This is a highly flexible theme that can be used for many different types of event

View it in action here: https://city.eroievent.com/

The ZIP bundle includes:
- 2 screenshots
- image folder
- stylesheet – style.css
- header file – header.tpl
- footer file – footer.tpl
- instructions – readme.txt

Download the ZIP file

We went silent for awhile but now we have come back with a vengeance. Over the last two months we have been working at designing, revising, designing and producing a number of free eROI Event themes for you, our beloved followers, to use at your free will. Below are a couple screen-shots and links to three files – header.txt (the header HTML file), footer.txt (the footer HTML file) and css.txt (the css file). Feel free to download, implement, edit to your heart’s desire. We put these out there so you have some choices and a good starting place for your eROI Event look and feel. Have fun and let us know what you think of these themes as we roll them out over the next few weeks.

EDUCATION

Perfect for lectures, workshops or school related events, this theme lets your audience know its time to get down to business (or knowledge). Evoking the feeling of sitting at your desk, this theme is easy on the eyes, yet uncluttered and to the point. Professional enough for staff, but casual enough for students.

Download the Education ZIP file

One of the main pushes for this effort is the “Demand an Event” feature on Eventful which is featuring the film on the site home page. Users can come on and “demand” that Paranormal Activity be shown in their city, Paramount will respond to the most demanded cities by having midnight screenings of the film in those locations. By doing this, the experience is transcending a normal trip to the movies and is turning itself into a genuine event. The results have been astounding. As of this writing, Paranormal Activity has over a million demands on Eventful, more than twice the current second demanded performer. It also has strong presences on Facebook, and Twitter where it has quickly garnered a large following. Each of these portals contains mostly positive buzz about the film, including lots of posts and lively discussion on the Facebook message board.

I think this case is a great example of how simple, and generally inexpensive social media tactics can be used to generate hype, attendance, and revenue for an event. If a person demanded on Eventful that the film come to their city, they are almost guaranteed to go see it, so the demanding works not only as a marketing tool, but also can help gauge future revenue and add more in depth metrics to your event analytics. Though the same tactics may not be able to work for your particular event, this can help give you an idea of how creative and slightly unorthodox methods can be used to create excitement and buzz for your next event.

Have you used Eventful to have people demand your event? Are there other similar platforms that have been effective for you? Let us know in the comments section.

Portland is known to be a community town where people love people and this could not have become more apparent to me this summer.  There are always local events going on all over for the creative and tech minded in my industry as well as everyone else in between. Just in the last few week there was Lunch 2.0, Beer and Blog, WordCamp, Cr8Con, and of course there is always another Ignite Portland to look forward to. All of these events are a great excuse to get online communities together offline where ideas can bloom, mingling and learning can commence, and libations are consumed.  Dare I say that online communities are like an overfilled frothy mug of beer that just cannot seem to help spilling offline.

One such recent event that really followed this online to offline pattern successfully was the Old Town Block Party that eROI help to sponsor in our hood,  Old Town-Portland.  For non-Portlanders,  Old Town has had a somewhat negative connotation. It the last area downtown to really see a rejuvenation, but businesses are moving in and the streets are cleaning up fast. Whenever there are renovations, old mainstays are sometimes removed. Once such mainstay was a much beloved landmark, the Hung Far Low sign. Local companies in Old Town, both creative industries and local merchants/businesses, were upset that this landmark had been removed so they quickly turned to their online community to express their frustrations through a series of emails, tweets, and blog postings.

As the outraged community posted, tweeted and then re-tweeted something great happened,  an offline community idea was born;  Let’s raise money to get this sign re-erected by hosting a traditional neighborhood block party.  Suddenly area companies who likely would have never met, were coming together online to form partnerships and to plan and shape this event both online and offline. The outcome was nothing short of a success.  The community converged, the creative class was represented through musicians  and artists, local businesses had a opportunity to sell their goods and services, and there was of course yummy Portland food and beer to be had.  Businesses even donated part of their profits towards the cause! The best part is that Old Town got a face lift that day from a community that knows how to work together to bring back an old beauty-mark.

What are examples of online communities spilling offline into your community? Or better yet what events can you drum up support for online and host offline?

