How To Get Sponsorship For Your Event

Getting sponsorship for your event is a great way to raise your profile and get some much needed extra funding. It can be difficult to know how to secure deals however so courtesy of eHow, here is a quick and smart guide to getting sponsorship for your event.

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Types of Sponsorship

Event sponsorship can take many different forms. The most traditional is cash sponsorship, in which “sponsors provide funding to market their name via various forms of signage, typically alongside product/service distribution,” said Erin Calhoun-Delaney, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur. Other popular types include product donation (for gift bags) and event location sponsorship (in which a venue is provided gratis in exchange for affiliation).

Sponsor Solicitation

Start with a targeted outreach plan. Event consultant Char Glatley creates a solicitation spreadsheet that serves as a working list of potential sponsors. On the list are current vendors, past sponsors and existing/past connections to be tapped. “I begin with the board and staff members’ affiliations — companies, schools, where they volunteer, etc.,” said Glatley, who owns Cleveland-based company The FUND-amentals.

Event Cache

One surefire way to get an event sponsor is to promote the list of boldface names scheduled to take part. (Yes, it’s OK to name-drop!) “You can effectively demonstrate the benefit to potential sponsors by showcasing the influential people who will be in attendance,” Calhoun-Delaney said. “Whether those influencers are teens or celebrities, word-of-mouth marketing remains the most successful platform for advertising and marketing investments.”

Event Perception and Presentation

Present an organised front to potential sponsors and allow ample lead time for response. When approaching sponsors for awards shows and celebrity retreats, Calhoun-Delaney prepares a presentation that demonstrates how affiliation with the event can boost their visibility. Having a clear and well-prepared message is also of utmost importance: “Knowing what to say over the phone or in person is the best way to close the deal,” she said.

Sponsorship Levels

Establish various giving levels to make sponsorship more accessible. In this model, top-level sponsors get maximum perks and promotion, while low-level sponsors might get a program mention or free event tickets. By offering packages at different price points, you can attract more sponsors.

Importance of Budgeting

It’s important to solidify the event budget early. “Once the projected budget is created, it guides me to create the sponsorship levels and how many I need to solicit to reach the net goal,” said Glatley. “If an event budget is managed properly, the ticket price more than covers the expenses of the event, leaving the sponsorships untouched and donated in full.”

Creative Execution

Get innovative by brainstorming out-of-the-box ways to showcase your sponsors. When Calhoun-Delaney secured Houman/LUZ as an event sponsor, she sought a memorable way for the company to leave an impression on the guests who attended. “We had two models painted in black latex walking around the party wearing LUZ jewelry, interacting with guests, and bringing to life the existing marketing images of the brand,” recalled Calhoun-Delaney.

Post-Event Wrap Up

Seal the deal with proper thank-yous and follow up. If your event is an annual one, the gesture will set the stage for repeat sponsorship, and even if not, the move will reassure sponsors that their investment was a smart one. Along with thanking your sponsors, include post-event data and reporting that will show your sponsors how your event successfully met their objectives.

Eventility, is the free, easy to use online platform to help organisers, organise and people, take part.

What is Eventility? Our brand new video explains it all

Here at Eventility we have just launched a brand new video which explains more about us, what we do and how using our website can help you. Those of you who would like to see the video can do so by clicking here or alternatively, if you don’t have time or can’t view it on your device, here is a roundup of the main points.

What is Eventility?

If you run a club, group, chapter or event, things can get complicated and confusing. With so much to organise it can be difficult enough just knowing where to start. It’s not just the organising that’s the difficult part however – promotion is just as important because without it, how are people going to know about you?

Eventility is an online platform that makes life easy for organisers and promoters because everything can be done quickly and easily via our website and even while on the go through our mobile app.

Why use Eventility?

We give you everything you could possibly need to help you organise your club, group, chapter or event and best of all, it’s free.

