Thorne Communications, a promotional products marketing firm, sponsored Event Camp East Coast (ECEC10), November 12-13, 2010, held in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Event Camp workshops are in-person conferences of the #eventprofs community of event and tradeshow professionals on Twitter and focus on experimental meeting formats and technologies. ECEC10 focused on using an “unconference” peer session meeting format.

“We were glad to sponsor and promote Event Camp East Coast because we are active in and want to support the #eventprofs community,” says Heidi Thorne, president and founder of Thorne Communications and the PromoWithPurposeToday.com blog. “The Event Camp East Coast organizers were also interested in going greener, making it a good fit with our company’s values.” Part of Thorne Communications’ sponsorship and promotion included providing recycled material tote bags for event attendees.

Watch this video for some highlights on the conference and Thorne Communications’ ECEC10 sponsorship…

Thorne Communications thanks the event organizers — Adrian Segar of Conferences That Work, Traci Browne of Red-Cedar Marketing/Trade Show Institute and Live Well Expos, and Lindsey Rosenthal of Events For Good — for their dedication to making ECEC10 a success.

For more information on ECEC10, visit http://eventcampeastcoast.com/. Or to find out about other upcoming Event Camp conferences, including the national conference in Chicago in February 2011, visit http://www.eventcamp.org/.

The post Thorne Communications Sponsors Event Camp East Coast 2010 appeared first on Promo With Purpose Today.

Promotional product marketing expert Heidi Thorne, founder and president of Thorne Communications, has done a guest post on event management careers for Michael Granek’s blog. Mike is a Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP) and an award-winning event producer with 18 years of experience in the special events, convention, tourism and entertainment industries. He is also currently the Academic Director for the Event Management Diploma Program at the Art Institute of Vancouver.

Heidi’s post discusses the benefits of beginning an events management career in a sales capacity. “When you’re in event management, your career success will be based on your ability to obtain enough quality attendees and exhibitors for your tradeshows or events… And without the revenues that attendees and exhibitors bring, there is no show or event for you to manage. Period.” She also reviews her sales experience within the hospitality and tradeshow fields, as well as how it helped her move into additional career paths.

Both Mike and Heidi are active members of the #eventprofs community of event industry professionals on Twitter.

• Click Here to Read Heidi’s Post Yes! Event Management is Really Sales
• Click Here to Find Out More about Mike and to Visit His Blog

The post Heidi Thorne Guest Posts on Michael Granek’s Event Management Blog appeared first on Promo With Purpose Today.

One of the best things for me about social media is the opportunity to meet new people both online and off. And Event Camp Twin Cities was one of those wonderful opportunities.

The Event Camp meetings are an outgrowth from the #eventprofs community on Twitter. This community is made up of event and tradeshow professionals from around the globe. They meet online through regular conversations and scheduled chats that discuss topics of concern for the industry. Recent topics have included green issues for events, mobile technologies, engaging audiences, and crisis management. But the Event Camp meetings take it one step farther by hosting live events where community members can get to know each other better, as well as experiment with progressive meeting formats and technologies.

Event Camp Twin Cities broke new ground by simultaneously holding the event in three physical locations: Minneapolis, Dallas, and Switzerland. All locations had video feed of the other two locations throughout the sessions. As well, over 550 (corrected stat) virtual attendees participated online, viewing the video feed of the presentations in Minneapolis in real time and following along on Twitter. The virtual audience was kept up to date by the talented tradeshow presenter, Emilie Barta (@EmilieBarta).

I had the privilege of being the Twitter moderator for the event. It was so encouraging to see so many engaged attendees in the virtual audience! One of the important takeaways for me was seeing how many of the virtual attendees were expressing how they wish they could have been at the event in person and that they were anxious to attend future Event Camps. A heads up for those who market events and shows!

