FastLane is where urban professionals meet to network, discuss trends with industry professionals and develop new skills.

Transcription

1 Marketing Plan: FastLane FastLane- Connecting Fast Minds FastLane is where urban professionals meet to network, discuss trends with industry professionals and develop new skills. 1

2 Table of content: 1. Introduction 1.2 Summary 3 2. Situation analysis Internal External 2.1 Company Overview Product Overview Market Target Group SWOT analysis 8 3. Marketing strategy 4. Promoting FastLane using the social media tools 3.1 Objectives Marketing communication strategy Research Social media FastLane website Other Strategies Social media tools Websites Wordpress Facebook LinkedIN Twitter Hootsuite IConatct 4.9 Flickr Youtube FastLane activities 5.1 FastLane critical path FastLane Google Docs 40 2

3 1. Introduction 1.2 Summary FastLane has quickly become one of the most popular young professional networking events in Toronto. FastLane offers young professionals the opportunity to meet, network, discuss trends, trade tips and make beneficial contacts with other professionals within various industries. This marketing plan will describe the process of marketing the FastLane brand. It will analyze the event itself, the product development, the market and FastLane target audience. Displaying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats using a SWOT analysis. The marketing strategy will determine the objectives and the choice of the marketing communication strategy. It explains how to promote and create awareness for FastLane, using different strategies and various methods and media tools. This marketing plan will also describe how to promote FastLane using the social media tools. It will also describe the activities that occur during the planning of the Fastlane events. The purpose of this marketing plan is describing how to market FastLane. It outlines the strategies that is needed to be successful in promoting an event, by going through the marketing process and describing the necessary actions of achieving the objectives and goals. The main goal of this FastLane marketing plan is promoting the FastLane events using the marketing communication strategy and media tools and creating awareness among the target. 3

4 2. Situation analysis 2.1 Hosting company Gatherings Event Planning and CityEvents is host, present and promote the FastLane events. Both companies tasks include everything from: Conducting research Creating an event design/theme Choosing the venue Arranging sponsors and vendors Arranging reservations and tickets sale Arranging the food/décor/entertainment, Determining activities for event participants/attendees Promoting the event through websites and other various media tools Coordinating the event Conducting evaluations/survey s of the event For more of this read FastLane activities in chapter Event overview What FastLane is a event where urban professionals meet and network, discuss trends, trade tips and make beneficial contacts with other professionals in various industries. It s a young professional networking event series that connect young professionals though various event elements. FastLane unique selling point are the following: Vendors Various vendors attend the event, and are chosen based on the theme of the event. These vendors provide information and tips about work, how to balance one s life, time management, lifestyle, health and beauty. Speed Networking Speed networking provides the attendees a specific set amount of time to meet and network with other individuals (quite similar to speed dating). Once the time is up, attendees will move on to meet other industry professionals. 4

5 Venue Each FastLane event will be held at an upscale, hip venue ultimately appealing to our target market of young professionals. FastLane venues are usually located in the downtown area. Door prizes & Gift bags FastLane events offer a wide range of door prizes that can be won by the attendees. Attendees can enter a draw held at the event by simply bringing their business cards. Attendees will also receive a complimentary gift bag with a value of over $80. FastLane is a themed networking event, that is why the gift bag items differ depending on the theme of the event. FastLane Gift bag items mostly consist of Magazines, Drinks, Pens, Mugs, Discount cards, Flyers and Folders. Hospitality Food, drinks, and music are provided during all FastLane events. Who FastLane is a networking event, which targets industry, corporate and urban professionals between the ages of 25 and 40. When FastLane is held 8 times a year on Tuesdays. Where Depending on the theme of the event, each FastLane event will be held at an upscale, hip venue ultimately appealing to our target market of young professionals. Young professionals can feel comfortable and enjoy the energetic atmosphere while networking. More details: Ticket includes a complimentary drink and hors d oevres Time: 6:00pm to 9:30pm Urban chic dress code (business casual, not club wear) Price: $25.00 per person(in advance), at door $35.00, Group Price 5 for $ Door prizes for guests with business cards Gift bag with a value over $80 5

