Knowing you is a gift…and we want to share that feeling with others.
So this year, our holiday card printing and postage funds are going towards gifts to low-income folks through New York Cares Winter Wishes for Kids and Families program.
Sending you Winter Wishes for an eventful holiday season!
We’re currently working on 2010 events including The Current Events’ Toast to Literacy Gala Dinner in New York City, hosted by Kristine Johnson, co-anchor of CBS 2 News. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, one out of every five of our nation’s school-age children suffer from reading failures. Improving the literacy rate is an ongoing effort for communities, schools and families across the nation and study after study touts that reading the newspaper contributes to elevated literacy levels.
The Current Events is the national newspaper for kids, a bi-weekly paper that reports on the latest national and world events in an age-appropriate way for students in grades 2-8. The funds raised at this spring event will subsidize subscriptions for children at underprivileged schools. Tickets are $400 and sponsorships start at $1,200 for a pair of tickets and a journal listing up to a $40,000 industry exclusive sponsorship that includes:
• Company logo on mailings, e-invitations, website, all other promotional materials and included on issues of The Current Events newspaper for 2010-2011 school year;
• Prominent mention in pre- and post- public relations, including press releases, media advisories and potential executive interviews and a special section of the The Current Events newspaper about the event;
• Partnership opportunities for promotions to The Current Events 50,000+ subscribers list for the 2010-2011 school year;
• On –site branding (step-and-repeat, signage and a gobo spotlight);
• Inside Front, Inside Back or Back Cover-page ad in the Dinner Program;
• Placement of company products and/or paraphernalia in gift bags;
• Ten (10) VIP passes to the dinner (one table), among other benefits.
For more information or to receive an invitation to the event, contact Ginger Donnan at ginger@gingerdonnanevents.com.
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, Ginger Donnan Events participated in a panel discussion to the New York Legal Marketing Association on tools to help “Present Ideas and Win Approval,” including event blueprints, extensive event lists, procedures and guidelines, comparisons, databases, working with internal politics and evaluation forms.
This recent blog post by marketer John Gibb, about getting involved in the survey development process, has inspired us to share our recommendations from the presentation about evaluation forms.
John’s point about actionable questions is spot-on. Evaluation forms typically include venue and logistics feedback but radio buttons don’t provide much usable information. We suggest phrasing these questions so they solicit feedback that can be turned into improvements, not just show a 9 out of 10 rating to constituents.
We also suggested working with others who could benefit from the survey. Events are a once-in-a-while opportunity to get up to speed on clients and prospects. Evaluation forms can find out their interests, such as what they want to know or learn about in the future, or, for the PR department, what news outlets do they access?
We agree with the Event Marketing Insider to keep it short - one page or back and front of one sheet – and format well, filling in the unnecessary white space that causes these forms to grow to multiple pages. But on one point, we must disagree. Go green without printed materials but don’t miss a person-to-person opportunity to collect evaluation forms. A reminder by the last speaker and hands out at the door will give you a better return than an online survey. Cull your responses post-event and follow up with a survey link to anyone that slipped by.