This was my first year attending the event, but I’m pretty sure I was the only one. My buddy who convinced me to go has been to 20 Dave concerts over the years (six at The Gorge I believe), and every person I ran into was ecstatic to meet a first timer, as they had also been to Dave many years running. The simple explanation might just be that people from the Northwest really enjoy Dave Matthews Band and that The Gorge Amphitheater is a great venue, but I think there is more to it than that.

I think the reason for it’s popular following is that the event has a great sense of community. This all starts with the band itself, who come back to play every year, talk on the mic during the show about how much they love playing the event annually, and are known to be seen riding around the campgrounds on their bikes. It works down from there, everyone camping is amazingly social, hippie vendors sell great fresh food, people reminisce about their past experiences at Dave.

When you are planning future events for your organization, remember to keep in mind that the sense of community is what will keep people talking, it is what will keep people coming back every year, and it is what has people bring their friends to it to experience the magic for the first time. Build that community from the top down, the event organizers and the stars of the show should be enthusiastic and positive about the event, the energy and community will work their way down from there.

How do you create committed followers? What are some events you always attend? Sound off in the comments section.

The Invisible Festival
I was doing some research on social media applications for music and stumbled upon a really cool “event” that happened recently. The happening in question is called The Invisible Festival. It utilized Spotify, a music social media platform to allow all of the participants in The Invisible Festival to listen to the same music at their gatherings. The event took place over a weekend, with different people at different locations hosting their own individual parties and tuning in to the Spotify playlists created for the festival.

The creators supported the individual gatherings with fun extras like printable wristbands for participants, a unified dress code, and encouraging everyone to take pictures (to be posted during and after the event), and to tweet (live stream on the website during the event.)

World of Warcraft Brewfest
Last year one of my good friend’s younger brothers was being a typical rebellious tween and got grounded by his parents. This was upsetting to him, not because he wouldn’t be able to spend time with his friends, or go play sports, but because he was going to miss Brewfest in World of Warcraft. Before this instance I wasn’t even aware that this celebration existed (I have never played World of Warcraft), but it is nonetheless a very interesting look at a new type of event.

Players of all different species, guilds, and creeds come together to enjoy some in game brew (which blurs the players screen unless enjoyed in moderation), participate in a number of different activities, including Ram Racing, and win special prizes that can only be found at Brewfest. I had heard of corporate events taking place in Second Life, but this is a unique take on digital events and interactions.

Netflix Instant Parties
This is also a new phenomenon for online interactions. People with Netflix and an Xbox Live subscription can join up in a “Party” within the Netflix Instant watch interface on the Xbox 360. The avatars for each of the attendees will be present for the movie or TV showing and can interact with each other. Voice and text chat is also enabled, so you can discuss the mysteries of the hatch in LOST or act surprised when Bruce Willis turns out to be dead in The Sixth Sense.

What do you think about these new digital events? Have you heard of any other examples? Sound off in the comments section.

Event Information:

Hosts: eROI

Where: 505 NW Couch, Suite 300, Portland, Oregon, 97209

When: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 from 12 PM to 2 PM

Register Now

Silicon Florist Adds:

We’re headed back to eROI for Portland Lunch 2.0, making this eROI Lunch 2.0.1 or something like that.

A lot has happened since they last hosted Lunch 2.0 back in April 2008, including the launch of their new event registration service, eROI Event.To showcase their new service, eROI wants your suggestions on what they should raffle off at their Lunch 2.0. Current suggestions include, robots (toy ones, I assume), gift certificates, and innocence.

I’m pulling for innocence, but it’s early. So, head over to the Lunch 2.0 event, register and suggest something for eROI to raffle. You’ll get a chance to test-drive eROI Event, and the winner will be selected from those who register there. If you don’t register, you can’t win the raffle.

Please also RSVP on Upcoming as usual, or only there, if you’re not into winning free stuff. As if. This tells the hosts how much grub to get, and if you’re vegetarian or vegan, make sure to drop a comment on the event page for planning, unless you don’t want to eat.

Read the whole post on Silicon Florist>>

Also posted on Calagator.org>>

The ideas and shared knowledge has been great and it is exciting to see users engage with the product  and each other  in our  Support Forum. We have always believed in the philosophy of encouraging our clients to own their experience with eROI products and we look to their suggestions and feedback to help us carve out the future of our products. So please check out our Forum and don’t be shy! Keep sharing with us any tips and feedback  from your own experiences with eROI Event.

Also stay tuned as we will be providing a detailed customization guide for download soon!