Showing posts with label local. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local. Show all posts

Sunday, August 30, 2015

How to Organize an Employee Appreciation Luncheon


Organize the luncheon in the break or conference room so employees can come and go if they need to take calls or complete other work-related tasks. However, consider holding it during a slow period so the staff will be able to enjoy themselves without neglecting their projects and duties. You can also host it at the end of a half day so they can stay as long as they'd like.
Let the staff vote on the type of food you'll serve. Choose a few local restaurants and pass around the menu of the 'winning' eatery so employees can order their favorite dishes. You can also have lunch catered by a local Italian, Chinese or Indian food establishment if you need to organize it quickly.
Give a short speech to thank the staff. Discuss the specific project or financial report that led you to hold the luncheon and single out any employees and managers that contributed the most leadership, staff support or innovative ideas. Also present a brief update on the company's current status, the climate of the industry and news of upcoming projects and contracts.
Take the opportunity to present annual merit awards or give recognition to staff members with the highest sales or customer satisfaction ratings, for example.
Plan activities like company trivia or a 'Who Am I' guessing game in which you list the lesser-known duties of a staff member to see who can figure it out first. Award small gift cards to local eateries or office supply stores to the winners.
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How to Host a Runway Fashion Show for Teens (5 Steps)


Pick a location with plenty of room. Most often when you rent out a location, seating options will be available. Ask before reserving your space. If you choose to have your event outdoors, find a location where you can use the parking lot. Rent foldup chairs or set up blankets and sleeping bags where viewers can cheer their favorite fashion show entrant.
Set the stage. The stage is the central element of any fashion show; rent a collapsible stage at a local rental company, or use a roll of red or white fabric. Use two-by-fours to hold into place, whether it's indoors or outdoors. Or set seating up in two single files, parallel to each other, and create an invisible runway.
Pick the tunes. Any fashion show will be a hit if you have the right music. Choose catchy tunes, dance mixes, something that has a beat. Rent a sound system or borrow a stereo or boom box to play the edgy rhythms. Use a microphone or megaphone to introduce your fashion show participants.
Consider renting a spotlight or gather a few flashlights to shine on your entrants. Many times, if you're renting multiple pieces of equipment, rental companies will offer a discount on items.
Create a publicity flier. Consider charging a small fee at the door to help the teens in the show or a local teen cause, or consider selling refreshments. Advertise the details on your flier, and make sure to include the who, what, when, where and why.
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Saturday, August 29, 2015

How to Start an ABA Basketball Team


Contact the ABA office directly located in Indianapolis. The office will help determine what markets are available to start up a team. You should also ask for an application and there will be a franchise fee.. You do not need to present a formal business plan to the league because the operation of the franchise is left up to the team owner, not the league. Team owners merely pay for the privilege of using the ABA name and logo.
Choose a name for your team. Using an Internet search feature, type in a web domain name you will want. Select a hosting company or domain reseller to buy the domain. There are several companies that offer affordable hosting packages. Research these companies and choose which best serves your needs. You can do the same for companies that offer website templates for sale.
Look for a venue where your team can practice and play its games. This can be a community center gym or a local arena. Negotiate a lease or a per-use fee, plus discuss any other items related to using the facility. Ask for available dates during the months the league is in season. Each team is responsible for making their own schedule, the league does not provide this service. Contact the state to find out your insurance requirements.
Hire coaching and management staff. ABA rosters consist of 10-12 players. A head coach and two assistants coaches should provide enough leadership and teaching skills. When you hold tryouts, the president of the team and the director of player development should be on hand to gauge the talent. Recruit players from local colleges and place ads in your local newspaper announcing team tryouts.
Purchase the uniforms, balls and other equipment. Ensure that your players have the proper protection to avoid as many injuries as possible. Contact local sporting good stores.
Market your team. Search local businesses to sponsor your team. Offer free tickets to attract fans, many of whom might be skeptical about the product on the court. Be active in the community to help build a loyal fan base.
Hire a company to build your website. Work with them on the design, layout and information you want to present. You will want to place such as information as player profiles, statistics, schedules, team contact information, merchandise to purchase and ticket sales on the website. Create a section for news and other information to keep the fans updated.
Contact the local newspaper. Call the sports editor of the newspaper and set up an interview to discuss delivery of game results if the paper cannot cover your games live. Find out the newspaper's deadlines. Make sure you have an accurate e-mail to send game results and statistics. If possible, offer to take pictures in case the sports section has space to run art.
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Friday, August 28, 2015

