How to Start an Event Management Company

Event Management is considered to be a sunrise industry today. The industry is growing dynamically due to the sudden gush in Live Entertainment Shows, corporate events, exhibitions, carnivals, festivals, seminars and conferences.

The industry started with the multinationals poured into the global market in the late 80s. Today, industry segments like music, sports, culture, fashion shows, award ceremonies and cultural gatherings have become the fundamental growth drivers in the event management sector.
Events are considered to be a power tool for marketing, advertising, promotion and communications mix for all companies. It has become the most significant part of any marketing strategy. A large number of companies are looking forward to good event management companies as a means of building a brand image for them.

This calls for a demand of event management companies in the business sector. These companies require specialization in planning, visualization, creativity and venue management. Personnel of these companies should be skillful, talented and creative to organize and execute any kind of private or public event.

If you are really willing to earn big and live big, then event management career is the right option for you. Don’t sit in a corner of your room and ask yourself, ‘how to start and event Management Company’, rather ask yourself, ‘when should I start learning and practicing’?

Learning and practicing simply involves learning and understanding the basic concept, fundamentals and benefits of starting this company. You can get into event management by joining a firm that will help you gain experience and learn client specific requirements. After a year or tow, when you feel, you have gained enough of understanding and experience of the industry, you can go ahead and open the veil of your own future for name and fame.

Starting the right business you need business resources, equipments and a laborious workforce. So, the day when you finally decide to start off with your own business, first hunt for few personnel who can be a part of your organization and help you in promoting your business. Keep one thing in mind while hunting for the workforce, education cannot open doors to creativity and imaginations. These qualities are inbuilt.

There may be cases where you might get highly qualified personnel, who may lack analytical thinking, creativity, good communication skills and other skills and abilities essential for the business. At the other end, there are people who are just a graduate but have good analytical skills, wild imaginations and a strong networking as well.

The fundamental qualities required for starting any event management business or hiring personnel for your business are good analytical thinking, client service orientation, good negotiation skills, ability to work under pressure, teamwork, planning and good networking.

Analytical or critical thinking is essential to acknowledge and solve any problem obstructing the business potential. Client or customer service orientation helps in meeting and fulfilling the needs of the clients as well as customers.

If you want to become an astute minded businessman, then it is needless to say that teamwork, good negotiation skills and good networking skills are the basic requirements for any business to start off.

How to start a small business with no capital

Do you want to start a small business but you have no start-up capital and you want to avoid loans? Though many small-business guidebooks will tell you that this is not possible, it certainly is. Read this article to learn how!

Start Small

The main key to starting your small business without capital is to start small. You can make plans to grow larger at a later date, but if you want to start with no outlay of capital, you need to start small.

Start With What You Have

The second key is to start with what you have. If, for example, you want to start a lawn care business, start with the lawn mower you already own. You can purchase a larger mower later, once you’ve gotten started and have some cash flow. But for the time being, start with what you own.

You will find that this may limit the types of businesses you can start. Very few people own, for example, a printing press, so if you want to start a printing business, you may need to look into obtaining financing.

If you haven’t yet decided what type of business you want to open, try looking around at what you have and what you know how to do. The most successful small businesses start with the owner’s hobby and develop from there. Most people who enjoy sewing already own all the materials needed to start a small sewing business. Most people who enjoy programming computers already own the necessary equipment for this business. Take a look at what you already own and go from there.

Start In Your Own Home

With no capital, you will not be able to open a physical storefront or an office outside of your home. Instead, you will need to use space already available to you in your own home. Some people are lucky enough to have an entire room available for their use in operating a small business. Perhaps a child has just moved into his or her own home, or maybe you have a den that doesn’t get much use. Put that space to work!

But what if your house is already bursting at the seams? Many businesses require no more than a desk and some storage space. A small desk and a file cabinet can occupy a small section of any available room – a corner of the bedroom, perhaps, or even the living room or dining room! Many people successfully convert an unused closet into their home office, which provides a handy way to hide the mess when expecting company.

Start With Low- Budget Advertising

Many companies find that their best marketing is free! Word of mouth is usually cited as the best way to obtain new clients or customers. Ask every customer to refer you to at least one or two friends.

Joining local business groups is another great way to market your business – these groups provide plenty of opportunity to network and get the word out about your business.

Most importantly, mention your business at every opportunity – when chatting with friends, when meeting new people, when visiting family. Don’t be shy! If possible, bring an example of your work with you everywhere you go. You never know when you will meet an interested potential customer.

Use Your Money Wisely

Use what money you do have wisely. Before every purchase, ask yourself if the item you’re about to purchase will really help you grow your business and if you can really afford it at this point. Don’t be afraid to put off any purchases until you’ve been able to consider it for a week or more.

