Anyone excited?

Most promoters focus on the night of the event. The BEST promoters win or lose WEEKS before anyone walks through the door. After 22 years organizing San Francisco events here's what I did in advance EVERY SINGLE TIME: - Know your BREAKEVEN numbers before anything else….if you don't know your numbers you don't have a business - Walk the venue PERSONALLY….check toilets, AC, stages, lighting, parking, safety - Brief your security team on EXACTLY where to be stationed and what to watch for - Tell your photographers SPECIFICALLY what shots to take….line outside, dance floor energy, sponsors in frame, DJ in action, VIP section - Have your check-in system TESTED before doors open….QR codes, wristbands, guest list backup copies - Confirm your door team knows the system….who's paid, who's VIP, who's guest list - Have a sign at the entrance about photos being taken and consent - Plan your NEXT event before this one happens….announce it while the energy is high ….𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐲…. ….𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬…. What's ONE thing you always do before an event to make sure it runs smooth? Would love to hear what works for you.

Hey guys, I want to share a little secret. When I have something difficult to do or something very important, I usually do those things on Fridays. Meaning, I'm usually in a more jovial spirit because the weekend is coming, and I get to do fun stuff and hang out. The is the same case for people at work as well. When I need to do something hard or difficult or that I need extra energy for, personally, I'm in a better spirit that day. I remember when I worked in a corporate office, Friday was casual day. That's when we could come in in jeans and without a tie. That put a different spirit on the whole environment. If you have something that's hard to do or very important to get a good answer from, I say give Friday a try. You Don't want to do too late in the day on Friday, though, because people want to get the hell out of there! SO...Keep that in mind. Hopefully, this inspired you to do something important or difficult on a Friday that you may have had trouble doing earlier in te week. Just make sure you put a big smile on your own face first....then make that call. Let me know what you think.

So when I was doing my big parties, I always worked with sponsors. I always tried to work with sponsors that I could also use in my marketing. An example would be a limousine company or some kind of a company that had direct contact with my clients. Here is a story of how I worked with the limousine companies. Basically, we'd meet with the owner and tell them about the clients I had and show them, convincing them that yes, this is your target market. That part MUST work first. And then obviously what exposure could I give that company with getting their company name and link on 60,000 printed flyers, hundreds of thousands of emails going out, and also on the video screen at the party itself. The most important thing here for me, as an organizer, was that I could get access to their fleet of vehicles. They would very often either give me a limousine that I could fit 15 to 20 people in, or a cable car on wheels (as we were in San Francisco) That I could use for a night....Or twice. Two to three weeks prior to our special event, we would handpick the top 15 or so most beautiful girls in our list. We would be maybe four or five guys that would take themout. We would set up a pre-party with food and drinks and we would all dress the same, maybe all in white clothes, for example. Sometimes we also wore funny wigs or certain other attire so that we could stand out and be a team. We would hit bars and clubs where we knew we could find our target market and we also had to make sure it was okay for us to promote at these establishments. That was a win-win for all of us, and we also created that energy with our inner circle. The girls would almost fight for trying to go out with us in the limousines and having fun, as we were going around town for a whole night, promoting and meeting people and partying at the same time. So that is a great way for you to also think about how you could work with your sponsors in many different ways. I have many other ideas too, but this is one really good one.

...then this post is for YOU. I remember when I first started college in the US... I was starting up as a Freshman at a university of over 30,000 students... and I felt Terribly Alone.. In addition, I was also from another Country (Norway) and I felt that I did not "fit in" with the general vibe and crowd there. It was NOT A VERY PLEASANT FEELING at all! I was trying all kinds of things to "Fit In"... I started joining some sport teams, took Karate classes, started playing tennis... I this "this and that" to Boost my social connection and tried my best to make new friends. Things were NOT moving fast...that was for sure... but I made some friends... but NOT at the level I had hoped for. It was not until I "connected" with some Americans in one of my classes that things started to change. They were fun guys and they also liked that I had "connections" in to the Scandinavian girls that were at this university... This one thing started moving things in the right directions... so to speak... Here's what happened. One of the guys that I befriended, he said, "Alf, why don't we do a party and you can invite all the Scandinavian people, both girls and guys, and I'll invite a bunch of my friends that I have here locally: .....because he grew up in the area. And he said, "Why don't we do a little party at a small bar?" I have a close friend that owns a bar and we can do it there, he said. So him and I got together on a plan for the party and we sketched out a little party invitation with all the details on. We printed a flyer, decided on a date, and got a friend of ours that was a DJ, and we started promoting this party through our friends of friends network. This was exactly in line with what I had hoped for because, from my culture, in Norway we go out in groups to meet other people, as opposed to dating. I even managed to make contact with the Norwegian consulate in San Francisco, and they even sponsored our events with $500 so I could buy some Norwegian food and do a little display there.