How to Start an Organic Store Online


Decide what types of organic products you want to sell. There are lots of options--chocolates, candies, bath and body products, cosmetics, clothing, baby items, food mixes, teas and coffees, herbs, jams and sauces.
Find out what permits you will need for your store. Requirements vary from state to state, but if you are selling food products that you produce, you will need a food handling permit and, most likely, access to a commercial kitchen. To sell items bought wholesale, you may need a resale license. No matter which types of organic products you sell, you will need a Federal Tax Identification Number, also known as an Employer Identification Number (EIN). Contact your local IRS field office or go to IRS.gov to learn how to get one.
Get an assumed name certificate, also known as a DBA ('doing business as') license, from your city or county clerk's office. Unless you are using your legal name as your organic company's name, you will need this certificate. For example, if your name is Joe Smith, you can name your company 'Joe Smith Organics' without getting a DBA. If you wanted to name the company 'Juicy Organics,' you would need a DBA.
Purchase a domain name and website hosting from a company such as GoDaddy.com. Try to get a hosting plan that allows you unlimited bandwidth. You can also choose to use an e-commerce service such as BuyItSellIt.com or Shopify.com.
Design your company's website. You can either do this with a website builder, which is available through many hosting companies, or hire a graphic and web designer.
Establish a wholesale account with an organic products distributor. To do this, you will either need to provide your tax ID number or a copy of your resale permit. Depending upon which types of products you want to sell, there are many reputable organic companies such as Sckoon (baby clothing), Organics Wholesale (personal care items), Yummy Earth (confections and candies) or eSutras (herbs, supplements and aromatherapy).
Designate a storage space for your products--you may need to lease out a small office or warehouse space, depending on what and how much you sell. Not all products can be feasibly stored in a home. For example, if you want to sell organic jams, you should have them stored in a temperature-controlled, dry warehouse instead of your basement. If you want to sell organic baby clothes, you may be able to get away with storing your inventory in a spare closet.
Price your products, accounting for not only the cost of the item, but overhead costs such as shipping supplies, website maintenance and labor. For example, if you buy a bottle of organic spice wholesale for $3, you could sell it for $7.95. This would cover the cost of the item and help account for your other expenses. To remain competitive, other items such as clothing, may only have a 30 percent to 50 percent markup.
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Thursday, August 27, 2015

How to Upload to FTP Sites (6 Steps)


Locate the required FTP log in information. This information is available from the web hosting company that hosts the website and includes the username, password, host/address, and port for the FTP site.
Open the FTP client software program on the local computer. Dozens of freeware programs exist and may be downloaded and installed in minutes (see Resources).
Create a new FTP site profile in the FTP client program. This option is usually found under the 'File' menu and is labeled 'Site Manager' or 'Remote Browser' in most cases.
Add the FTP site information to the new website profile and save the changes. Enter the information obtained from the hosting company in the appropriate text fields.
Press the connect button to open the FTP connection between the local computer and the web server.
Select the files on the local computer and drag them to the target folder on the web server to initiate the upload process.
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Sunday, August 23, 2015

How to Organize a Youth Conference (10 Steps)


