Getting To Know Jewelry: Your One-Stop Guide

As fun as planning to buy or sell your own jewelry may seem, you need to do some research to begin and to avoid losing a lot of money. Another thing is that you need to understand what to look for when you’re buying or selling. These tips below can help you start.

When looking to invest in jewelry containing sapphires, opals or rubies make sure that you understand what lab created means. Lab created gemstones are grown in a laboratory using scientific means. Jewelry that you see labeled as lab created such as sapphire has never seen Mother Nature. If you are looking for natural gemstones, you may be paying a higher price and spend significant time looking for a vendor outside of your local mall.

Try to fix scratches in watch glass before you waste money at a jeweler. Watch faces can easily get scratched by their constant exposure to the elements. To fix this, try rubbing a small amount of your toothpaste into the face of the watch. Use circular motion and see the scratches disappear like magic.

If you’re planning a traditional wedding, then you can’t go wrong with pearls! You can have them on your tiara, wear them as stud or dangle earrings, have a gorgeous “Y” necklace adorned with them, or even a pearl and Swarovski crystal bracelet. Blue pearls are an excellent way to get really traditional, or borrow your Mother’s or Grandmother’s single strand necklace.

When you are going to attend an event and need to complete your outfit with the right jewelry, consider the premise of the occasion and the activities that may be taking place. If the event is casual, keep the jewelry plain. If the event is more formal, select one item of jewelry that stands out to add to your outfit. When in doubt, less is more.

Try not put any of your jewelry on before applying your makeup. By putting your pieces on before doing this, you risk getting them covered in things like powders and deposits from your makeup. This then collects around gem settings and on metal causing them to turn and look cheap and old.

When it comes to purchasing jewelry, it is advisable to purchase jewelry that you can wear with much of your clothing. This is important because buying jewelry in neutral colors will help you get the most wear out of it. This can also help you justify buying more expensive jewelry because you will wear it more often.

Nephrite is a popular stone used for jewelry. It is very tough and durable, and comes in a wide variety of colors, the most popular of which is a deep opaque green. It is frequently carved into ornate shapes and used as a pendant in a necklace or as insets in other jewelry.

While figuring out the best way to buy or sell jewelry was pretty exciting, you should feel better that you know how to do them better. You can now apply your newly acquired knowledge either to buying a new piece for yourself or selling more pieces you have to make more money.

Managing The Reputation Of Your Event.

As a Consultant in Quality and Customer Service, Roberta Meier often attends seminars and workshops as a “Mystery Shopper”. As well as checking out how well delegates are catered for by the training teams, she also takes great delight in testing how tenaciously event organizers pursue her for her true opinion about their reputation.

If and when they do catch up with Roberta, how do they quantify reputation anyway?

The easiest thing to do is to use the happiness sheets (event evaluation forms) and the post event questionnaires, remembering that this is not a popularity contest but a search for factual information.

If your questionnaires ask for a numerical score against each question, finding the average score (adding all the scores together and dividing the total by the number of delegates who answered) is a useful guide. It is also constructive to look at the spread of results. Check how many people rated the presenter a 6, how many a 7 and so on. A small cluster of very high or very low scores can give a false average, pulling it up or down. You should be interested in what the majority (60%) of the attendees thought and usually these valid results are centered on the true average.

Stress Avoidance

Also consider which elements of the project were the most stressful for you, for your team and for the delegates. Events management will never be a completely stress-free activity but, on occasion, poor planning, poor preparation or badly selected people can cause unnecessary anguish. Think back over the event and identify situations that you would prefer not to repeat if and when you run a similar event in the future. Use a cause and effect grid to home in on the real cause of problems and identify a course of action to avoid this happening again.

Effect

What actually happened?

Cause

Action Plan

Guest speaker was late arriving.

A rail strike was called on the day and we had to fly her in at the last minute.

We tried to save money by avoiding an overnight stay.

In future guest speakers will be put up in a hotel the night before the event.

One of our key delegates had to leave because of an allergy to marker pen solvent.

The interactive sessions of the workshop required lots of flip chart work and we only had solvent based markers with us.

We didn’t ask and he didn’t tell us about the allergy.

Only use water based markers in future and update the registration questions to include all allergies.

The statistics of customer satisfaction can make distressing reading, however, if you have a proactive system, you can track down the 60% of delegates who found it difficult to tell you they had a problem. If you then listen carefully to them and attempt to resolve the issue; you will convince a large proportion of them to do business with you again and you will prevent them from damaging your reputation through non-recommendation.

