Month: September 2014
Tech Tuesday: How the New Apple Technology Benefits Events
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world!
Apple’s new iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch have been enthusiastically discussed, even before they were released. Some people criticize Apple’s new technology, especially after the iPhone 6 “bending scandal.” However, we at ABCey tested N.F.C., a feature both gadgets offer, and think it has great potential to benefit the event world!
The biggest feature of both, the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch, is their near-field communication (N.F.C) technology. It enables devices to communicate and share information with each other when they are just a few inches apart. This feature is also used for Apple Pay, a new way to pay, in which customers wave their phones at the point-of-sale device to make credit card transactions. For events, the new Apple technology is a great way for visitors not to worry about cash and easily make purchases with their Apple devices.
N.F.C. could also be useful as a registration tool that keeps track of the guests that enter and exit the event. Also, categorizations, such as general admission or V.I.P, can be registered by the system. This way, we could eliminate paper tickets and make registrations faster, easier, and environmentally friendly.
In addition, the devices make it really easy to share event information on social media. Hosts and visitors can share activities instantly; for example, as soon as visitors enter the event, they would automatically “check-in” on Facebook. The new Apple technology also enables hosts to encourage visitors to share on social media in order to win prizes for participation.
After the event, visitors can take a survey or post on social media, which helps event planners collect feedback and improve their events in the future. Last but not least, the Apple Watch is a really handy gadget, which means no longer trying to sneak peaks at your phone during events!
How would you use Apple Watch or iPhone 6 for events? Tell us about it in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!Startup Monday: Smore, Design Online Flyers
Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey Events!
Smore allows you to easily design online flyers to showcase your upcoming events with customizable layouts! Simply update your flyers to capture your event’s theme, send your creation to all of your subscribers, and track your success!
How it works: With the easy-to-follow format, Smore allows you to customize your flyer to match the theme of your event. From the Smore website, you can publish your digital flyer to all of your social media sites, over email, or on to other flyers in your city. With a special analytics capacity, Smore provides numbers regarding your top incoming traffic sources, how your recipients’ interactions with the flyer, and how effective your flyer really is!
Why we love it: Smore makes it so easy to design online flyers to really draw attention to your events. Our favorite part is how much information we can gather using Smore’s analytical technology and learn about what areas we can improve upon. With three different models to chose from, with prices ranging from $19 to $99 per month, Smore provides a variety of options to publicize events!
Will you use Smore to design and publish professional flyers for your next event? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
Shopping Just Got a Whole Lot Easier!
Let’s face it, whether your a mom on the go or working crazy hours at the office, it’s not always easy to find the time to shop. But lucky for us we live in a world where technology loves to make our lives just a little bit easier, which bring us to a new era of shopping! Try on clothes at home, wear designer dresses at a fraction of the cost, get a personal stylist? It’s all possible thanks to businesses like these:
Rent the Runway
Want a stunning dress to go with your next big event…without the issue of breaking the bank? Rent the Runway offers shoppers the chance to rent designer pieces, dresses, jewelry, and handbags at 10% off the retail cost! How it works is that you select the dress you like and have it shipped to your home (with an additional size at no cost!) You keep the items for a 4 to 8 day period with Rent the Runway also providing a hassle free return with prepaid, pre-addressed packaging.
Le Tote
Similar to Rent the Runway, Le Tote is a rental company for clothing, but instead of special event clothing Le Tote offers shoppers everyday rentable wear! Shoppers have access to unlimited rentals worth up to $1000 plus, you’re even able to keep the clothes as long as you like (similar to the concept of renting a Netflix DVD) for the cost of $49 a month.
Stitch Fix
Too busy to get he latest looks? Why not hire a personal stylist? Stitch Fix, a San Francisco based clothing retailer, mixes tech and fashion bringing five new items to your door with every order! How it works: Customers pay a $20 styling fee (applying to the cost of the items you keep) and fill out an online style profile, stylists will use customers’ profiles as well as social media outlets like Facebook and Pinterest to find five items styled just for you! Once customers receive the items they have three days to try them and pick and choose their favorites.