6 2.3 Market The FastLane event can be placed in the corporate market. FastLane is a networking event series that is large, with higher revenue potential, and a greater possibility for repeat business. The corporate market that FastLane is targeting covers organizations and businesses in various industries. The target group demands high expectations in terms of quality and creativity of an event, as well as good execution in terms of logistics and operations. The markets that FastLane is targeting include various sectors such as: Hospitality (event Planners, chefs, wine reps, liquor reps, hotel and resort, culinary staff, event management, decor, caters), Health Care (board and committee members, researchers, doctors, nurses), Arts and Entertainment (graphic designers, artists, digital media, actors, comedy performers, musicians) Business/Professional services (Legal, Trades, Advertising, PR, Marketing, Banking, Finance). Outplacement Resource centre s (Job Postings, Job Fairs, Job Search Workshops, Employment resource centres, Career Services offices, outplacement agencies) Education & Training (Universities and Colleges Career Centres, Services, Training) Publicists (Social media websites, blogging websites, online tools) Internet (Web designers, SEO specialist, online marketing) 6

7 2.4 Target Group The FastLane target audience includes corporate and urban professionals between the ages of This target audience is used to open concept workplaces, are multi-taskers, and are tech savvy. These individuals either drive into the downtown core or commute to and from work via public transportation. They use the Internet for a majority of their contacting and research. They maintain a strong social network and go out on weekends and enjoy their time in outdoor spaces. Here are some of the characteristics of FastLane target group: Men/Women years of age Single/living together University degree/college diploma Reside in either a small apartment, villa, or condominium Avid Internet users Reads blogs, forums, magazines, and newspapers Strong social network Have various hobbies and engage in a variety of leisure activities Enjoys going out, networking, socializing, and getting together for drinks and food 7

8 2.5 SWOT analysis The following SWOT analysis highlights FastLane s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. S Strengths: FastLane is a networking event that targets young professionals FastLane allows young professionals to meet and network with other professionals, discuss trends, trade tips, make beneficial contacts, take advantage of great food, drinks and music FastLane offers various elements such as speed networking, vendors, networking activities FastLane offers the opportunities to connect while unwinding in a relaxing in a beautiful venue The various vendors provide information and tips about work, education, balance, time management, lifestyle, health and beauty FastLane offers door prizes and gift bags W Weakness: Focus on a one specific small niche Could be difficult generating awareness and visibility of the event O Opportunities: Growing group of people are in need for event planning activities Toronto is a large city and can be hard to find quality networking for professionals Opportunity to meet other young professionals in various industry T Threats: A crisis in the economy could have a effect on the need of Event planning activities Ability for target group to attend FastLane and buy tickets 8

9 3. Marketing strategy 3.1 Objectives FastLane objectives consist of Corporate, Marketing and Communication objectives. These objectives are outlined in further detail below: Corporate Objectives Planning and creating a rewarding FastLane event Increasing FastLane ticket sale Creating brand awareness for both CityEvents and Gatherings Event Planning Increasing profit through ticket sale and corporate sponsors Marketing Objectives Increasing FastLane awareness amongst the target audience Informing target audience about features and benefits of FastLane Promotion objectives: Increase and expand FastLane s online presence and awareness using a variety of media tools This marketing plan will focus on the marketing and communication objectives of FastLane. 3.2 Marketing communication strategy The marketing strategy for FastLane revolves around the question: How to promote and create awareness for the FastLane events in the marketplace? For marketing FastLane we have chosen the use of social media as our main strategy. Social media consists of a variety of Internet tools such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with the purpose of sharing, marketing, promoting, communicating, and discussing information with others. The reason we have chosen this strategy is because networking is typically conducted through social media. Younger generations use social media simply and naturally. 9

10 Research and studies have shown that young professionals use social media for both personal and professional use. Web-based networking is growing; Facebook for example, has more than 200 million active users. As well, Twitter is ranked as the fastest growing social media site. 3.3 Research The reason we have chosen this strategy is because networking is typically conducted through social media. Research and studies have shown that young professionals use social media for both personal and professional use. Here are couple of global researches, that show the global impact of social media. 10