Tips To Ensure Your Wedding Is Perfect

Men and women seem to want different things when it comes to the overall makeup of their weddings, but everyone can agree that a wedding should be a day you remember for the rest of your life. Make sure you’re planning a day worth remembering by using the wedding tips in this article.

If you don’t know the language in the place, you’ve selected for your destination wedding, consider hiring a local guide to assist you. This will help you in all your wedding preparations as well as any tours or events you decide to attend outside your wedding itself. Your family may also appreciate it for any problems they might face.

If you are planning on bringing a new couple a very large gift to their wedding you should rethink that decision. They will have a hard enough time trying to keep everything organized without having that to worry about. To make things easier on them you should send the gift by mail.

Try to set a very specific time for the beginning and end of your wedding ceremony. Many churches book several weddings in the same day, and it would be horrible to have another wedding party waiting for your group to finish taking their pictures while giving you a dirty look.

When photographing a wedding you’ll need to wear sensible shoes! That means no high heels for women as you might find yourself standing on a chair or pew and the last thing you want to do is take a tumble and ruin the wedding! Flat shoes with a good tread will keep you stable.

One consideration many people don’t think about when planning a wedding is how they will keep underage guests from drinking. This activity is illegal and you never know who might call the police on your event, especially the people who own the venue you’re using! Protect everyone from prosecution and let the bartender know who shouldn’t be served.

If you are working with a very limited budget, choose for floral stems and blooms that give you the most for your money. Robust, full blooms like blue, purple, and pink hydrangeas have a great deal of volume; even as few as three or four of the flower heads can have a stunning impact as part of your bouquet or a centerpiece.

If you plan to write your own wedding vows, start writing early. These are the vows you will speak to the person you love. You want them to be perfect, and getting them that way takes time. Give yourself a couple of months. Write down ideas first, and then the vows themselves. The results will be heartfelt and perfect.

A wedding is a huge event that most people take extremely seriously, even though the atmosphere is ultimately going to be whimsical and romantic. It’s always a great idea to seek some outside advice for your wedding, and using the tips you’ve read here can help you lighten the load for your big day.

Preshow Planning Equals Success

The early bird gets the worm. The same holds true for trade shows — the most successful exhibitors are those who start planning at least 12 months prior to the next event. Exhibiting requires a great deal of time, money, and personnel. Make the most of your resources by utilizing them at the show that best meets your marketing needs.
But how do you know what show is right for you? Here’s a hint: It’s not necessarily the one with the largest ads in the trades or the one that is offering deep-discount exhibit space. Instead, ask yourself these ten questions about the shows you’re considering, and you’ll soon discover which are right for you.
1. How well does this show fit our marketing needs?
This is the paramount question. Exhibiting at a show must clearly fit into your marketing strategy. Whether you are planning to launch a new product, expand into a new geographical region, or reach out to reinforce existing consumer relationships, every show should have a well-defined goal that is an integral part of your marketing plan.
2. When is the show?
Show timing is crucial. Not only should an event be convenient for you and your staff, it should not be in conflict with other major industry shows or events. While there is a seemingly endless supply of competitors out there, there is only a limited amount of customers. They have to pick and choose what shows they’ll want to attend. Don’t undermine your chances by exhibiting at a small show that conflicts with the larger event that ‘everybody’ goes to.
3. Where is the show?
Location is everything. Some events purposely locate at destination locations such as Las Vegas or Orlando to entice attendees. There is some validity to this strategy, although you want to watch against the tendency to attend a show because of the amenities nearby. You’re sending a team to sell your products and services, not to visit SeaWorld or gamble the night away.
4. Who comes to this show?
A show must attract your target audience. Use attendance data from previous shows to determine what percentage of attendees are likely to be interested in your products and services AND are from your major service areas. It’s no good presenting your products to an audience that you can’t sell to.
5. Who else will be there?
You will want to know which and how many of your competitors will be exhibiting at a particular show. Remember, you need to be visible to be memorable! If you are not in front of the public, and your competitors are, the public will remember your competitors and not you. However, a savvy marketing strategy might be to exhibit at a show that attracts your target audience but is outside of your immediate industry.
6. How successful is the show?
While individual success is the responsibility of each exhibitor, there is a great deal that show management can do to ensure a high quality show. Discover what organizers do to promote the show, and take a look at previous shows. Ask for a list of previous exhibitors to contact about the show and ask them for their thoughts. Would they exhibit again?
7. Has someone from my organization actually visited this show?
A first-hand perspective from someone who fully understands your marketing goals and objectives can be an invaluable tool. Do they think the show is a good fit? Ask them about show logistics. Did things appear seamless, or were there some rough edges?
8. How much does the show cost?
Participating in a show can be expensive. Make your decision only after looking at some real life figures. Add in every expense affiliated with the show, not just registration fees. How much will it cost for items such as signage, graphics, literature, travel, lodging, meals, giveaway items, etc? And, don’t forget to calculate your indirect expenses – your people’s time away from the office.
9. What kind of help will we get?
Ask show organizers about promotional assistance. Are there sponsorship opportunities to raise your company’s profile at the event? What types of media are being invited? Also, ask for audience quality information before you decide. Are the attendees the type of attendees you want to meet?
10. What return on investment can be expected from this show?
Return on investment will in part depend on what your goals are for any given show. If you are concentrating solely on lead generation, and do not plan to be doing any selling at the show, return on investment will appear to be lower. It may take several weeks, months and even years for those leads to generate sales. However, with that in mind, set a benchmark ROI, or ROO (return on objectives) that your company would like to achieve from participating in the show. Does this mesh with reasonable projections?