Start a committee. Canvass your church, neighborhood and the friends in your social network to get a strong group of responsible, fun-loving adults together to help you plan. Remember, many hands make light work. You don’t have to, nor should you try, to do this alone. Ask your committee members who may also be interested in chaperoning the trip.
Pick a theme. Choosing a theme for your event will make the conference feel more cohesive and build excitement. Think about the age group of the kids who may be attending and what they are into right now--the shows they watch and who they on listening to on their iPods. Consider a certain message you are trying to get across. All of these factors will be helpful in pulling together your conference theme.
Find a place to hold the event. It’s probably a good idea to research some conference venues, so you’ll have an idea of the types of places available for your event. With your committee, decide where you’ll be holding the event, using information such as cost per night, the mileage to and from, and the types of amenities available. Decide whether to stay local or attempt a far-off location. Having this information already established will help the parents decide whether to sign up their children for the conference.
Start a sign-up sheet. For budgeting purposes, it’s always good to know how many mouths you’re going to have to feed and how many kids will be in your charge. The sooner you can get the word out about the conference and get people to commit, the better off you’ll be. Set a deadline for sign-ups to end so you can let the venue—and your committee—know how many kids are in the equation.
Set a budget. Estimate the cost of gas if you’re providing your own transportation. Estimate how many meals you’ll be serving to how many folks. Have your committee help with this, and find out who among them has connections to local resources that may be willing to donate food, gas cards, etc. Maybe your neighborhood has a local cookie factory that might be willing to make a donation to your event. Consider asking for sponsorship from the businesses where your committee members are employed.
Arrange for transportation. Make sure the person driving has an updated driver’s license with the appropriate designation for the size of the vehicle he will be operating. Some larger vehicles, like buses, require additional certification, i.e., CDL if you will be utilizing a full-sized bus.
Make a checklist for parents and children. Parents love details. The more information you’re able to provide them regarding the location, the duration, the climate and the activities of your retreat, the better. Helpful also would be to provide a checklist of what to buy, what to pack and what to expect for parents and their children. The more everyone comes prepared to the conference, the more fun the kids are likely to have, and the less stressed the chaperones are likely to be.
Plan some icebreakers and other activities, in addition to the workshops. Assume there will be at least one child who doesn’t know everybody. Icebreakers are a great way to help children get to know each other a little better so they can feel more comfortable in an unfamiliar setting.
Get Insurance. Keep it safe; make sure everyone is covered, should there be an accidental injury while you’re on the trip. Contact your local insurance provider for more information on travelers’ insurance.
Run background checks of youth assistants. This is a very important step that is often overlooked. Never assume. Your local law enforcement agency can help you find the proper resource in your area so that you can run background checks on those who have volunteered to chaperone. It is also a good idea to establish safety guidelines to protect the children who are traveling as well as the adults who are chaperoning them. The Boy Scouts website has a helpful page on Youth Protection.
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How to Organize a Neighborhood Garage Sale (12 Steps)


Gather your neighbors for a meeting. You may want to start with your block or street. If you're friendly and outgoing you may have already met and known some of them on first name basis. Drop an invitation in their mailboxes to come to your place at a given date and time to discuss having a block or neighborhood garage sale.
Make sure your invitation will already give some ideas on what you want to discuss with them. Remember, their time is also precious so you would not want to waste them as much as possible. Indicate on the invitation you want to organize a garage sale for the block or neighborhood and that if they are interested they can come to your meeting to discuss details and logistics.
During the meeting discuss things and tasks that are needed to be accomplished and assign each one.
Decide on a date. It is advisable to have a garage sale on a sunny day, usually springtime. People tend to want to be outside more on a warm or sunny day; chances are you will have more foot traffic when you do it on a sunny day. Another thing to consider is doing it on a weekend instead of a weekday since most people go to work on weekdays and are off on weekends. This will be something everyone will have to agree on.
Time frame. Consider the time frame in picking out the date for a neighborhood garage sale. If you will be putting out an advertisement, you may need time to submit it for publication. It is advisable to give at least a week's notice and then have another one made for the day itself for people who read papers before going to garage sales.
Placards and signs. Your neighborhood may want to hang signs and placards a few days before your scheduled garage sale. Remember to ask your local authority of any restrictions on putting up signs and placards on public areas. Some cities have strict ordinances, so be mindful of those. Also if you put them up, you should be responsible to take them down. So remember the areas where you placed them for you may be issued a ticket for some sort of vandalism if you leave your signs and placards for days after the garage sale had passed. All of these are tasks that can be tasked, make sure that it is assigned during the meeting.
Permit. Ask your local authority if you need a permit if the whole block or neighborhood will do a garage sale. If your area is known for high traffic, the influx of vehicles in your area may cause additional traffic and headaches to commuters. This is another task that can be assigned.
Once you have cleared permits and done your advertisements, it is now time to prepare for the garage sale. Make sure your neighbors who will participate are aware of the things they can sell at a garage sale. Pretty much anyone can sell any of their personal items with the exception of few ones like firearms and illegal items like pirated videos and CDs. Also, ensure that your neighborhood is aware that what they sell should be limited to personal items only and not to use the garage sale to sell other things for profit, otherwise advise them that sales taxes may need to be filed.
Advise the neighborhood to start marking their items with prices at least two nights before the scheduled garage sale. Tell them also to get their final set up ready by the crack of dawn. This way, you can start selling your items to the 'early birds.'
Advise your neighborhood to prepare a lot of extra cash on hand, preferably smaller bills and coins to use for change. Although most experienced garage sales hunters bring small dollar bills and plenty of cash with them, it would still be good to have enough on hand in case the buyers run out of small bills and they need to get them changed.
Task different individuals for traffic flow enforcement. Ensure that the cars are not double-parked or parked illegally in areas that are clearly marked as no parking zones. Have someone hold signs to have cars slow down or stopsigns by the cross walk.
Every family in each household can participate in selling their items. You can have a contest just for fun on who can sell their items faster or who can have more dollars in the end. Another way to get the family members involved is to setup a refreshment booth where drinks such as lemonade or bottled water and snacks such as homemade cookies can be sold. These booths can be manned by kids and adults alike. Kids can learn to value hard-earned money and teamwork at an early age if they are exposed to them early in life.
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Saturday, August 22, 2015

