Event Planning - advice, please!

As many of you know, I make and sell cat avatars. Today I had an enthusiastic customer (lets call her EC) telling me all about a nifty party she'd recently attended where everyone showed up as cats and dogs. Apparently it was a blast, so she then went on to make an interesting suggestion - what did I think of the idea of holding a Kitty Ball? She'd help out with all the organisation, and wouldn't it be fun?

Now, I've been thinking for a little while (ever since my wildly successful Store Birthday Treasure Hunt) that more active promotion of my store would probably be a good thing, but being more of a hermit than a publicist, that's as far as my ideas have gotten. So this Kitty Ball idea sounds like it could be well worth a try, both for the sheer entertainment value and for the possible publicity benefit. So far so good, but I'm very much a hermit in SL - I spend most of my time either building stuff for my store, or wandering around exploring. I'm not much of a clubber, and have little experience with SL event organisation or what one might expect at such things.

So when EC says "I've got this friend who's got a great venue that could probably benefit from the boost an event like this might bring", I'm receptive. I have a look around the venue - it seems nice enough. Pretty decor, dance floor contest-voting-boards, all very nice and venue-like. So we have a chat with the owner about holding an event there. The owner suggest that for a 3-hour event, she'd be happy to hire the venue to us for around L$2000. I gather that would include a dj, and the owner is happy to "host" the event for us, but we'd supply decorations and themed stuff relevant to the event.

Bear in mind that I own enough land to hold an event of this sort on myself. I pointed this out to EC and she put it to me that the main benefit of hiring a venue for it is the time and effort saved in not having to construct a party site specifically, and the services as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

So as a complete novice at SL event organisation, my questions to the event-holders and party animals out there are:

- does this sound like a reasonable price for the hiring of a venue for a 3hr event, including a dj and host?
- is a fee-for-hire type arrangement like this how these things are usually done?
- what sort of stuff would one expect to see at a event held at a venue like this?
- is there anything important I'm overlooking or missing here?

My two cents (as a RL event organizer)

Call it a Jellicle Ball - any cat lover worth their hairball knows what that is.

If you already own enough land surrounding your store for the event, don't take it elsewhere. Yes, it will be more work but you also get to make it your own rather than in some non-descript club. If it still sounds like too much work, think about hiring a builder (a reasonably priced one) and getting some sponsorship money from AO makers who do feline animations, feline friendly clothing, tail friendly furniture.... I would also be not at all surprised if you find a host and a DJ out there who haz a purr. Going out and working with the community is best way to find those people - like posting here and at SLU - and they will come to you.

See my pet oylimpics add in events.... (different pet, but the space would work for you)

If I'm looking at the right ad (this one ) I'm not seeing an SLurl or anything that tells me where the space might be so that I can check it out. What are you suggesting/offering, exactly? We're planning a Kitty Ball at present, but we're certainly toying with the idea of other future events if it goes well, so there could well be potential for overlap in our event interests.

After reading this, I had to log back in and get my kitty avatar! I love it! tytyty so much!

*grin* Glad to know that another kitty's going to an appreciative home.

Please could you tell the cat lovers in the Undying thread about his event so they stop posting cat stuff there and come over here instead.

Pep (I am allergic to cats; actually most domesticated animals)

*laugh* One trusts that the folk reading the Undying Thread (of whom I am not one) also read other threads, and may wander over here of their own accord in good time. Alternately, do feel free to give 'em a nudge yourself, if you're so inclined - at what, forty gazillion posts and counting, I don't think I could get all caught up on the Undying Thread even if I wanted to. :-7

/me purrs...

/me runs away from this thread

Pep (Scratching violently)

I am not entirely up on SL event prices (and frankly, the business models around venues and entertainment seem rather screwy in the first place, but that's a different discussion), but 2000 doesn't sound unreasonable for DJ and hosting.
But unless it comes with a built-in audience for the club and you don't want to do a promotional blitz yourself to attract an audience, I'd go with the feeling that you could make a *better* event by custom-designing it from scratch.
Even just the vibe that the party area was made specifically for this will add a *lot* of ambience and set it apart from the ubiquitous "theme of the week/best in..." events in normal clubs, and, as has been mentioned, you may be better off finding a DJ/host who's specifically into this idea, rather than one who can sort of fit their usual selection to it. (Though a truly good DJ/host should be able to do so by sheer professionalism).

You should do the event on your own plot otherwise you really won't get the full benefit of the promotion.As mentioned before you could always get people in to help.

Yes, 2K is reasonable- but- unless u hold it on ur property the only thing getting promoted is the club.

And re the Undying thread- no need to get caught up- it's a living thing, a river- you just flow in and out

Here are some thoughts:

lay down a mega prim 20m x 20m x .5

This is your event area. Why? Because chat range is 20 m and people will always clump together in chat range. Build out your event area on that 20x20 so that everyone stays in chat range. Do your dance area in the middle and seating around the sides. Make sure you are fairly close to your store so that people can do some camera shopping while they play.

There are many places that will allow you to hold events for free and many dj's who will work for tips only. I agree that holding it at your own place is best...but if that is not possible, please dont pay a fortune for things you can get at no cost. IM me in world and i can give you some names to contact etc.

I would just hold it outside on the grass myself...i have had the issue of folks feet falling through mega prims on the ground.

I am a cat, and I have not heard of "Jellicle Ball."