The Drummer from Minutes Talks Concert Tickets, Social Networks, and Music

His first week of college in the big city (Grand Forks, North Dakota), rural kid Isaac “Ike” Turner attended his first punk show, “and the game was totally over. Honestly,” he says, “it changed my life.” A year later he was officially a drummer in his first band, and fifteen years and a few bands later, he’s still on the scene. Today, the thirty-something musician plays guitar and drums in a “straightforward, economical punk rock” band called Minutes, “the most satisfying music-related experience” of his life.

Punk rockers at work: Minutes is Chafe Hensley, Mark Larmee, Ryan Nelson, and Isaac Turner.

Minutes formed in 2008, counting Wire, Mission of Burma, Fugazi, and Neil Young among their influences. Turner counts his band mates, all experienced musicians, as his best friends and counts his blessings as a musician. Starting with no expectations, including never really expecting to play a single gig, the band has toured across the Midwest and produced an eponymous seven-inch EP (distributed by Dischord Records), which, to their great surprise, sold out, and has since been made available as a high-quality free download on the website Bandcamp. Currently, they’re working on a full-length album, as well as collaborating with Seattle indie-rock group The Bismarck on another album.

In regard to giving away free music, Turner is “actually very proud,” about being able to share the EP. “Totally free,” he says. “You can put it on your iPod or burn a hundred copies and give them away. I’m really in support of that type of porous border in music.” Using Bandcamp provided a surprising metric of success for the group, allowing it to reach “a lot of folks that it wouldn’t have otherwise.” Although it’s possible to sell music through the site, as well as merchandise, Minutes has not taken this route.

The cover of Minutes' 7-inch EP, which is available as a free download on Bandcamp.com.

Does giving away free music help sell concert tickets? Turner is skeptical. “At our level, which is very small in comparison to, say, Beach House or Weezer or Danzig, it doesn’t really make much of a dent at all in how many people show up to see us play.” Minutes isn’t working on creating a buzz. Rather, the guys in the band are “hard-hat and lunch box dudes, and have always been very workman-like…lots of touring, lots of recording, no financial success or accolades on any grand scale at all.” They’re making music for their own enjoyment, and they’re happy if their work provides others with the same enjoyment.

If giving away free albums doesn’t get fans to your gig, then, what does? According to Turner, it’s Facebook updates. The post that takes thirty seconds to write is “like a neat little reminder for your entire social group, and sometimes that makes a difference in the folks that come out.” The members of the band make an effort to update their fan page on Facebook a couple of times a month. They also maintain a MySpace profile, which, admittedly, has not been updated in some time, although they do try to respond to all comments left by the five hundred or so fans they have on that site.

For now, leaving messages in online forums for those prepared to seek out their messages works for the band. Turner wouldn’t change their methods: “I don’t think we’re too annoying with our current approach. I certainly do not want to be invading anyone’s inbox.” It’s enough for him “to provide a venue for our information to be available (we’re not recluses, after all, although we like Pynchon and Salinger a lot). I like the balance we’ve struck so far.”

In the real world, Minutes relies on flyers, screen-printed by two members of the band, to announce upcoming shows. What else does a punk rocker need to know about marketing? Not much, according to Turner, who believes “the most important aspect of being in a successful band is to never, ever think about selling yourself at all.” For Minutes, it truly is all about the music: “We happen to make music that we love, and we are lucky to play shows.” They don’t need outside help, and are pleased the band can function “without any intermediaries at all—not one person outside of our band makes decisions for us. Not one. We have no managers or screwballs or anything like that. So, as far as marketing, we really, honestly, can let the music speak for itself.”

True to their punk roots, Minutes keep their expectations low. Asked about his goals for the band, he says, “I hope we can keep practicing once a week or so, write songs, record songs, play shows, ad infinitum.” He’d love to tour again, for a week or two, “not necessarily a marathon one like we used to do” but mostly he’s happy playing great shows with great musicians and creating great experiences. He “would say having no goals is a great goal for us, because then we feel absolutely zero pressure whatsoever.” After a moment’s consideration, he adds, “Wait, let me take that back.  I want to finish our album before May. There. That’s my goal.”