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12 3.4 Social media There are basically two types of social media. Web 1.0 is a one-way communication tool providing information to readers. This system is used by the first generation users of the web. Web 2.0 is a two-way communication tool; it is all about the users and about giving them a voice and making two way communication possible. There are a lot of social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube and many more. We have chosen a selection to implement the FastLane social marketing strategy. The social media tools for promoting FastLane events are the following: Word press: is a blogging publishing platform. Word press is used when working with blogging software. It s free sharing and uploading website YouTube: is a video sharing website where you can upload and share videos. Flicker: an image video hosting website, mainly used for sharing photographs. Twitter: a social networking and micro blogging service that provides users the ability to send and read messages, also known as tweeting. HootSuite: a Twitter toolbox. With HootSuite, one can manage multiple Twitter profiles from one easy-to-use HootSuite account. 12

13 Facebook: a social networking website, allowing user to create their own profile, add friends, send messages, share photos and videos with friends. The website also allows users to update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. LinkedIn: a business-oriented social networking website, mainly used for professional networking by businesses and professionals. These are the core social media tools that are going to be used to implement and promote the FastLane events. Other social media tools that are also used but not a regular base are: Delicious: a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. Digg: a social news website made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet. StumbleUpon: an Internet community that allows its users to discover and rate web pages, photos, and videos. 13

14 3.5 FastLane website The FastLane website is going to be the most important part of the social media strategy. The FastLane website has to be the cornerstone of the social media marketing strategy. The role of the social media tools is to provide helpful and useful support to encourage the target group to visit the website. All the social media tools will be linked to the FastLane website. The FastLane website must have all of the information about the products and services. By updating the information regularly we will keep the target market up to date. It would also be helpful adding to the site: tips, information about upcoming and previous events, pictures & videos, articles and blogs. Blogs Blogs are also going to be an important tool for marketing FastLane. Most people these days read or have a blog. Blogs are a powerful tool for marketing and promoting an event. The entries are short and allow the user to add links, pictures and videos. It is also easy for viewers to read blogs and for us to write them. It is important to note that our target audience is likely to read blogs daily. A quick blog entry can show the viewers what is new and updated. By adding new articles and information, we can use the blog to inform our audience about FastLane upcoming events and projects. It is a great way to inform our audience about what we are planning for FastLane. There are a lot of ways of promoting FastLane using the blog, for example: Photos & videos Photos & videos are a great way to show what your event will be like for potential guests. By creating promotional pictures and videos about the event, we can post them on the FastLane website or various other sites online. It is a great way showing and posting photos & videos from past events, to let the target group and audience see how a FastLane event looks and what it feels like. Articles Articles are one of the best ways to bring in a vast group of new targeted visitors to our site. It is an inexpensive technique to effectively market and promote our site. It is best writing articles about FastLane in three or four different ways from different perspectives; one article can explain the theme and cause, another can explain FastLane networking, and another about the offerings, the venue, food, and/or drinks. Promotions By doing promotions every week or every few days, we can use the blog to highlight FastLane. 14

15 Contests By creating weekly contests and games in a blog with the opportunity to win, the viewers will most likely come back to the FastLane website. News Adding news about a specific topic relevant to the FastLane events or other events in Toronto may help maintain and/or peak the interest of our readers. 3.6 Other strategies Marketing/E-newsletters is consistently rated as the most popular and most used application on the internet. By developing our own marketing campaign, we can create a list of contacts that fits the target of FastLane. Then we can create a compelling message and send it. Personalized invitations are also a very effective way of increasing attentions. People rarely receive invitations in the mail so it gives the event a unique personal touch. E-blasts: This is a way in which we can contact a large amount of people in a short amount of time. Every member of FastLane s team will send out an online notification and flyer to their personal contacts. This will occur a few times over the marketing campaign. We also send out information about the next event to all those who have attended the previous FastLane events. A template will be created and used by each member of the team with a personalized note at the beginning. Telephone calls: Some companies do not disclose information on their websites. In that case there is always the possibility to call the companies and inform them about FastLane. It is important during the call that you explain why you are calling, what they can get out of it and most importantly their contact information. Once we have their we can send reminders about upcoming events. You can also ask if they can promote the event amongst their friends, students, clients, and/or employees. You can also ask if they can display promotional items in lobby areas and cafeteria s, or if they can post anything up on their website. 15

