be in charge of helping others make safe decisions. No one should drink to impairment, and no one should drive while intoxicated. Make arrangements for shared rides, taxis, or overnight accommodations if you suspect that libations will flow freely. Remember, a little tipsiness can really spice up the picnic and promote better relations among employees, but it only takes one incident of extreme belligerence, sexual harassment, or reckless driving to permanently spoil the experience for everyone.

Depending on the facilities available at your venue, you may like to set up a game of softball or volleyball. Choosing teams beforehand can create a nice atmosphere of expectation before the picnic. Sack races, scavenger hunts, or even nature walks (with a well-informed guide) can add to the fun. If families are invited, you may want to provide separate activities for children: crafts projects and their own sports events will keep them busy and allow the adults to relax.

You can really plan an entire days’ worth of events. One memorable year, a few of the women from our business office organized our own company Olympics. We divided everyone up into teams and created events that allowed everyone a chance to participate. Since families were in attendance, we tried to think of activities that would be fun for kids and adults: trivia, jumping rope, throwing highlighters at a target, carrying water by the teaspoon to fill a cup to a certain level, and incredibly short sprint races, like a 10 foot dash! Each team was informed of the next event and allowed to choose a member to compete.

One of our IT guys brought a computer and played the Olympic Song for our opening ceremonies, along with the national anthem as we awarded medals. Our medals were old CDs that we didn’t need anymore, affixed with printed labels denoting “gold,” “silver,” and “bronze,” with ribbons tied through them so they could be worn around the neck. Everyone was really pleased with the results. One little boy, about 8 or 9 years old, was thrilled to win the 10-foot dash. He competed against adults, but took the lead with a fast start. No one could catch up with him. Another fun surprise was watching a woman who tended to be very quiet and shy winning the trivia contest. No one knew about her extensive expertise in music and film.

Whatever you plan, if you offer up the events of your picnic in good spirits and with the expectation that everyone should be having fun, you can expect that you’ll create lasting memories and motivate your employees to become even more loyal.

You’ll want to document the festivities with pictures and videos.  Light-hearted and consensual group photos early in the picnic can help cement the good memories, as can short videos of amusing events. Use the pictures on your company’s social networks, inter-office newsletters, and to promote next year’s picnic.

When the party’s over, make sure that everyone gets home safely. Clean up the space, being certain to remove all trash and food from the site. If you’ve lit any campfires, they should be completely extinguished before you leave the site. The same goes for charcoal grills, especially if you live in a dry, windy area.

I look forward to my company picnic every year, and I know my employees do too. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the summertime while celebrating the business.

{ 0 comments }

Safety First with Event Badges for Convention Security

With expenses going up and revenue going down, the last thing you can afford is gatecrashers at your upcoming conference, convention, or expo. It’s unfair to your paying customers, and it compromises everyone’s safety and ability to enjoy themselves. Allowing uninvited guests to sneak in without paying is tantamount to giving your product away for free, and you need to guard against this type of theft of services in the same way that you’d guard a retail location from shoplifters. Event badges can help.

Use event badges for:

• Comic book, SF, anime, and other fun conventions
• Business expos
• Scientific conferences
• Large sporting tournaments
• Multi-day music festivals
• Auctions
• Any big event that takes place over multiple days or locations

Issuing event badges to legitimate guests is a surefire way to even the odds against unlawful entry, even for small gatherings. Unless you and your security staff are certain of your ability to identify every single person in the convention hall by sight, a discreet event badge is your best bet for maintaining the integrity of the event.

For added security, divide those involved into categories that make sense to you and print slightly different badges, distributed depending on where the holder is allowed to go. This might include one set of badges for regular convention-goers, another set for vendors, another for speakers, performers, or VIPs, one for staff and volunteers, and so on. Unique badges make perfect sense if certain areas of the conference are to be restricted. Private parties or privileges available only to those who have paid an additional fee are safer when all attending wear the correct ID badge.