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Event Wristbands: What They Do for Me

Tyvek® wristbands used to mean pretty much one thing, as far as I was concerned. You know those paper-plastic bracelets they stick on your wrist, which don’t come off unless you cut them off. It wasn’t so long ago that I thought they were meant exclusively to keep kids away from the bar at large events. At big festivals, we’d often flash our I.D.s to get one, which was usually printed with the logo of some large beer company. Event Wristbands meant beer.

That was before I became involved in events from the other side: the planning aspect. No doubt, from a liability standpoint, over-21 wristbands are still a great asset. They keep me and my bartenders safe from teenagers (you’d be surprised at the number of teens sporting a few gray hairs, or even a bald spot) but they do a lot more. What do I use them for?

• VIP Passes—if there are private rooms or side events, I can keep them exclusive by creating unique wristbands available only to those who pay for the VIP Pass
• Backstage Security—when I’ve booked a popular band, it’s important to keep that backstage area secure, so distinctive wristbands are issued to musicians and those authorized to be back stage
• Staff and Volunteers—my guests and I can easily identify official representatives of the event if I choose a vivid color for their wristbands; a lost child knows who to ask for help, and I can identify my people at a glance
• Event Passes—sometimes I don’t issue tickets in advance, so what’s the point of offering them at the gate? A wristband serves as proof of payment, so we can determine with ease if someone has jumped a fence

This last use surprises some people, who consider these recyclable wristbands something of a luxury. First of all, when I buy them in bulk, I usually get a nice discount from the manufacturer. They’re not expensive at all. In fact, they’re really cheap: substantially cheaper than printing event tickets: we’re talking in the realm of 8 or 9 cents a piece, for a wristband custom printed with the name of my event and my sponsor’s logo. They’re also harder to counterfeit, since they’re made from DuPont’s™ unique Tyvek® material. And I still imprint them with the name and logo of my event, or of my sponsor, for greater visibility.

My favorite thing about party wristbands? I know I’ve hosted a really successful event when I see someone proudly sporting my event wristband a few days after the festival’s ended!

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Event Tickets can do more that just admit one.

Sure, it’s easy to rip the stub off a perforated general admission ticket and drop one half into a bin, while your guests jam the other half into the pocket of their jeans, where it is destined to take an all-expenses paid trip through the washing machine. Or, you could start to look at the tickets to your upcoming event in an entirely different way.

Your event’s tickets can take on a life of their own when you breath new purpose into them. Printing tickets can open doors for your organization. Those tickets are pretty versatile!

Print your event tickets with an eye for creativity, and they will serve you well.

• Advertisement

With an eye-catching design and your organization’s logo printed right on the body of the ticket, your tickets can serve you well from the moment they leave the box office or the sales teams’ hands. Handsome, well-designed general admission tickets have a tendency to hang around on corkboards or refrigerators, where they help generate interest in your event and your mission.

• Souvenir

Event Tickets don’t have to be ticket-sized. Think differently. If you find an image you love, one that really represents you, why not make it a little bigger? A larger format VIP Pass, Invitation, or a Poster or a Flyer, can work as a ticket, and such a ticket can live on after the event as a frameable souvenir. You can even create inexpensive frames to pass out to your guests.

• Raffle Ticket

High quality Event Tickets should be printed with sequential numbering on the body and the stub, and what more do you need to hold a prize draw? A Raffle Ticket that comes with the price of admission is a value-added reward for your guests, and helps to boost ticket sales. Just remind your guests to hold on to their ticket stubs. You can drop the body of the ticket into a hat, from which you’ll draw the winning number.

• Game Piece

Print a few different designs, and let each Event Ticket stand as a game piece for some activity at your event. You might use them to divide guests into groups, or to lead them to other parts of the event. The image might be a clue in a game, or a picture of an item in a scavenger hunt. Uploading your own image to a ticket with a space for that purpose really allows you to customize the event. Make it whatever you want.

