Eventbrite Blog » Jack

7 tips for hosting a greener event

Jack — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:23:08 +0000

From classes and conferences, to festivals and concerts, it seems like almost everyone is thinking about how to make their events more sustainable and eco-friendly.

We recently enjoyed a conversation with Dave Rochlin from ClimatePath, who shared these great tips for how eventholders can ‘green’ their events:

1: Set a waste goal and arrange for recycling. The more you can keep out of landfills, the better for the planet. With a little planning you can divert 80% or more of your waste. Make sure that you or your site/facility has recycling and compost bins available, and that they are visible and placed in the right locations. Choose recyclable and compostable materials and avoid single serving items when bulk will do. Getting rid of items like bottled water can actually save you money as well as reduce trash.

2: Watch your energy use. Energy generation creates greenhouse gas emissions that leads to climate change. Decide how much lighting you really need, and turn off equipment between sessions.

3: Think about transportation. How will attendees get to your event? If you can, select a location that is central, convenient, and accessible via public transportation. Aside from providing information on public transportation options, encourage carpooling. Travel is usually the primary source of emissions for events.

4: Offset your carbon footprint. Despite your best efforts to reduce, lighting, heating/cooling, food prep, etc. all use energy. As a rule of thumb, assume 20 lbs of carbon per attendee per day, or 1 ton of CO2 emissions for a 100-person event. You can offset this carbon footprint by supporting projects at ClimatePath for roughly $11/ton, or 0.10 per attendee. If you want to include driving miles, assume an additional 50 lbs per attendee (2.5 tons of CO2 for a 100 person event.) Visit ClimatePath for more information about calculating your event footprint.

5: Less paper, please. Events tend to waste a lot of paper, which requires trees, energy, electricity, and water. Print materials and handouts on recycled paper, and use both sides when possible. Encourage emailing or web posting of handouts rather printing them. Try to make banners and posters reusable. Ask vendors and exhibitors to take back whatever collateral isn’t used, rather than throwing it out.

6: Food and other sourcing: Providing local, organic and vegetarian food options is always appreciated. Less meat means a lower footprint. Ask food vendors what they do to be greener, to minimize packaging, and arrange to donate extra un-served food. For extra credit, ask for fair trade coffee and tea. It’s grown more sustainably and helps farmers.

7: Spread the word. Let your attendees know about your efforts, and ask for their cooperation. You’ll be surprised by the enthusiasm. You can make a difference, and event goers appreciate the effort!

ClimatePath helps individuals and businesses lighten their impact through sustainability initiatives, conservation, and offsetting. To get a “Carbon Neutral Event” badge for your event, visit: http://www.climatepath.org/wearyourbadge.

Google Analytics Conversion Tracking

Jack — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:35:03 +0000

Firmly rooted in our commitment to helping our customers succeed, we’re pleased to announce that eventholders now have the ability to track conversions on their Eventbrite registration pages using their own Google Analytics account. To add your Google Analytics code to your event page, simply visit the “edit” page for your live or draft event, scroll down to the bottom of the page to the “Additional Options”. You will now see that there is a new option labeled “Track Registration Page using Google Analytics.” Check the box and enter your full code (including the “UA”) as shown below. Enjoy and happy conversion tracking!

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Zoompool brings easy Ridesharing to events

Jack — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:12:00 +0000

We’re very pleased to announce that Eventbrite users can now easily add rideshare matching to their events. By way of a new partnership with Zoompool, event organizers can place a widget on their event registration pages that facilitates carpool matching between attendees. Zoompool matches drivers and riders according to their travel needs and their personal preferences. Event attendees can specify their ideal rideshare partner by gender, smoker/non-smoker, even by degree of chattiness and what type of radio station they prefer. Awkward discussions about driving costs are also avoided, as Zoompool calculates fair cost sharing before each ride and processes the transaction between rider and driver as soon as a trip takes place. No money needs to be exchanged at the time of the trip. Event attendees can travel safely and enjoy the ride, knowing they are saving on gas and parking, and helping the environment and their community by taking a car off the road. To add a Zoompool rideshare matching widget to your event page, visit the Zoompool + Eventbrite start page and follow the easy instructions.

The Zoompool/Eventbrite integration takes advantage of the Eventbrite Developer Platform.

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Bonus month for affiliates!

Jack — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:01:54 +0000

What is the Eventbrite Affiliate Program?

Refer new customers to Eventbrite and earn a commission whenever they sell tickets! Learn more.

Why is September special?

To kick your earnings into a higher gear this month, we’re very pleased to announce a special bonus for the month of September. In addition to your usual commissions, you will receive a $50 bonus for every new customer you refer to Eventbrite who also sells their first ticket in the month of September. To qualify for the bonus, the customers you refer must not already have an Eventbrite account, and they must start selling tickets in the month of September. The bonus does not apply to customers who created their Eventbrite account before September 1st, 2009, nor those who sell their first ticket after September 30th, 2009.

There’s no limit to how many qualifying customers you can refer, so take full advantage of the opportunity and start promoting right away!

Get your personal referral link

Please send questions to affiliates@eventbrite.com.

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How to sell sponsor links on your event page

Jack — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:04:06 +0000

Many of our eventholders have realized that their event pages have promotional value. They are seen by all of the invitees to an event in the days leading up to, and in many cases these pages enjoy steady traffic long after the event from links they have received on numerous sites and from placing well in the search engines. One popular way to give something back to the sponsors of your event is to give them visibility and links on the event page.