The Best Wedding Tips For The Best Day Of Your Life

Weddings are one of the most planned for events on earth. So many people plan for a perfect day and usually, start planning a year or more in advance. This article can help you to deal with the stress of planning such a big event and be able to have an enjoyable day and not a stress filled nightmare.

Give back to all who are attending the wedding, by making a speech towards the end, thanking everyone for being a part of your life. Most of the attendees at the wedding are integral parts of your history and deserve thanks for where you are at, the day of the nuptial.

Make you honeymoon a cross country trip sleeping under the stars! Plan out your route in advance but don’t be so rigid in your plans that you are afraid to take that side road! Throw a tent and some sleeping bags in your trunk and about the only expense you will have is for gas, camp fees, and food.

If you can afford it, try to take some dance lessons before the wedding. Things can get really hectic right before the event and it is nice to have a little time set aside where you can do something together. Plus, the dance lessons well help you feel more comfortable on your wedding day.

When serving food at your wedding, the style that the food is served can vary the price. For a formal dining setting, it will be high price. If you go with a buffet style, you can save money, and allow your guests the options of picking what they want and how much they want.

Remember that it is always better to have too much food and drink than not enough. Nobody will remember what color your flowers were; but if you run out of beer, then all of your friends will be sure to remember that for the rest of their lives.

Help yourself plan for your wedding by going further with your plan and sketching it out. You don’t have to be a great artist to quickly sketch any ideas that you have. This also provides a clearer “picture” than words do in regards to how certain things should look and feel.

For a unique spin on the traditional wedding guest book, use clothespins to affix blank heavyweight over-size gift tags to a floral garland, hemp rope, or line of pennants. Mount the line over a table near the entryway and provide a variety of pens and markers in bright colors. Guests can write messages of hope and blessings for the new couple, then pin them back on the rope.

As already covered, weddings can be a big source of stress. Proper planning is important but it is possible to over plan it. By taking the wedding advice in the above article, you can learn what things are not worth stressing over and learn where any potential problems may occur. When it comes to weddings, expect the unexpected.

Special Party Planning Considerations – Entertaining the Disabled

In just about everyone’s circle of friends and acquaintances, there are people who are disabled in one way or another. In just my own immediate family, I have one person who is in a wheelchair and another who is on a special diet due to kidney failure. Whenever I entertain, I know that I have to take both of their special needs into consideration. For many people this is a very daunting proposition which they answer by simply not inviting their disabled friends and relatives to their parties, or simply not entertaining at all. How completely sad is that?

It is very important that as you move through your daily life you understand that fact that disabled people are just like you and I. While they have additional challenges in their lives, they still enjoy the same things you and I do, and a good party is no exception! It is very possible for you to plan your party and include those with disabilities without too much extra work.

The first thing you can do when you are planning a party is to plan on inviting your disabled friends and family to the event. Don’t let their differences scare you away from having them to your home or event. However, you should also not be shy about asking these friends and relatives if there is anything you can do to help them navigate the area better, or if there are any dietary restrictions they have which you can plan ahead for. Even by asking these two questions, they will feel appreciated and included in your event. In addition, they will have respect for the fact that you asked the questions, many people don’t bother to.