In the first hour or so of your gathering, distributing the event badges makes sense for everyone. Guests should be checking in and picking up any orientation materials anyway, so issuing the badges at this time provides a moment for them to transition into your event. Organizers have an extra moment to double-check their information and an extra opportunity to begin learning people’s names. Guests themselves will appreciate event badges that double as name tags.

But it’s your security detail that will benefit the most from these security badges. At a glance, they’ll be able to determine whether or not someone belongs in a specific area. In addition, if a registered guest does cause any trouble, the information on his or her event badge will make it easier to handle.

Anonymity works in some situation, but not when you’ve invested a lot of time and money into planning this event. Keep track of everyone in the room with a stack of well-designed, custom event badges!

{ 0 comments }

How to Create Your Custom Event Badges

Ready to add an extra layer of security to your large, multi-day event, or to any worksite that could use some added identification for the many people passing through on any given day? Creating Event Badges or ID Badges for everyone who belongs is a fast and easy way to provide visual markers indicating who belongs. The process is simple and the badges themselves are inexpensive.

Begin by determining whether paper badges (printed on heavy card stock and displayed in sturdy vinyl sleeves) will suffice, or if you will choose to spend a little more money for the much more durable hard plastic cards. The question is basically one of longevity. For a three-day event, paper is more than sufficient. Your paper Event Badges will survive even the roughest weekend, and live to serve as a souvenir of the experience. For long-term use, the plastic badges, which can tolerate the occasional accidental trip through the washing machine, are a good choice.

Next, choose your design. If you’ve already spent time and money creating a unique logo, you’ll want to get some more mileage out of that. You can just send the design file along with your order (most standard file formats: TIFF, JPEG, PDF, GIF) and it will be faithfully reproduced onto you ID Badges. If you haven’t got an image in mind, you can find one in a large online design gallery. TicketPrinting.com offers all their designs for free, and you can use the image from any product as the background for your badge. Or, work with an artist and get the custom design that you really want produced just for you and your event or company.

Now, determine what information you want printed on the badge. The name of the company or event is a good place to start. Dates, mottos, or other unique indicators can be helpful. You may choose different badges for different people. Perhaps executives will be denoted by different colors or phrases. If identification is your purpose, you’ll need to compile a file containing all the names you’ll need printed on the badges. It doesn’t cost that much extra to personalize each one with the right name. And data that can be stored in a CSV file can be used to customize each badge.

Remember, you can print the back of the badge as well! This is a good place to add a sponsor logo or other information unique to your event or mission.

Finally, decide how to display the badge. A bulldog clip is a simple option. For those who prefer not to muss up the front of their shirts, a lanyard allows your guests or employees to wear their IDs like necklaces. You can choose a plain lanyard, or spend a little more money to customize the lanyard as well. Lanyards come in your choice of five colors—red, royal blue, navy blue, black, and white, and can be imprinted with any text you choose.

And you’re done! Just place your order and you’ll receive a digital proof in twenty-four hours. Your Event Badges will be printed in a few days (most orders will ship in 3 to 6 days, depending on the size and complexity of the order; large orders of custom lanyards will take a little longer).

Just plan ahead and you can enjoy the safety and security of custom Event Badges.

{ 0 comments }

Safe Schools: ID Badges for Educational Safety

Let me begin by saying that I do believe asking teenagers to wear ID badges at school is a sort of radical idea. It’s not completely radical, though; I know other principals who have implemented them with positive results, and I think ID badges are a lot less of an imposition on students and parents than, say, school uniforms, which we also considered. When I was in school, it went without saying that you dressed appropriately, or you would be asked to leave. The same was true for behavior. As long as everyone agreed on some formal boundaries, there could be informality in other areas.

