Friday, September 4, 2015

Are you ready to Party in Pink?

This post is from Kristi, a guest blogger on The Z Beat!
 
In case you missed it it’s Party in Pink season! Whether you’ve hosted a PIP before or it’s your first one I think having a check list is ALWAYS a good thing. PIP events run from August 1st to October 31st, but don’t worry if you start planning now you can still host an event if you pick a date in late October. And if you feel like that is too rushed think of this as your prep for next year.

I am by no means the most experienced event planner, but I hope I have listed the majority of the things you need to think about and plan ahead of time to make your PIP a success. Most of the things on this list come from my own experiences, from watching my fellow instructors run amazing events and I of course turned to the trusty Zumba forum for help, so thank you my fellow ZINs for being so awesome!
1.      Choose a date.

2.      Find a location.

3.      Decide on a ticket price and set up a Paypal payment system. Think about “early-bird” prices vs. “at the door prices” if you want to do that. Be sure to put that information on your flyer to encourage people to sign-up ahead of time.

4.      Go to Zumba’s Party in Pink page and request to host an event.

5.      Ask a breast cancer survivor to speak for a few minutes at your event. It could be a fellow instructor or maybe one of your students. This is their chance to inspire others and share their amazing story.

6.      Contact instructors and see who wants to participate, the more the merrier!

7.      Create your event flyer (I do this using a site called Poster My Wall it’s fast and easy).

8.      Create a FB event page and invite everyone. Be sure to have the participating instructors do the same. Email, FB chat or text everyone an image of the flyer to use in their FB posts.

9.      Ask local businesses, family and friends if they will donate raffle prizes. Be sure to ask your fellow instructors too (they could ask their gyms or their day-jobs for donations).

10.  Take pictures of the raffle prizes and announce them on your event page to get people excited.

11.  Plan and purchase decorations (balloons, signs, maybe a backdrop for photos). Remember to remind everyone to wear pink too!

12.  Try to get drink and snack donations to keep your event-goers dancing (think local grocery stores or even ask instructors or participants to bring water or fruit).

13.  Get your playlist together. Decide how many songs each instructor gets to teach and announce any group songs you want everyone to do together.

14.  Continue to advertise your event on FB. Print out flyers and put them on community bulletin boards, at your local library, coffee house, salon, anywhere. Announce the event in your classes and have the participating instructors do the same.

15.  Delegate jobs to instructors. Who is going to sit at the door and take money or tickets? Do you need a second person to organize the release forms? Who can help with set-up and take-down? Don’t be afraid to ask for help!

16.  Finalize your playlist (be sure to ask if anyone needs to leave early or arrive late, plan their songs accordingly).

17.  Before the event run through the details again with your event location. Think about lights, sound, parking, where will the food/drink stations be, do you need tables/chairs). Try to plan ahead.

18.  Ask instructors to arrive early to help set-up if they can and double check that the people you delegated jobs to are good to go.

19.  Post a print out of the playlist so the instructors know when they’re up.

20.  Let the games begin! Have fun, smile and relax and have fun at your event!

Did I miss anything? I’m sure I did. I would love to hear from my more experienced ZINs. If you have other tips and tricks to offer please, please share them! We would all love to know!

1 comment:

  1. Pink is just a perfect color for any party but this time I am planning for couple of corporate events and need some fresh yet decent ideas for planning them. Can you please help me with your suggestions?

    ReplyDelete