Compared to the other ArtsHackers pros, I’m a newbie to this field. But, in my short time, I realize that special events are… “special”. I love attending a gala party, running in the charity 5k, purchasing something in that silent auction. But running that gala party, charity 5k or silent auction is a different story. Silent auctions in particular kind of suck the soul out of my body.
My boss likes to say “We are in the special events business; all our concerts are special events! So why do we have to put on another event?” And inevitably, the answer she comes to and we come to is that it brings a different set of people into the door.
In a post on special events and donors from 5/4/2014, Claire Axelrad, a CFRE independent consultant and author of the blog Clairification, seems to thinks some of the same things about special events, but since we still put on the fancy gala or Symphony fun run, then we should figure out how to turn those attendees into ticket buyers, donors, subscribers, and advocates.
I like what she says about following up with attendees after the event. If it was a good party, I want to relive it; send me an email on Monday with the Instagram pics or a tally of the money raised and include a link to your website.