• Security

Don’t worry about gatecrashers. Using Event Tickets, or even Event Badges, helps you keep the venue secure. You can restrict access to certain areas, or quickly double check if someone has paid for a ticket. Printing different tickets, or adding VIP Passes, lets you scale your security: certain tickets provide certain levels of mobility. No ticket, no access.

You’ve got to have tickets for most events, just to serve as proof of purchase. And if you’re already printing your own Event Tickets online, why not spend a little extra time putting those tickets to work for you?

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Need a little help getting those donor wallets open and jump starting event ticket sales? Maybe you haven’t provided a great enough incentive. Give your supporters the gift of glamor: make your next fundraiser a fabulous casino night. Recreate the allure of Monte Carlo and start selling event tickets for your casino night.

You’ll need:

• A crew of eager volunteers
• Games of chance (call a local party supply company for rentals)
• A passel of donated prizes
• A venue of sufficient size
• Flashy print publicity
• Some event ticket printing

If your organization supports it, a cash bar will truly make the night successful. You can boost bar sales with Drink Tickets. Remember: inebriated gamblers are your most profitable gamblers.

Start by determining whether there is interest in this night among your group. Once you have enough support, you can start rounding up the volunteers. Take some time to ascertain which skills each volunteer possesses, and then dole out the tasks. Events flow more efficiently if everyone has their own job. Decide whether your volunteers will work the game tables—many party supply companies will also supply the croupiers and dealers.

Meet regularly with your team to check on progress. This will help you see, in advance, if you’ve assigned the proper tasks to the right people. Make a schedule: who will book the venue, and when? How will you distribute event tickets? If there is to be live entertainment, that must also be arranged. Of course, it wouldn’t be a casino night without fabulous prizes.

Your best bet is to start early and look for impressive donations. However, even if nobody has the courtesy to offer you a speedboat or a big screen HDTV, don’t despair. Keep asking. Ask local business owners if they would be willing to make a donation in exchange for extra publicity (you can mention them as sponsors on your event tickets, in the event program, and in other forums, wherever you promote the event). If you get a lot of great donations, amp up your fundraising ability by adding a prize draw to the event. Then you can start selling raffle tickets well in advance, and add another fun component to the night as you announce the winners.

When you print up your event tickets, you can create matching event collateral at the same time: flyers and posters, invitation and raffle tickets. Printing event tickets and matching event kits really helps you get your publicity going. Announce your casino fundraising event:

• In your print or email newsletter
• To your mailing list, using printed invitation
• On your website and allied forums
• Via a press release, sent to all local news outlets

Then, start selling event tickets!

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When you’re printing event tickets for your upcoming car show, you’ve got to be ready rev up the right message. A group of Fiat enthusiasts who spend every weekend replacing spark plugs and polishing air filters has a different focus than a bunch of rat rods who just want to get their vehicles on the road. Whoever you are and whatever you drive, if you enjoy gathering together to admire your favorite vehicles, you’re probably pretty excited about organizing your group’s next car show. Now, it’s time to get your audience excited as well.

From small gatherings held in local parks attracting a limited number of ground pounders, to the fanciest, arena-style car show where dreams seem to roll off the assembly line and into your desires, you can make an event ticket to your automotive show the hottest ticket in town. I’ve seen small clubs forging their own way: a Buick club that held their show in conjunction with a local high school homecoming, a low rider show that took advantage of closed streets downtown during an annual cultural festival. The more exposure for your automotive club, the better.

If your show is to be small and informal, you may not want to sell tickets, and if your club is participating in a much larger event, with corporate sponsorship and a lot of organization, you may not need to sell tickets yourself. However, if you are selling tickets, make your show a success by selling the maximum number of tickets! How will you get the word out? Try advertising in some of these venues:

• Email newsletter
• Internet forum
• Car magazine
• Local entertainment paper
• Bulletin board at family-run parts shop or garage
• Word of mouth

Consider what kinds of tickets will sell. Perhaps you won’t charge for admission, but will require an event ticket to exhibit a car. Or, with a large show, you might offer varying levels of access: one event ticket gets visitors into the main exhibit, but VIP passes are required to enter certain rooms. I’ve also seen shows where entrance was free, and anyone could exhibit, but organizers sold tickets for the privilege of entering cars to be judged.

