To Reprint or Not Reprint

I recently helped at the registration desk for a large, multi-day conference with exhibit hall. There were almost 4000 attendees and just over 225 unique exhibitors. Name badges for the host organization were very important, and luckily, security at the convention center was fantastic. They policed the different areas and allowed or didn’t allow access based on whether or not a person had theirs and which color their lanyard was. Attendees and exhibitors had different colors so security knew who could access the show floor early for setup.

Because everyone needed a lanyard and name badge, those who lost their badge had to swing by registration to get another one. This organization has had a history of “lost” badges to the point they now charge $25 for the first missing badge and $50 for the second in an effort to dissuade those who just forgot them in their hotel room and are too lazy to walk back and get them. It also prevents someone “losing” their badge, coming and getting a second one, and giving it to either another booth worker or their spouse who came with them and now wants to participate as well without paying a full conference fee, attempting to game the system.

Sitting at the registration desk for several days was quite entertaining. Some people provided what sounded like a legitimate excuse for needing a replacement badge. Some, however, told fish stories like my grandfather. Those who received a replacement were asked to bring back one of them when they found the original. Surprisingly enough, I think all but two or three actually did. Only one person came for a second badge, sheepishly approaching the desk with her credit card in hand. She knew what she had done and what the cost would be. These were grown humans with jobs. If she can’t hang onto a name badge, no two name badges for four days, I can’t imagine what her workspace looks like.

Once things at the desk slowed down and we had time to watch the people walking by (which is one of my favorite hobbies-people watching), we did see one particular exhibitor on a daily basis make a hand-off in the atrium to one new booth worker each day. It’s amazing how differently Robert Johnson looked from day to day…. Nobody minded as long as there was only one Robert Johnson in attendance each day.

Having been a Certified Event Professional (CMP) for as long as I have, I had thoughts about how the organization could reduce their concern about duplicate badges being used or eliminate the issue altogether.

At no point were badges scanned, only observed. If this organization wanted to, they could have people scanning the badges of everyone as they entered (and exited) the exhibit hall, breakout rooms, and space where lunch was being served. Trust me, this would not deter attendees nor take a ton of time if done right. I know a large number of people can get through the doors quickly because I attend a very large conference in Las Vegas every year where 18,000 people manage to get onto the show floor in about 10-15 minutes. It’s about having enough access points, spreading people out, ensuring there are plenty of scanners, and the system is working. By doing this, if there was a duplicate name badge, the scanning device would not allow the “same person” to enter twice.

Luckily in four days, we didn’t have too many duplicate badge requests, and those who forgot their badges in their hotel rooms in fact, did not want to fork over the $25, and reluctantly made the trek back. The most outrageous story we heard for a lost badge was a gentleman who claimed he lost it “alligator wrestling.” We did happen to be in the south, on the water, however, did not believe his story. He did get points for originality and didn’t have to pay for the replacement.

The most truly lame story was from a guy who just picked his name badge up a couple of hours ago, claimed it was bothering his neck so he took it off, and he “just dropped it.” Coincidentally, a woman came to the desk to have her badge reprinted who also had just picked hers up this morning with the same lame story…. Just pay for the day pass. It’s not much more than a lost badge fee and you won’t need to hide from anyone.

Does your organization allow or charge for reprinted name badges? Share your guidelines here or send me an email!

Make sure you comment, like, and share this blog with those you know who plan events with
name badges!

Travel much? Visit Tracy’s Traveler’s Tidbits page for helpful tips for unseasoned travelers.

Politics and Place Cards

Let me start by saying, this is not a blog about politics. I don’t have an opinion to share, and I don’t care what your opinion is. I almost didn’t post this blog because people seem to lose their minds when you say the word “political.” All I’m talking about today is planning a large event known as a political rally. These events are incredibly detailed, require lots of people, money, and space, and can draw huge crowds. Not to mention, your work will most likely be seen on television, potentially around the world. No pressure.

As with any event, it starts with your goals and objectives. Clearly identify what your particular rally needs to accomplish. Is it to announce a candidate’s plans to run for office? Is it to fundraise in an area where the candidate has a following? Is it to make remarks before and/or after an election? These are similar and yet very different based on the final outcome you desire. All will need a venue, personnel, budget, security, AV and production support, media, marketing, logistics, risk assessments, timelines, and more. However, how you use them and what you do with them can range from simple to incredibly complex.

