From Tragedy to Triumph: A Literacy Event in Honor of Alex Johnson

“The tickets were beautiful and added class to the event.”

~Denise Johnson, Event Coordinator, Mother of Honoree

On September 17, The Alex Johnson Memorial Concert was held to benefit the Mississippi County Literary Council.  The fundraiser included an artists’ reception, silent art auction, and a concert. It was held in memory of Alex Johnson, a student and a tutor at Northeast Arkansas College, where he volunteered for the literacy council. In 2009, Alex died in a car crash while traveling home from his college choir practice. He was 22.

Along with honoring the memory of her son, “the event was an effort to raise money for adult literacy in our county,” Denise told me.

In order to advertise the event “we used Facebook, posters, newspaper articles and ads.” The Facebook page for the event was frequently updated with information about the event. The page was a hub of information. Announcements were made when new art was donated for the auction. Information about the performers, The Reba Russell Band, Jo Jo Jefferies, and Lincoln Lane, were included. There were also links to interviews and articles that had been written in advance of the event.

Denise participated in interviews and a number of articles were posted online advertising the event.

For Denise the value of word of mouth advertising could not be overestimated. You can sell more tickets “one on one” than by advertising for patrons to go elsewhere and buy them.

For the ticket, the organizers chose the “Natural Riffs” design. This ticket features a warm color palette. An acoustic guitar and stage lights provide the backdrop for the event’s information. With sequential numbering and detachable stubs, these tickets help organizers keep track of sales and attendees.

The fundraiser was a success, ” Everything went very well.  [The] highlight of the event was song sung by a former Miss. Co. resident and sister of the honoree.” Denise said.

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Get the Recognition You Deserve with ID Badges at Events

Nothing is worse than not being recognized at your own event.

Say what you will about someone forgetting your name or what company you work for, but when you hold an event, like a gathering of a group of members from a club for example, that last thing you want is the attendees forgetting that you are the one that put the whole thing together!

You Deserve That Credit

You earned it with all that hard work you put into the planning and organization. You’ve spent countless hours reserving the perfect spot, making the invitations, and coming up with fresh ideas about how to earn money for the cause you all support.

What Can Be Done About It?

• Include a 4 x 6 photo of yourself on the front of your invitations
• Print your name in bold, italics using size 72 font on your invitations
• Require your attendees to RSVP by tattooing your name on their hands, and sending you a picture of the tattoo as proof
• Use event/ID Badges to identify (most importantly) yourself and others at your event

Identify Yourself

Event/ID badges are a great way to identify you to others quickly and easily. You can have your name and title printed any way you want, right on the front, showing others that you indeed are the one who put on the event. That way, you can get all the credit due such a big responsibility and job well done.

Identify Others

Not only can you use ID badges at your event to identify yourself, you can use them just in case (oops!) you forget someone else’s name too! If that influential member who you’ve had lunch with once a year for the past few years walks up to you and his name just slipped your mind, you can simply glance at his badge, saving yourself from an embarrassing situation. If an important guest or someone of high status who wouldn’t normally attend an event like yours were to come, you would want everyone to know who they were and that they were a guest.

Wear it with Style

One of the things I really liked about the event badges was that they were so easy to wear. We had the option of clipping them to our shirts or pants, or we could use a lanyard to wear them around our necks.  I used a lanyard for mine, which I had ordered in the colors of our club with the membership logo printed right on them.  It looked great, and when I wore my badge, everyone knew I was responsible for putting on the event!

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Beautiful Event, Beautiful Benefit

When Stacey Scott of Harper Monroe, a mobile spa service based in New York, wanted to host an Elegant Affair for Wellness and Beauty benefit to raise awareness of her business and funds for the Humane Society of New York, she chose the Red Rose design from TicketPrinting.com for her flyers and tickets.

The design features a close up of a red rose in full bloom with room for custom text and information. It provides the perfect backdrop for a beautiful event.

I had the opportunity to catch up with Stacey Scott to learn more about the event she hosted and some of the strategies she used to get her team engaged and sell tickets.