If you want to add a contest aspect to your show, how will you award prizes? You can do a “best of breed” competition, if it’s to be a large show. Or, you can open up the field. Consider these subjective categories:

• Most authentic restoration of a classic car
• Prettiest car
• Best craftsmanship
• Most originality in a custom car
• Best precision in workmanship

You can even add to your own profits by adding a prize draw to the event and selling raffle tickets. Just be sure to choose the perfect prizes for the raffle as well as for the contest.

• A year’s membership to your automotive club
• Subscription to a popular car magazine
• Cash
• Gift certificates to a parts catalog or store
• A set of new tires

Printing and selling event tickets is a great way to motivate your group to really plan out the details of the show. Once you have them in hand, the excitement level becomes palpable, and you know it’s really time to get the show on the road!

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Tyvek ® Wristbands for the Win!

You're preparing for a big crowd, and you want to manage it effectively. Event tickets get your guests through the turnstiles, but you want to make sure you can keep your attendees organized once they're at your venue. For this purpose, Tyvek ® wristbands are the perfect tool.

What is Tyvek ®?

Tyvek ® is a non-woven, synthetic material, with qualities of both plastic and paper, manufactured by Dupont ™. It can be printed on like paper, but it's durable like plastic, resisting folding, bending and tearing. It's strong, but lightweight and comfortable. Guests wearing admission wristbands made of this material may be surprised to learn that it is also waterproof, so your event can go on whether it rains or shines.

Tyvek ® is not only used for event wristbands. It  can be found in construction materials,  car and boat covers, advertising banners and posters, shipping envelopes, packaging for medical equipment and protective clothing. It has even been used by some designers as a material for fashion collections.

Tyvek ® Can be Upcycled and Recycled

One of the big draws of this material is that it can be reused and recycled. The material has found a strong following among crafters and "upcyclers" (individuals who creatively repurpose used materials).  One need only do a quick search on the internet to find a myriad of Tyvek ® reuse projects on DIY websites. From durable wallets made from reclaimed envelopes, to ponchos, purses, tents, and kites, Tyvek ® can be reused in countless creative ways.

Another benefit of this material is that it is recyclable. When you use wristbands at your big event, you can ask guests to return them at the end of the day. Made of polyethylene, similar to the material that plastic bottles are made from, this product is fully recyclable. Both you and your guests will feel better knowing that your event wristbands will be put to good reuse. You can find out more about how to recycle Tyvek ® by visiting the Dupont ™ website

Keeping Your Event Secure With Tyvek ® Wristbands

Wristbands can be found in a variety of colors, so that you can organize particular groups of guests. Whether you want to keep your underage attendees from sidling up to the bar or get your VIP guests into a backstage gathering, the brightly colored event wristbands can be used to quickly and effectively discern who should be where.

If you want to brand this material with a particular logo or text, brand away. Tyvek ® wristbands are best suited to inkjet printing which will not smear or rub. So when you decide to print event wristbands, you can submit your unique graphic to be included in their design. You can also order custom security wristbands that feature sequential numbering and unique holographic foils for quick visual checks. This  helps prevent imposters from entering your venue without paying.

Tyvek ® wristbands make use of a tamper-proof adhesive when fitted to an attendee's wrist. They can be attached securely and snugly. Because they resist tearing, they cannot be removed without destroying the wristband, so individuals can't exchange one band for another or pass a used wristband on to a friend.

A Unique Material for a Unique Event

When you're ready to ensure the security of a big event design, print and buy Tyvek ® wristbands. Made of a unique material, they are both cost effective and secure. You can order and print cheap custom wristbands online using your own custom logos and text.  Your event is special, and it takes a special material to help manage it!

