I don’t know who it was that originally taught me to do it.I’m not even sure I was aware of the tradition until I’d already been to a few shows and disregarded what was left of my concert tickets.But at some point, I realized those stubs had value, and that they were part of a long standing concert going tradition, a tradition that’s important to keep in mind when printing event tickets of your own.
CD Display Case
The stub from a concert ticket is a piece of personal history and, as such, needs a place to be put on display, a way of cherishing and remembering that concert for years to come.The advent of CDs, or more specifically CD cases, gave people the perfect place to put those event tickets.
The idea is a simple one: take a CD by the musical act you just saw, and place the ticket from that show in front of the CD insert.If you see a musical act multiple times, then follow the same routine with multiple albums.In some ways it becomes motivation to go to more shows in an effort to get a ticket stub for every album.The ticket stubs serve to promote the next show without even trying!
The Digital Revolution
A few years ago, I decided to make the big switch from CDs to a digital only music library.I spent hours a day ripping my CDs into media files and then getting those CDs ready to sell.But I had forgotten about one thing: my concert tickets!
Without my convenient display cases, what was I supposed to do with all the concert tickets I’d accumulated over the years?I couldn’t just get rid of them, not have all this time!
It was then that I realized just how important custom concert tickets were.
The New Frontier of Stub Collecting
Concert tickets are like snapshots of moments in life, so I figured I should treat them just like I would pictures and give them their own album or, better yet, incorporate them into my pre-existing photo albums.
Putting them on display by themselves, though, really underscored how important the look of a concert ticket is.A generic event ticket is fine for conveying information and still manages to induce nostalgia for shows gone by, but a custom printed ticket really stands out and makes those memories flood back even more vividly.
Make Your Tickets Memorable
This is essential when considering custom printed event tickets: make them memorable!With a wide variety of event ticket templates to choose from and the ability to personalize your event tickets, you can make sure that even the left over stubs are able to keep the memory of your event fresh in your audience’s memory.
In the end, memorable event tickets can mean repeat business, and repeat business is good news!
Whether your school is putting on a fundraiser carnival and you want to get all the parents, teachers and students involved, or you're touring with your new band and want to see plenty of faces at the venue, you'll need to manage a campaign that will generate interest in your event. Throughout the course of your promotion, you might manage an online marketing plan, rely on word or mouth, or print event tickets, posters, flyers, invitations, and other promotional materials that raise your visibility.
Online marketing helps you reach a wider audience, share detailsand market event tickets. Buzz generated by friends, family and fans is great for grassroots marketing, and physical collateral gives your event a real world presence. These promotional materials, especially event tickets, can be the most powerful tools in your marketing plan.
More than Just an Event Ticket
Take a moment to consider event tickets. Obviously, you'll need admission tickets to get folks through the turnstiles, but that's not their only use. Custom printed tickets can serve several important functions at your event.
Marketing Tools—When you design event tickets for your occasion, you have a choice. If you're thinking only of function, any tickets will do. However, the admission ticket may be your attendees first point of contact with your event. So much more can be included than a simple "admit one." Imagine how including formal branding and event details can raise profile of your event.
Crowd Management and Tracking Tools—Secure, numbered tickets with perforated stubs can be useful in the management of people into and out of your event and at particular venues within it. Custom tickets allow you to maintain the integrity of your event. Secure numbering and detachable stubs allows you to track the flow of guests into the gates. Selling Drink Tickets and custom passes, such as VIP passes, before the event allow you to manage concessions and activities quickly and safely. They allow you to keep cash exchanges more centralized and secure.
Raffle Management—A well designed ticket is essential for the management of a fundraising raffle.It's important for your raffle tickets to not only contain important details, but they should also have secure numbering, detachable stubs and room for the guests' details, as well. These tickets aren't just meant to get guests through the gate. They're used to manage the entire lifecycle of the raffle. Event organizers can track ticket buyers through the numbering system, and the stubs are used for the raffle draw.
Door Prizes—Much like raffle tickets, a well designed admission ticket can be used to manage door prizes. Ticket sellers can hold onto stubs when guests come through the gate and announce winners throughout the event. This encourages folks to hold onto their custom event tickets throughout the occasion.