Here are some great blog posts that review this hybrid event is greater detail (including three from two of my #eventprofs pals!):

• New Ways of Meeting, Teaching and Training at Event Camp Twin Cities by Mike Thimmesch, Skyline Trade Show Tips
• 14 Tips I Learned About Collaboration at Events from ECTC by Jenise Fryatt, Sound n’ Sight
• Top 16 Links on Event Camp Twin Cities and Hybrid Events by Jenise Fryatt, Sound n’ Sight
• See the entire virtual program brought to you by Intefy & Sonic Foundry by clicking here

Kudos to Sam Smith (@samueljsmith) and Ray Hansen (@rayhansen) for putting it all together, both the real and the virtual, for Event Camp Twin Cities! I’d also like to give them a shout out for choosing a greener promotional product for the event. See what they did here:

Click Here to See Event Camp Twin Cities Greener Promotion on YouTube

But as I mentioned earlier, one of the greatest things for me is the chance to meet so many of my online friends in real life. Here’s a quick video of a lunchtime tweetup of my #eventprofs friends during the Twin Cities event. Featured are Lara McCulloch (@ready2spark), Lindsey Rosenthal (@eventsforgood), Jenise Fryatt (@jenisefryatt), Adrian Segar (@asegar), Brandt Krueger (@brandtkrueger), Greg Ruby (@gregruby), and, of course, me.

Want to experience Event Camp for yourself? Plan to join us at Event Camp East Coast, November 12-13, 2010, and Event Camp National Conference in Chicago, February 11-13, 2011.

The post Event Camp Twin Cities Gets Real, Gets Virtual appeared first on Promo With Purpose Today.

Last week I co-moderated the #eventprofs (event and tradeshow professionals hashtag on Twitter) Earth Day Tweetchat with my friend, Lindsey Rosenthal (@eventsforgood on Twitter), of Events for Good, which helps companies, nonprofits and associations plan charitable events, fundraising events, and other special events. It was a lively chat with great participation from around the country and even overseas.

Some of the great ideas gleaned from the chat included:

• Going paperless with handouts, brochures, show directories, etc. Documents would be distributed electronically. Also using new technologies such as Foursquare and texting to enhance attendee and exhibitor experience.
• Reusing centerpieces from previous events
• Reusing/recycling/donating display materials
• Reusing/renting/recycling show carpeting
• Providing ample recycling bins
• LED lighting
• Donating unused food to shelters and charities (thanks to event planner Susan L. Cope, @susanlynncope on Twitter, for providing insight on Good Samaritan Laws covering this)
• Internet cafes of laptops for those who don’t/can’t bring to events
• Virtual tradeshows
• Using kiosks for signage and input
• Not pre-filling water glasses on tables and encouraging reusable water bottle use with water stations
• Using guidelines such as those from the U.S. Green Building Council (.pdf) and BSI Group’s Sustainability Management Systems for Events guidelines (Thanks to @MtgRevolution and @KristiNihiser on Twitter for those links)
• Carefully using carbon offset purchases and determining carbon footprint of your event. Click here to calculate the carbon footprint of your event.
• … and more!

Still challenging…

• Cost of going green still outweighing economic factors
• Many people don’t care about green issues

But I think event specialist Cheryl Lawson, @Partyaficionado on Twitter, summed it up best with, “You don’t have to be 100% to make a difference. People fear the ‘Oh, this isn’t green’ and don’t do anything.”

Thanks to all the #eventprofs who participated!

• Follow the #eventprofs Hashtag on Twitter (and join the conversation!)
• Get the #eventprofs chat schedule
• Calculate the Carbon Footprint of Your Event
• Shop for Greener Promotional Products at PromoWithPurposeShop.com

The post Green Events – Ideas from Eventprofs Earth Day Tweetchat appeared first on Promo With Purpose Today.

Want to make your tradeshow or event greener? Then plan to join me for the #EventProfs Earth Day tweetchat on Thursday, April 22, at 11:00 a.m. CST. I will be co-moderating the chat with the delightful Lindsey Rosenthal (@eventsforgood on Twitter).

Lindsey is with Events for Good which helps companies, non-profits and associations plan charitable events, fundraising events, and other special events. And since I also work with associations and encourage clients to use more ecofriendly promotional products, this should be an informative chat that can help you make greener choices for your next event.

To participate or follow the chat, follow the #eventprofs hashtag on Twitter (make sure you use the #eventprofs hashtag in your tweets to participate in the chat).

The post Earth Day Tweetchat for Event Professionals to be Moderated by Heidi Thorne and Lindsey Rosenthal appeared first on Promo With Purpose Today.