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Wristband Reminders

Consider the Event Wristband, a thin Tyvek thread that connects your organization and your supporters. When your annual fundraising event is over, how do you stay connected with your attendees? You want to keep your cause on their radar throughout the year, and you want them to return with enthusiasm when the time comes to host your event again. You may stay in contact with your guests through personal interactions, direct mailers, newsletters and email updates, but these are only effective if you've done the work to build goodwill with your patrons from the beginning.

How do your patrons stay connected with your cause? Do they remember the reason for the event once the last band has left the stage and the kettle corn has gone cold? Does your event or cause come up in casual conversation? Are your patrons left with positive reminders of the big day that they can turn to once it's done? Will they keep their Event Wristbands to remind themselves of the wonderful time they had at your past event?

While planning the actual event is important, it's just as important to consider what happens afterward. Helping your guests create positive memories is necessary to growing your event over time, and your Event Wristbands can be part of those memories.

Start with your Event

What keeps your guests buying event tickets year after year? First and foremost, you know how to put on a great occasion! It's well-planned and well-executed, for a worthy cause, and provides your guests with the opportunity to create memories will last forever. 

Guests who return have strong associations with your event.  It's already special to them. Perhaps a married couple wearing your carnival wristbands at this year's celebration met on your midway at a past one, and they return to reclaim the happy feeling of that day, and to collect a new wristband to add to their memory book. Maybe your neighborhood picnic has become someone's family tradition or your annual art fair has become a festive occasion the whole community looks forward to and plans around. Last year's wristband may remind them to buy this year's tickets.

New attendees are experiencing your annual fundraising event for the first time. They may already feel strongly about your cause, but it's just as likely they were drawn to your event not by the cause but by the activities you have to offer.  Maybe they don't know much about the women's shelter you're fundraiser is benefiting, but you've booked a band they really want to see. Your goal is to show them a great time that they will connect with your charity in the years that follow. From the moment they don their admission wristbands and walk through the gates, you have their attention. Make good use of it!

Provide Opportunities for Memories

Don't miss any opportunity to help your guests create strong, lasting memories.  From the moment you plan your promotion through the day of your event, you can lay the groundwork to keep your cause in your guest's hearts and minds through the months and years to come. Every time and in every way you interact with your patrons you sculpt how they perceive your cause.

Start by choosing collateral appropriate to your audience. The right images and language can draw the attention of your patrons and sustain it for a long time. Before your fundraiser, you can advertise using well-designed posters and flyers or direct mailers such as invitations and postcards.  During your event maintain the same branding on your tickets, admission wristbands, and other collateral.

Custom tickets work well for crowd management, but custom event wristbands are also quite useful. Patrons wear these from the moment they walk through your gate until after they leave. Different color wristbands can help you quickly discern the ages of guests for drink concessions or tell who has access to which activities. Most importantly they serve as constant reminders for the guest themselves. They need only to catch a glimpse of their wrists to remember the reason for the day. When they leave the event, admission wristbands can also be the cause of conversation and questions helping you drum up interest in your cause by word of mouth.

Something to Hold Onto

After your fundraising event, your guests will be left with many strong memories of the time they spent there. The collateral they take with them can help serve as a reminder of your day. Along with the pictures they might take, your guests will also have your branded tickets and event wristbands to help evoke a sense of nostalgia. When these are branded with the design of your event, they become souvenirs of the wonderful time they had and reminders of the cause you hope to promote.

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Buying event tickets has never been easier. From the Internet to overnight delivery, you can offer your audience multiple possibilities for purchasing tickets. Selling event tickets? Provide as many options to your potential audience as possible. The more user friendly you are, the more tickets you’ll sell.

Consider these three aspects when figuring out how you’re going to sell your tickets:

·      Where – Physical sales may have decreased with the rise of the internet, but it’s still important to have a real world presence

·      How – Can your audience buy online? Over the phone? In local businesses? At the box office the day of the show?