Scientists writing foolproof computer security code

We often see websites asking us to key in wavy letters into a box to prevent computer robots from hacking into servers and databases. But these codes, which are becoming increasingly complex for an average person, are not immune to security breaches.

A project led by Danny Cohen-Or, computer science professor at the Tel Aviv University (TAU), shows how a new kind of video captcha code may be harder to outsmart. Captcha technology is intended to block spam e-mail and automated systems.

“Humans have a very special skill that computer bots have not yet been able to master,” says Cohen-Or. “We can see what’s called an ’emergence image’ – an object on a computer screen that becomes recognisable only when it’s moving – and identify this image in a matter of seconds.”

“While a person can’t ’see’ the image as a stationary object on a mottled background, it becomes part of our gestalt as it moves, allowing us to recognize and process it.”

The study was co-authored with colleagues in Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and India. Cohen-Or describes a synthesis technique that generates pictures of 3-D objects, like a running man or a flying airplane.

This technique, he says, will allow security developers to generate an infinite number of moving “emergence” images that will be virtually impossible for any computer algorithm to decode.

’Emergence,’ as defined by researchers, is a unique human ability to collect fragments of seemingly useless information, then synthesize and perceive it as an identifiable whole.

So far, computers don’t have this skill. “Computer vision algorithms are completely incapable of effectively processing emergence images,” says Cohen-Or’s colleague and study co-author Lior Wolf.

The scientists warn that it will take some time before this research can be applied in the real world.”We’re not claiming in our research paper that we’ve developed a whole new captcha technology,” says Cohen-Or.

“But we are taking a step towards that – something that could lead to a much better captcha, to highlight the big difference between men and bots,” concludes Cohen-Or.

“If it were to be turned into a solution, however, we wouldn’t be able to give humans a multiple choice answer or common word answer for what they see, so we’ll need to develop a way to use it. We have a few ideas in the works.”

The researchers are also developing methods of automatically generating “hidden” images in a natural background, like a pastoral mountain setting – a digital “Where’s Waldo?” game.

“We’re trying to hide images like eagles or a lion in mountainscape,” says Cohen-Or. Because the moving image blends into a static background, it’s hard for bots to understand what the human eye perceives with only minimal training.

Nokia opens new patent battle against Apple

The world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia ratcheted up a patent battle against Apple on Tuesday, saying it had filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

“Nokia … (is) alleging that Apple infringes Nokia patents in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers,” the firm said in a statement.

The seven Nokia patents at issue “relate to Nokia’s pioneering innovations that are now being used by Apple to create key features in its products in the area of user interface, as well as camera, antenna and power management technologies,” it said.

A spokesman said the firm expected the ITC to decide on whether to pursue the case in around 30 days, but any possible injunction against the sale of Apple products with regard to the alleged patent infringement would not happen until early 2011. Apple and Nokia have launched patent infringement suits against each other in 2009. Analysts say the dispute,
potentially involving hundreds of millions of dollars in annual royalties, reflects the shifting balance of power in the mobile industry as cellphones morph into handheld computers that can play video games and surf the Web.

Googlephone is coming next week for $530

San Francisco: A day after Google announced a media event for its Android mobile phone system next week, new details leaked out about the first ever phone to be sold directly by the web search giant. According to technology blog Gizmodo the Nexus One will be sold unlocked on a Google website for $530. The phone will work on GSM cellphone networks and will be offered at a subsidised price of $180 in the US by fourth-ranked carrier T-Mobile with a two-year talk and data contract costing $80 a month.

Google launched its Android operating system for cellphones in October 2008 and it is fast emerging as the most competitive rival to Apple’s iPhone.

Manufacturers as diverse as HTC, Motorola and Samsung have based phones on Google’s open source software, but the Nexus One will be the first device to be branded and sold directly by Google.

Google is expected to officially announce the phone’s release at a media event Jan 5, and make the device available to customers on the same day.

Sony E-reader to stay as book device

The way Howard Stringer sees it, Sony’s digital e-readers should focus on the printed word and making reading “comfortable,” even though the consumer electronics giant could turn it into a multimedia machine. Stringer, Chief Executive of Japan’s Sony Corp, admits there is a lot of “energy” behind Amazon.com’s Kindle, which is seen as the leader in a burgeoning market for portable reading devices.

As speculation grows that Apple Inc may introduce a tablet-style computer that could also address the e-reader market, Sony could differentiate itself by adding more powerful chips, displays and media features to the pocket sized readers. But Stringer says that, given the nascence of the market, it is smarter to wait and see how consumer warm to the current makeup of the devices.

“The consumer will tell us if this format is comfortable and helpful and convenient and all those things before you start plowing on a thousand apps,” or making the “Vaio Reader” Stringer said on the sidelines of a press conference in New York.

Sony, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble Inc are in a heated fight over who will emerge with the best-selling electronic reading device, each beefing up their devices with exclusive content or high-tech features.