Memory Management—A great ticket might be the only souvenir a guest takes away from the occasion. Why not make it memorable? Strong imagery and branding will help the memory of your event to remain with your guests far into the future.
Are you part of the resurgence in the world’s most awesome sport? It’s time for you and all your roller derby gals to get competitive. You can offer public sporting events—your team versus other local rollers. Start planning, promoting, and selling event tickets for your bouts and let your jammers start lapping for the fans! It’s time to lace up your skates, squeeze into your campiest uniform, and get rolling.
Call it like it is: Your team moniker
Roller Derby teams need clever names. Puns reflecting your punk third-wave feminist roots are a sure draw for crowds and fans: the Sandra Day O’Clobbers, the Shevil Knevils, the Beauty School Knockouts, and the Rushin’ Rollettes. Be as violent as you like! Or, choose two words, say an adjective and a noun, that best encompass your team, like the Zany Fembots. Just make sure your name is intriguing and your fans feel like they’re in on the joke.
High noon: When to meet
When you’re ready to brawl, contact other roller derby teams in your area and decide which one your team will battle. You may be able to join a league and schedule a series of derbies. Can’t decide whom to meet first? Create your own raffle tickets and draw a name from a hat. Once you’ve decided upon whom, you need to figure out when. Pick a date and a time for your event. Consider days and times that would work best for the audience you are trying to attract. Audiences for roller derbies are diverse: from families to hipsters to teens, so your breadth should be vast, but conscious about your target audience. Families prefer daytime, weekend event. Teens may be available in the afternoon, after school, and twenty-somethings like to stay out late.
Meet me in the parking lot: Choose your venue:
If your city doesn’t already have a dedicated roller derby rink, you will to find need a venue that can satisfy the inherent needs of the sport. True roller derby typically requires a sports arena or a gymnasium, but you could also convert a large gallery or performance space. If you know of a space that often exhibits artwork or avant garde performance, you may persuade them to host your derby as a way to further the venue’s original intent. Perhaps a very large gallery that could accommodate a derby may choose to have your team battle another team in their space while highlighting related artwork such as photographs of Derby girls alongside your event. If the venue already has a box office or a way of handling ticket sales, that’s a bonus for you, as it makes it easier to sell event tickets.
Shout it out: Event promotion
Get your artists on the job. Your general promotion should be creative and intriguing. Collage-style designs featuring your team portrait or other relevant images can be distributed as postcards. Include the date and time, the venue, the ticket price, the names of the both teams, and information on where to get the tickets (don’t forget to include any relevant URLs). Take it to the streets and pass out the postcards in your derby garb to attract some attention. Hang posters in book shops, record stores, college campuses, and other local businesses. In addition to this, use your website and other networking tools such as Facebook to promote the event.
At the door: Get your event tickets right here
Have fun with these! Use your original promotional designs to create a unique custom ticket, or choose an online event ticket template. These can be printed on demand and are a good way to create the tickets for your event. Remember to include the same pertinent information you used on your postcard or promotional flyer: who, what, when, where, how much. Don’t forget web addresses or phone numbers where people can get more information. Consider creative ways to make those tickets your own! In designing your event tickets, you may include the logo for both teams or photos of the two teams. Individually numbered event tickets with perforated stubs help you keep track of attendance, control the venue, and increase security. Selling event tickets helps you realize some profit for your event, giving your team even more passion to have a great and memorable roller derby battle!
It's summer, and the sun is shining. The sky is a deep blue. It's warm, but a soft breeze keeps everyone cool and in a good mood. In the distance, there's the sound of live music, and close by, the rich smoky, aroma of food being cooked up on a grill. Children are playing while their parents watch on, and folks are mingling, getting to know one another and having a wonderful time.
Your organization is hosting a community barbecue and raffle, and you did your best to get everyone involved. All of your neighbors are there. Everyone bought a ticket. Some contributed money or meals, tables and tents or just their willing hands. Local church groups, police and firefighters, teachers and representatives showed up. Area vendors sponsored the event and even put up the funds to print event tickets and host a prize raffle.
You've been planning this event for a long time—networking with neighbors, pinning down dates, finding volunteers, designing and printing event tickets and promotional collateral—and as you stand back and reflect over all you've accomplished, you realize, there's a bit of an art to planning and pulling off a big event. You have a talent for it!