·      Why – Determine the reasons your audience are buying these tickets so you can cater to them more efficiently

Location, Location, Location

No matter how great your event, people won’t always come to you. You have to go to the people. When dealing with the virtual world, it’s important to advertise on web sites that target your audience demographic. The Internet is a great way to attract attention, but you want to make sure it’s the kind of attention that’s going to help you sell more event tickets. You don’t want to waste time or money spreading the word to those who won’t listen, or risk losing patrons by advertising on the wrong sites.

The same can be said for real world locations as well. Your marketing plan should be backed by research that tells you exactly where your audience spends their time. If your event features a local attraction, consider making your tickets available for purchase at locally owned businesses instead of the chain stores. If it’s a concert, make sure you have a presence at music stores.

Make sure you cover all the bases, no matter how obvious. Say you’re putting on a performance by an Indian musician. Consider some way of making your event tickets available through Indian restaurants or markets that cater to ethnic food. Even if you can’t sell the tickets themselves, you can at least provide the information necessary for your audience to purchase them, like a phone number to call or a web site address. 

Options

The “how” aspect of selling event tickets would seem pretty simple, particularly these days.  Armed with a credit or debit card, your audience goes online, picks up the phone, or stands in line to get their tickets. But there are other options out there, and all of them will make it that easier for your customer.

Systems such as Paypal allow users to use their own online transaction service for their purchases. People often prefer to use such a service, as opposed to having to send their credit card information out over the Internet.

E-checks are also becoming more and more popular. Customers simply provide their routing and account numbers and the transactions works just like a check.

Consider the Reasons

It’s important to consider why someone is buying your event tickets and use that information to make their experience easier.

If your event is family oriented or your demographic includes people who buy multiple tickets at one time, consider offering group rates. Not only will this appeal to your audience, but it might encourage those single ticket buyers to invite their friends! Another good tactic for family events is reduced rates for children, with free admission for babies.

Group rates can be used for more than just multiple ticket orders; they’re also great for frequent events. If you plan on having a series of events on a regular basis, then selling event tickets for multiple dates at a discounted price can be a great incentive for your audience, and helps with advanced ticket sales.

Finally, nothing helps you stay connected with your potential audience like starting a mailing list. Both email lists and physical mailing lists let you stay in contact with those who are interested in your event, allowing you to let them know when the event tickets are going to be on sale well in advance.

Making the purchasing experience as user friendly as possible can be the key in making your event a success.

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Food-lovers are an ample and diverse crowd with diverse dietary needs. There are vegans, vegetarians, diabetics, carnivores, those needing gluten-free foods, Paleolithic, or kosher diets. Some people are allergic to dairy, while others will only eat cruelty-free animal products, raw foods, or grass-fed beef. This summer, millions of people with a common interest in food and radically different tastes will flock to food festivals all over the country. Customized, color-coded wristbands can increase the efficiency and safety of your event.

All you need to do is determine which categories of dietary restrictions are most likely to be represented at your event, then be sure that your vendors tag their offerings with the same visual color-code as your Event Wristbands. Here’s how.

* Decide on Your Color-Coding: Once you’ve settled on your categories, assign each one a color. For instance, you may choose red for meat-eaters, green for vegans, and so forth. Be sure to consider ease of use for the staff and participants at the festival. You should distribute the coded list that corresponds to color and significant to vendors and staff in advance, so they can become familiar with it. Be sure to print out extra wristbands, so that vendors can attach the correct colors to sample dishes or menus, allowing your guests to know at a glance if the food is right for them.

* Have Fun with the Design: For each wristband, in addition to the color-coding, you may also include a graphic that shows the wearer’s dietary needs. For a vegan, you may include a graphic of fresh veggies, while a vegetarian who eats dairy may have the veggies with an egg. Meat-eaters’ wristband may have an animal, and so forth. Have fun with his aspect of the design and your Event Wristbands, with some simple printing, become engaging to the wearer. Most people are proud of their dietary choices and consider them part of their identity, so a meat-eater may proudly display a bracelet with a cow on it, while the vegan will be equally happy to show off their carrot design, providing your festival more free publicity.

