US pop star Lady Gaga appeared exhausted and barely able to stand up while delivering her last song at a recent concert in Auckland, NZ. While some speculated she was exhausted due to a gruelling schedule, one blogger who attended the event said the venue was so hot it caused several audience members to pass out.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard of people passing out at concerts and this could have happened for any number of reasons. We don’t actually know if air quality or temperature control were a problem at this event, but they are certainly among the factors that should be on the event risk register and in the event’s risk management plan.

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Managing an event is always a nightmare for organizations as once the event is planned; several responsibilities pop up like notifying the prospective event attendees, distributing mails, receiving confirmation mails, and verifying fees etc. To get rid of these responsibilities one can opt for the online event registration as it streamlines all the major issues related to an event. By doing online event registration, an organization can be assured of increased attendance and decrease administration cost. Online registration for events is also an easy, convenient and less stressful process for the event attendees. Every institution and organization along with the event attendees is sure to have satisfying experience while taking their events online. With online event registration all the major issues related to planning, creating and managing an event can be well planned and executed to perfection. An event is usually planned for the growth and betterment of the organization and to achieve this objective it is essential that it is planned with cautious and effective approach. Online event registration is an easy fast and convenient process that provides comprehensive solutions to the event managers for smooth execution of the event. Event registration is a crucial and important process that helps to make event happen in a systematic and organized manner. Events organizers are always looking for innovative and exciting ways to streamline their event process and at the same time grow their event’s popularity and overall satisfaction of the participants. Online event registration process helps in making the event successful and irrespective of the type of event it plays vital role in the success of the event. Online event registration is a simple process that records the name of the people who wish to attend the event. All the events participant are informed through the e-mail regarding the events. Whether one want to organize meeting, seminar, conference, exhibition, or tradeshow, online registration process assures success to each and every type of event. Several benefits associated with online event registration include:

• Reduce errors – Online event registration reduces any chance of error that can occur in fax or mail in registration.

• Reduce labor costs – Online event registration process requires less manual labor than traditional registration methods.

• Automatic event confirmation – Once an attendee fills and submits their information through the online form, a confirmation email is automatically generates and sent to the attendee confirming his registration.

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Facebook recently surpassed Google as the top destination on the Web. Granted, the victory only represents one week, but with traffic on par with Google, and membership exceeding 400 million users, Facebook is primed to challenge the vast Google empire for online advertising dollars.

According to a blog post from Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise, "The market share of visits to Facebook.com increased 185 percent last week as compared to the same week in 2009, while visits to Google.com increased 9 percent during the same time frame."

If the numbers alone don’t make the point, one look at the graph depicted on the blog post illustrates that Facebook is on a steep growth curve while Google is more or less stagnant. Far from being a fluke spike, the Facebook traffic has steadily grown as has Facebook membership–making Facebook an increasingly fertile territory for small and medium businesses looking for targeted online marketing opportunities.

In a press release earlier this year, Adam Bunn, head of SEO for search engine marketing firm Greenlight, said "Microsoft and Yahoo! finalized their tie-up in early December, shortly after the competition regulators in Canada and Australia approved the deal. Greenlight expects other countries to follow suit, paving the way to integration before the year is out. That will mean that Bing powers the natural search results for Yahoo!, while Yahoo! handles advertising for Bing, leaving the search landscape a two horse race. "

Bunn’s prognostication doesn’t seem to consider the dark horse in the equation: Facebook. There is a key difference between Facebook and Google (or Bing) that arguably makes Facebook the better investment for small business advertising dollars. Facebook is a social network and its traffic is generated by users who are connected, and more invested in spending time on the Facebook site.

Heather Hopkins, a senior online analyst with Hitwise, recently noted "visitors from Facebook.com are more loyal to News and Media websites than are visitors from News.Google.com. In particular, among the top 5 Print Media websites in the week ending March 6, 2010, 78 percent of Facebook.com users were returning visitors compared to 67 percent from Google News."

Facebook users are there to share–and share they do. Valuable marketing data. Willingly. Small and medium businesses can capitalize on the fact that Facebook members provide information like birth date, geographic location, age, hobbies and interests, education level, and–most importantly–their connected network of friends.

Google is able to target ads fairly well based on keywords and personalized search history, but ads targeted based on demographics and geography have the potential to be much more compelling for the user. Aside from targeted ads in the margin of the Facebook page, businesses can also set up a Facebook "fan" page to provide a sense of community and participation that connect users to a broader experience than a simple ad.