Let’s talk about a campaign fundraising rally. Identifying a location in the country where the most number of the candidates supporters can travel to easily would be ideal. The more money raised, the better the campaign that can be run. The more supporters in one place, the more money likely to be raised. Estimating what that number might be will help direct you to the best venue suited for the event. Most fundraisers include a dinner, so there are those logistics to consider, as well as music or entertainment, and different speakers; some local “celebrities” who support the candidate, others who might be more nationally known, and someone who generally makes a pitch for financial support. Then the candidate themself makes their remarks. Finding a venue that can fit the right number of people, serve a decent meal in a short period of time, support the production needs, and partner with you on parking management or valet service, security constraints, and cost will be critical. 

To start, a political rally is like planning most events (with some twists). You’ll need basic information such as date, time, schedule, and who the key stakeholders are. As the schedule is built, the production team can add the time to open doors, run soundchecks, and when load-in and load-out will happen. The security team can include times for safety briefings and security walk-throughs. Adding time for decorating, meal service, and the order for the speakers will keep things running smoothly. There will need to be invitations and registration created, F&B menus selected, seating charts designed, a marketing and social media campaign launched, and decorations ordered. Volunteers will need to be invited to help with setup, teardown, check-in, and more. Permits might need to be secured for noise or having a fundraising event. A risk assessment should be performed, a mitigation plan built, and insurance secured. Pretty typical. This still requires a planning timeline, identifying milestones, creating checklists, and gathering a myriad of people to accomplish it all.

Here’s where some of the twists come in. Most events don’t generally coordinate with the media. The news needs to be invited to cover the event on television. They are often provided with an area where they can watch and report on the goings on separately from the actual event so they are not a distraction. There will be reporters, camera crews, and producers. When fundraising, you’ll also need to set up a method for collecting money. These days, an online platform is a must as very few people or organizations make donations with physical checks, although you want to be ready to accept those as well. There should be no barrier between someone’s desire to financially support the candidate and your ability to receive them. 

One other must is that on their way in, you want to equip guests with rally signs and placards, as well as branded swag supporting the candidate, so in the background of camera shots, no matter the angle, there’s a slew of signs with the candidate’s name plastered on them. Plus, the guests go home with memorabilia from the event and hopefully these items become walking billboards for the candidate throughout the days and weeks to come. 

As with any event, the event planning checklist is extensive, far beyond what was covered here, but you get the idea that a political rally has some uniquenesses that need to be thought through during the initial planning meeting and goal-setting phase. If you haven’t worked within the political arena before, I highly suggest you contact an event planner who has and take them to coffee. Ask about their experiences and what they recommend you watch for; what are some things that they have learned that go well and what pitfalls they’ve seen along the way that you want to avoid.

Have you planned a political rally? Tell us one thing we should watch for.
Comment here or send me an email!

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For great complimentary planner resources, visit tracybaer.com.

Here are two helpful websites if you’re planning a political rally.
1.https://www.heroic-productions.com/how-to-organize-a-rally/
2.https://venueonlakelily.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-successful-political-rally/

My New Friend

While working the registration counter for exhibitors recently, I made a new friend. This friend stopped by at the most opportune moment in the day. My new acquaintance instantly put a smile on my face and things that I was dealing with just melted away.

As check-in opened, we quickly realized that many of the exhibitors didn’t register their booth staff. Some thought that when they purchased the floor space somehow the system magically knew the name, email, phone number, and dietary needs of everyone who might be working in their booths. Most organizations had one to two booth staff members, but even with so few, it takes time to enter this information for 225+ exhibitors. Then, as the sponsorship levels went up or exhibitors purchased additional passes, there were booths with up to 14 workers (at least that seemed to be the largest number I encountered).

Even if it took me four minutes per person to locate the exhibitor in the system, enter the information, print the badge, stuff it in the lanyard, and welcome the next guest, and even if each organization only had ONE booth worker each, it would take me over 15 hours to accomplish this task. Needless to say, we had a pretty long line, some frustrated people with short tempers, and nothing could be done but plug along with my executive assistant speed-typing skills coming in handy.

As I slogged on, one patient, gracious, kind exhibitor amid the others, sensed the tension in the air and said she could introduce me to someone who could make my day a whole lot better and she’d be back. As I whittled down the line, I caught her out of the corner of my eye.

Enter Theo.

First of all, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw his crazy hair. It went in every direction possible. It was thin and wispy and was an unusual color. He had big brown eyes that melted my heart and his dark, smooth skin was just mesmerizing. When I finally had a break in the action long enough to introduce myself to him, I wanted nothing more in that moment than to scoop him up and go for a walk.