When you sign up to Eventility, all of our members get a communications hub to help manage members and it includes a number of fantastic features including:

• Email Tracking
• SMS
• An events app which enables you to sell tickets or invite attendees to RSVP
• A mobile app which allows you to manage everything on the move including scanning tickets
• A live feed to share photos, documents and comments
• Subscription collections
• Everything you need for promotion including professional web pages, social networking and plug-ins that integrate with your existing website
• The option for us to share your public information with our partners to make it even easier for people to find your club and events

Get started for free

If you aren’t already signed up to Eventility then you can get started today for free. Simply register on the website and you will be guided through the quick and easy process so you can start organising and promoting your club, group, chapter or event immediately. If you ever get stuck at any stage or have further questions, our support section contains everything you need to know including details of how to contact us directly.

Changes to Eventility.com and Why They Benefit You – Part 2

To coincide with the service update that we carried out a few weeks ago, we recently posted the first part of our guide to the changes that have been made and how they can benefit you. Part one detailed member management, subscriptions and enhanced repeating events. In this second instalment, we cover free texting and introduce the newest member of our team.

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Free Texting

Improvements – To celebrate our latest release, we are giving away Bronze Pack bundles of 100 SMS credits to Eventility users. Simply login to your account and head over to My Account/Extras to start benefiting from this fantastic offer.

Benefits – With the average person checking their mobile phone up to 150 times a day, texting has become a fantastic way to reach audiences. Whether you’re organising an event or running a club, group or society, keeping in touch with members via SMS really couldn’t be easier with Eventility.

If you are not familiar with using this service, there is plenty of information on the website that will guide you through the process. Here you can learn how our SMS service works and find out more about the bundles we offer.

New Account Manager

Improvements – As the number of people using the website expands, so does Eventility.com. We pride ourselves on providing the best possible experience and customer service to our users and as a result we are delighted to welcome our newest recruit, Adam Harris who is joining our rapidly expanding team as an Account Manager.

Benefits – With more people on board here at the Eventility headquarters, it enables us to offer a better quality service to our customers. With so many clever and creative individuals working with us, it also means that the products and services we offer you will continue to go from strength to strength. Adam has been brought in to show our clients exactly what our software can do for them and off course to make sure that they’re extremely happy with our product offerings.

We sincerely hope that you enjoy the changes that have been made to Eventility.com. We would love to know what you think so feel free to contact us via the website or if you prefer, why not get in touch via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn?

Changes to Eventility.com and why they benefit you

As most of you will already know, at Eventility we’re committed to making your experience on our website the best we possibly can and are regularly making changes and improvements.  At the beginning of the month we sent out a service update, but for those of you who missed it or want to know more, here is the first installment of a two-part guide to the changes and how they can benefit you, your group, club, chapter or event.

Member Management

Improvements – when you add contacts to your club/group/community, you can now include their gender, date of birth, postcode and any other labels or notes that you wish to add.

Benefits – using this function enables you to categorise and separate your lists for more targeted communication. For example, if you are running a specific event in Cambridge and only want to invite those on your list who are local, you can now do so quickly and easily by sorting your contacts by postcode.

Adding notes is particularly helpful when it comes to remembering who you have spoken to at previous events, keeping track of who has requested to receive information about future events and any other details that you think may be helpful when it comes to running your club, group or community.

Subscriptions

Improvements – we have updated our member subscriptions service to include:

• A simple four step set up (PayPal integrated)
• The choice between ‘organiser view’ and ‘live view’
• The ability to notify members individually or by lists
• Functionality that allows you to search for members when adding offline payments
• Tools to build revenue reports for the dates you have chosen

Benefits – using the new improved subscriptions feature means that it’s now much easier and faster to set up to collect your subscription fees. You can categorise and list members by different subscription type and it’s easy to add offline payments as well. Plus you get tools to pull your revenue reports.

Enhanced Repeating Events

Improvements – we have completely re-worked how our members can set up and manage events that are repeated/happen more than once. The new, state-of-the art system enables you to use a simple and powerful repetition scheduler that includes end dates, uses a calendar view to navigate and edit exceptions and even change ‘place’ for individual occurrences.

Benefits – with a new, fully flexible system, users can now set up and manage repeated events much more quickly, easily and efficiently. For example, if you run a sports group at the same time and place on a set day every week, rather than setting this up manually, you can use the repetition scheduler to do it for you. If there is the odd exception such as bank holidays and Christmas, the calendar view enables you to mark these exemptions so that events will not show up for these dates. You can even set an end date if you only want to set up meetings for a certain period of time.

