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Big-To-Do 2012 Event Recap

(Proposed 2013 date/time at Stone Mountain: Sunday, February 10th 1-7pm.

Summary: Overall the event was a success from the attendee point of view. We did not reach financial

goals. Our challenge was simply shortage of time for a go-to-market strategy. We hosted approximately

500 guests as compared to our 750 target. Less corporate sponsors signed on in many cases becausenew budgets were not confirmed and it too several months to secure meetings because of the holidays.

From mid-December to mid-January was a challenging selling time. The venue, time of year, and overall

experience was rated fun, outstanding, and great event. The Big-To-Do is an opportunity to raise

awareness and funds for The Childrens Program and therefore should be handled as a consumer program

and including consumer advertising and public relations. The event is a perfect photo opportunity and a

media alert with heavy media relations should be a priority. The time of the year is a good event month and

does not compete with other big family events.

Creative: Creative was good and we should use existing creative for 2013 and include the following

mediums: Direct Mail Postcards, 8.5x11 poster, e-communications, event day flyer to acknowledge both

individual families and corporate sponsors and a list of activities, event day posters, and billboard (in-kind).

Marketing: The traditional invitation does not work so we should change to mailing a postcard to

encourage ordering tickets on-line or by phone. The postcard will allow us to reach more consumers in

addition to using our existing database and new data collected from the host committee members. The

database criteria should include past three years BTD supporters, vendors, corporate sponsors,

committees, board members, and Chrysalis Club. We need to identify what a radio station needs and what

WSB-TV Family 2 Family needs to be our sponsor. Once we have media sponsors secured we should

launch our communications plan six months prior to event. We also need to encourage Stone Mountain to

sell our tickets on-line for all or part of the days time slots. The 1-3pm, 2-4pm, 3-5pm, and 4-6pm could be

a $60 ticket and the earlier times are sold at regular price with a donation to Visiting Nurse Health System.

The earlier times could be tubing and smores only.

Message: The Childrens Program is not an appropriate name and the committee suggested that the wordHospice should be added. Even using pediatric is a medical term and not a consumer term. The

message became clearer the closer we got to the event. The bullet format and list of every activity is best.

Promote event from 1pm-7pm might be ideal.

Photography: Starting the event earlier will improve photography outcome since the sun direction was not

the best for good photography.

Public Relations: Six months prior (August) the event media relations should be activated to include social

media, and periodicals. Media relations should increase three months prior to the event. We will begin now

to secure Family 2 Family. We must begin signing release forms for families.

Food: Food was fine but the recommendation is to have a healthier meal and more of a meal than a snackfor the money. We will evaluate a Chile Bar and Sandwiches or Mexican/Taco Bar. Either one would

include baskets of fresh fruit like apples, bananas, oranges, etc. We should also continue to get snacks

and sodas donated from grocery stores and Nestle. We will see if restaurants like Moes will/can cater the

meal.

Committee: The committee needs to be committed to promoting our message and helping sell tickets and

sponsorships. A good skill set includes marketing communications and sales experience. LinkedIn groups

with this focus would be a great place to find new committee members. Past committee members familiar

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with the event and able to add value of some kind should be included in the new committee. A thank you

event in March to past committee plus an invitation to new committee prospects should be done at the

Hospice Atlanta Center and should include a tour. The event should be a luncheon. Be sure to include

mommy bloggers on committee. We should host bi-monthly meetings beginning in March.

Entertainment and Dcor: The DJ, Snow Fairy, and the simple balloon dcor were good and should be

continued. A snowman costumed character would be another nice addition. To save money we should gowith the white table cloth and buy snow themed fabric for table toppers to enhance the dcor. We had

tables and chairs for about 190 guests and that worked well for our approximate guest count of 500 guests.

Wheel Chair, First Aid, Lost & Found, and Volunteers: Wheel Chairs need to be in place at check-in

prior to event beginning. Volunteers need to know plan for First Aid and Lost & Found. Volunteers should

be placed at bottom of hill next to a yard sign with our logo and the word information to handle challenges.

Additional volunteers along the path would be helpful to help guest navigate the venue. The Stone

Mountain team was not always appropriate to guests according to one committee member.

Budget Summary: The goal was to gross $150,000 and net $100,000. We needed to sell more tickets

and many more sponsors. The plan was too aggressive and the biggest obstacle was not enough time to

build a grass-roots marketing campaign and no marketing dollars to promote our event. Moving forwardnine months is the recommended time to build event, develop communications, and negotiate media

partners, launch communications plan, secure sponsors, sell tickets, and implement event.

INCOME $73,885.00

NET INCOME $48,531.59

IN-KIND $2,868.00

FINAL SUMMARYFINALEXPENSES

575 Snow Passes @ $20ea.; food for 420.; linens,tables, decor for 190; DJ andSnow Angel for 3 hrs; $17,143.76

Creative $3,000.00

Printing, Packaging, Sealing $3,375.00

Postage $454.33

Gift - 300 Bears $926.00

Photography $0.00

tables & linen part of Stn Mtnbill, n/c for chairs $0.00

dcor part of Stn Mtn bill $0.00

Misc: Uprinting $284.56; kickoff luncheon $169.76 $454.32

no bar $0.00

Total Expenses $25,353.41