Event Planning - How to outsource part of your work
| July 21st, 2008 admin Posted in Social Media Strategies | |
Why Outsource? I’m sure all of you must have heard of Thomas Friedman’s famous “The World is Flat” book. I find it strange when I still see people working 20 hour days (literally!) trying to keep up with all of the different threads in their event plans. Its strange because they can actually get the same work done in a better way (through specialized professionals) without having to have complete control over every single aspect of their launch. You can get a personal assistant to manage your schedules and appointments. You can get a sales person to get to resellers or sponsors. You can hire a SEO expert to optimize your event page and website. You can get writers to send out your blog posts or email campaigns. All you have to do is the high-level strategic work and people management 
oDesk as an outsourcing platform: I understand that its difficult to rely on other people for the work when the success of your events depend on it to be completed on time and quality. Thats why, some of outsourcing platforms have incredible ways in which you can monitor the work that is being done by your contractor live - as it happens. Also, you can choose to only pay for the work that is accepted and according to your requirements. One such website is oDesk.com. They have these little controls in place to make sure you don’t have to spend an extra cent without getting the right value from it. All you have to do is set up an account and put up a job opening. Interested service providers will contact you by bidding for the project. You can pick and choose or interview them as you like. You can also search their database for good matches and invite them to place a bid.
Elance as an outsourcing platform: Another great site, which I have also used, is Elance.com. Elance has a huge network of service providers from all kinds of areas of expertise. You’ll find both companies and individuals there and will be able to hire them based on their interviews, past experiences, feedback scores, and so on. The risk of hiring the wrong folks is mitigated by going through their portfolios and profiles thoroughly. Weak providers can be identified and avoided easily. Again, all you have to do is set up an account and get going.
Other outsourcing sites: There are countless other outsourcing sites as well that are propping up all around us. Many of them are gaining momentum. If you are in the UK, then you’d want to check out peopleperhour.com as well. This will just give you an edge if you are looking for on-site workers as well. Then there is also another site called guru.com - I haven’t used it myself, but they seem to have a big provider database as well.
Payment Processes: Your payment methods can vary based on your preferences. Some of the outsourcing websites have built-in third party services of paypal or moneybookers. Otherwise, you also have the option of using your credit cards or bank accounts. Security is taken care of to the utmost extent, so you don’t have to worry about that.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