16 Flyers & Postering: This marketing tool has a relatively high cost of printing but it could be very effective if done properly. We could spread and place flyers in co-op offices in downtown Toronto and inform the offices of the event in person or by . They may be willing to promote the event to their clients. Flyers and posters can also be put in coffee shops and restaurants in the area of the event location. Flyers could also be handed out to people on the street. Advertisement TV/ Radio/Magazine/Specialty Publications/ Community/Newspapers are all effective ways to promote the events. By advertising in one of these tools, we can reach all of our target group in one time. This is called mass communication. Newspapers Advertisements could be created and sent to Metro, Eye Weekly, school newspapers and Now. We can ask specific newspapers, such as Metro, to place our ad in the city section (free of charge). We may also be able to get the newspapers to do a story on FastLane; We could also the editor to see what they say and think of the idea. Sponsorship Sponsoring a grassroots event or something in the downtown core could help us promote FastLane. We can use our presence at the event to hand out flyers directly to our target market. We can also help to spread the word of mouth around Toronto. Public Relations Developing consistent key messaging that can be used in all forms of marketing is the best public relations practice. Expressing our personal goals and expectations to our key audience will position the organization as the best in the industry. These messages should reflect the tone of the company s image and brand. Media relations is an effective way to deliver our message. Developing and fostering good relationships with the beat reporters that cover events like ours will build our reputation. Sending releases and alerts to these reporters will ensure that our events are covered and well publicized in both the pre and post-event stages. Finally, evaluation is a necessary Public Relations practice that helps gauge the success of our efforts. Evaluation methods can include media coverage (scope and scale,) attendance records, survey results and social media commentary (on blog posts and twitter replies.) 16

17 4. Promoting FastLane using social media 4.2 Social media tools The core social media tools that were going to use for the marketing strategy of FastLane are: 1. Website 6. Hootsuite 2. World Press 7. IContact 3. Facebook 8. Youtube 4. LinkedIN 9. Flickr 5. Twitter These are the most popular easiest tools to use and implement. The social media of FastLane is going to be divided in to 3 categories: Tools Publish Webiste Wordpress IContact Use - Posting blogs - Articles - Promotion - News Media sharing Youtube Flicker - Videos - Photos Social Networking Facebook Twitter LinkedIN HoodSuite - Searching and connecting with the target group - Sharing online resources - Promotion 17

18 Social media tools: 18

19 4.3 Websites The FastLane website is going to be the most important part of the social media strategy. The website has to be the cornerstone of the social media marketing strategy. These are the 3 websites that we will focus on: 1. FastLaneevents.ca This is the official website of FastLane 2. Torontocityevents.ca This website is the official website of CityEvents; this website is the central hub of all information regarding CityEvents. 19

20 3. Gatheringseventplanning.com. This website is the official website of Gatherings; this website is also the central hub of all the information regarding Gatherings. 4. Deblewis.ca This is Deb s blog, she is The CEO of CityEvents. 20

21 5. Gatheringseventplanning.blogspot.com This is Gathering blog. These 5 websites are the main websites that will be used to market FastLane events. One of our goals is to drive traffic to these 5 key sites. That is why the websites contain all the information, resources and links of FastLane. In these websites you will find information about the upcoming and past events, testimonials, photos and videos, promotions and special offers, articles, blogs, links and resources. Using these websites we will promote FastLane with the following strategies: 1. Posting blogs and articles Promoting FastLane through blogs and articles, writing about the theme, networking, venue, vendors, food and drinks (USP). 2. Adding photos & videos Adding promotional pictures and videos onto the website; this will allow the target group and audience to see what a FastLane event looks and feels like. 3. Promotions & contests By doing promotional contests with the opportunity to win, will keep the viewers coming back. By providing opportunities to engage in daily contests, games and so forth, the target audience has a greater likelihood of returning to the site 21