“We deliver spa services directly to the doorstep of our clients and host spa party events.” Stacey explained to me. “The purpose of this event was to help raise money for the Humane Society of New York and to bring more awareness about our business.” The event was held at the Royalton Hotel in Manhattan on Saturday July 23^rd. Participants were treated to two spa services and a wellness consultation. Appetizers, desserts, and cocktails were provided, and take home gifts were given to attendees as well.

When a business hosts an event, a strategy for selling tickets is essential. Stacey’s team had to analyze what they would need for the event to be successful. “First, we set a profit goal and worked up a break even analysis and decided how many tickets we needed to sell.” Making sure team members are motivated to get the word out and sell tickets is also important. “Then the tickets were split equally between team members who were given “gift” incentives to reach their goal.”

How did Stacey’s team market the event? They used several methods, from reaching out to current clients to turning to social media. “We dug into our current client base (which is relatively small…we are a start-up) and reached out to them by cold calling. We sent messages on Twitter and Facebook and used our Constant Contact account to try and reach a larger audience.

“We were able to pull off a very lovely event and our guests seemed very happy. Highlights were the luxurious services provided by my staff…mani/pedis, facials, and conditioning hair treatments and cuts. The venue was top notch and the food and wine was awesome. ”

What advice would Stacey share with those planning a similar event? “I’d say that unless you already have experience throwing profit making events, you should plan several months ahead…work out a detailed financial analysis and set a contingency plan for what to do if ticket sales are less than what is expected.”

How did TicketPrinting.com help to enhance Stacey’s event? She was pleased that a variety of payment options were available and the professional air the tickets lent the event. “It gave a different option than buying through PayPal. It provided a very professional looking alternative than just receiving tickets in the mail.”

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Fast, Easy, Economical Online Ticket Sales

If you want to make music, you can do that in your garage, on a subway train, or out in the woods. If you want to sell tickets to your upcoming performance, there’s a little more work involved. Big symphonies have their own box offices, but what about you? Even if you can sell tickets through a box office, can you sell them at 2 o’clock in the morning? Can you serve patrons in the middle of a blizzard, or when you’re short staffed?

Wouldn’t you rather give your fans the option of purchasing concert tickets online?

You don’t need an expensive shopping engine built into your website, and you don’t need to pay a third-party company big bucks to help you advertise and sell your next gig. All you need is a simple application like Ticket River.

It’s the fastest, easiest, most economical way to sell tickets online, providing you with maximum versatility for ticket sales. Whether you’re selling tickets for multiple dates, multiple venues, or multiple levels of access, it’s simple for you to set up your event, create your own page, and start selling tickets. You can even sell tickets for reserved seating events, and choose whether your patrons will print their tickets out at home, or pick them up at will call.

Best of all, this service is free!

It costs nothing to create a page for your concert. The only fee is a 3% surcharge on each ticket sold. You can pay it yourself, pass the cost on to your fans, or split the cost with them. Compared to markups of 50% or greater with online ticket sites like TicketMaster, that’s not much.

Performing a free concert? You can still use Ticket River to ask your guests to check in online, so you know how many to expect. If your part of a nonprofit group, you can even collect donations on the site.

All you have to do is log in, enter your event details, trick out your page with a background and a photo of your choice (if you want) and you’re ready to start selling. Ticket River provides you with links to send to potential guests, tracks all your sales, and handles payments from PayPal and all major credit cards.

You can use this service in conjunction with any other method you’re using to sell tickets, so you’ve got nothing to lose. Help the music-lovers of the world find even more to love about your music: simple, online concert ticket sales.

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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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If school fundraising is part of your job description, you’re probably well aware of two things:

1)   Your school’s financial future depends, in some part, on distributing tickets to your upcoming fund raising event.

2)   You’ve got plenty of other things to do in the front office besides distributing tickets.

Do you put the burden of selling Event Tickets on parents and teachers and then deal with the hassle of tracking sales from multiple sources, collecting and verifying money, hounding an unwilling sales team to work harder? Do you depend on the kids to start selling, and deal with the same problems on a grand scale?

How about an option that requires five minutes of commitment on your part, and does all the rest of the work for you?

If you’ve got tickets to sell, we’ve got an app for that.