Believe it or not, there have been even more improvements to Eventility.com in our latest service update, so stay tuned for part two next week. In the meantime, why not go and check out some of the features we have already mentioned!

How to Promote Your Club Through Eventility

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Once you have set up your club or group, there are a number of ways you can promote yourself to raise awareness, keep in touch with existing members and even attract new ones. If you are signed up to Eventility there are a number of ways you can do this including:

Manage Members – Our membership management tools are simple to use and highly effective. You can create lists with all your members’ details, send out emails, text messages, track activity and monitor the status of members. This enables you to keep everyone updated with the latest messages and even track who has and hasn’t responded.

Stay in Touch – Whenever you post a message via the Eventility ‘Live Feed’, you can send it out via email, Facebook and Twitter. All your message activity then gets rolled up into a daily digest email that gets sent out to your members. This way you can ensure that nobody ever misses important updates or announcements.

Photo Galleries – Uploading photos is easy to do and is a great way to share memories and keep team spirit alive.

Social Networks – You can easily connect your Eventility account to Facebook and Twitter. Not only does this enable you to keep in touch with existing members, it also allows you to reach out to potential new members who can see your online activity.

Your Website – Adding an Eventility Events Plugin enables members and any visitors to your website to see a ‘Live Feed’ of your club’s up-to-date events. We’ve also made it simple to add an events calendar and other buttons on your website to allow visitors to join, RSVP or even buy tickets if applicable.   

Of course, there are also other ways to promote your club as well as using Eventility. Some simple yet effective methods include:

Flyers/bookmarks – It might sound old-fashioned but flyers or bookmarks can be a great way to raise awareness. Think about where the people you are trying to attract might go. For example, a leisure centre is likely to be filled with people interested in a sports club, a book shop is a good place to look for people interested in a book club and your local coffee shop is bound to be full of people who would happily join a coffee morning group. Make sure you ask permission from wherever you leave your flyers though because if you don’t, they might just end up in the bin.

Word of Mouth – Never under-estimate the power of word of mouth. If you are looking to recruit new members ask those in your club if they know of anyone who might be interested. People are far more likely to agree to something if it has been recommended by someone they know and trust.

Networking Events – Why not hold regular events for your club members? Not only does this keep team spirit alive, it also allows you to attract new members. The promotion you do for your event will naturally attract interest from outsiders and asking existing members to invite friends and colleagues is the perfect way to find new people.

For more information about promoting clubs, feel free to view the Eventility Tour or visit our support section if you have any other questions.

Updates to Eventility.com – member management, subscriptions and free texts

Here at Eventility, we love our users and are committed to making your experience on the site even more awesome. That’s why we’ve updated Eventility so you have the latest version – including performance improvements and bug fixes. Here’s what’s new:

 Member Management

When you add contacts to your club/group/community you can now include:

• Gender and Date of Birth
• Postcode
• Label and Notes

Plus we’ve added a ‘List builder’ so you can easily select which members to add to your lists.

Subscriptions 

We’ve updated our member subscriptions service to include:

• A simple 4-step set up (PayPal integrated)
• Choice between ‘organiser view’ and ‘live view’
• Notify members individually or choose from lists
• Search for members when adding offline payments
• Build revenue reports for dates you choose

Enhanced Repeating Events

It’s state of the art, we’ve completely reworked how you set up and manage repeating events:

• Simple and powerful repetition scheduler includes end dates
• Calendar view to navigate and edit exceptions
• Fully flexible, includes ability to change ‘Place’ for individual occurrences

New Account Manager

We’re delighted to announce that Adam Harris has joined our rapidly expanding team as an Account Manager.

When Adam isn’t making sure all Eventility clients are extremely happy and showing them how cool our software is for them, he loves a bit of scuba diving and is actually a qualified deep and wreck specialty MSDT Instructor. He’s also been known to do a spot of hiking, martial arts, grabbing a round of golf, keeping fit or even cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

Free Texts

 

Texts are a brilliant way to drive footfall and to celebrate this release we’re giving away Bronze pack bundles of 100 SMS credits*

So login and head over to MyAccount/Extras to get up and running with SMS.

