One can never prepare enough, I think.

I want to share 3 Preparation Tips with you that I use to organize virtual events for clients.  They are my ‘mise en place’ for virtual events.  Mise En Place is a french term meaning “things in place,” which I borrowed from the culinary industry.   My mise en place consists of two documents (a Timeline and a Workflow) and a practice event.

Preparation Tip #1: Timeline

For ample marketing and organization the Timeline is imperative for your virtual event.   It is a critical path that outlines Pre- and Post-event Marketing efforts, Attendee registration (and payment if yours is a paid event), Attendee messaging (email reminders) and Post-production tasks, and who is responsible for each task.  As a Virtual Events Specialist, my clients rely on me to have each task listed and assigned with a deadline date.  So for instance, while it is my client’s responsibility to decide the title and description of the event, it is my responsibility to determine which tool will work best and get the word out about the event.  For a typical complimentary teleclass or webinar, I find that 2 weeks is ample time to announce and market a virtual event.

Preparation Tip #2:  Checklist

The other document on which I rely heavily is a checklist.  Much like the pre-flight checklist a pilot uses, this document lists step-by-step instruction for me and my client so that no details of the event management are overlooked.  Every detail.  I remind myself to open my email account (so I can provide trouble-shooting assistance to attendees).  I remind myself to have a glass of water available.  I remind myself to make sure that anything with a  noise is quieted during the call.  Every detail is listed on the checklist.

Preparation Tip #3: Practice Event

My last suggestion for Virtual Event success is the practice event.  This is usually done the day before your actual event.  I dial into the conference call line or log into the webinar tool with my client and we have a dress rehearsal of the event.  The Practice Event is a great way for you to test your Checklist and work out any bugs in your plan.  I practice my welcome script, I practice muting phone lines, I practice changing presenters.  Practice makes perfect, after all.

What are your ‘must-have’s when planning a virtual event?  Feel free to comment below…

The EProduct Flight Plan was created by my joint venture partner, Mary Motz, and me to help entrepreneurs get their products selling on the web.  If you are new to the internet marketing arena, have a digital product you’d like to sell, but you’re not sure where to start, then EProduct Flight Plan is for you!

EProduct Flight Plan give you super-simple checklists and pre-flight plans to get your EProduct (i.e. digital products, like an eBook, an audio of a training, or a virtual event like a teleclass or webinar) launched and selling.

Here’s what our EProduct Flight Plan covers:

• E-Commerce 101 – facts you must know in order to understand the online sales process
• Secrets of choosing the best eCommerce tools for your budget, product type  & business goals (there’s no such thing as one-size fits all)
• Pros & cons of using a traditional web page vs. WordPress for your sales page
• Messaging: the importance of mapping out your communications before you start selling
• The must-have items of message copy you need completed and ready to go before you sell.
• How to work with a VA to be sure there are no “missing links” in your selling process
• Getting the word out… learn to leverage all your communication channels to reach people “where they are”

And here’s what you get:
The 90-minute teleclass recording
Carla’s Exclusive Resource Rolodex – a listing of tools and services to check out for your e-product project
Mary’s Shopping Cart & Payment Process Demystifier – your quick guide to shopping cart and payment processing options
A Sample Flight Plan – An example project plan flowchart for getting a product online, along with a blank flight plan for you to complete for your project.
A Pre-Flight Task Checklist – Did you forget anything? You won’t with this handy task checklist.

Visit EProductFlightPlan.com to purchase your copy NOW!

What do I mean by Multimedia?   Think audio and video.  With audio there are several options like audio recording a blog post, creating a podcast, or creating a teleseminar series.  Add in video with options like video blog posts, webinars, maybe even live-streaming an event.  Sound challenging?  It doesn’t have to be.  I can consult with you to teach you the ropes, or manage the tasks start to finish – you choose.

When you expand your marketing with multimedia, your message reaches more folks.  How?  Syndicating your posts, podcasts, audios and videos via social networks and the many sharing sites on the Internet, you’re touching a wider audience.

Future blog posts will include tips and tricks for producing your own multimedia – some video posts and some audio – to demonstrate the ease with which you can add multimedia to your marketing mix.  If you have a specific question you’d like me to answer in a future blog post, please post a comment below, or email me at carla@wilsonva.com.

Here is a quick audio version of this blog post: (It took just less than 10 minutes start to finish to record, edit, and publish the audio to my site)

a sample post on ShareUrMeal.com

The WilsonVA Blog will profile an organization doing good works each month.  If you know a organization doing good works that you’d like me to profile, please contact me at Carla@WilsonVA.com.  This month we feature ShareUrMeal.com.

If you consider yourself a foodie and use Twitter, you’ve probably seen the hashtags (#foodporn, #sexonaplate) and photos of food.  Foodies love food and are not afraid to show it – especially on social networks.  One local non-profit took what we foodies were already doing – posting photos and commenting on food – just one step further to help those in need.

I’m speaking about ShareUrMeal.com, which launched in October 2009 in Philadelphia, PA.  I spoke with Gloria Bell, one of ShareUrMeal’s 15 volunteers, about the organization because I wanted to bring awareness to the good works of their organization.

Here’s how ShareUrMeal works – and how you can help them help the hungry.  Take a photo of a dining experience with your digital camera or phone.  Email the photo to post@shareurmeal.com.  For every picture posted, $1 or unit of food is donated to the hungry in the metro Philly region.

ShareUrMeal’s organizers, headed by Devon Segel, partnered with local corporations and the United Way to make it all happen.  ShareUrMeal coordinates the movement, and the United Way coordinates distribution to local food pantries and organizations for the hungry.

Although based solely in the Philadelphia region, ShareUrMeal hopes to expand this movement to other cities.  I asked Gloria if there was a goal for the number of posts, or amount of money they wanted to raise.  She replied, “We intentionally did not make a public goal – and we don’t want to make an effort to start creating goals.  Feeding the hungry is an ongoing problem, so we want ShareUrMeal to be an ongoing effort.”

Gloria volunteers with ShareUrMeal.com because, “…for every minute we donate, it’s helping someone else.”

Want to help ShareUrMeal, too?  You can post pictures of your dining experiences on ShareUrMeal.com.  Simply email your photo to post@shareurmeal.com to post anonymously or create your own profile page (like I did) and post there.  If you want to help ShareUrMeal.com with donations, you can find more information on their website.

Please leave me a comment below and let me know your feedback!

For the webinar: Webinar: Turning Contacts into Sales and Social Media 101 for Small Business
Or listen/download the podcast version here:

By the way, Mary and I are teaming up to help solopreneurs implement this type of digital media into their marketing exposure.