Out of Control

But my students seemed to be losing control. It’s a good high school, a well-kept campus in suburbia, where high property taxes ensure that arts and athletics programs are well-funded, in addition to our award-winning English, math, and science departments. But some students took their prosperity for granted. There were incidents: small but disturbing. Vandalism, public sexual behavior, and violence, and they were all taking place on school grounds during school hours!

The idea of ID badges occurred to me when a new teacher came to me almost in tears. She had caught two students smoking and defacing a bathroom mirror, and when she confronted them, they refused to reveal their names! With nearly two thousand students in our school, it seemed unlikely the culprits would be brought to justice. The last straw came when a security guard brought one of the teens to my office: the girl wasn’t even a student at my school!

If each student were required to wear an ID badge, I thought, teachers would never have this problem. They’d always know the name of the teen they were dealing with, and we could tell at a glance whether or not someone belonged on campus.

There was some resistance, mostly from parents who thought the plan draconian and compared it to the metal detectors through which some students must pass each morning if their school is in a rough neighborhood. But, when they saw the statistics on crime and other offenses, most of them accepted my idea.

Getting Badges on Kids

The badges are not expensive to print. I found them online as “event badges”. They were ready quickly: within a week of my final decision, homerrom teachers were distributing ID tags with matching lanyards. The rules were explained: every student was responsible for his or her own ID. They were expected to wear them at all times (except in their gym uniforms—the coaches convinced me that might be dangerous). Lost or stolen badges must be reported at once. They would be responsible for the cost of any replacements. If they didn’t care for the lanyards, they were welcome to purchase their own bulldog clips. Badges simply had to be displayed right way up, where they were clearly visible. Obscene or inappropriate display resulted in an in-school suspension. I let them know I meant business.

To be fair, I ask everyone on campus to wear an ID card. I created one design for students, one for faculty, one for staff, and one for administrators. Yes, I wear my ID badge proudly every day!

Of course, handing out ID badges did not  solve all the problems in my school, but it made things easier. The next time a non-enrolled teen decided to have a little fun in my high school, the security guard caught him walking through the door. Teachers reported less sass from students they didn’t personally know. We even found fun ways to use the badges: with bar codes and unique numbers, they could serve as raffle tickets during pep rallies, and every Friday, I would draw a number and announce the winner over our intercom. Prizes varied, but the kids did enjoy the free ice cream for themselves and their friends, and the logo T-shirts I sometimes distributed to the winners.

It’s not a perfect solution, but ID badges for high schools was the solution for us.

{ 0 comments }

TicketPrinting.com is please to announced our new, improved resource for local raffle laws.

While states’ rights may be hotly disputed when it comes to some controversial issues, they’re alive and well in the realm of prize draws. Every state in the union (along with Washington, D.C.) has its own particular laws governing the sale of raffle tickets and games of chance. Depending on where you live, selling raffle tickets may be a free-for-all, a carefully governed option for certain non-profit organizations under the strict auspices of the state gaming commission, or just downright illegal. (And even then, at least one DA has written up guidelines for circumventing these rules.)

We recognize that our customers are working hard to earn more money for their particular causes. The last thing you need is a legal hassle. That’s why we’ve compiled links to help direct you to the statutes for your area, and, in some cases, the downloadable PDF files that you’ll need to fill out to get your permit and start selling raffle tickets!

Printing raffle tickets is easy at TicketPrinting.com, and our state raffle law resource helps makes your job even easier.

{ 0 comments }

Theatrical Playbills: Event Programs for Every Performance

The big night is here! It’s the opening performance. Your troop is performing a brand new play, and the theater is packed. You peek out from behind the curtain. There is a kind of buzz in the audience. Folks are finding their seats and leafing through their event pamphlets, which were printed up especially for this event.

Everyone Please Take a Bow

You know when it’s over, this performance will be the talk of the local theater set. You’ll find reviews online and in the local press, so you want to make sure everyone involved is properly acknowledged. A custom event program allows you to do this. Here you can give credit where credit is due, listing all of your actors, designers, stagehands and anyone else involved in your production in a format that is easy for bloggers and reporters to take with them.