* The 21 and Over Crowd: No matter what you decide upon for your final design, if you will serve alcoholic beverages, you need a fast way of identifying whether the wearer is 21 years of age or over. Something as simple as a square that may be stamped or checked on the wristband can show alcohol vendors that the wearer is of legal age, proving that they were carded upon entrance into the event. Or, you can distribute a second wristband with a radically different design and color for easy identification.

* Keep It Simple: A multi-level system of Event Wristbands works best when it is simple, allowing vendors and staff to identify distinctions at a glance. Imagine how grateful a vegan will be if someone is able to shout, “Hey, do you really want to eat that? It’s fried in lard!” upon glimpsing the green bracelet around their wrist and the chimichanga in their hand. Fortunately, once you’ve created your color-coded system, it’s easy to order and print your wristbands online. A little bit of advance thought will make your event that much more successful, and your patrons will be grateful. No one will have to quiz busy food-prep workers about ingredients. Nobody will have to stand in line hungry while someone else quizzes busy food-prep workers.

* Adding Advertising: In any case, your Event Wristbands will serve another purpose: advertisement. Adding the logo of your company, sponsor, or organization provides added exposure for the event and the group. People will be wearing your wristband throughout the day and perhaps into the following day. Choose a waterproof DuPont Tyvek wristband, to guard against weather and hand-washing and let that paper bracelet do its work as long as it hangs around. No matter how small the space, don’t forget to add that extra advertisement.

It may seem like a radical idea, but people are more concerned with their diets than ever. Give your guests what they want by color-coding your wristbands for dietary restrictions at your next food festival!

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Creating custom wristbands for your event turns a simple security feature into a great marketing tool both during and after your event. A wristband may appear a small space to work with, but it can be very effective in its inclusion of pertinent marketing information, as well as its inherent visibility.  

You can use wristbands in lieu of event tickets, or in addition to tickets, in which case your guests receive a customized paper bracelet at the door. The design and purposes of your event wristbands are dependent upon the event you are hosting. Different colors can denote different functions: VIP, over 21, plus simple general admission, allowing mobility for your participants as well as added exposure for your brand. Since it is the season of outdoor festival events around the country, let’s use this as our example as to how to best maximize your wristbands’ effectiveness.

*  Your Customizable Wristbands: Custom Wristbands offer effective marketing, advertising your event while also allowing for exceptional organization, so start designing them before you begin selling tickets. If you will serve alcohol or offer VIP admission, color-coding is a quick and simple way to make the event an organized success. Decide on the color coding and choose the text and image that will appear on the wristband. Include the logo for your event, your sponsor’s logo, or an image that can help you brand the celebration. The wristband can also include times, dates, and venue of your event. The inclusion of these pieces of information will instantly act as an advertising tool. People leaving your event will be walking advertisements, evoking curiosity.

*  Waterproof Wristbands: For music festivals or food festivals that continue all day, or over multiple days, you may want to use waterproof wristbands to keep them from discoloring and deteriorating from sweat, weather, and hand-washing. Waterproof materials will also encourage the wearer to continue to wear the wristband after they leave the venue, maximizing your event’s exposure.

*  Custom Printed Wristbands: Perhaps you can use an online template to create your customized wristband and print them as needed. Designing and printing them yourself cuts out the middleman and saves you money. Custom printing also provides event promoter control over the color of the wristbands, the quality (waterproof), and the overall design that will maximize marketing.

*  Research Quality Discount Wristbands: Especially if your event is going to be very large, research where you can design and print quality discount wristbands. Many online vendors can help you to create customized, quality wristbands for a reasonable price, especially if you will be creating these in great volume.

The use of event wristbands can give your event an added marketing edge in its constant visual exposure. They will also keep your event organized through the inclusion of important information and a color-coding system that tells your door staff necessary information about your visitors: whether they are 21 and over, a VIP, or general admission. And don't forget: a well-designed wristband becomes a fun souvenir for your participants.

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