This is usually done by placing those elements in the event details or “hosted by” areas of the event page, both of which allow for full HTML. But a more streamlined approach is to allow for sponsors to obtain a link on the event page as soon as they register for the event. In this case, a “sponsor” is simply someone who is willing to pay you a small premium over the regular ticket price for the benefit of having a link to the site of his choice on your event page.

What we want is for the link to go up as soon as the sponsor pays, automatically and with no need for intervention from the event organizer. This effect can be achieved by working with ticket types and by taking advantage of the display attendee info on the event registration page option. The first step is to create two paid ticket types, one for regular attendees and one for sponsors. You may wish to name the sponsor ticket type something like “Sponsorship (includes link)” and/or provide some descriptive text in the “more info” area explaining that a sponsorship level ticket includes a link on the event page.

Once you have created the two ticket types and saved your event page as a draft, you’ll want to click on “Collect Custom Information” from the Manage Event menu. Select “Collect information below for each attendee”. Next, select to collect information only from the sponsor ticket type. Choose to collect “Website” info from among the choices shown under “Work Information”. Save Changes. Go back to the edit event page and scroll down to the bottom of the page and select “Show attendee list on the event registration page”. If you are also collecting or wish to display any info from regular attendees, you should select it. Be sure to select to display “Website” so that the sponsors’ links will appear. Website information will not be collected from regular attendees, and thus will not be displayed on the event page. Only those who pay at sponsor level will be asked to provide a website URL during registration. This URL will appear on the page as soon as they pay. Here’s an example event where both ticket types are free.

SBA chooses Eventbrite

Jack — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:18:33 +0000

We’re very pleased to announce that the San Francisco Small Business Administration has selected Eventbrite to provide online registration services for its seminars and classes. The Small Business Administration and its resource partners offer a variety of classes for business owners on a range of subjects — from how to start a business and build your brand, to bookkeeping fundamentals, to how to take advantage of the latest trends in online marketing. For more information about SBA classes and seminars for small business owners, visit the Small Business Administration on Eventbrite.

LinkedIn partners with Eventbrite to distribute events

Proud to be hosting so many Pride events

Jack — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:14:56 +0000

The second half of June heralds the arrival of Summer and marks the beginning of a brief but emphatic season where many American cities invite their LGBT communities to assert their PRIDE. Pride celebrations range from enormous festivals that include hundreds of thousands of participants and transform the host city into a variegated wonderland, to more modest events that may include fewer people but are buoyed by the same spirit and energy. This weekend, San Francisco and New York City kickoff large scale festivities that include parades, parties and street festivals. If you’re in either of those cities, you should definitely check out the fun. But there are lots of other Pride events happening all over the world, and we are very proud to be hosting many of them on Eventbrite. Check them out, or (better yet) host your own Pride event!

Adding a logo to your event page makes it more visible on Eventbrite

Jack — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:47:07 +0000

Your Eventbrite registration page is your palette. We put enough customization power into event page creation to satisfy the most demanding of designers. But even the simplest of Eventbrite registration page designs succeed because we’ve put a great deal of testing and optimization into the basic layout. One design element you should try to add, if possible, is a logo. It takes about 5 seconds to add a logo to your event registration page. A logo will give your registration page distinctiveness and branding. We also make use of logos to create a thumbnail for your event whenever it appears in Eventbrite Events Search results or in the Events Directory. We have data that suggests events with logos are clicked on in search results as much as 4X more often than those without. Just saying.

Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp for Non-Profits

Jack — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:58:34 +0000

On behalf of the Craigslist Foundation, Eventbrite is very pleased to announce that registration for the 2009 Craigslist Foundation Non-Profit Boot Camp is now open. Now in its 6th year, the Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp is “an opportunity for nonprofit professionals, civic leaders, philanthropists, volunteers, educators, service-learning professionals and doers from all over the world to network, share and inspire one another”. The Boot Camp is a one-day event with a program consisting of workshops and networking sessions. Participants should expect to come away with actionable ideas they can apply to their own work, as well as rich networking and information exchange among other non-profit professionals from all across the country and around the world.

Workshop topics include: Mastering the Fundamentals: focuses on helping you understand the fundamentals of community building organizations, such as finding funding, sustainable growth, and attracting & keeping great talent. Big Ideas: What are the most important ideas in community building that few people are talking about? Success Stories: will inspire you with behind-the-scenes accounts of successful programs. And Cross-Sector Collaborations: showcases how to work together to tip over the silos (government, business, nonprofit organizations) and build pipelines that can make long lasting impact on your community. See the full schedule. Register now to attend the 2009 Craigslist Foundation Non-Profit Boot Camp. Browse more events in Berkeley.

Hotel room rates so low you’ll be shocked

Jack — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:54:44 +0000

It’s common wisdom that things are supposed to get cheaper as you buy more of them. Volume discounts, I think they call them. In hotel economics, volume doesn’t mean a longer stay. It means booking lots of rooms per night. Eventholders who need to book lodging for their events are encouraged to check out a new hotel group rate booking tool, provided in partnership with HotelPlanner.com. Unlike most hotel booking websites, that cap off at 4 rooms per night, HotelPlanner.com lets you get access to exclusive group rates that are normally only available directly from hotel sales managers. Providing this unique online access to otherwise inaccessible hotel rates is at the core of a patent pending technology. We were impressed, and recommend you take a look at this service if you are an eventholder who needs to book hotel room nights in bulk. It’s not unusual for the event organizer’s own accomodations to be comped when they secure a group booking! You can access the tool from the “Manage” page of your event. Look for “Book Rooms for Your Event” on the menu. Alternatively, check out hotel group rates.

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