It’s called Ticket River, and it’s literally the easiest, most reliable, and least expensive way to sell tickets to any school event. Even if you’re not selling tickets, it’s a great way to encourage people to check in to events they plan on attending, so you can get a head count in advance. It even lets you collect donations for your non-profit school!

All you’ve got to do is log on and create a page for your event. It takes about five minutes, and there’s help to help you get started if computers aren’t your thing. You’ll just enter the event information into a template: what kind of event you’re holding, how much tickets cost. You can upload some photographs to liven up the page, and choose a background, as well. And that’s it!

Once you’ve created a page with all your details, all you need to do is direct your students, their parents, and other guests to the URL where they can buy tickets. Ticket River will process credit card or PayPal payments, generate virtual tickets that can be printed out at home, and even track your sales for you. If you’d rather issue your own paper tickets, you can order them from Ticket River’s sister company, TicketPrinting.com, and hold them for attendees as they arrive at the event. The service is completely free: there’s only a small surcharge for each ticket sold (3%—the lowest in the industry), which you can pay yourself, pass on to your customers, or split between the two.

Now, doesn’t that sound a lot easier than waiting for kids to count out their pennies as a line forms around your desk and the phone rings off the hook?

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TicketPrinting Event Series: The High School Prom

We have used TicketPrinting.com for every major event our school has had for the past three years.  I always get compliments on the posters hanging in the hallway advertising the event, and the tickets we receive always look so nice and make keeping track of our tickets sales easy.

~Kristen Kelly, Event Coordinator

Senior Prom is a special time for high school students. It’s a rite of passage that marks an important part of a young person’s life, a time of celebration and fun. Like any event involving a large number of attendees, a Senior Prom needs to be planned and coordinated carefully to ensure everything go es off without an problem and everyone has a good time.

I recently had the opportunity to discuss, Cleveland Heights High School 2011 Senior Prom with its coordinator, Kristen Kelly. Commonly called just “Heights,” the high school was founded in 1901. With an enrollment of approximately 1,800 students, the high school is built around a mod el of smaller schools within the main one, which allows faculty to offer a unique learning experience to its students.

The Senior Prom was held on June 3, 2011. Kristen tells me, ” The Prom went off without a hitch.  The students all looked lovely, the dinner was wonderful and they had a great time dancing.  Some of them wore masks that they had made at home.  The students seemed to think the best part was the dancing.  They really like the DJ this year.  They also enjoyed the crowning of the prom king and queen.”

In an academic environment, the primary focus is making sure students are spending their time learning. Faculty and staff have to maintain a fine balance when preparing for events like prom. Of course, they want to make sure students get excited about the event and have a great time, but they also need to make sure they are paying attention to their lessons. I asked Kristen how they managed ticket sales this year?

“We sold tickets after school 3 days a week for a month, which worked well for our Seniors.  It gave them plenty of time to arrange to purchase their tickets, and didn’t interrupt the school day.” Kristen told me. Students had plenty of opportunity to buy their prom tickets outside of class hours.

For someone planning a similar event, Kristen offers this advice: “Make sure to stay organized, publicize, and have plenty of chaperones.  Having a company that specialized in event planning take care of the event ensures that it runs smoothly.”

Whether you’re planning a  themed Senior Prom or a Fundraiser for your school, you will find plenty of customizable tickets and collateral to match your needs in the TicketPrinting.com design gallery.

Thanks again, Kristen and Cleveland Heights High School for sharing your experience and advice with TicketPrinting.com. Best wishes and congratulations to your 2011 Graduating Class.

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Trinity Services, Inc. “a nonprofit, non-sectarian organization, was founded in 1950 as the Trinity School in Joliet, Illinois.” Its purpose is to serve individuals with developmental disabilities in a variety of ways. From residential services to vocational programs and more, Trinity Services, Inc. employs over  1,000 individuals and provides services to more than 1,400 individuals.

On May, 19, 2011, Trinity Services, Inc. hosted its 18^th Annual Tom O’Reilly Memorial Golf Outing. The theme was “Feel the Funk,” and volunteers dressed up in funky outfits reminiscent of the flower power era. The organization designed and printed custom tickets from TicketPrinitng.com to promote their event.

I recently corresponded with Sherry Ladislas, Director of Development at Trinity Services, Inc.,  to learn more about her experience.