Google has a vast array of online entities to deliver ads through: Gmail, YouTube, Google Docs, etc. It also has Google Buzz, and Google Wave (they are still working on that, right?) to jump on the social networking bandwagon and recreate a similar connected community of users. And, Google is working aggressively to capitalize on the growing market for mobile-based ads.

Facebook may not threaten the Google ad empire as a whole any time soon, but it’s hard to argue with the potential marketing impact Facebook offers small and medium businesses with limited advertising budgets. By Tony Bradley

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When you’ve been to a few conferences, you soon come to expect the conference venues and function centres to have all the facilities you need. If you had to think of five essential tips to hand on to any conference planner what do you think they would be?

Everyone has different expectations but these five tips are certain to be on every good conference planners list.

• Location. Make sure the conference centre is easily accessible for all attendees. This means that your chosen venue should be readily accessible to all forms of public transport, as well as having adequate facilities. Make sure that attendees can get to your location easily and be sure to plan for visitors who are travelling from other cities and towns. This means making sure that transport to and from airports or other forms of transport is adequate, or if need be, you will have to arrange suitable transit facilities.
• Image. One of the most underestimated aspects of the successful conference is to make sure that the image of the company is matched by the image of the conference venue itself. You can imagine the incongruity of a self-help, volunteer run and funded organisation holding a conference at a prestige hotel. It simply won’t work. Set the tone of the conference by choosing the appropriate image.
• Timing. You will need to plan well ahead to get the timing exactly right. Make sure the venue is available before you even consider it, as a precursor to this, if you are organising an in-house conference make sure that all the attendees are available on the necessary dates. Alternatively, set a date far enough in advance so that everybody is able to attend, and couple this by booking a conference venue that is similarly available.
• Size. Planning a successful conference is one of those times when size really does matter. You should ensure that the venue has space to cover all your needs. These needs will include car parking, room size and dining areas. As mentioned above, adequate car parking is a vital consideration for the comfort of all attendees. The room you book for the event should allow adequate space for all members to feel comfortable for the entire duration of each session, taking into account the needs of personal space and room to stretch and move without bumping into each other. Dining facilities are also important so make sure there is adequate room for people to mingle comfortably or get away by themselves without feeling cramped up.
• Facilities. This is an obvious point but it still needs to be listed among the essentials. Any good event will require detailed planning by an organiser, or organising team. The needs of every presenter would have to be taken into account including technical support, special lighting effects, proper audio and recording facilities and any other special paraphernalia required by your particular event.

Planning is the key to success, and failing to plan means planning to fail. This truism is no more relevant than when it comes to choosing the right function centre and function rooms for your next conference.

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On January 27, Apple introduced the iPad, which—before it was released—had already received more press than just about anything ever, except perhaps the president and the iPhone. So Apple must have the best PR team in the world, right? We’d love to claim that the iPad is a result of extraordinary PR prowess. It would mean the results are repeatable.

However, I’m afraid they are not.

First, you’ve got the devoted Apple fan-base; we’ll call them the Appletes. They have an insatiable appetite for rumors about the iPad. The Appletes don’t care about Microsoft’s Courier or HP’s Tablet PC, because, well, they aren’t Apple. So, all of the online writers—the easiest dealer for Appletes to get their fix from—could put the same amount of effort, if not more (because of fewer available rumors) into a write-up on non-Apple products, and for their effort receive one-tenth of the page views they’d have had if they had written the easier story.

What creates the Appletes? As much as PR people talk about reaching out to key influencers, thought leaders, brand evangelists, the crack-like devotion to all things Apple is derived from something else: great products. People talk about Apple being the product of great marketing, but in truth it is simply great marketing for great products. There is a theory in economics that presents four ways for product quality and marketing to interact to influence a brand. By marketing I’m meaning marketing, advertising and public relations in a combined effort.

Here are those four ways:

1. A Bad Product with Little to No Marketing

No one ever hears about it, its consumers never start talking about how great it is, and it never has any word of mouth. Sales will remain low to non-existent. There are approximately one billion examples of this, but you haven’t heard of any of them.

2. A Bad Product with Lots of Marketing

Sales will start out strong but as it gets into people’s hands and they start telling other people that it—frankly—sucks, sales will dry up. Think New Coke or Pepsi Crystal.

3. A Great Product with Little to No Marketing

It will start out slow, and build traction. People will tell their friends how great it is. It’s just a matter of waiting long enough for it to take off. A good example would be brands like Ben and Jerry’s, which for years had little viability outside the northeastern U.S., health food stores and "hippie" circles. They did hardly any full-scale advertising before they were purchased by Unilever in 2000. Yet, they were able to build such a following that they became a worthy target for takeover based on the quality of their product, the passion of their consumers and only small-targeted marketing.