Not only do your cast and crew benefit by getting their names and biographies out there, the event program can be useful further along in their careers. Cast and crew can add the custom brochure to their portfolios, proving they were in the production. It’s a permanent record of a fleeting moment in history.

Tell me a Story

For anything you stage, the event brochure is the perfect place to share information about the play or performance itself. You can use space in the program to showcase the author and the idea. What inspired the play? Is there a synopsis?

Additionally, it is often helpful for the audience to have a general idea of the movement of the play. How many acts are there? When can they expect an intermission? This helps your audience keep track of where they are in the evening.

A Stellar Performance

When your non-profit theater group puts on a performance, a custom printed pamphlet helps you communicate your organization’s information with the audience. You can tell them how long your organization has existed and share your mission. You can use this space to solicit donations and provide contact information to do so.

The event program becomes an important marketing tool for this purpose. The audience can find information about the organization side by side with information about the play they just saw and enjoyed. When they bring the pamphlet home with them, audience members may return to it again to illicit a memory of the play. They may want to donate to the organization that made it possible and the event brochure provides them with all they need to do so.

Sponsor, sponsor, sponsors

One important function of a custom event program is that it leave you space to highlight your sponsors. Acknowledge the folks that made it all possible. Include their logos and contact information, so that patrons will associate them with your play. When you include sponsors in your event brochure, you provide them with some free advertising space and acknowledge their important role in your organization. Seeing the generosity of your corporate donors displayed in their programs, patrons may also find themselves more generous with donations.

{ 0 comments }

Event Brochures for Seamless Ceremonies

No two weddings are the same. Each is as unique as the individuals who come together for the purpose of marriage. Some are traditional and religious, some are light and airy. If you’re planning a big ceremony, more than likely, you’ll have a number of guests from different backgrounds with differing expectations attending your ceremony. Designing the right event program for the occasion will help set the tone for your guests and guide them through the service. Custom pamphlets allow you to convey the personality of the couple as well as inform the guests about the proceedings. Easy to design and customize, event programs are an essential to the management of the ceremony and guests expectations.

Who’s in the Party?

If you’re planning a large ceremony, the wedding program is the ideal place to introduce members of the party to the guests. The program provides a place for the couple to acknowledge the bridesmaids, groomsmen, family members, officiants and other individuals participating.

The special event brochure also provides a good place to publicly thank members of the bridal party who have contributed their time and energy to make the couple’s big day possible.

Order of Events

The custom designed and printed event program provides guests with a guide to the ceremony. This booklet provides a schedule of events that the guests can follow throughout the program. From the moment the bride crosses the threshold of the venue, through various aspects of the ceremony, to the receiving line and the reception following the big event, the wedding program provides an important touchstone.

Religious Ceremonies

If the bride and groom choose a religious ceremony, the program can help explain particular aspects of the ceremony to a diverse crowd of guests. A couple holding a traditional Catholic or Jewish wedding might use the event brochure as an opportunity to describe important  aspects of their faith as they pertain to the wedding ceremony.

New Traditions

Additionally, if the bride and groom plan to incorporate a more secular tradition into their ceremony, the event pamphlet can be a place to describe its meaning. The wedding program can include information on the meaning of a unity ceremony such as a candle ceremony or sand ceremony meant to bring blended families together.

Get Me to the Reception on Time

Not only can the wedding brochure include information about the main event, it can also include post wedding events such as the reception or wedding brunch. The bride and groom may choose to include a map to the reception or information about gift giving and donations in the wedding brochure.

Keepsakes

A custom printed wedding program can be an excellent keepsake for attendees. The bride and groom might consider including their engagement photos in the design, so that guests have an image to take with them once the big day is over. Wedding event brochures may find their way into photo albums and memory books.