“The best part of the day was the camaraderie people felt as everyone came together for dinner after their game of golf,” Sherry told me. “Other highlights include the interaction golfers experienced on the course with our volunteers, and the live radio broadcast by a local radio station from our event. The DJ interviewed seven of our employees who were able to talk about the multitude of services we provide to people with developmental disabilities and mental illness.”

It sounds like the event was a success. Folks enjoyed themselves, established bonds and money was raised for the organization.  In order to host a successful and well-attended fundraiser, an organization should have a strategy that allows it to maximize its ticket sales. I asked Sherry what tactics her organization employed in order to sell the most tickets. Trinity Services, Inc. employed several methods

Feel The Funk Volunteer Costumes

1.  We included them in the invitation, which was effective,

2.  We sent them out to our core constituents, also very effective,

3.  Event planning committee members also sold tickets. While this was effective for us, the outcome will be determined by the number of committee members who sell tickets, and the number of contacts they have within their own networks,

4.  Lastly, we sold tickets the day of the event.

Sherry and Trinity Services, Inc. chose to have design and print tickets with TicketPrinting .com . I asked Sherry how the products enhanced her event.

“Ticketprinting.com is an easy way to get raffle tickets quickly, which is important when there are so many other details that require your attention as you prepare for a special event. On a couple of occasions we underestimated the number of tickets we thought we’d sell and had to order more. They arrived very quickly so we didn’t miss important ‘sales time.’”

For those planning a similar event, Sherry left me with this advice, “There are so many organizations out there doing great work in a this difficult economy. Like Trinity Services, many of them have golf outings as a means to bring additional dollars to support the work they do. We just held our 18th annual golf classic. Based on our experience, I would suggest finding unique ways to engage golfers – something that makes your outing stand out from all the rest.”

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Beyond the Event Brochure: Printing Your Ad Book

What’s so great about ad books? For the cost of printing a simple event booklet, you can earn many times more money, gain valuable sponsorship relationships, and offer special rewards to the guests at any event. An ad book is a way to tie your specific community—the members of your group or organization—with the larger community in which your event will take place.

An ad book is a printed booklet in which anyone can buy space—think whole pages, half pages, quarter pages, even eighth or sixteenth pages, if the dimensions of the booklet are large enough—to share any message that might be relevant to your guests or patrons. These might be personal words of encouragement, as are often seen when ad books accompany high school graduations, or valuable coupons for books printed in conjunction with large conferences. They may also be simply informational ads, which will cost less than other forms of advertising.

How to Create an Ad Book

If you think you’d like to print an ad book in addition to your event program, or combine your event program with an ad book, the first thing you’ll want to do is gauge interest. If a few members of your organization are willing to purchase big ads, either to congratulate others or advertise their own businesses, you can be sure that you’ll be able to sell out all the pages. The nice thing about this is that modern printing allows you to print as large (or small) of a book as you want.

You, your sales team, or anyone else who’s interested in helping out can begin by approaching all attendees along with any local businesses. It will help to arm yourself with the following information:

• The cost of each different size ad
• The number of people who will potentially view the ad book
• The cause that will be supported by this money
• The dates of the associated event

Encourage potential sponsors to drive traffic to their nearby businesses by offering special deals available only during the days of your gathering, or only to those wearing their convention IDs. They can earn more money and attract new customers by creating bargains that will draw your guests to their store, or, if your group is local, by creating coupons that are only available in your ad book.

Once you’ve sold the minimum number of ads you’ll need to make the ad book worth your while (calculate in advance how much money you’ll need to earn per page to cover your printing costs and make a little extra) you can begin to sort through the ads. Some may be simple text, while others will require that your sponsors send you digital files. You may like to lay these out yourself, hire a professional layout artist, or use the services of an online printer to do the work for you.

From there, let the printer handle the rest! Sure, you can print them yourself on your computer, but a professional printer will do all the work, and won’t charge you very much for a really lovely final product. Your books can be professionally printed and bound in plenty of time before the event, and you can distribute them along with any other orientation materials. It’s an easy way to attract sponsors, and it helps your guests feel comfortable exploring the area around your event. Plus, done correctly, it can really help you earn more money for the event.

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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.

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