4. A Great Product with Lots o’ Marketing

And that is where Apple is. After the iPod and the iPhone, both segment-defining products (not to mention their computers), the iPad doesn’t need anything more than to be released under the Apple brand to have amazing sales. And all Apple’s PR team had to do to keep the rumor mills at such a fevered pitch was to allow a leaked detail here or there.

What’s to be learned by Apple’s success for planning a product launch?

If you’re smart, almost nothing.

Apple is like the "Blair Witch Project" of product launches. They are seemingly effortless, wildly successful and result in Rumpelstilskin-esque piles of cash. But if you were to pick up a camcorder and make a movie in the forest with lots of runny noses, you would have nothing of the same effect. Just as if you were to spend a year leaking details about your new widget, even if it were exactly the same as what Apple finally announced, there is no PR or marketing campaign that would result in the level of buzz Apple has, or the amount of sales it will create when the iPad is released.

But we try to have real lessons here, not anti-lessons, so here’s one: If you’ve got a great product, nurture your base, build you loyalty, and then go wide; avoid jumping the gun. In its first 23 years, Ben & Jerry’s—with minimal advertising but good PR—brand went from zero to eight percent market share. After being bought by Uniliver, one of the largest advertisers in the world, their market share jumped to 36 percent in just eight years, number two behind Haagen-Dazs.

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With this week’s rollout of @anywhere, Twitter gives marketers a new way to use the micro-blogging site to promote brands and spread news about products and services. A platform for such third party websites as Amazon, eBay and Yahoo, @anywhere lets Twitter users send and receive messages while they are on that site as well as follow a string of related tweets.

"It’s going to make it easier to keep the conversation going rather than having to manage so many different identities to engage around a piece of content," Rob Ungar, an account executive at Widmeyer Communications, says. "Right now, people can make comments on one site, of course, but they have to repost on Twitter. This will make it easier for people to share content and promote a dialogue, which is something that Twitter is very good at." (via TechNewsWorld).

Highlighting a Problem

The introduction of @anywhere highlights a related problem for marketers that use Twitter: it can be surprisingly difficult to capture how successful campaigns are, or not, on Twitter. Introducing third party traffic will only make the task more difficult.

Why So Hard

There are a number of reasons for this, according to Anil Batra, who writes a web analytics blog. One, most obviously, Twitter.com is not the only way to access Twitter. "A lot of people use 3rd party tools like Tweetdeck to access Twitter. A click on a link from such a tool won’t show up in the ’Referring Sites/Domains’ reports in the web analytics tool, it will be listed as ’Direct Traffic’ or ’No referrer’."

Also, he adds, the URL shorteners usually count clicks and not the actual visits/visitors. "Which means that they, not only capture human clicks but also the clicks from spider/bots, thus inflating the actual numbers of visits/visitors."

Where to Begin

Not that marketers should just assume a message will be heard and begin Tweeting without a plan. There are some guidelines that can deliver a reasonable picture of an ROI.

Start with a business plan specifically for the Twitter campaign, says Indu Priya, a traffic expert, who guest posted at Quick Online Tips. You need one to determine what is important to your organization and how to justify the expense.

"For example, Dell uses Twitter as a communication tool to inform their audiences about Twitter exclusive offers and discounts. For Dell, it is the number of users purchasing the discounted products via Twitter channel that they track and count. It is important to find how many Twitter users are actually clicking the link leading to sales page, how many are actually entering the coupon code and purchasing."

This marketing plan should also consider whether Twitter is in fact the ideal medium for your particular message – especially if geo-location services are part of the mix, or will be.

For example, it was clear to some at the South by Southwest conference that Foursquare and Gowalla have taken a big bite out of Twitter’s dominance, according to CNET. "This year, I wound up not using Twitter for rendezvous or trying to coordinate meeting up with people," said Andrew Lih, the author of "The Wikipedia Revolution. "Last year, [Twitter] was sort of a universal SMS, and everyone kind of was hacking Twitter to a location-based service. But this year, Foursquare wound up being more useful for me for rendezvous and finding out where to hook up [with friends] because even typing in [on a Twitter app on an iPhone] ’I am at Ballroom A’" is annoying."

Assuming you have concluded that Twitter is the ideal platform – and why – there are a number of tools available that can best capture and analyze traffic flow.

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Tourism Australia will host 29 Australian convention bureaux and industry partners at the Team Australia Business Events Educational (TABEE) in Beijing this week, as a core part of its push into the Asian business events market over the next 12 months.

