January Blahs – no way

Forget about the January blahs - January is a great month to rejuvenate and check out the great learning opportunities from our many worthwhile industry associations.

 Shawna “best of” PCMA webinars -

Masters Series: When "Free" is No Longer an Option: Navigating New Pricing Realities at Convention Centers
Take away – giving something away free devalues the product. I think this can be applied to any service.  Instead, give added bonus features or an additional service instead of giving your service or product for free or at an under-valued fee.

 Lyne passes on a good read - from CSAE (Canadian Society of Association Executives)

Whether in response to requests, as a new communications channel or to appeal to a younger demographic, this study is about exploring social media.  The document speaks to research that shows many organizations are actively pursuing or exploring social media activities but not necessarily applying social media in the most effective manner.   Interesting read on how to go about and its usage… be it on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn or Pinterest.  Click here to download

 Rachel’s Pick -

Invented just this past Monday by Lara McCulloch of Ready2Spark (https://www.facebook.com/ready2spark), with over 220 fans already, check out the EVENT MARKET - a place to buy and sell used event merchandise
https://www.facebook.com/groups/590746874275233/?ref=ts&fref=ts

Lara started this group because a number of event friends expressed a desire to sell their items but didn't have the forum to do so. Here are some pointers from Lara

 

What should I post?

·         Feel free to post linens, tents, audio visual merchandise or any other event-related products. This group is not open to 'rentals', only for sale items.

What should I include in my listing?

·         It would be helpful to include as much information as possible - like a description, the condition of the item, a picture, the location, quantity available, price including delivery charges (if applicable), contact information and forms of payment accepted.

Can I invite someone else to the group?

·         Of course! The more, the merrier. You can add someone by entering their name into the "+Add People to the Group" box.

 Dana’s creative suggestion -

Try incorporating the 2013 Pantone colour of the year – EMERALD – try these RGB colour settings (35, 165, 115)

 Hope my “Free Idea” makes your Friday!

To learn more, please visit www.andlogistix.com

Does Silly = Success?

During a recent trip to Vietnam, I scanned the local paper during breakfast and was pleasantly surprised to find a story about Toronto, but was stumped when I discovered that it focussed solely on the silly antics of the now infamous “Ikea Monkey”

Frivolous news stories in the media have always been around, but YouTube has brought sharing these quirky stories to a new level of sharing – going viral.  So I started thinking, “How did this story about a shearling coat-wearing Monkey running around a Toronto Ikea parking lot, which made it all the way to a local paper in Vietnam, affect Ikea?”

Did this high level of amusement inadvertently generate the right type of advertisement for Ikea?

If you search links about going viral, you get a variety of tips and tools on how to improve your chances to join the viral epidemic.  There are also several market researching studies availability.  To help share the lowdown on the download, here are two articles that are sure to provoke your creative thinking.

Jonah Peretti is the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed.

http://www.facebookstories.com/stories/1942/essay-13-ways-to-make-something-go-viral

Neetzan Zimmerman is Senior Editor at Gawker

http://gawker.com/5912376/this-is-how-you-make-something-go-viral-an-impractical-guide

Coincidentally the last time I came across an article about Toronto in a foreign newspaper was last summer in Chicago reading a New York Times story about the antics of Mayor Rob Ford at Toronto’s Silly Hall (oops, I meant City Hall).  I will leave it to you to spot the parallels.

Hope my “Free Idea” makes your Friday!

To learn more, please visit www.andlogistix.com