It Starts with an Idea
Any good event starts with a worthy idea. Perhaps you realized your local school needed money for its musicprogram or you saw your neighborhood playground could use some rehabilitation. Maybe bought an event ticket to attend a less successful event . The venue could have been too small or the raffle was poorly managed; maybe the organizers didn't print event ticketsthat kept the event secure. You realized with a little extra effort, you could pull off something better.
You began to do your research. You thought of the kind of event you wanted to host. You learned about venues. You looked at promotional materials online and browsed event ticket printing websites to find further inspiration. You simply talked to others about it, and realized you had a willing set of volunteers and attendees.
Using Your Resources
Once you decide to do it, planning a big event can be a challenge, but it's an opportunity to bring your community and its resources together. It can be refreshing, too, when you realize there are plenty of people who want to help. Let them!
Preparing the venue—If you're hosting a community event like a neighborhood barbecue, you can may want to have it in the form of a block party or host it at a local park or school. Make sure you have the proper permission, and recruit volunteers to help set up tables and cooking stations and bring supplies, as well as to take tickets or sell raffle tickets.
Rely on Donations when you can—Seeking donations is a good way to host a community event on a budget. Volunteers can donate anything from food to tableware to time. This is a great way to get everyone involved.
Get local vendors in on the action—If you have local businesses in your neighborhood, invite them. They'll get to know the community better, and attendees may be more likely to frequent them afterward. They might even donate a prize or help print eventtickets if you're hosting a raffle. You can also sell tickets at local businesses.
Promote It!
Your neighborhood event won't be a big success unless you take the time to properly advertise it. You want local attendees, so promote locally. Print event tickets and promotional materials that reflect the spirit of your community and provide all the important details. You can usually do this through an online vendor using an event ticket template.If you're holding a fundraising raffle, you'll want to be sure to find an event ticket printer who can provide securely numbered tickets, so that everything runs smoothly.
Enjoy your Event!
You've managed to bring your whole neighborhood together! Your family, friends and community members are having a great time! Have a great time with them!
Even huge events focusing on large issue such as hunger relief or cancer research can benefit from an active grassroots movement to aid a larger, national cause. It’s time to gather your local grassroots community! If you are starting such a community from scratch, call a town meeting that will give you an opportunity to gauge the importance of your movement within your community, as well as find volunteers who can help you get the ball rolling.
*You Got Your Goodwill Army, So Now What? Now that you have the support and muscle of people in your community, your grassroots effort may begin. With these people, begin to plan and create a fundraiser. Let them tell you what the community wants. Sell tickets to the event to raise money. Sell raffle tickets to generate even more money for your cause.
*Get Local Exposure: Utilize local media such as newspapers and radio stations to raise awareness of your cause and your event. Be sure to tell people in the community how they can attain a ticket to your fundraising event. Take notes to ensure that you say all that needs to be said via the media to get the word out about your cause and your fundraiser. Use statistics, even local statistics if you can get them, to further the cause. For example, if you are raising awareness about Diabetes and aim to have a fundraiser about it, be sure to cite stats such as how many people in the country have the disease, as well as a stat of how many people in your community are afflicted. The reality of statistics will give your grassroots movement a solid foundation and awake the cause within your community.
*You Got the Exposure, Begin Planning the Event: Much of the preliminary details such as where and when must be decided before you speak to the media. But there’s more to planning and implementing the details: food, entertainment, or speakers. Continuing to use the example of a grassroots movement for Diabetes, an appropriate speaker could be a local doctor or an artist or musician in the community. Often local authorities and celebrities will donate their time for a fundraiser. Put out calls in the community for appropriate speakers to perform or speak at your event.
*Event Tickets for Your Fundraiser: Research event ticket designs: choose the perfect ticket template and create your own tickets online for speed and convenience. After your tickets have been designed and printed, begin selling within your community. In addition to selling your event tickets to your friends, neighbors, and coworkers, pound the pavement and do some selling door to door. Continue to promote the event, reminding potential guests about to get tickets. Use poster, flyers, Internet forums, microblogging, social networks, and your website. It is easy to create a simple website that can be exclusive to your cause with news and a schedule of events at this fundraiser and others to come. The website can also function as a way to educate the community about your cause as well as keep a running tally on the money that has been raised.