True&Co
Having trouble finding the perfect bra? True&Co can fix that! Similar to Stitch Fix, True&Co offers shoppers the opportunity to try on items without the commitment of keeping it. All you need to do is their 2 minute online quiz to determine your size, select styles you love, and then try it on! And don’t worry, if it doesn’t fit the first time True&Co works with you to help you find your perfect match!
Which of these shopping sites are you most excited about?! Share with us your thoughts in the comments below! Or on Facebook and Twitter
ABCey’s Weekend LineUp: San Francisco September 25-28, 2014
We can’t believe it’s already the last weekend of September! Make sure you end the month with a bang by dressing up as a superhero, listening to music, tasting sake, or all of the above! Come out and join ABCey Events for a great weekend!
SuperHero Street Fair
Saturday, September 27th | 1PM – 11PM | Indiana Street near Cesar Chavez | $10 in costume, $20 in Clark Kent | The 5th annual SuperHero Street Fair brings out the superhero in everyone with live music, art, and a large bazaar (7 stages with 13 sound camps!) which houses the electronic music festival. Don’t forget to stop by the “SuperHero Awards,” which honors outstanding individuals and organizations who are performing heroic feats every day!
Bay Area Record Fair
Saturday, September 27th | 12PM – 5PM | Thee Parkside | FREE with RSVP ($5 gets you in an hour early) | With raffles, live bands, and guest DJs, what more can you ask for of the Bay Area Record Fair? How about the chance to buy music directly from dozens of Bay Area record labels, such as Fat Wreck Chords, Slumberland, and 1-2-3-4 Go!.
Sake Day
Saturday, September 27th | 4PM – 8PM | Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California | $80 | Oktoberfest was so last weekend; this week, it’s all about Sake! Sample and learn about sake at 1840 Sutter Street in Japantown for this year’s Sake Day celebration! Don’t forget your IDs!
Excelsior Arts & Music Festival
Sunday, September 28th | 11AM – 4PM | Excelsior Neighborhood | FREE | The Excelsior Action Group is once again presenting their annual Excelsior Arts & Music Festival for a fun, free, family-friendly time! Created to showcase civic pride, this year’s theme is “Greening the Excelsior through Art.” The festival – which includes live music, multi-cultural food, and activities – will be held on Ocean Avenue (between Mission Street and Persia Avenue) and on San Juan Avenue (between Mission Street and Alemany Boulevard).
Now & Zen Fest
Sunday, September 28th | 12PM – 5PM | Golden Gate Park: Sharon Meadow | FREE | Alice 97.3 is hosting Now & Zen Fest again on Sunday in Golden Gate Park (Sharon Meadow)! The star-studded lineup includes Neon Trees, Matt Nathanson, American Authors, and Lindsey Stirling among others. Don’t forget to have your bike valeted for free at the main entrance.
What will you be doing in San Francisco September 25-28, 2014? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
The 6 Best Snacks to Eat While Working in a Stressful Job
Working at ABCey Events, we know how stressful event planning can be. Sometimes there is not even enough time to eat a proper meal, which can have a negative impact on our health. Instead of grabbing a burger and fries at the nearest fast food place, you could spend your money on much healthier food that also helps you to become more relaxed. ABCey shows you the 6 best snacks to eat while working in a stressful job.
Avocados
Avocados are a real nutrient booster! They include glutathione, lutein, beta carotene, folate and the vitamins A and B. A few slices of avocado added to your sandwich gives you a boost of all these vital nutrients! But avocados are also great in salads or dips. The potassium included in avocados also lowers your blood pressure and makes you feel more relaxed. But be aware that avocados also include a lot of fat and should be enjoyed in moderation.
Bananas
Bananas officially belong to the world’s healthiest foods. Similar to avocados, bananas include a lot of potassium, which lowers blood pressure. They also fill you up quickly and are an ideal snack to eat if you’re in a rush. They are a great source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Berries
No matter if you like raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, or blackberries; they are all a great source of antioxidants, which are linked to all kinds of health benefits and promote brain function. Berries are also very rich in vitamin C, which lowers blood pressure and relieves stress.
Crunchy Veggies
Fresh vegetables are always a good snack! Crunchy carrots or celery stalks are simply fun to eat and make you feel refreshed. They are low in calories but high in vitamins, which makes them real feel-good snacks. Additionally, we can dip our veggies in tasteful dips or hummus.