22 Search Engine Marketing: The goal is to drive the target audience onto our 5 key sites and encourage/entice them to purchase FastLane tickets. Most people use search engines to find information regarding any topic, and that is why search engines are the most important source to drive people to our websites. Most people use Google to search their information, and that is why we want to appear on the first page of the Google results. In order to do so, we must make sure that each of the websites have the necessary meta tags, keywords and page rank. In order to do this, we have to use certain keywords to rank high on the search engines. The keywords must fit and connect with the websites so that the search engines robot can locate the web page for indexing. This is a very important part because it lets the robot know what your post is about. This is why when using tags or keywords, we always want to be Google worthy. Depending on the article are, the marked keyword and tags have to be always added. 22

23 4.4 Word press Blogs are important because most people these days read or have blogs. We post the blogs in our websites torontocityevents.ca, deblewis.ca, gatheringseventplanning.blogspot.com and fastlaneevents.ca. When blogging, we utilize Word press, a blogging publishing platform. It is very easy to use and we use it to promote FastLane. We mainly use it to publish articles about different topics. A good FastLane article to publish is one with: At least 800 words/1 paragraph Pointing out different angles and perspectives of FastLane Relevant photos and videos to make it interesting and appealing Links to purchase tickets and other relevant links A side from our own websites, we promote the articles on other relevant social media and events websites. We want to create additional interest on these websites so that people can link back to our main event website. You will be able to find a list of numerous websites in Google docs under the name FastLane Web post. Visit these sites regularly (weekly basis) and post the FastLane articles there. For more about this read FastLane activities in chapter 5 23

24 4.5 Facebook Facebook is a critical tool when utilizing a social media plan; Facebook is a great tool to utilize for a variety marketing efforts. Facebook is a social networking website that allows users to add friends, send messages, and share photos and videos. Facebook pages are a powerful way to create a large database of attendees, followers and clients. Plus, Facebook is easy to use. Facebook allows us to connect and communicate with our followers, attendees and clients on a regular basis. We build our brand further and that is why Facebook is so powerful, and critical to our marketing efforts. FastLane has a Facebook page and the strategy for it is to bring more content to it, because the more content you have the more likely attendees, followers and clients will join. The content has to be related to FastLane and it has to be relevant. Here are the different ways to create more awareness for FastLane and generate more fans, attendees and clients. 24

25 Place messages, photos, videos and links on the Facebook wall. Place new FastLane updates, news, info about upcoming and past events on the FastLane Facebook wall. If you have something to say, you can place it on the FastLane Facebook wall. That way your FastLane contacts will always be updated. Create or join Facebook groups Creating a FastLane group gives us control of the conversation and topic. We can promote FastLane via private messages, videos and pictures, and wall posts. By creating our own FastLane group, we are building our own FastLane community. We create a place where we can discuss, inform and update different topics regarding FastLane. Also, we can join other Facebook groups that are relevant to FastLane. Facebook groups are all about networking and discussions. Joining Facebook groups with similar interests are a perfect way to discuss and inform the members about FastLane activities. 25

26 Adding events to Facebook By adding FastLane events to our FastLane Facebook, we can invite all of our contacts to join the event. They can also invite their friends and contacts as well. New event updates will appear on the newsfeed of all of our members homepages, therefore disseminating the messages/updates/event postings amongst our current members, and potential prospects even further. We can also send messages to all the members of the FastLane group, and we can also utilize the wall, the discussion board, links, add videos and photos, in order to communicate with people attending our event. Through the Facebook events we can also manage a guest list. We will then be able to get an impression of how many people will show up at our event. Posting an event on Facebook is an easy way to spread the word and communicate with the members of the event.. Inviting friends and contacts After creating a event we can invite friends and contacts on Facebook. Include promotional notes about the event when inviting. By including a note, we can add some extra informations about what your event is all about and why people should come. By doing that your friends will receive an invite. Adding blogs in to Facebook Facebook also has a blogging feature called Notes; We can use it and highlight information about FastLane. Blogs are very popular and are a great way to gain more attention. 26