How to Hold a Baby Contest


Decide what type of baby contest you will be holding. Most baby contests are 'beautiful baby' contests, but other options include best smile, cutest personality and best sleeping picture. The contest can also be segregated into different ages and award prizes to boys and girls.
Reserve the space you will need for the baby contest. Spaces that are common to hold a baby contest include carnivals, local fairs, parks or schools.
Determine the entry fee of the contest, the photo sizes that will be accepted, what prizes will be awarded, how many prizes will be awarded and how many contestants you will accept. You will also need to choose a starting and ending time for the event.
Announce the event to the public through flyers, mailers and social media. If you are coordinating the event to coincide with another event, such as a local fair, then have the fair committee list the baby contest on the website or flyer for the fair. Make sure that the announcement lists the due date for photo entries.
Set up a booth on the day of the contest. Each photo will need to be attached to a bowl or container large enough to accommodate the photo and change to use for voting. Place numbers or names on the container so voters can identify the different babies.
Hang a sign on the front of the booth using tape or string. The sign should announce the baby contest, the times open for voting and the procedure to vote. The procedure to vote could be one cent equals one vote. For example, one penny would count as one vote for the baby, while a quarter would count as 25 votes for the baby.
Count the votes once the contest ends and announce the winner. If there is a stage available, call the winner on stage and award the baby or its mother or father the prize.
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Friday, August 21, 2015

How to Find a Cub Scout Pack Near You (5 Steps)


Call the Boy Scouts of America District Office for your state and ask for the contact information for the nearest Cub Scout pack to you.
Use your favorite search engine to locate local Cub Scout pack information, including contact phone numbers and meeting venues.
Visit the Boy Scouts of America website to find a scouting group near you. Click on the Get Involved tab, then select Cub Scouts and enter you address, city name, state and zip code to generate a list of packs in your area.
Ask your child's school where the nearest Cub Scout pack meets. Most scouting groups hold a recruiting day during the academic year.
Visit the Boy Scouts of America Hosting website. Enter your zip code, state or city to find the pack nearest you. The hosting website does not represent the official Boy Scouts of America.
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How to Organize a Euchre Tournament Fundraiser


Build a team of volunteers, calling on people in the organization for which you are holding the fundraiser. You will make the volunteers feel valued by including them in every step of the planning--plus, they might have great ideas.
Pick a date for the euchre tournament fundraiser. Choose a date that is far enough out that you have time to organize and advertise the event, and a date that does not conflict with a holiday or other time when people might not be able to attend.
Pick a location. The organization might have its own space that you can use for the event. If not, see if a local event hall will let you rent the hall for free or at a discount, in return for advertising at the tournament.
Decide what types of refreshments to provide, and whether you will offer alcoholic drinks. Consider providing a cash bar with proceeds going to your cause. Check with city hall to see if you need a special permit to serve alcohol or food.
Decide how you will raise money during the fundraiser. For example, you could charge a fee to enter the tournament, or you could charge a fee for each game played. You also could sell tickets for a raffle at the end of the fundraiser. Choose prizes that are not too expensive but are still nice, such as a bottle of wine or a knife set, or ask merchants to contribute raffle prizes.
Design invitations or fliers for the euchre tournament fundraiser event. Include the organization's name, the place and date of the euchre tournament fundraiser, and any other important information such as a cover charge. Make sure the title of the fundraiser stands out to attract attention, and include a picture. Be sure to let guests know where their money will go and what it will buy.
Decide on the number of tables to have at the fundraiser, and buy one deck of cards for each table; you can buy special euchre decks, or you can create a euchre deck from a regular deck. Buy some extra decks of cards, in case any are lost or damaged, or anyone requests an extra table.
On the night of the fundraiser, assign tasks to each volunteer and ensure they are familiar with their job description. Hand out thank you cards, or small gifts if funds allow, to each volunteer to thank him for his help in organizing the euchre tournament fundraiser.
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