Sony struck a deal with News Corp on Thursday that will make The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch and the New York Post available on its electronic reader, the latest shot fired in an intensifying battle with Amazon.com Inc’s popular Kindle device.

Sony said subscriptions would be available shortly from its e-reader website, with monthly prices set at $14.99 for The Wall Street Journal, $10.99 for MarketWatch and $9.99 for the New York Post. The publications will be jointly marketed by the companies.

At an event to announce the deal on Thursday, Sony described sales of the e-readers as “phenomenal,” but did not disclose any figures. Executives also said they did not know how sales stacked up against the Kindle, one of the top names in the e-reader category.

And while Stringer called the competition a “horse race” he noted that the e-reader will sell to a very wide demographic, leaving no need to make it into a reader thats is also a Walkman or a portable video device. “I think there is plenty of audience to go around,” he said. “I think it will be interesting to see if this is the reader of choice, particularly for older audiences who don’t need a million other applications. There is a whole generation that may learn to love this. We might as well let them find out.”

Smartphones, Windows 7 top targets of hackers in 2010

Hackers may target popular new devices with a rapidly growing user base like smartphones and Microsoft’s operating system Windows 7 next year, a study said. Security solutions firm Websense Inc in its list of security predictions for 2010 said that hackers will look to compromise new platforms such as smartphones and take advantage of the popularity of Windows 7.

“With a rapidly growing user base, business adoption and increasing use for conducting financial transactions with these devices, hackers will begin more dedicated targeting of smartphones in 2010,” Websense chief technology officer Dan Hubbard said.

Moreover, Windows 7 is also a target of malicious attacks with the expected fast adoption of the operating system, he added.

Websense has also warned the users of Mac, lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. “There exists additional risk for Mac users because many assume Macs are immune to security threats and therefore employ less security measures and patches, so attackers have additional incentive to go after them,” the research added.

University turns iPhones into musical instruments

Welcome to an orchestra of the 21st century. iPhones are being used as musical instruments in a new course at an American university. Students at the University of Michigan are learning to design, build and play instruments on their Apple Inc. smartphones with a public performance planned for Dec. 9. The university said it believed the course, called “Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble” is a world-first.

It is taught by Georg Essl, a computer scientist and musician who has worked on developing mobile phones and musical instruments. Essl and his colleagues began using the microphone as a wind sensor a few years ago, which enabled iPhone apps such as the Ocarina that essentially turns the phone into an ancient flute-like wind instrument.

“The mobile phone is a very nice platform for exploring new forms of musical performance,” Essl said in a statement. “We’re not tethered to the physics of traditional instruments. We can do interesting, weird, unusual things. This kind of technology is in its infancy, but it’s a hot and growing area to use iPhones for artistic expression.”

Essl said to build an instrument on an iPhone, students program the device to play back information it receives from one if its multitude of sensors as sound. “The touch-screen, microphone, GPS, compass, wireless sensor and accelerometer can all be transformed so that when you run your finger across the display, blow air into the mic, tilt or shake the phone, for example, different sounds emanate,” he said.

Twitter forays into e-payment with ‘Square’

Microblogging service Twitter has branched into the market for electronic payments, unveiling a mini credit card swiper that plugs into the iPhone, at a European internet fair. Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey said the device, the “Square,” aimed particularly to enable small transactions for “people like babysitters, dog walkers, golf instructors, flight instructors” to collect payment.

The small black square plugs into the phone’s microphone socket, turning it into a card reader like the swipe machines widely used in US shops and restaurants. Its official launch is set for March.

“A lot of people in the world today are using plastic cards to pay people with… But receiving payments from them is very hard,” he told AFP while demonstrating the device at LeWeb, an Internet forum in Paris. “There’s a number of people who are providing services, or selling something, that can’t transact with credit cards today because of the complexity.”

Specialist website TechCrunch reported a “feeding frenzy” of investor interest around the Square even ahead of LeWeb. “This is a bold foray into a huge, and complicated, market: physical payments,” wrote Techcrunch blogger Michael Arrington.

“Square will be a huge win or it’ll go out of business.” Billed as Europe’s top Internet fair, LeWeb was expected to draw 2,000 visitors including major names such as networking site Facebook and Google plus start-ups looking for investors, its organisers said.

Motorola Droid finally rooted?

Every time an Android phone launches, a stopwatch quietly starts ticking, because we all know it’s just a matter of time before the thing gets rooted. This time around, it’s a big one: it appears that the mighty Droid has fallen to the hands of hackers looking to drop whatever they please onto the phone’s firmware — and anyone enjoying Cyanogen’s works over in the HTC world understands full well the benefits of being able to do this. We’ll hold off on cracking open the bubbly until we start to see some practical benefits to the root, but this is a stellar way to start if it’s legit and functional.