27 Adding pictures & videos to Facebook We can add pictures and videos of our events, so that all our contacts can see them and share them with other friends. Adding discussion forums to Facebook By adding a FastLane discussion board on Facebook, all of our contacts will be able to share their views, opinions and ideas about upcoming or past events. It is a great way to give and receive feedback. Adding reviews to your Facebook page We can add reviews to everything related to our FastLane Facebook page, to get opinions from members and improve our events. After an event, attendees could review our staff, food, network or anything related to FastLane. 27

28 4.6 LinkedIN LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking website, mainly used for professional networking by businesses and professionals. It s world s largest professional network. LinkedIN connects people to trusted contacts and helps exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals. LinkedIN network provides updates on the latest jobs. It provides updates, news about your company, competitors, and industry, the latest jobs, questions, and answers related to your work. LInkedIn has also a event application that target different markets. For FastLane we use this application with the goal of building an engaged event community. We use LinkedIN to create discussions that revolve around events and make contacts to invite the the Cityevetns LinkedIN group. We also use Linkedin for posting in groups. These are all great ways to promote Fastlane. 28

29 4.7 Twitter Twitter is the best real-time tool in social media, especially during events. It s a micro blogging service that provides users the ability to send and read messages, also known as tweeting. Twitter provides short and quick status updates to our audience/followers. By inserting pictures and links we can generate interest. By sending tweets to our followers will keep everyone updated on what s new. Twitter is a great tool to connect our target group to FastLane. We use Twitter to promote FastLane events. The goal is to get more people to follow us through twitter. That s why we promote FastLane through twitter using the following ways: Tweets Post daily tweets on Twitter. Twitter needs to be checked daily for direct messages. This way we will keep our followers informed about new developments and new events. Search followers Search popular followers in Toronto on twitter, follow them and the people who are following them. This will lead to an increase of followers. Mobile If you have access to internet through the phone, take pictures and use it to twitter while at events. 29

30 4.8 HootSuite HootSuite is a Twitter toolbox and by using it, we manage multiple Twitter profiles from one easy-to-use HootSuite account. It s important to find out what the our target group is tweeting about. With Hootsuite we can manage multiple twitters account. We can monitor, send and retweet messages. Also we can monitor and measure the stats. We manage 2 Twitter accounts in Hootsuits: Fastlane Toronto, CityEvents and Deborah lewis. We can choose which profile we want to send each tweet through. The best thing about Hootsuite is the ability to schedule Tweets. With HootSuite we can schedule a exact time to send out tweets. This comes handy during the busy days where we just don't have time to log into Twitter. 30

31 Another important part of Hootsuite is the stats. With this function we can see how many times our links have been clicked each day. We can see which of our twitter or blogs posts/announcements are the most popular and best to attract viewers back to our sites. We can also track our most popular tweets. We can also view referral and regional Stats to see where our readers are clicking from. With Hootsuite we can even update Facebook and LinkedIn and monitor the stats of it. We usually use Hootsuite to manage and monitor the twitter activities. 31

32 4.9 IContact IContact offers marketing services that allows business to create, track, and send newsletters. CityEvents uses IContact to easily create, send, and track newsletters concerning the events. With IConact we can also track the effect of the marketing with charts and graphs. 32

33 IContact also offers professionally designed newsletter templates that can be appealing to the target group. We create a compelling message and send it thourgh our IContact database. 33

34 4.10 Flickr Flicker is a image video hosting website that is mainly used for sharing photographs. It is a great place to keep, show and talk about pictures. It is a popular photo-sharing community and it is a great place to post photos of past events and share them with a wide audience. We use Flickr to post all our pictures of the event. We use it as a showroom for our events. It is a great tool as it is a place to show the pictures of different events of FastLane. It is also a great tool to have a quick view of the event. We promote FastLane through Flickr using the following ways: 2.0 Pictures Create galleries and show the audience the best pictures of the event. Organize the pictures on Flickr and add tags and titles. This way it s make it easier for the audience to make connection and comment on others photos. Links All photos for debs blog should be linked from her Flickr account to torontocityevents.ca and deblewis.ca By posting photos of our event on Flickr and tagging them with people s names, we can generate interest for our events from the people who attended. With Flickr we can set up a FastLane group, that serves as a central source for attendees pictures from the event. 34

