Event Promotion is probably the most adrenaline pumping hustle I have ever engaged in in my lifetime, and trust me, I have engaged in a few. From beginning to the very end it is a mixture of uncertainty, excitement, anxiety, frustration and prestige.

My first encounters as an event promoter came in my college days, where money was never enough for some reason (there is no living like a rockstar off the money you make working in the computer lab). As with most business ventures that I engage in, I spent very little time researching or thinking about the pros and cons or if it was something I wanted to get involved with or not -- I'm a learn by doing kinda guy. So if you ever came up to me and asked me what you needed to become an Event Promoter, at least on a somewhat amateur level like I was, here are the things I would recommend.

1. A good graphic designer to create posters and flyers
2. A partner who brings something unique to the table -- I usually recruited partners that were better verbal communicators than I was, or just looked better in a suit than I did.
3. A night club or other venue -- most club owners have a gazillion things to do in running their clubs, you will basically be offering your services to help drive a crowd to their doorsteps.
4. A DJ
5. Security
6. A cashier
7. Advertisers

So the process went a little something like this (bear in mind that things might have changed somewhat since I was last an event promoter):

First things first, decide on a date, a venue, a time and a theme for your event. A date and a theme are probably of more strategic importance than your venue. That law seems to apply to everything from movie to musical album release dates. If you lived on a campus for instance like I did when I promoted events, don't go scheduling your event for the day after spring break because the crickets will chirp. As far as themes are concerned, use your imagination a little bit. Nobody wants to go the same party over and over again. Themes make parties a different experience every time. The first party I ever organized was a seventies party. Try to take your patrons to a different dimension with your events, they'll remember you for it and always look forward to something new with you.

Book your DJ, security and cashier well in advance. DJ's I find, tend to have a busy schedule -- well at least the good ones. The amount of time you give yourself to prepare an event is really your call. Just a word of advice, don't skimp on the amount of time  you give yourself from conception to execution. You need to build a significant amount of hype around your events or else, the crickets will chirp.

Cut a deal with the venue owner. Any halfway decent venue probably has a fair amount of clientele regardless of those you lure with your events. It's up to you, to make a case on how much added value you bring into the mix. My partner and I often spun a story (a fairly accurate one I might add) about how we lured students into the venue, as opposed to the usual riffraffs that frequented the venue. Apologies to all riffraffs out there. You can ask to keep a fraction of ticket sales, a fraction of drinks sold etc. This is where communication skills come in handy.

Find advertisers. You're going to need money well in advance of the event start date. Flyers and posters need to be printed, DJs and Security will often ask for a retainment fee etc. It's quite simple, advertisers give you money for your event, you give them exposure in the course of promoting your events. In all cases, my partner and I offered advertisers a fairly prominent logo placement on our flyers. We would present sponsors with an expense itenirary, and they would choose something or the other from our list to sponsor. How crucial was advertising? Well, in the one case where the crickets did chirp at one of our events because of bad timing, we still made a profit because of all the left over advertising revenue we had accrued.

Market shamelessly. I must admit, I'm a bit of a drama king when it comes to marketing. I will put stickers on your forehead when you're not looking. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but just don't give me a job as a tattoo artist around the time I'm trying to spread the word about one of my events. I love marketing, because to me, there is no fixed set of rules that govern how you should market something. I usually tried to cause some kind of memorable commotion. The kind that might either tick someone off or tickle them pink, but leave an impression either way. For one of our events, we went around the whole campus for weeks with a camcorder, asking people random stuff about, oh let's see, our events for instance. For another event we invited a guest DJ from another city, who may or may not have been famous, but was hyped up to rockstar status prior to his arrival. One neat trick we used for every event was to give V.I.P passes to the popular guys and gals on campus. Those individuals that were usually the epicenter of big cliques. Try to be original, at our seventies party, we used cassette tapes with custom designed inlays as our V.I.P passes. Your flyers and posters are a crucial piece in your marketing arsenal. You need a top notch graphic designer to create either a provocative flyer or one that stands out from the gazillion flyers people see every day. Don't rule out a web presence either. Also remember, marketing doesn't end on the day your event starts. It continues throughout the event and beyond. Your job is to get into people's memories and stay there forever.

At your event, enjoy the moment. Be a good host. It helped that I was a total club head in my promoter days. I probably had more fun at my events than some of the people who paid to come to them.

The times might have changed a bit since I was last a promoter. Web 2.0 and the social networking it brings should be an important tool in any promoters arsenal. These days it is not enough to roam the streets handing out flyers to people for your events. Use the web relentlessly. If you have nothing to lose by posting an ad about your events on 10 websites, post it on 10 websites. EventOrb is a way to create a lasting impression as an event promoter and reach even more people in the process.