*Don’t Stop When the Party’s Over: Your successful grassroots campaign has created a mobile army for your cause. Keep them mobilized. Encourage them to bring new and creative ideas to the table and run with them.
Say your event has become a tradition in your community. You can count on your base to buy event tickets and show up, but your basic audience has not changed in years. How do you increase your roster from the traditional and convince new people to buy tickets to your event? By altering even small aspects of a tried and true event, you can attract new audiences: From revising publicity materials and punching up promotional event tickets to adding a trendy spin or a popular attraction, open yourself to possibilities and watch your ticket sales soar.
*Get Out of the Box: Sometimes the best way to move beyond routine is to observe your standard operating procedure with a fresh set of eyes. Take inventory of what you have done over the years. Which elements have contributed to the success of the event? Is it the design used on event tickets and promotional materials? The entertainment? The venue? Then, consider how to use your old ideas in new ways, or update those options. Having trouble seeing with fresh eyes? Ask creative friends and guests for their opinion.
*Answers Into Action: After taking this inventory of what has worked and deciding how you’ll revise the event to attract a new audience, get started. Don’t wait! Spring into action as long before the event as you can. Allowing yourself plenty of planning time help ticket sales go smoothly and guards against mistakes that would detract, not attract, guests in the future.
*What Kind of Audience: Decide what type of audience you want and cater to their needs. If you want more children and young adults at your event, consider something like a Make a Sundae stand for your fundraiser. Teen volunteers can man the stand to help the young children. Many teens are looking for community service hours for their own extracurriculars, like the National Honors Society, and local teens are always a good resource to pull in a new audience. Often teens will buy Event Tickets if they know their friends will be there.
*Ho Hum to Electrifying: Small changes can add a great new dimension to your traditional event. Customizing an event ticket can be the first step in customizing an event. Other elements such as entertainment or food and drink being served at your event can further your success in attracting new audiences. If you have always had a spaghetti dinner fundraiser, try something just a little different, such as a Lasagna Dinner, adding a catchy title that ties the fundraiser to the organization being funded. Research trends and find out what foods people want to try and what music they want to hear.
*Spread the Word in Fresh Places: If you desire more elderly patrons to come to your event, print custom event tickets that can be raffled off at a local senior center. For more youthful participants advertise online, and at local high schools and colleges. A diverse audience will always give you a new audience, so cater your promotional materials and tickets to all facets of your community. Spreading a wide net in a variety of places will assist your event in attracting many different people to your event and make it a true and new success.
Event Tickets: The Importance of Professional Event Collateral
When you're planning an event big or small, creating and printing professional promotional materials and event tickets are an essential part of the preparation process. You want to choose collateral and print event tickets that showcase your organization and your event. One place to start is by shopping for and creating your promotional materials online and customizing them with an event ticket template.
Well designed and promotional materials and event tickets can enhance your event immeasurably. Event Tickets provide essential details for your attendees, such as information about the organization, where and when the event will be held, including activities and entertainment that will occur. Professionally printing event tickets offers a number of advantages. Event tickets help you manage your admission queues and food and beverage lines. They allow you to make sure the right guests get into special events, and they are essential for fundraising raffles. Additionally, the design of your event collateral can help set the tone for your event, ensuring your guests remember it long after it is over.
Event Ticket Design Essentials
Are you planning on printing event tickets for your next big occasion? You'll want to make sure that they look good, and they include the right information.There are several elements you should look for when filling out any event ticket templates.
Professional design—Make sure the design you choose fits your purpose. Your event tickets may provide your guests with their first glimpse of what's to come. If the event is a refined art opening, perhaps something elegant and understated is called for. If it's a school carnival, you'll want something colorful and kid friendly.
Space for your custom information—When you print event tickets, they should have enough space for the important details of your event. You'll want to let guests know some important things in this space: what the event is, when and where it's being held, who the special guests are, and if it's a fundraiser, for what cause or purpose you are raising the money for.
Remember to make sure your details are clear and concise while conveying the feel of your event. It's also important to proofread your text to make sure there aren't any misspellings and the details are correct. Your attendees will appreciate your attention to detail.