• Learn how our SMS service works

• Learn how our email service works

We hope you enjoy the new changes, so why not have a look around on Eventility and try out the new features. We’d really love to hear what you think of the new changes or if you have any site requests, so feel free to contact us.

Eventility Case Study – WindmillArt

Group Owner:

Conrad Webb

1.Tell us a bit about WindmillArt

WIndmillArt is a private, not-for-profit, commission free, art gallery, event space, nightclub, photo studio and conference venue in Linton, South Cambridgeshire, UK. It was created in 2005 by myself and my wife Tereza Votre, and is situated in the large, four storey, 1836 brick Tower Windmill, which dominates our home and garden.

Tereza is a silversmith and jewellery designer, whilst I am Managing Director of a commercial and residential property investment company. I have previously worked at Sotheby’s in both London and New York and I also have a life long interest in photography.

Since 2005, WindmillArt has held two or three fine art exhibitions a year with invited Cambridge, Suffolk and Essex based artists and occasionally National artists exhibiting. Initially there was no charge to the artists for ‘hanging’ nor were any ‘commissions’ charged. The only fees shared equally by the exhibitors were those for publicity and printing of flyers, posters etc. In 2011 we were faced with ever increasing maintenance costs and the decision was made to charge as low a fee as possible to contribute to the direct costs of the gallery space and to expand the types of events we would accommodate. There are still no commission charges and affordable usage fees are negotiated relative to the type of event and length of duration.

2. How did you hear about Eventility

I first heard about Eventility through a contact I made at a gallery event at Williams Art in Gwydir Street, Cambridge and later through Cambridge Dark Room, a group for those interested in photography. http://www.eventility.com/cgc/cambridge-darkroom/-/cambridge/gb/318

3. What were your challenges before using Eventility

My application to use Meetup to promote the photo-studio side of WIndmillArt was rejected by them. I am still not sure why as I was aiming to do very similar events as other photo based Meetups I had attended. With Eventility I can promote any events at WindmillArt and Meetup doesn’t offer the wide range of features that Eventility does, nor is it free and UK based.

4. What was the big a-ha moment when you decided you needed to try Eventility?

I remembered Eventility after my problem with Meetup occurred and a discussion with someone who was already using Eventility tempted me to try it and discover how it had evolved and continues to do so.

5. What are the top features you love about Eventility?

1. Best website support I have ever encountered, they listen to me and help or fix any issues I might have quickly.

2. It’s really useful for selling tickets to our events, I think the prices are the most competitive out there. The scan app for scanning tickets is really nifty and pretty sophisticated as well.

3. We are always looking for new ways to let people know about our events and using Eventility means that we get to new audiences and our web search results are better

6. What specific problems has Eventility addressed that other groups/businesses might be able to relate to?

I think everyone’s needs will be different but for us it has provided a great ticketing platform for events at WindmillArt and of course, more publicity for us is always great.

7. What is the single biggest reason you would recommend/why you love Eventility

Incredible website support and I know they want to make it perfect. Also, I can’t wait for the Eventility iPhone app, I hear there is one coming very soon.

8. What is best tip you can pass along to anyone organising a group, event or place?

Go slowly but keep at it – the numbers will come but don’t expect miracles at your first event. Learn how best to exploit social networking and attend other similar events to see what makes them work.

9. If money were no object, what would your next Eventility event look like?

A concept photography collaborative workshop with full compliment of clothing designers, stage designers, male and female models, make up artists, hair stylists, photographers and creative directors with an aim to create fabulous and highly professional images.

Contact details:

For more information visit:

WindmillArt on Eventility – http://www.eventility.com/cgc/summary/6533

Web – http://www.windmillart.co.uk/

Facebook –  https://www.facebook.com/WindmillArt

Twitter – @windmillart

Email – conrad@windmillart.co.uk

Address – Windmill House, Long Lane, Linton, Cambridgeshire. CB21 4NS

Telephone – + 44 (0) 7931 372110

Please contact Conrad if you wish to view the space and the grounds and would like to discuss possible uses.

Simple Steps to Start a Successful Club

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Many people have great ideas when it comes to setting up clubs but put off doing it because they fear that it will be too time consuming or even worse, that nobody will be interested in it. Whether you want to start a book club, sports club, parent’s group or lunch club, there are a few simple steps you can take to ensure that the process is quick, easy and best of all, successful.