The next thing you can do is to take a moment to view your home as other people will who attend your party. Try sitting down in a chair, or sitting on the floor, and have a good look around. Look at obstacles like clutter and see if you can move some things out of the way for the party time. This is especially important in tighter spaces such as bathrooms and hallways. Look for tripping hazards like stairs and see if you can highlight them better to make sure that even your visually impaired granny can see them and be able to navigate them without falling down.

If you would like to invite someone to your party with a more physical disability, ask them if there is someone they would like to bring along as their caregiver. Many people will be happy that you asked and were considerate of the fact that they may need someone available to help them. Many people need help in places like the restroom, and would prefer to have someone there they trust and can feel comfortable around.

If your invitee has never been to your home before, you can simply ask if they would like to come over before the event and the two of you can work on accessibility issues together. This can be a great help and make both you and your guest feel as comfortable as possible.

The best thing you can ever do when entertaining is to invite those around you with disabilities. Especially during the holiday season, people can be very lonely and it only takes a nice gesture such as an invitation to a party to start to feel better about yourself and your situation. If you feel uncomfortable about the person’s disability, then try talking to them about what challenges they face and what things you can do to make their stay nicer at your home. Through some simple communication, both you and your disabled friends and relatives can have some great party memories to share.

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How To Make Your Invitation List For Your Wedding

Many of us have daydreamed about the day when we will walk down the isle ever since childhood, right down to the gown we will wear, what our hair will look like, and the colors in our bouquet. Planning your wedding, although tremendously exciting, can often feel overwhelming without some sort of guidance.

Try incorporating some old traditions and tributes into your wedding. These can be simple like “jumping the broom”, eating a loved one’s favorite foods, hanging some antiques around the venue, wearing a loved one’s favorite color, or wearing something similar that a loved one wore on the day of their wedding.

Your venue should not only support your guest count but more importantly it should make you want to get married there. If you have a dream or hope for the look of your wedding, make sure that your venue fills that need. By doing the appropriate research and investing a bit of time, you will create an environment that is the foundation of your wedding.

One common mistake many wedding reception planners make is having a very long buffet line. There are many ways to plan around this, having several buffet lines for different types of food, creating a system so that not everyone goes to the buffet line at once or forgoing buffet lines completely and opting for waiter service.

If you cannot decide on colors for your wedding, consider using the colors from nature. Many weddings have multiple colors, not just one or two. You could experiment with yellow, greens, browns, reds, and pinks. You could, also, plan your wedding colors around the season. If you are having a fall wedding, use fall colors to influence you.

Try not to expect your wedding to be perfect. Do your best to make it the best it can be before the actual day, but on your wedding day just let go and let things happen as they come. This way you will be able to enjoy your day instead of worrying about the fine details.

Buy local! Consider buying and hiring for your wedding from local companies. This will help support your local economy, as well as, ensure fresh products will arrive the day of your marriage. It will also save you money on shipping products and travel time for hired services such as your DJ.

If you are going to have a DJ at your wedding, ask to see them in action before the big day. You do not want to be stuck with an inexperienced or unskilled DJ whose lack of musical abilities could ruin the whole atmosphere of your wedding reception. Ask to watch them work at another event first.

Planning for your big day does not have to feel overwhelming, by listening to advice and suggestions of those who have gone before you, you can organize the day of your dreams with a minimum of stress and anxiety. You might even find that you enjoy planning for your wedding almost as much as the big event itself!

Plan Great Birthday Party Games

As a culture, one of the things we love the most is planning great birthday parties to celebrate the people we love the most. I, for one, love nothing more than throwing a great party for all my friends and family to attend. I used to get stressed out whenever I began planning a birthday party for someone I cared about. All of the details were too much for me and I would hate spending hours trying to figure out the perfect party games to play.

All of that changed, however, when I went to school to become a professional party planner. I wanted desperately to enjoy planning all of the birthday parties that I somehow ended up being in charge of. My schooling taught me that party planning doesn’t have to be nearly as stressful as I had experienced it to be. One of the keys, I learned, to planning a great birthday party is coming up with the perfect birthday party games for any party.

I never realized how much birthday party games were the key to a successful party. The first key to figuring out great birthday party games is to think about the age of your party guests. Obviously, birthday party games will be different for a ten year old’s party than for the party of your thirty five year old neighbor. So think carefully about your audience and then plan great birthday party games for the ones you are inviting. Think also if the birthday boy or girl has any special interests that could be the focus of your birthday party games.

Are you looking for great birthday party games? If so, then utilize the sources that are available. If you can, hire a party planner to help you come up with the best birthday party games for your event. Or do an internet search and see what kinds of ideas are online. Make a visit to a local bookshop and grab a book of birthday party game ideas. You should have no problems finding the best birthday party games if you look long enough.

