Plantastic Events Podcast E028-World of Games with Andrew Greenberg

In this episode of Plantastic Events, you’ll get a chance to learn more about Crabapple Fest hosted by the City of Milton. Our guest speaker is Courtney Spriggs, the Milton Community Outreach and Engagement Manager. She creates community engagement and builds relationship through many community events. The City of Milton hosts many events and festivals throughout the year but one of their most famous festivals is the Crabapple Fest. The festival is the first Saturday in October in Milton and includes over 100 local antique and art vendors, kids' activities, local musicians, fantastic food, and more. You can spend the day shopping for one-of-a-kind items and enjoying all Milton has to offer!

Hot topics for episode 38:

1. History of City of Milton and Crabapple Fest
2. Community involvement for Crabapple Fest
3. Creative themes for different events
4. Different types of activities during the festival including kids’ activities

Produced by Stooge App (www.stoogeapp.com). Topics include: Crapapple Fest, City of Milton, Georgia, Festivals, events, foodie, marketing, awards, resources, social media, promotion, event managers, event planners. All for event professionals.

In this episode of Plantastic Events, you’ll get a chance to learn more about Sandy Springs Festival hosted by the Heritage Sandy Springs. Our guest speaker is Sarah Poland, the Director of Marketing and Community Events at Heritage Sandy Springs. The Heritage Sandy Springs mission is to promote history, steward a community park, and enhance the cultural identity of Sandy Springs. Some of the popular free events hosted by Heritage Sandy Springs include the Farmers Market, Concerts by the Springs, and the annual Sandy Springs Festival. The Sandy Springs festival includes arts and crafts, live music, cultural performances, a pet parade, Chalk Walk Art Competition, 10K and 5K race, children’s programming, classic rides, gourmet and festival food options, and much more.

Hot topics for episode 37:

1. History of Heritage Sandy Springs
2. Sandy Springs Festival and community involvement
3. Pet parade and Chalk walk art

Produced by Stooge App (www.stoogeapp.com). Topics include: sandy springs, festivals, pets, chalks, 10K, 5K, race, children’s programming, foodie, marketing, awards, resources, social media, promotion, organizing, event managers, event planners. All for event professionals.

In this episode of Plantastic Events, you’ll get a chance to learn more about how to manage your festival volunteers. Our guest speaker is Alana Moss with the award-winning Duluth Fall Festival. Alana Moss is the Former Chairperson for Duluth Fall Festival and currently manages the volunteers for Duluth Fall Festival. The award-winning festival roots go back more than 50 years and they brings in more than 300 volunteers. From installing decorations, to unloading and loading vendor stock, to working at the Festival Concession Stand, or managing a committee, you can be sure that there is a job for you. Today, she’ll talk about how she manages all the volunteers for Duluth Fall Festival.

Hot topics for episode 36:

1. Attracting the right talent
2. Leveraging social media to promote
3. Ways to motivate volunteers
4. Organizing and assigning shift slots

Produced by Stooge App (www.stoogeapp.com). Topics include: festivals, volunteers, events, cities, Georgia, Duluth, tourism, southeast, educational, marketing, awards, resources, social media, promotion, organizing, shifts, event managers, event planners. All for event professionals.

In this episode of Plantastic Events, you’ll get a chance to learn more about the famous and award-winning Forsythia festival hosted by the Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce. Our guest speakers are Cheri Lance, the President and CEO, and Priscilla Caldwell, the Program Coordinator at Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber hosts multiple festivals throughout the year but today they will talk about the Forsythia Festival. The Festival attracts 25,000 people and is held annually the second week in March in downtown Forsyth. This free, family-fun event features a two-day arts-and-crafts show, children’s fair, a 5K, sporting tournaments, live entertainment, and much more!

Hot topics for episode 35:

1. History of Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce and Forsythia
2. Community involvement with the festival
3. Building vendor relationships
4. Different activities for all ages

Produced by Stoogeapp.com. Topics include: festivals, chamber, Georgia, Forsyth, tourism, southeast, educational, marketing, awards, resources, events, event managers, event planners. All for event professionals.

In this episode of Plantastic Events, you’ll get a chance to learn more about the Southeast Tourism Society and what educational resources they offer for event and festival organizer. Our guest speaker is Wendy Thomas, she is the Director of Communications and Marketing at the Southeast Tourism Society and joined in 2015. Southeast Tourism Society unites all segments of the Travel and Tourism Industry including promoting tourism within the state, fostering cooperation, sharing resources and providing continuing education for the Southeast region. For more than 30 years, Southeast Tourism Society has established itself as a leader among travel organizations.