Nuts
Nuts boost our immune system with vitamins and zinc. Particularly walnuts include omega-3 fatty acids that prevent memory loss and keep our brain fit. Cashew nuts are especially rich in zinc, which fights against anxiety and depression. In addition, almonds, pistachios, and hazelnuts are great snacks for when you’re on the go.
Chocolate
Now that we’ve got the vitamins taken care of, it’s time for a different kind of power snack! Chocolate is a stress relieving snack that triggers specific hormones in our brain which help us to relax. Research has proven the positive effects of chocolate consumption on our mood and stress levels. The darker the chocolate, the more polyphenol and flavonol it contains. These antioxidants help us to stay calm in stressful situations. It’s a great excuse you can use to enjoy chocolate even more in the future!
What is your favorite snack to enjoy when you are stressed? Tell us about it in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.
Tech Tuesday: Guidebook, the Mobile Guide App
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world! This week we want to introduce you to Guidebook, a website which allows you to create your own mobile guide app!
Events can be hectic and overwhelming, especially for the event planner. Luckily, Guidebook was made to make event planners’ – and their guests’ – lives easier. Guidebook allows event planners to create high-quality mobile guide apps for their events. Perks include low cost (there’s a free version!), real-time updates, sharp and intuitive design, knowledgable support, and less paper waste!
How it works: Guidebook Gears allows event planners to easily add and update content to their personalized event guide. With an online form, filling out all the information for an event is straightforward, especially when information can be imported from a spreadsheet or an iCal feed. Logos and custom icons can be added for each section and multiple editors can work on the guide. Guests can effortlessly plan their personal event schedule and receive reminders when an event in their schedule is coming up. They can also connect with other attendees using Guidebook’s contact cards so all of their networking will be productive and efficient.
Why we love it: Guidebook is so easy to use and fits within whatever budget we are given! Since a majority of our guests bring their smart phones to our events, we can easily provide them with information, such as schedules, maps, pictures, and logos, without having to print a single piece of paper. Anytime we make a change, our attendees receive the update instantly and are even notified of the changes when they open the app. Can it get any easier?!
Would you use Guidebook? What type of events would you like to have a mobile guide app for? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
Startup Monday: PlagScan, The Unique Content Verification Tool
Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey Events!
This week, we want to draw your attention to PlagScan, a startup located in Palo Alto. PlagScan offers an unique content verification tool and is the leading service for the detection of plagiarism in Germany, including many parts of Europe. PlagScan is now establishing its service in the US market, cooperating mostly with academic institutions. While most other plagiarism detection services are only available for the academic market, PlagScan can be used for business as well.
You might wonder how a plagiarism detection software could be relevant to your job or your business and why ABCey would recommend to check PlagScan out. Let’s say you are an event planner, marketing director, or work in any job that requires creativity and unique content. You spend a lot of time writing marketing texts, blogs, or press releases. Wouldn’t it be great to check if your work is actually unique and hasn’t been written before?
Plagscan is useful even if you are not the one writing the content for your business. Let’s say you have hired writers or interns. Imagine they use published or copyrighted content in your business blogs, without giving proper credit. This is called plagiarism and would shed negative light on your business. With PlagScan you can easily check for plagiarism and make sure that your content is unique.
How it works: PlagScan uses advanced technology in its software that compares billions of online sources with the document you want to check. You can easily upload a document or copy and paste text. After submitting your text, you get a detailed report with the results.
Why we love it: PlagScan is cost-effective and fast. The company offers a competent service that is definitely worth investing in. Best of all: PlagScan also helps to improve your search engine optimization.
Would you use PlagScan? What do you think about this software? Tell us about your opinion in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!ABCey’s Weekend LineUp: San Francisco September 18-21, 2014
It’s everybody’s favorite time of the week! Have yet to decide on your weekend plans? Have no fear, ABCey Events is here to shed some light on the matter. Everything from concerts to midnight mystery to happy hour drinks, we’ve got you covered!
Featured Lykke Li with Mapei
Sunday, September 21th | 8pm | Fox Theater | $40| Listen to the sounds of Swedish indie Pop singer Lykke Ly this Sunday at the Fox Theater. Lykke Li will be showcasing her third album I Never Learn, which she herself declares is “power ballads for the broken.” 
