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Start Your Own Business > Wow, What a Great Event!
 Learn how to create and coordinate successful special events. Develop skills, find resources and gain confidence to plan and produce any size or type of event. This course reveals proven tips, tools, techniques, and procedures used by experts and master event planners to help you avoid embarrassing and costly planning errors or production mistakes.
You'll discover how to select the right suppliers for food, decorations, entertainment, and you'll learn how to effectively employ them within your own budgetary constraints. You'll get easy access to event industry information compiled by and for professional event planners. We'll even point you in the right direction to meet other event and meeting planners and to join a professional association or industry group. You'll be so excited with your newly gained confidence and expertise that you'll want to start planning your next event even before this course is over.
This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Cynthia Grzelak.
 As an independent public relations and marketing consultant, Cynthia Grzelak has created and coordinated hundreds of events ranging from small meetings to large and highly public corporate and charity galas. Her clients include commercial businesses, nonprofit organizations and industry associations. Prior to starting her consulting business in 1986, Cynthia began creating special events while she was a marketing executive for several financial institutions and a fundraising director for a major health care system. She has published her own newsletter, Event Ideas, and is a frequent speaker on the topic of event planning. People want to hear what she has to say about events because she lends creative insight, devises comprehensive plans, invents innovative strategies, communicates with excitement, effectively channels resources of time, money and talent, and reliably produces results.
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
No matter what you need or hope to accomplish, you'll inevitably need to plan it first. How many times can you recall being in a quandary and needing some direction? You'll get that direction after you read this first lesson! Today, we'll lay out a step-by-step approach for event planning that's simple, straightforward, and works every time.
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| Friday - Lesson 02 |
You're surrounded by themes in your daily life. If you're a fashionista who follows all the latest fashion trends, there's likely a theme to your seasonal wardrobe. When you watch the home improvement shows on cable television, you learn how to create a theme that dominates your home decor. If you garden, you know that the selection and arrangement of your flowers, shrubs, statuary, and outdoor furniture will result in a theme. In this lesson, you'll learn when to use and when to avoid a theme at your events. Then we'll discuss how to bring your theme to life using your all of your senses. We'll conclude the lesson by looking at two theme examples to help spark your own creativity.
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| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
Today, you'll find out why there's a lot more to selecting a site than booking your neighborhood hotel or banquet hall. Location, location, and location are the three key words everyone uses when talking about any kind of real estate. An event site is a unique type of real estate and an important part your event's success. In this lesson, we'll categorize various types of event sites and look at some criteria that will ultimately help you make your site selection.
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| Friday - Lesson 04 |
Now that you know which site you'll use for your event, it's time to get out your pencil and paper and start planning how you'll use the space. In today's lesson, you'll learn which site diagrams you'll need, how to develop a room layout, and which sketches you'll want to request or create yourself. I'll teach you how to walk through your site and make observations, noting everything that will be a potential help or hindrance to you, your guests, and your event.
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| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
Have a snack and a beverage at your side while you read this lesson! Today's extensive discussion about the selection and serving of food and beverages will likely spur your appetite. It may also help you recall memorable meals that you've enjoyed in the past, or help you conjure up ideas about fancy foods that you'll want to feature at your next party. If that's not enough, links in this lesson's supplementary material will really tempt you with colorful pictures and extensive recipes of delectable food and drink. I'm sure you'll refer to this lesson and its resources long after you've finished the course!
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| Friday - Lesson 06 |
Entertainment is a key component of most any event. There are many potential resources to go to for entertainment, but you have to know where to look. This lesson is chock-full of valuable entertainment source information for novice event planners and experienced professionals alike. After you finish reading the lesson, be sure to check out the extensive list of links in the supplementary material.
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| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
Developing a decorating theme for your event can help you free your inhibitions and let your creative juices flow. If anything provides a limitation, it's usually the budget. But even then, you can beg, borrow, or buy at a discount to make your big ideas come to life! I'll show you how in this lesson. We'll also pay special attention to color and special lighting that will make your events eye-popping. This lesson may end up being your favorite in the course because it's just so much fun to decorate a space for a party or an event.
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| Friday - Lesson 08 |
Today, we'll examine corporate sponsorships, which are proliferating and are an important means of covering the major costs of many events, maybe even some of yours. If you're not a fundraising professional, don't think that this lesson isn't for you. While we'll discuss donations and grants, we'll also talk about a lot more.
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| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
Ever worry that you'll go through all the trouble of throwing a grand event but no one attends? If you follow the advice you'll read in this lesson, you can almost ensure that you'll avoid that problem. In this lesson, we'll look at all the different modes of promoting your event, including word-of-mouth, print, electronic media, and media relations.
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| Friday - Lesson 10 |
Few of us can handle all the little details of our events completely alone. You'll almost always need some help—sometimes quite a lot of help. But, as you'll discover in this lesson, you can hire anything from a small team to a large committee to help you with your own event. After we talk about who these people are and how they can assist you, you'll gain some insight into how to get the most out of their help, and you'll learn how to avoid the worst problems in personnel matters.
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| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
Evaluating your events soon after they're completed is a great way to learn from your mistakes. How better to visualize the best way to proceed with your future events? In this lesson, you'll learn what to look at and who to consult as you do your own examination and evaluation. We'll also discuss surveys and focus groups.
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| Friday - Lesson 12 |
If you truly enjoy creating special events, you'll want to continue your education—formally or informally—and widen your circle of professional colleagues once you complete this course. In this lesson, you'll learn many ways that you can do both!
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To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Student Reviews:
"Excellent course. I learned a lot and feel that I am now ready to start my own business as an event planner. The lessons are just the right length (not too long!) and the material is something that you will have with you forever. Thank you so much!"
"I checked out quite a few of the web-sites and since I'm getting married I really enjoyed the information about the bridal consultants. The different ideas from each site will be very useful now and for future events. Thanks for the wonderful resources you have provided throughout the weeks and thanks for a fabulous course-I've never had so much fun."
"I enjoyed the class very much. It helped me to think on a whole new realm of event planning. I saw how I could have had greater success in events I had in the past. So many areas were covered that I hadn't even thought about."
"I enjoyed the course. It was very timely since I am currently planning my daughter's wedding. I was able to put some of this knowledge to practical use almost immediately."
"I found the instructor to be very detailed and precise with all of her information. The assignments were interesting and I enjoyed learning from her real life experiences - good and bad! She kept me interested and hooked to the very end of the course."
"I have been a volunteer event planner for almost three decades. It has been of great help to learn how to do things the right way, versus trial and error. I thoroughly enjoyed this course!"
"I highly recommend this course to anyone who plans special events. I have received such useful information and can end the course feeling accomplished and prepared to enter the field with a great understanding and skill. The instructor responses were always timely and helpful. Thanks for this oportunity to learn."
"I learned more in this online class than I did in my graduate level courses in both event planning and nonprofit management. The depth of this class has been much more than I expected. I have a large notebook of resources, websites and targeted lessons to refer to again and again. I'm a happy camper!"
"I thoroughly enjoyed this class. I decided to take this class based upon my love of event planning. I work in another occupation and volunteer a great deal and find great reward in event planning. This class has taken my skills to the next level. Thank you."
"Taking this course has shown me how to truly have a great event for the non-profit organization I am involved with. Thank you."
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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