Hot topics for episode 34:

1. History of the Southeast Tourism Society
2. Top 20 festivals and events award program
3. Educational resources including marketing college for event organizers
4. Educational online webinars for event organizers

Produced by Stoogeapp.com. Topics include: festivals, associations, southeast tourism society, tourism, events, southeast, Georgia, educational, marketing, awards, resources, and internship. All for event professionals.

In this episode of Plantastic Events, you’ll get a chance to learn about Chalktoberfest and the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art. Our guest speaker is Bobbi VanHorn, she is the Marketing Coordinator with the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art. The Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art hosts award-winning events including the famous Chalktoberfest. Chalktoberfest has an exciting combination of their annual Chalk Art Festival with Marietta's premier Craft Beer and Wine Festival. You can enjoy your afternoon sampling craft beers and wines, live music from local artists, watching professional Chalk Artists chalk the streets and eating great food at the beautiful downtown square of Marietta. A great day out for all the family, the Chalk Fest is free to attend. All proceeds go to the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art.

Hot topics for episode 33:

1. History of Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art
2. History of Chalktoberfest
3. How Chalktoberfest brings artists from around the world

Produced by Stoogeapp.com. Topics include: festivals, chalk, artists, drawings, culture, food, people, event, celebration, Georgia, beer, wine, vendors, sponsors, volunteers, performers, museum and Marietta. All for event professionals.

In this episode of Plantastic Events, you’ll get a chance to learn about the Japanese culture and the history of Japan and Georgia. Our guest speaker is Yoshi Domoto and he is the Executive Director at The Japan-America Society of Georgia. He also hosts the famous JapanFest, which is a 2-day festival and draws a crowd of 20,000 people! In its 32nd year, JapanFest celebrates the culture and people of Japan. The festival is organized by JapanFest, the Japan-America Society of Georgia, and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Georgia, with support from the Consulate-General of Japan.

Hot topics for episode 32:

1. History of Japan and Georgia
2. The upcoming festival themes
3. Japanese food, people and culture

Produced by Stoogeapp.com. Topics include: festivals, Japan culture, food, people, cherry blossom, JapanFest, history, event, anime, celebration, Georgia, Japanese, vendors, sponsors, volunteers, and performers. All for event professionals.

Let’s talk about festival volunteers. In this episode, you’ll get a chance to meet Uta Colwell from the National Banana Pudding Festival. She’ll talk about how she manages over 150 volunteers for the festival and how you can do the same. Uta is the volunteer manager at the National Banana Pudding Festival. Not only is she a volunteer for the festival but she manages and coordinates volunteers for the festival. She has worked with National Pudding Festival since 2010! The National Banana Pudding Festival has won the SFEA Best Festival Award and has been named a Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Event.

Hot topics for episode 31:

1. How to manage and coordinate volunteers during, before and after your festival
2. What are some the essential roles to set up for volunteers
3. How to partner with local organizations to recruit volunteers
4. How to set up shift slots for volunteers based on the different roles

Produced by Stoogeapp.com. Topics include: festivals, bananas, cook-offs, volunteers, events, foodies, training, non-profits, and Tennessee. All for event professionals.

Festival and events often attract large crowds and poor planning can result increase the chances of attacks whether it’s during a live event or online. In the past, we’ve covered topics about security planning during an event but it’s important to talk about cyber security as well. Our guests include Aly Hussaini and Chang Han. They’ll talk about the importance of cyber security. Aly is the CEO of Stooge and has 5 years of experience with Salesforce. He has been coding since age 9 and has full-stack development experience, especially with SAAS and marketing automation. Chang is a developer for Stooge. He has 10 years of full-stack development experience and has development experience with marketing automation. Previously, he was a developer at Gamevil and Com2us.

Hot topics for episode 30:

1. The difference between internal and external security
2. The importance of having policies and procedures for cyber security
3. Best practices to secure festival data
4. Plan B preparation in case data is leaked

Produce by Stoogeapp.com. Topics include: data protection, cyber security, policies, festivals, event planning, event managing, train, volunteers, security, coding, data, protection, safety. All for event professionals.

In this episode, you’ll learn about how to recruit, train and retain volunteers. Our guest Kari Weaver will talk about the importance of involving volunteers for your festival. She is the is the Director of Events at Atlanta Beer Festivals. She manages the relationships with vendors, helps with social media, and coordinates volunteers for all of the events. They host over 17 events per year throughout Georgia including Atlanta Winter, Spring and Summer Beer Fest, Atlanta Brunch Festival and four Wine Festivals too. Approximately 3000 or more people attend the festivals!

Hot topics for episode 29:

1. What are some of the advantages of having volunteers at your festival
2. How to find, recruit, train, and retain volunteers
3. What are some of the ways to give recognition to volunteers

Produced by Stoogeapp.com. Topics include: beer pouring, volunteers, beer, wine, brunch, food, festival, event management, event planning, recruit, train, retain, and Atlanta beer festivals. All for event professionals.