StrEat Bazaar: Craft & Artisan Pop-Up Food Market
Thursday, September 18th | 5pm-10pm | SOMA StrEat Food Park | FREE| Start off your weekend at the SOMA StrEat Food Park’s Streat Bazaar: Craft & Artisan Pop-Up Food Market, featuring the SOMA SoundMAtters, a local DJ collective spinning Deep House for a night filled with craft food vendors, pop up restaurants and food trucks, a beer garden, and jewelry, crafts and more! 
Oktoberfest At SF’s Oldest German Restaurant
Friday, September 19th | 6pm-10pm | Schrodeder’s | FREE| Anyone else ready for Oktoberfest? Schroeder’s, the oldest and largest German restaurant on the West Coast, starts off Oktoberfest this Friday with an outdoor beirgarten on Front Street. Enjoy some live music, dancing, and of course, booze! 
Midnight Mystery Bike Ride
Saturday, September 20th | 12am-2am | Location: it’s a secret! | FREE| Who doesn’t love a little mystery! In perfect San Francisco fashion, the Midnight Mystery Bike Ride throws a little excitement into your ordinary bike routine. Bikers will all gather at a secret location (revealed Saturday afternoon on Facebook), one biker in the group will lead the secretly planned route and everyone else plays a game of follow the leader (with some party pit stops along the way!) So enjoy some exercise, laughs, and a lot of fun along the way! 
Fall Harvest Kick-Off Wine Tasting Event
Sunday, September 21th | 2pm-5pm | Press Club | $30| With fall just around the corner, celebrate the season with a little bit of class! Stop by the Press Club‘s Fall Harvest Kick-Off Wine Tasting to start off this fall season with a tasting of their favorite wines.
Where will you be this weekend? Tell us your plans in the comments below or on Facebook andTwitter.
3 Interactive Event Marketing Ideas
Whether you’re brainstorming conference booth ideas or hosting a networking happy hour, interactive event marketing can help leave a lasting impression on guests. Let’s take a look at 3 fun interactive marketing examples!
1. Get Creative with Catering
Add a whole new dimension to your catering with DIY options. Whether you’re Ketel One setting up a Bloody Mary Bar or Cholula setting up a taco station – try to think of ways to incorporate your company’s brand and culture into the food.
2. Branded Games
During the Vancouver Olympics, one of the games in the Coca Cola Pavillion required guests to don giant polar bear paw gloves. Have another brand icon? Think Lyft and their pink mustaches, how can you incorporate them into an interactive game?
3. Fun with Photobooths
Have your guests do your marketing for you! At last year’s live Super Bowl Party, Rolling Stone created a “trashed hotel room” where guests could take pictures and pretend to live the rock star life. Creating an event hashtag can also encourage guests to post to social media tagging your event and well branded photos!
What other fun and interactive marketing have you seen at events? Tell us in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
Tech Tuesday: Rignite, the Social Media Managing Software
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world! This week we want to introduce you to Rignite, a social media managing software.
As event planners, we always need to stay on top of our social media updates. Often, this can be a time-consuming and draining task. Sometimes you spend hours on sharing events on Facebook, tweeting about them on Twitter, updating information on Linkedin, and uploading photos on Instagram – wouldn’t it be great to do all that at the same time?
The social media managing software Rignite, is an online application that manages all your social media accounts at the same time and from the same place. It allows you to create social media marketing campaigns, monitor them, and analyze their impact. The app is time-efficient and the tools are easy to use!
How it works: Rignite provides guided steps to creating social media marketing campaigns that fit perfectly to your needs. Whether you want to attract customers, increase engagement or achieve sales, Rignite helps you to find the best ways to develop a strategy in order to reach all your social media goals.
Why we love it: Rignite is a perfect mix of organizing your marketing campaigns and giving you creative flexibility. There are even options allowing you to create coupon campaigns, sweepstakes, and much more! Most of all, Rignite alleviates your daily social media tasks, giving you more time for planning your event!
What social media sites do you run your marketing campaigns on? Do you feel like you spend too much time on social media marketing? Tell us about your experience or opinion in the comments below, or on Facebook and Twitter.