{ 0 comments }

Disregard Delivery Emails from your Last Order

Dear Valued Customers,

Earlier today, we implemented a new checkout process. Due to an unforeseen issue, we accidentally resent your delivery email from your last order.  Please disregard this delivery email.  We completely apologize for this inconvenience and have since fixed this bug.  Thank you for your patience, and again we apologize for this error.

The TicketPrinting.com Team.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Senator Baucus Touts TicketPrinting.com as Example of Bringing Montana Solutions to Global Markets.

Butte, Mont., (September 13th, 2010) — At the Montana Economic Summit today, Senator Max Baucus and TicketPrinting.com, the leader in ticket printing and event design and marketing, announced the opening of a new customer support center in Lewistown, Montana.  With global growth in North America, Europe, and Australia, TicketPrinting.com is creating new jobs in rural Montana to meet its rapidly growing base of global customers for event marketing services, ticket printing, and its new online event promotion and online ticket sales service, Ticket River™.

For over twelve years, TicketPrinting.com has been the leader in ticket printing and event design and marketing, helping event promoters, entertainment venues, sports leagues, concert promoters, music bands, schools, non-profit organizations, state fairs, and festivals market and ticket their events.  With over 600 ticket templates, design-your-own functionality, several event products, and most importantly, superior customer service, the Montana-based online event and ticketing company has perfected the customer experience, making ticket design, event printing, and online ticket sales as easy as ordering a book online.

“This just goes to show that we can truly build Montana’s economy one business and one employee at a time through our efforts at the Montana Economic Development Summit,” said Baucus, “Folks in Lewistown really know the value of a hard day’s work. The leadership at TicketPrinting.com has the vision to see that the people of Montana are genuine, friendly and hard working, which gives them an edge in the customer service world. TicketPrinting.com and its Ticket River division are paving the way for a successful e-commerce business model that gives the rural Montana workforce a chance to shine.”

“TicketPrinting.com CEO Lance Trebesch said, “We are very proud of the fact that we have more than doubled in size since the last economic summit and were able to grow over 25% last year in the face of the recession while opening up new markets abroad and adding full time employees here at home.  We expanded our operations to include the United Kingdom and Australia in 2009 and are now market leaders. Our teams in Harlowton, Bozeman, and soon to be Lewistown have been a huge competitive advantage, helping us expand to these new markets.  Our success is driven by our commitment to superior customer service and our 100% customer satisfaction guarantee.  You can’t do that without great people.  Great people are all over Montana and we intend to keep expanding in Montana.”

TicketPrinting.com’s customer support center in Lewistown will serve customers throughout North America, and also provide critical global support to TicketPrinting.com’s subsidiaries, UK Ticket Printing and TicketRiver Australia, and to its new online event promotion and tickets sales site, Ticket River™.

TicketPrinting.com has a primary base of operations in Harlowton, employing more than 30 people, full-time and part time in production and customer support positions. The e-commerce business also currently has remote customer support employees working from Livingston, Billings and Lewistown.

“The Montana Economic Development Summit is a fantastic platform and event for our teams to come up with new ways to grow,” said Trebesch. “The breadth and depth of the conference speakers, attendees, and topics provide real opportunities for TicketPrinting.com to explore more ways to expand and close new business, and by doing so, generate new jobs in our Montana operations.  I attend several conferences and the Montana Economic Summit beats all of them hands down in terms of directly helping our company grow and in expanding our network. We thank Senator Baucus and his superb staff for hosting and organizing the Summit.”

About TicketPrinting.com

TicketPrinting.com has been the leader in ticket printing and event design and marketing for over twelve years.  Founded by Mike Yinger, Chairman and CTO, TicketPrinting.com serves over 80,000 customers in entertainment, sports, nonprofit, education, performing arts, and music across North America, Australia, and the U.K.  Lance Trebesch is the CEO of TicketPrinting.com and also serves on the Board of the Better Business Bureau.

{ 0 comments }