Theo has this amazing ability to calm me down with just a look. His sense of humor is contagious and he takes a lickin’ but keeps on tickin’. My new friend Theo is a Mimbleball. This is a comfort buddy designed to reduce the stress of just about anyone regardless of their cognitive ability or state of mind. You can give him a shake and watch his crazy hair fly, smooth his hair back as if you’re petting a cat and “pop” it up by bopping him from below, and even squeeze him or toss him at the wall. Theo will never leave you, judge you, or complain. He is just there. You can tell him your biggest concerns, share your favorite moments of the day, or tuck him in your backpack and head to the trails.

You’ve got to take a moment to check out these amazing Mimbleballs. Theo has a few friends of varying colors and sizes. Behind Theo stands Julia and her team. Julia has a brilliant and creative mind, and after having interacted with her only briefly during this 4-day event, I am convinced she is “good people.” She cares about the health and wellbeing of others. Who doesn’t feel better when others care about them? And who doesn’t feel better when they care about others?

Thank you, Julia, for the introduction. My granddaughter is now friends with Bimble and Ivie goes to work with me regularly. Theo holds down the fort at home.

Do you have a Mimbleball? Share your story here or send me an email!

Be sure to comment, like, and share this blog with everyone you know who needs a friend!

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https://www.facebook.com/mimbleball

https://www.instagram.com/mimbleball

Who’s Next Door?

Working in meetings and events is never boring. Or, very rarely boring. When I planned a multi-day event for a nonprofit organization, one of the things on my site visit check list was to ask what other groups or events would be utilizing the space either before, after, or at the same time as my group. This was especially important for my faith-based and religious clients. It would be really awkward to have a bikini contest happening in a portion of the building the same time I had pastors meeting in the other.

Not only from a conflict of interest stand point, but also for customer service. As I worked an event recently, there was our event in the A/B sections of this long, narrow convention center, and another group in the I/J sections. There was a little construction in between, and for the first few days, nothing else. Our event was on the end closest to the headquarters hotel, so pretty much anyone staying in town would walk from the hotel, through our event and onto the rest of the convention center. No big deal, the foyers were very wide, and everyone had plenty of room.

What was funny was that our group consisted of mild-mannered, well-behaved educators. 4000 of my closest friends who got together once a year for education, fellowship, and to see what new resources were available in the exhibit hall. The event on the other end, however, served a much different clientele. Think Pokemon, meets Nintendo, meets, Anime, meets any other superhero or cartoon character you can imagine.

The juxtaposition between the two audiences was jarring as we watched people with full-face masks, tails, swords, unicorn horns, platform boots, claws, body suits, painted cardboard boxes, and truly just about anything they could come up with, stroll through the hallway of the straight-laced, suburban K-12 educators. As I sat at the service desk, it was obvious to me who was here for our event, and who was here for the other one. The looks on the faces of both groups as the characters stopped to see if they were in the right place to check-in, and those in the right place stopped to see if these were people on their staff.

What we learned early on was that we needed to train the volunteers working check-in not to assume everyone who came up to the self-check-in station knew they were in the right place. Our wide-eyed, innocent volunteers tried to help everyone with a barcode get a name badge to no avail. After a failed attempt or three, they sent them to the service desk only for us to ask the guest if this was the conference they were really looking for.

To add to the confusion, two days in, a financial planners event (or something of the like) started in between the two groups. Now we added folks in business attire who actually DID blend into our natural habitat to the check-in lines. These imposters were harder to spot.

The lesson here is that as the host organization, you need to fully understand the schedule and access privileges of other groups who will be occupying the same convention center or hotel spaces as your event. It helps mitigate conflict of interest issues, allows you to provide better customer service, and wards off a potential security risk. Luckily what we experienced were things like a conversation between Deadpool, Princess Peach, and Mrs. Crabtree, the 3rd Grade teacher from Middleton, and others taking photos with Darth Vader, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Son Goku.

Do you have a shared-space story? Share it here or send me an email.

Let me know you’re out there! Leave a comment, like, and share this blog with those you know who like comics, Anime, superheroes, Big Foot, cartoons, TV personalities….

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Beyond the Parking Lot

Here in the US as the weather gets nicer, in parking lots all over the Midwest, especially at burger joints and ice cream stands, you will come across a car show. These are gatherings of vintage or refurbished cars. Owners bring their cars to a specific location for others to oooh and awe over as they nosh on their red hots or swig their milk shakes. Most of the time there is retro music being played to draw the crowd in, and occasionally, you’ll see girls in poodle skirts and guys in leather jackets with their hair slicked back as if they just re-entered in doc’s DeLorean from the 1950s.