Decide What Kind of Club You Want

Your club should have a set topic because if people know what it’s all about, you will naturally start to attract a gathering amongst those who have an interest in the subject. For example, if you have heard people in your neighbourhood saying they want to get fit but keep putting it off, a running club or aerobics club might be of interest to them because they will be able to incorporate exercise with a social activity. Also naming your club with a name that easily describes what it is will make it easier for people to find it with search engine optimisation.

When and Where Will Your Club Meet?

Having a set time, day and place that you meet eliminates confusion and ensures that people can schedule it in their diaries. If meetings times change all the time, you run the risk of a low turn out and people are likely to stop making an effort. However, if everyone knows that you meet at 6:00 pm on a Wednesday evening, they can make plans to ensure they are there.

Start Recruiting Members

Presumably, you want to start up a club because you know a few people who have an interest in doing so. Start by recruiting those who have already expressed a desire to join and ask them if they have any friends or colleagues who may want to join as well. Try to keep your club manageable though, too many members can become difficult to organise and lead to frustration.

Assign Responsibility to Members

If your club really gets going it can be difficult for just one member to manage everything. Assigning each member a task makes them feel wanted and also takes the pressure off the group leader. Typically, clubs are made up of a group leader who is responsible for the overall running of the club, a deputy leader who can step in when the leader can’t make it, a treasurer who handles the finances if applicable, a secretary, a head of events and an advertising team if you wish to promote your club.

Have Meetings

Holding meeting gives everyone the chance to have their say and put forward any ideas they may have. Making it a social event such as going out for dinner is a great way for club members to bond which is likely to increase loyalty as well.

Manage Your Club

Managing your club and staying in touch with members doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, with Eventility, you can do everything you need to do in one place. Once you have set up your club on the website, you can post updates that automatically go out to all your members, share photos, send auto-reminders and even promote yourself on social networking sites all for free. You can also make other members managers on your Eventility club so you can share the organisation. For more information about setting up a club with Eventility, please feel free to visit the website tour.

Eventility Case Study – Zen Bicycle Band

Group Owner:

Paul Cheneour, of Zen Bicycle Band

 

http://www.eventility.com/cgc/summary/5286, based in Dover, UK.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I’m a musician, a flautist and composer who trained at the Guildhall School of Music in London under Professor Rainer Schuelein. I play concert flute, piccolo, alto flute, bass flute, ney flute, siblisi, duduk and percussion. I also do boul/scat vocalisations and have wide experience exploring different musical forms from western art music and jazz to world music.

Tell us a bit about your group:

The Zen Bicycle Band is made up of myself, Dave Robinson and Clive Fletcher. We have a regular monthly residency (concert) at The Louis Armstrong in Dover plus many others ranging in size from pubs, theatres and arts centres to The Festival Hall in London.

What’s Zen Bicycle Band music like?  It’s a freeform flowing stream of connectivity between three individual players created entirely spontaneously in a manner similar to the Japanese art of calligraphy Shodo – ‘Direct Deed’ where after much meditation and with one stroke of the brush ideograms are formed. We become quite still, connect with the audience and also directly to the source of imagination and inspiration so every performance is unique to that moment of creation.

What were your challenges?

Apart from The Zen Bicycle Band, I’m also involved with other music groups (Paradise Flute and String Quartet, Paul Cheneour and Dilly Meah Sufi-Boul-Fusion, Aeona Flute Quartet, 7 Changes, & Cybajaz,).  My main challenges were:

1. Finding a ‘diary’ function/plug-in for all my events for my website
2. Letting more people know about my band and events so they can attend my gigs and buy my music
3. I needed something that would be easy to use for us old persons!

What did you use before you started using Eventility?

I had my websites and used MySpace, I also used e-mail, word of mouth, and a monthly newsletter and used free listings, web sites and posters.

I found that updating them all individually on concert dates and then trying to tell people about them was time consuming and painful, so I started to look around at something that would help me organise my concerts and let people know about them. I looked at a few solutions but chose Eventility as it looked simplest and was free.

What are the top features you love about Eventility?

