Build good relationships.  Find good people to work with and do as much as you can to keep them around and/or to want your event back.

Communicate critical information as early as possible and provide updates regularly.

Set expectations appropriately.  A disconnect between expectations and experience can be a killer for any event.

Solicit feedback and use it.  Be open to compliments and criticisms.

Respect the facilities (field sites, hotels and restaurants) like they were your own.  Do your best to keep the facility managers and the community happy so that the best sites will be available for future events.

Learn more at www.sportseventsmagazine.com

Build your database of athletes and communicate with them often.

Develop relevant content and supply it to the media in your category.

Poll your participants and listen to their suggestions.

Always try to improve your program.  Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you are standing still.

Technology is your friend.  Don't be afraid to use it to your advantage. 

This week's insight...

- Have good organizational skills and use them effectively.

- Show enthusiasm toward each age group (or sport) and try to make each the best it can be year after year.

- Promote, promote, promote.

- Under-sell and over-deliver.

- Notice the direction the event or age group (or sport) is headed in order to stay ahead of the curve.  Age groups (or sports) change each year, whether new equipment, new scoring or how the age group (or sport) is run.  Bring something new to the event each year.

US Youth Soccer events and other sporting events bring big business to the cities hosting those events—sometimes generating hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in economic impact. The 2007 MLS Cup and US Youth Soccer National Championships at Pizza Hut Park, for example, generated more than $1.2 million combined for Frisco, according to estimates by the Frisco Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

So, your events are bringing big business to help CVBs and local economies, but what are the CVBs bringing to the table to help you? More and more, industry experts have told SportsEvents magazine, event planners need local help in coordinating volunteers and establishing contacts with local businesses and parks-and-recreation officials. "Event planners like to partner with cities with a CVB or sports commission that is already familiar with how events run and that can start work right away," said Don Schumacher, executive director of the National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC).

A CVB or sports commission's familiarity of facilities, planning services and personal touches are among the types of assistance that sports event planners said matter most to them. In some instances, a CVB or sports commission will have some staff with sports event management experience, which gives the CVB or sports commission a unique perspective and approach to assisting sports event planners. Whatever the experience level, "a local CVB or sports commission will have paved the way for events within the community" and help planners run successful events in the host city, Schumacher said.

Familiarity of Facilities
It is crucial that a CVB or sports commission know its inventory of facilities and local coaches and facility directors, because they will serve as site directors and will play a vital role toward success. "Event rights holders like knowing that the people they work with know the venues and that they'll often be working with the same person from year to year," destination officials said. In some instances, event owners have such a history and established trust with local coaches and facility directors that a separate tournament director isn't necessary—they know that everything before, during and after the event will be handled locally.

Planning and Personal Touches
Intangibles, such as planning assistance and personal touches provided by a CVB or sports commission, make a big impression on sports event planners. For example, after hearing that a 2006 tournament in Kingsport, Tenn., would include the first Canadian team to qualify for a Division I tournament, the local CVB official arranged for the Canadian National Anthem to be played as the team marched into the stadium.

Personal planning assistance beyond the norm is also a great help to planners of sports events. As one planner recalled, the sports marketing manager at a local sports commission took planning assistance to the next level by facilitating meetings for him—driving him around to 10 different meetings in a nine-hour day. That sports marketing manager just considered it another day on the job. "I try to be like a staff person," she said. "The sports commission is an extended arm of tournament directors, to provide whatever assistance is needed to create an experience so that people will want to come back next year."

Best Practices
Don Schumacher, executive director of the National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC), offered these best practices for convention and visitor bureaus (CVB) and sports commissions assisting planners and hosting successful sports events:

Before Bidding
• Conduct an ROI analysis of the requirements and anticipated benefits of hosting an event.
• Assemble a bid team that could help with the ROI analysis and help identify volunteers; this team might also serve on the event's local organizing committee.
• Talk to the event's last two or three host organizations for a history of room nights and other important data.
• Use the NASC Economic Impact Template to estimate visitor spending based upon reports from previous host cities.
• Be certain you have the right type of facilities for the event. Certain age and skill levels require specific-size soccer, softball and baseball fields, for example.
• Get in writing all the details you must provide in the bid.
• Determine if offering room credits could be part of your bid and if they will actually work for you.
• Find out if the event owner uses a specific housing service or if an outside housing service is even needed.
• Be honest about how your city stacks up to the competition.

Before, During and After the Event
• Continually monitor the local organizing committee to ensure you will meet all commitments. • Meet daily with the event owner and the local committee.
• Monitor the room pickups—are the teams where they should be?
• Expect difficulties, but resolve problems promptly as they occur.

For more tips on planning sports events, read the latest issue of SportsEvents magazine at www.sportseventsmagazine.com. 

An emergency or crisis situation can mean different things in different settings. It could be a large-scale natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, a power outage that shuts down all game operations, or an injury to a player during practice. Whatever the situation, industry experts agree organizers of sports events should have an emergency plan in place.