Space for your logos or photos—Some event ticket templates include space for your own custom photos and logos. This is a great place to brand the event with your organization's or sponsors' seal or to share images of your headlining act.
Secure numbering—When printing event tickets, it's imperative that they include secure, individual numbering. This allows you to track your ticket sales and better manage your attendees and food and beverage lines. Individual numbering is especially important when you are holding a raffle, as these numbers are used to identify the guests who purchase the winning tickets.
A detachable stub—A detachable or perforated stub allows you to manage admissions to a variety of activities at your event. They're an important part of any raffle, as you the winners tickets will need to match the stub from the draw. The detachable stub also lets your guests keep part of the ticket as a keepsake, while allowing you to track your ticket sales.
Now You're Ready to Print Event Tickets
Look for these basic elements listed above when working with event ticket printers to create, customize and print event tickets.You will find it easier to track ticket sales and guests, and your event will benefit from your well thought out event ticket design.
Having trouble selling event tickets? As Mark Twain famously said, "A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way." Some things you learn best by experience, and one of those things is event planning.
When you organize an annual event you can't help but get savvy about what works and what doesn't.With each passing year, your neighborhood barbecue, school fundraiser, or fun run becomes easier to prepare for. You book the favored entertainers early, make sure the venue is reserved far in advance and print event tickets and promotional collateral on time. On the big day, everyone has a great time, and when it's over, you have every right to be proud of the job you've done. But, in the final analysis, do you wonder if you could have seen a higher attendance or raised more funds?
Experience and tradition are great. And, while these do serve you well, they can also stand in the way of the true potential of your group's biggest event. If you're looking for ways to reach more people and raise more money, it's not a bad idea to reexamine your approach. This is especially important in an environment where more and more groups are adding their voices to the fundraising chorus.
A good place to start is with your promotional materials. Using the same collateral and printing event tickets with the same look year after year may be a part of your tradition.Your regular attendees will recognize your signature marketing strategy right away. However, other potential valuable attendees may tune it out completely.
Freshen Up Your Event's Look
Freshen up you planning strategy by rebranding your event for a wider audience. Choose a new look for your promotional materials and print event tickets that will represent your occasion and become memorable reminders for your guests. Choosing new promotional materials and event ticket printing don't have to be a daunting tasks.
Meet with members of your group to discuss the look, feel or tone you would like your promotional materials to evoke. Brainstorm about new audiences for your event.Try to think about reaching further and touching more members of your community. What groups from your community would you like to see attend your event? How can you get their attention without losing your traditional attendees?You might choose to print event tickets and promotional materials that speak to completely different audiences.
Choosing collateral and event ticket printing can be a fun task for your group to do together.You don't have to hire a graphic designer or compromise on the quality of your marketing materials. You can create and order them online by using an event ticket template. Discussing the design and the message, choosing collateral and printing event tickets can bring your team together in new ways and help you get creative when it comes to your tried and true annual event.
You may have years of event planning experience behind you, but it's never too late to enhance your skills and to broaden your experience. A thoughtful rebranding of your big fundraiser or organizational event can help to enrich that special occasion that everyone looks forward to.
Ready to write your own ticket? Some event promoters are born; others are promoted.
If you fall into the latter category, planning events because it’s your job, rather than your passion, you may find yourself throwing programs together with less and less enthusiasm, and, as a consequence, see your attendance wane. Your guests may simply be bored with the same old party, in which case you won't be able to give event tickets away.
For instance, consider the case of one after-school program for teens. In a pinch, the organizers would throw together arts and crafts party until every kid in the community was tired of arts and crafts, and indeed, no one wanted a free ticket. Taking this event to the next level breathed new life into it. The arts and crafts party became a Surrealist Soiree.
*Event “A” Becomes Event “B”: Taking an arts and crafts afterschool program and turning it into something unique, fun, and special started with event tickets. Teens earned tickets to the Surrealist Soiree by completing tasks such as reading a book. An online event ticket template allowed organizers to print surreal tickets that included a puzzle piece: a clue for a game during the upcoming event. Images, such as the melting clocks in surrealist artist Salvador Dali’s painting, The Persistence of Memory become a part of a game where teens matched the clue on their event tickets to the correct painting to earn a prize.