Planning great parties can be easy and fun. Start by gathering birthday party games and you’ll have no trouble figuring out the rest of the party details. You’ll be throwing the best parties in your town and people will be coming to you for party planning advice. They’ll be asking you for your great birthday party game ideas and for ideas about everything else.

Tips And Ideas For Creating A Memorable Wedding

Weddings are a joyous occasion for many couples. Couples prepare to submit to vows that lock them in an everlasting bond of husband and wife. While weddings are joyous, planning them can be a tedious and difficult event. In order to prevent this, take note of the advice in this article.

A good piece of advice to keep in mind for weddings is to make sure that the bride is dressed well for the wedding preparation, even before getting in their dress. This is important because these photos will be important memories and you want to make sure that you look your best.

If finances are tight, consider a themed wedding. Many couples do not have the money to spend on an open bar. You can make that a non-issue by holding a themed event that hides the fact that you are not offering a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. For example, if you choose an Italian themed reception, you can offer red and white wine with the meal.

Take advantage of the DIY trend and do you own makeup on your wedding day. Study magazines or blogs to learn more about photo-friendly makeup, then go to town. You will look like a glammed-up version of yourself, rather than a makeup artist’s idea of what you should look like.

Plan well in advance. You might think that a year is a long time to plan a wedding, but if you wait you’ll find that venues and service providers cost more and become unavailable with short notice. Start planning as soon as possible so that more choices are available to you.

Make a list of all the questions you might want answered when looking at banquet halls for your wedding. This way you can be sure that you will not miss a question once you are there. Since sales reps can sometimes be quick or pressed for time, you might end up forgetting about things you wanted to know. A list of questions will help you keep on track.

Have fun. This is supposed to be a celebration of your love and commitment, so make it a celebration from the time you decide to get married all the way until the wedding reception is over. Don’t let stress take over; be able to look back on this time with happiness.

If you are living in a transition home or if you and your spouse will move soon, then it is better to ask everyone for money instead of items. It can be very difficult to move a great deal of things, so it is better to leave the money in savings.

As stated before in the introduction for this article, weddings are a joyous occasion for couples, as they make vows to be husband and wife for all eternity. The joy of weddings is forgotten by many though, as the planning process takes effect. Using the advice in this article, you should be able to plan a wedding with no pain.

Avoid Financial Disaster with Good Planning

It’s tough to get by financially in today’s fast-paced life. With mortgages, car notes and massive amounts of credit card debt, most people struggle to get by from month to month. With most people doing what they can just to pay their bills, few people are prepared for the unlikely event of a financial disaster. They come in many forms; a storm like Hurricane Katrina, a loss of job, or a sudden illness can break anyone who isn’t prepared for an unexpected interruption in their financial life. But it isn’t all that difficult to make preparations that will help you in times of a money crisis. All it takes is a bit of planning ahead of time.

Here are a few things that will help you be prepared for the unexpected:

Get an ATM/Debit card – You may not regularly use cash or have a need for a debit card, but there are some circumstances where it may be necessary. People from New Orleans who were temporarily displaced by Hurricane Katrina would have benefited from having access to cash even while away from home. If you don’t use one regularly, get one anyway and keep it in a safe place.

Sign up for direct deposit – With direct deposit, you will know that your paycheck will be in your bank account even if you cannot, for whatever reason, physically get to your bank. This will help you in the event of illness or natural disaster that may have your local bank temporarily closed.

Sign up for online bill paying – You can pay bills even if you aren’t at home via the Internet. You don’t have to use the service, but it may come in handy at a time when you least expect it.

Save some emergency cash – Financial experts recommend that you save at least three months’ worth of financial expenses. That’s difficult, but every little bit can help. Try to cut back on a few unnecessary items, such as that tall latte you buy every day. It adds up, and you never know when you may need to access that emergency cash.

Set up a home equity line of credit – Unlike a home equity loan, which provides you with a lump sum of cash right away, a home equity line of credit provides you with cash that you can use a little at a time, and only when you need it. If you don’t actually take any money out, you don’t have monthly payments. But if an emergency strikes, you’ll have cash available. This can be particularly helpful if you find yourself out of work for a short period of time. Your bank won’t lend you money when you are out of work, so plan ahead of time and the money will be ready when you are.

A little bit of planning can go a long way when a financial emergency strikes. If you plan for it now, you will have fewer worries later.