1. It’s easy to use
2. It’s free
3. It has lots of features that I haven’t used yet but are useful for me – selling tickets for my concerts, sending out videos and music files to my group members in an update and others
4. Great Customer Service – any queries I’ve had have been answered quickly, it’s nice to find real people to help.
5. They help let people know about my concerts

What specific problems has Eventility addressed that other musicians/bands size might be able to relate to?

Organising effectively and efficiently I can really recommend Eventility!

We have had new people going to view our concert details on Eventility so hopefully that will translate to more people attending either soon or in the future.  We are also getting our concerts featured more on Facebook and Twitter so more people can find us, which is good news.

I am using Eventility in a basic way at the moment by using the plug-in for events, which enables me to put the diary (and update) on my redgoldmusic web page easily.  Eventility also has a lot of really useful features that I plan to start using in the future, next step for me is to upload my contact/mailing list to Eventility.

What is best tip you can pass along to anyone organising a group or event

Be as friendly as possible and just give essential clear information.

If money were no object, where would you like to hold your next Eventility event?

The Festival Hall London, we’ve played there before and love it as a venue.

Contact details:

For more information visit:

http://www.eventility.com/cgc/summary/5286 Zen Bicycle Band

http://www.redgoldmusic.com/diary.php

www.redgoldmusic.com

www.zenbicycleband.co.uk

www.arsmuse.com.mx

e-mail:  paul@redgoldmusic.com

Zen Bicycle Band have just released their latest CD, The Zen Bicycle Band ‘In Your Head’ CD NSM1095CD (Published by Northstarmusic UK). Available from www.redgoldmusic.com  £10.00 +£1.50 P/P or http://www.Justflutes.com:

Contact: Marc Arnold Tel-07721-692-909 e-mail management@zenbicycleband.co.uk

Simple Ways to Save Money When Planning an Event

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When planning an event you may find that costs soon start to rack up. This can get quite stressful and difficult to manage when faced with the strict budget that many people have to work with. So, is it possible to organise a great event on limited funds? Below are a few top tips to help you do just that.

Know your budget

Before you start planning anything, make sure you know exactly how much you have to spend. Also, write out a list of absolutely everything you are going to need so you can break down your costs and allocate a set amount for each requirement. Being organised with your budget is imperative because if you over spend in the beginning you are going to have to scrimp later on down the line.

Find sponsors

It’s not just you struggling to cope with limited budgets – many companies are looking to get their name out there without having to pay high advertising or PR costs. Take advantage of this and approach businesses that are likely to benefit from your event. For example, if you are running a charity sports day, your local gym might just jump at the opportunity to sponsor you and have a presence at the event.

Negotiate venue prices

Unsurprisingly, venues are seeing fewer bookings than they did when the economy was booming. As they’re unlikely to be turning away business and will no doubt want to under cut the competition, don’t be afraid to negotiate. Find out what they normally charge and present a realistic offer – you may be surprised how many places are willing to consider this.

Alternatively, when booking your venue, research places that stand to benefit from your presence. For example, if a new hotel has opened in town, they will no doubt be grateful for the publicity and guests you will be bringing so are much more likely to offer you a significantly discounted rate.

Find a free venue

Depending on the nature of the event you are holding, there is every possibility that you don’t have to pay for a venue at all. Sports clubs can be held in the local park, book club meetings in a coffee shop and business meetings in a quiet pub or restaurant.

Think about your guest speakers

Guest speakers can be expensive – especially if you are seeking someone who is very well-known in your industry. However, there are a number of ways to reduce these costs if you think smartly. First, try and book as far in advance as possible because as people’s diaries fill up they are likely to charge more. Also, consider where your guest speaker will be coming from. If they live in Scotland and your event is in London, you are going to be hit with expensive travel costs as well. Opting for someone more local eliminates these costs and you are likely to get a better deal.

Again, try to consider speakers who can gain from being at your event. Someone who has just launched a new business, product, service or book is going to be grateful for the publicity and may even give you a discounted rate.

Utilise Eventility

When it comes to organising and promoting your event, using Eventility is a very cost effective method. In fact, it’s free so you have nothing to lose. Users can set up events, clubs, groups or communities, manage members, send out emails, upload photos, link to social networks, sell tickets, send out reminders and much more. Make your life simpler by doing it all through Eventility.