*Surreal Snacks: It wouldn’t be a party for teens without food. At the Surrealist Soiree, the event tickets were also clues to one of the snacks at the party: Random Cupcakes. Take a basic cupcake to the next level by adding random objects to the top. The teens matched the images on their event tickets with a detail from a cupcake to earn a prize. Or try Picasso punch using ice cube molds of noses, hands, and mouths to create a Cubist beverage.
*Surreal Games: “Pin the Ear on Van Gogh” is a unique recharge of the popular party game, “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” which furthers the surrealist theme of the branded arts and crafts party.
*Surreal Crafts: Inkblots were a huge success. Using an eyedropper, teens dribbled India ink onto thick paper and folded it to create an inkblot design. The teens then performed the Rorschach test on one another, earning points and prizes for the most surreal and creative descriptions of the inkblot. This continued into mini surrealist poems, or an Exquisite Corpse game, where a piece of paper was passed around and each teen added a line to make a very surreal poem.
*Event Tickets: Another function for the event tickets can be a raffle at the end of the party. You can print separate raffle tickets online, or just use the numbers on your event ticket stubs. Crown the winners King and Queen of the Surreal with a gift basket of wacky and toys and candies for the prize.
Creating something new and exciting turned an ill-received event into a popular, well-attended one. The custom designed event tickets were easily created and printed, and provided a special air: the event could only be attended by select teens who earned a ticket.
Recharge a tried-and-true event that has run its course: get creative and take that tired event to the next level.
It’s murder most intriguing! Themed events, beloved of churches, libraries, schools, and radio stations, can highlight your products and services while helping you raise funds, and the Mystery Dinner Theater is a popular theme that can help you sell more event tickets. As a librarian, I created and hosted several successful Mystery Dinner Theater events, and you can too.
Our events were free and functioned as a way to highlight the library’s place in the community, while also spotlighting the mystery book collection. For cost effective purposes, I got creative and wrote my own plays, casting them with local actors and teens in the community, as well as a few librarians. Ready to try? Here’s a step by step guide: how to create this deadly exciting event.
Theme of a Theme: Decide on a theme for your play. While the event itself is mystery-themed, it helps to create the play and the promotional materials with still another theme, allowing yourself the creative license to combine appealing elements. For example, in one of the plays, Harry Potter was found dead and the X-Files’ Scully and Mulder were sent in to solve the crime, with the help of the audience, of course. Once you have your theme down, you can create compelling event tickets using online event ticket templates.
Figure Out Your Cast of Characters: Think of what characters you will need (and consider how you will cast them) before you begin writing the play. After you’ve figured out the characters, the plot and clues will come easier. Your event tickets can even incorporate an image or symbol that may give your audience a clue about the characters.
Write Your Play: The play can begin with pure brainstorming; just get a plot going and begin to think about clues that would be appropriate to use in that plot. Of course, the plot should include a crime with clues, as well as a resolution. The resolution, however, should not be totally realized in the play itself. It will be the audience’s job to use the clues you set out in the play to solve the crime.
Cast Your Play: Send out a casual call to community actors and teens in the community who enjoy theater. If you do this, you will invariably get a large response from enthusiastic amateurs. Your event gives them exposure as well.
Promote Your Mystery Dinner Theater: I created posters in Microsoft Publisher to publicize my MDT, or you can print posters online. Create event tickets and make small postcards or bookmarks to hand out to customers. Your promotional material should include What, Where, When, as well as a clever title and tagline. For example: Solve a Mystery at Your Library: The Case of the Murdered Magician.
Create Event Tickets: You can create and print fun event tickets online. Using a ticket template helps you include all relevant event information, and perhaps a logo or image appropriate for your event’s purpose. Playing with the template, you can use mystery imagery like magnifying glasses, caution tape, and, in the case of a library, a stack of mystery books.
Something Extra: Even if your event is free, you may desire to have a raffle at the event for a door prize. Find raffle tickets templates online and sell chances for a small fee if you’re raising funds, or just use the stubs from the event tickets. Give away a prize that relates to your overall theme like a stack of Agatha Christie novels, some mystery DVDs and some popcorn.
Have a Successful Event: Proper planning and organization, dedicated rehearsals with your actors, and the right publicity ensure a fun and successful event!