This type of car show is usually casual. There might be a schedule, or not. There might be a sign-up sheet or registration on a web page, or not. They might be just “drive-in” kind of events. These shows are often accompanied by lots of folks sitting in lawn chairs, coolers of cheap beer, tents with lights strung on them over picnic tables of potato salad, chips, and carrot sticks. They pop up in neighborhoods, in rural downtowns, and anywhere the local farmer can arrive in his overalls, driving his tractor to get there. It feels very Midwest America to me – a lot like the town I grew up in.

However, I know that there are car shows out there where the planners and car owners take things a lot more seriously.

I have been to some car shows where the owners are buffing their beauties with cloth diapers every fifteen seconds. As soon as someone’s breath reaches their mint metallic green Chevy, out comes the rag and wax. These car shows are indoors so the paint and interiors won’t fade and weather is not an issue. Cars in these shows would never be driven to the show floor, Lord have mercy. They’re trailered in, pushed around, and drained of their fluids to meet indoor safety standards. And, many of them are for sale. They have won ribbons and trophies which travel with them; displayed for any prospective buyers to behold. They are parked over mirrors so guests can see how clean the undercarriage is and hoods are popped open to display the chrome engine that was meticulously lowered into place. An attendee or a prospective buyer might even have to be qualified before being issued a badge of entry for a show of this nature.

But, what I discovered as I researched for this blog is that the US is not the only country who hosts car shows. They can actually be found in varying formats in places like the UK, across Europe, Australia, and in Asia. 

A quick internet search produced these shows as the favored ones:

  • Goodwood Festival of Speed (West Sussex, United Kingdom)
  • Retromobile (Paris, France)
  • Summernats (Canberra, Australia)
  • Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (China)
  • Bangkok International Motor Show (Thailand)

Do you know what else I discovered? The event planning checklist for these events are exactly the same everywhere. The order in which tasks are accomplished might be different, but clearly a car show is a car show is a car show.

As with any event, you need a vision or to determine the goals and objectives. You’ll need a budget, a date, and a venue. There will need to be registration for the cars and most likely ticket sales for attendees. Definitely marketing and advertising are important if anyone is going to hear about the event. Food and beverages, bathrooms, parking, safety, and audio/visual support are on the list. I am certain there will need to be permits, risk assessments, some type of insurance, and site inspections. It also seems like there are awards and prizes for these events so judges and categories need to be established if they’re not already in place.

The specifics of these steps will obviously be nuanced based on the country in which you are planning a car show. I can’t imagine that the permitting process for an event in Columbus, Ohio, in the US, is going to be the same for obtaining a permit for the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. What this tells me is that research must be done ahead of time and all of this will need to be factored into your event planning timeline. If it takes six months to obtain a permit in China, then not only should it be one of the first things you do (if you can) it may determine how soon the car show can be scheduled.

Being from small-town USA outside of Chicago, my personal preference is the car show that pops up in a random parking lot on Thursday night at an ice cream shop. These are the cars that guys have worked on in their garages for years. They’re proud of their work and are finally taking their baby out for a spin. They’ll share war stories of getting their car in drivable condition, nobody’s in a rush, and there’s no agenda.

Being from outside of Chicago, I also am within driving distance (or preferably a 1-1/2 hour train ride) to the Chicago Auto Show which happens to be North America’s largest auto exposition. I have attended this show before. I can’t imagine the logistical coordination to get all of those cars into McCormick Place. If you haven’t been, this venue is enormous; the largest convention center in North America. For other event nerds such as myself, here are some flyby stats: it has 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space, 600,000 square feet of meeting space, 50 foot ceilings, assembly seating for 18,000, and is connected to nearly 3,000 hotel rooms.1

The next time you see a car show in the parking lot of your favorite non-dairy, gluten-free, low-fat, frozen yogurt, ice cream substitute joint, check it out. Who are we kidding, places like this won’t have a car show in their lot. You want a full-fat, tasty, creamy, dairy-filled, decadent, sweet, real ice cream shop. Here is where you’ll meet some great folks and see some cool cars.

Have you planned a car show, whether at home or abroad, casual or formal? Share something you learned with us here or send me an email.

Make sure you comment, like, and share this blog with everyone you know who drives a car!

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1.Choose Chicago. McCormick Place Convention Center. 2026. https://www.choosechicago.com/meeting-planners/mccormick-place/mccormick-place-convention-center/

I don’t represent nor do I promote McCormick Place, I just think it’s a fascinating venue. Be aware, Illinois is a Union state.