35 4.11 YouTube Youtube videos are a great way to show what our event will be like for potential guests. YouTube is a highly popular video sharing service. YouTube is an easy way and It is definitely the main place to view videos because it is popular and people are using it a lot next to tv. We promote FastLane through Youtube using the following ways: Youtbue videos Posting content on Youtube by filming the most important parts of the FastLane event such the speech and speed networking. Interviews Interviewing experts and guest during the event and posting the video on Youtube. By posting videos on Youtube about Fastlane, we can show our audience how a FastLane event looks like and what it feels like. And by uploading a video into Youtube, we can also share the event on Facebook, Twitter, FastLane website and other social media sites. 35

36 5. FastLane activities 5.2 FastLane critical path Cityevents uses critical paths for scheduling FastLane project activities. The activities are divided between CityEvents and Gatherings. This sheet shows the activities that are required to be complete before the event. It also shows the time durations of each activity. FASTLANE Team members: Managers: Marketing & Promotions DATE COORDINATOR STATUS Set up Marketing Plan ( target markets) Search for websites, blogs and locations to post event Post image & ticket design with Graphic artist Promotional Blast (Fastlane Group/ own Databases) Event reminder 2 weeks and 1 day before (Facebook, Twitter) Write Media press release Send out Media release Local Newspapers, TV, specialty publications, TV shows and websites Look for cross promotional partners New possible venue locations, gifts & coupons contributions Event Description & write up Promote and post event on list of websites and facebook groups Write up ( short version, long version) Develop poster Tickets DATE COORDINATOR STATUS Confirm image design Review Responses Set E-tickets for online purchase (update info on GetTickets) 36

37 Administration DATE COORDINATOR STATUS Contract with Venue Phone, fax or payment processing Maintaining budget of the event Organize production schedule, time specific Name badges Registration forms Speed Networking sign up if applicable Waivers photo/video Waivers Volunteers Drink Tickets and Gift Bag Tickets (two types / colours) Door ticket purchase registration forms/receipt List of attendees for the door Prizes DATE COORDINATOR STATUS Search for sponsorship partners ( target list) Update sample letter for prize contributions Decide on relevant prizes Contact potential sponsors Customize Sponsorship Package Customize sponsorship/prize letter for each company being approached Ensure logos/ prizes are integrated into promo pieces Obtain a minimum of 6 product samples and 4 other items 37

38 Design DATE COORDINATOR STATUS Establish Design concept (from invite) Signage (review needs for onsite signs) Postcards Slideshow Web design (venue photo, event description) Logistics DATE COORDINATOR STATUS Wheelchair Accessibility Wireless Accessibility Registration set-up; table Ensure proper tables, rentals, and details for onsite (wineries, sampling, registration Signage on-site Materials on-site for event Overall setup/floor Plan/ Flow Risk Management/Health and Safety DATE COORDINATOR STATUS First Aid Establishments of Fire exits Find out venue risk management procedures Evaluate possible attendees ( special needs, food allergies, etc) CPR; or any one certified Food and Beverage DATE COORDINATOR STATUS Contact potential food donors for onsite Special Event Permit Glassware/Napkins Be aware of potential allergies 38

39 5.3 Google docs Google Docs is a free, Web-based word spreadsheet, form, and data storage service offered by Google. CityEvents uses Google docs to track and store all the information about the FastLane event. It allows us to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. We use Google docs to store and to follow up on information about the activities of Fastlane. Each member of CityEvents is assigned to certain activities that helps promote FastLane. The activities that are being tracked and stored in Google docs are the following: Website postings in different networking websites Facebook group posting LinkedIN group posting Marketing Telephone activities Google docs is mainly used to store important FastLane documents such as important contacts of FastLane, registration and signing up forms for during the event. 39