But in reality, only 10 percent of event organizers have an emergency plan, according to estimates by Donna Karl, vice president of client relations for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). Karl, who has endured such events as 9/11, SARS and Hurricane Katrina in her experience as a meeting planner, doesn't understand why an emergency plan isn't a bigger priority of organizers. ""It's impossible to lay out every scenario,"" she said. ""Don't make the project of developing an emergency plan more complex than it has to be. Once you get something started, you can add to it year after year.""

The first basic step of an emergency plan is to identify decision-makers and assign responsibilities to each, said Eric Ward, director of athletics at Georgetown University. If people know who is responsible for what, decisions can be made quickly.

Prompt action could mean the difference between life and death, such as when a spectator had a heart attack during a softball game, Ward recalled. ""Because we had a good plan in place, the people on site responded quickly and administered CPR and first aid until the emergency team arrived,"" he said, adding that the spectator recovered.

Karl agreed that quick action by key personnel is essential during an emergency or crisis situation. ""Think about all the angles and identify whose responsibility it is to communicate with all those entities,"" such as participants, spectators, media, organizational staff, corporate sponsors and family members back home.

Communicating to volunteers at sports events is vital as well. ""The biggest challenge is educating volunteers on how to respond to an emergency situation,"" Karl said. ""It's about communicating a plan to everyone who needs to know.""

Key components of an emergency plan for organizers of sports events:
>  Identify key personnel and outline specific responsibilities for each.
>  Keep contact information, including e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers, for those key people in one place.
>  Develop a written emergency plan and distribute copies among key staff; update as needed.
>  Establish a backup headquarters outside the area to maintain some level of operations.
--Donna Karl, vice president of client relations for New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau

At SportsEvents magazine, we receive press releases from US Youth Soccer and other organizations announcing new sponsors and other news relating to sports events. Currently, US Youth Soccer has seven official sponsors: Adidas, Fox Soccer Channel, Kohl's department store, Liberty Mutual insurance, Gatorade, AirHeads candy and Kwik Goal. These partnerships enhance US Youth Soccer's and sponsors' visibility across multiple platforms and help them reach a wider audience than possible on their own. This is true on both the national and grassroots level.

In these kinds of partnerships, it's vital that both parties share a common goal. Otherwise, industry experts have told SportsEvents magazine, the audience gets mixed messages that do little toward building awareness of either party with the audience. Organizations like US Youth Soccer are hoping to grow their membership or events, and companies, like US Youth Soccer's sponsors, are seeking measured and identifiable returns on their investment as sponsors. How do they come together as one to achieve both? It starts by listening and understanding the core mission and ultimate goal of both parties. Once both parties understand and agree to their respective goals, they can tailor the sponsorship or partnership so that it meets their new, shared goal.

The key is communication—not just in the methods to communicate the message to the audience but also in both parties' understanding of the desired message. If both parties aren't listening, then the message isn't clear from the beginning. And if the message isn't clear at the start, then disappointment is almost certain.

Consider the example of Gene Simmons, one of the founding members of the legendary rock group KISS. Apart from the band, Simmons has garnered attention—not to mention wealth—for many of his creative ventures, including designing a KISS cologne line; creating Nickelodeon's "My Dad the Rock Star" cartoon; and developing the Indy Car series' "I Am Indy" marketing campaign. Most recently, A&E's "Family Jewels" reality show featuring Simmons, longtime partner Shannon Tweed and their two children, Nicholas and Sophie, has introduced Simmons and the KISS band to a new generation and audience.

But not all of Simmons' ideas are good, although you couldn't convince him otherwise. Simmons describes himself as a "man of conviction," and it's that kind of conviction—others might call it stubbornness—that made Donald Trump fire him on a recent episode of "Celebrity Apprentice." Trump agreed that Simmons has a great, creative mind, but in the end Trump fired Simmons because he didn't convey the message of the client, Kodak.

Simmons' first mistake was not attending a crucial meeting with two Kodak executives. Had Simmons attended that meeting, he would have learned the message was about showcasing the "affordable, premium" ink cartridges of Kodak's all-in-one printers—rather than creating a new identity for Kodak entirely, as Simmons suggested with his campaign, "It's a Kodak World. Welcome."

Kodak executives felt the team led by Simmons missed the mark completely. To make matters worse, Simmons contended that Kodak was wrong. How could Kodak be wrong? It was Kodak's message: "affordable, premium" ink cartridges. Simmons couldn't win this challenge because he had his own message in mind before ever hearing the message Kodak wanted to communicate. Simmons didn't listen, didn't understand and didn't work toward a common goal together. And that's why Donald Trump fired him.

Don't find yourself in Simmons' position because you didn't get the message. Whether you're a company looking to align with a sports event/organization in the hopes of reaching a certain market, or if you're a national sports organization or grassroots club seeking a sponsor, the key to a successful partnership is in sharing a common goal. What's your goal, and how will you convey the message of that goal?

For more tips on planning sports events, read the latest issue of SportsEvents magazine at www.sportseventsmagazine.com.