TABEE 2010, 15 – 17 March, is Tourism Australia’s largest trade event for the business events sector in Asia and is an important joint marketing initiative with Australian industry.

Tourism Australia’s regional general manager, North Asia, Johnny Nee, said the theme for this year’s event, ‘Take your thinking to a whole new place’, aimed to position Australia as a destination that inspires business and innovative thinking.

“Our focus for TABEE this year is to highlight how Australia provides an environment that fosters new ideas and fresh-thinking and in doing so, delivers real business results and return on investment,” Nee said.

“We are seeing good opportunities across many of the Asian markets as many businesses experience growth this year, so the timing of TABEE couldn’t be better.

“During TABEE, sellers will get to meet representatives of companies who have real business for Australia,” he said.

The pharmaceuticals, insurance and direct selling industries have proved to be critical sectors of growth in Asia for business events.

Business Events Australia’s Joyce DiMascio said TABEE 2010 would also explore the opportunities offered by the associations sector in Asia.

“The newly launched Team Australia Associations Project between Tourism Australia and Australia’s convention bureaux and centres means TABEE is especially timely this year, offering Australian industry the opportunity to learn more about the emerging association sector in the Asia Pacific region,” DiMascio said.

“Almost $2 million is being invested over three years by the project partners to raise global awareness of what Australia has to offer as an association events destination, with a particular focus on key markets in Asia.

“This year we are holding a special seminar with representatives from high profile Chinese associations. The seminar will be chaired by Robin Lokerman, CEO, Institutional Division, MCI.

“The Asia region offers huge potential for the Australian business events sector and TABEE is just one of a number of important initiatives forming our push into Asia this year.

“Year after year we find that the TABEE formula works. Taking the best that Australia has to offer and showcasing it to a qualified audience of incentive buyers, travel agents and corporate buyers,” said DiMascio.

Other initiatives set to showcase Australia’s business events offering to Asian buyers this year will include the Tourism Australia presence at Expo 2010 in Shanghai and the newly launched Team Australia Association Project, which includes a strong focus on the Asia Pacific market.

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As he prepares to re-enter public life — and with critics and media sharpening their claws in anticipation — Tiger Woods has brought in one of PR’s big guns to help facilitate his wildly anticipated comeback. Ari Fleischer, the former presidential advisor to George W. Bush and the man who was brought in to help repair the steroid-shattered image of Mark McGwire, has been working with Woods, plotting a strategy for his return to golf — at the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting March 25 at Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla., the NY Post reports.”It’s been a rough road the last three or four months in Tiger’s life and his family’s life,” said Mark O’Meara, Woods’ longtime friend and neighbor. “It’s a very difficult situation. Golf is what Tiger does, and possibly part of the healing process is to get back at it,” he added, the NY Post reports.

In a fascinating subplot to the ongoing Woods saga it appears Fleischer is a big part of helping that healing process. Knowing he eventually has to stand before everyone publicly and take questions — something he didn’t do in that bizarre orchestrated 131⁄2-minute ramble on Feb. 19 — is why Woods sought out the advice of Fleischer, who in 2008 formed Ari Fleischer Sports Communications, reports Post writer Mark Cannizzaro.

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Events NSW is to get a major overhaul and there also is a planned major re-vamp of the NSW government’s approach to events attraction.

The new plan announced by Premier Kristina Keneally includes:
• Premier to retain lead agency Events NSW.
• A new portfolio and the appointment Ian Macdonald, minister for State and regional development as minister for Major Events dedicated to the acquisition and attraction of events.
• A high level whole-of-government cabinet committee – comprising the ministers for Tourism, Western Sydney (including Sydney Olympic Park), Arts, and Gaming and Racing – to report to the Premier and
• Appointment of John Conde as chairman of Events NSW. Conde is currently the chairman of Energy Australia, the Sydney Symphony Limited and the Homebush Motor Racing Authority Advisory Board. He also holds positions on the Australian Major Performing Arts Group board and the advisory council of The Children’s Hospital (Westmead).“We will do what it takes to ensure NSW keeps its title of entertainment capital,” said Keneally. “That is why we are taking a stronger approach to securing and attracting events in NSW. Not only will Events NSW continue to report to me – but a high-level Cabinet committee will also be engaged to ensure the biggest and best events stay in NSW.”

Keneally said the new approach confirmed how seriously the government takes the events industry in NSW.

“Major events generate A$500 million for the State of NSW every year and provide huge entertainment value for families and communities,” said Keneally.

“From now on, NSW will have a dedicated minister and portfolio charged with attracting new events and retaining our best and biggest initiatives.

“We are sending a clear message to the world that NSW is open for events business.”

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