It's one thing to participate in one of Whyville's many events. Hosting, however, is in a ballpark of its own. Moving past this fact, event hosting can still be made easy and fun with our simple party planning guide. By utilizing these easy-to-follow event tips, you can ensure your party will run smoothly and successfully, as well as preventing as many casualties as possible.
Step 1: Teamwork
Before delving into the wonderful world of party planning, you'll want to enlist the help of a few friends. If you've ever hosted a party before, it certainly proves to be a LOT of work to do single handedly. With friends to share the workload, your party planning experience will not only be easier, but more enjoyable too! There is however a caveat: you must choose party-planning buddies wisely. You'll want reliable people who are willing to share the workload and make a commitment.
Step 2: Outlining Your Party
Once a solid party organizing team is set in place, you'll want to get together and write up the invitations. It may seem too soon, but the invitation will actually serve as the outline for what the party should be like. Be sure to go over details such as time, date, location, and party theme, as well as briefly describing any party activities.
When choosing the date and time, be sure to keep in mind the varying time zones of those invited. You will also want to set the date far enough back so that there will be a sufficient amount of time to properly prepare for the event. Likewise, your location should be easily accessible and have a large citizen capacity. Chat rooms such as Sportplatz and Moon are definite hotspots, while the WhoI sea floor 3 levels underwater -- not so much.
Add in other details, such as proper attire for the occasion, as well as anything the guests may or may not need to bring. Once the invitation is complete, *do not* send it out right away. You will be taking steps beforehand that may or may not influence the details of the party.
Step 3: Assessing Your Budget
Now it's time to determine how many clams, if any, you'd like to spend on the event. You can skip this step if you're planning on a small get-together, or if you don't want to spend any clams. Just keep in mind that prizes such as clams and rare face parts will draw in a larger crowd.
If choosing to give away prizes, first decide how much you want to spend. You can mix it up by using clams from the budget to buy fun or rare face parts to give away instead. It may also be beneficial to set the party back a bit to try and increase the amount of clams in your budget, but never plan to give away more than you actually have. You can still have a fun party without spending millions of clams!
Step 4: Party Rehearsals
Before making the final party plans, go through a test run of the party. Make sure that all activities will run nice and smoothly. If you plan on having a certain number of people attend, make sure that they all will be able to fit in the designated chat room.
Also, be sure to plan out a schedule so everyone knows what order the events will be hosted in. If you'll be running more than one activity at a time, be sure to clear out who will be hosting what activity, where, and at what time. Assign shifts at different activities so you and your friends won't get bored with a single event and, if possible, make sure everyone gets a little break to enjoy the party!
Step 5: Spreading the Word
Now it's time to finalize the invitations and go back and make any changes necessary. When the plans are finally complete, you can begin to spread the word! If it's going to be a large event, you'll want to start sending out invites one week prior to the scheduled date to assure there will be sufficient time for the news of the party to spread. If it's a smaller, more personalized event, a few days should suffice.
When you host an open party, and your goal is to invite a large amount of people, there are several possible ways to spread the word. We feel the most efficient way is through individually y-mailing citizens in chat rooms, specifically those who normally log on during the time the event will take place. Try not to send anyone more than one invitation, save a small reminder the day of/day before the event. Multiple y-mails can have an adverse effect by annoying potential guests and driving them away.
Another great way is to try hosting a mini-event sometime during the week before the party, such as a beauty contest or a treasure hunt, in order to let people know of the upcoming occasion. This effective, although slightly costly advertising method, shows promise for the party to come and that you will follow through on your word.
Last, but not least, posting an invitational thread in the forums is a great way to spread the word to large amounts of people, while also allowing for any questions or comments that may arise. Like y-mails though, remember to keep it to only one thread and no more, and resist the urge to "bump" it every 10 minutes.
Step 6: Party Time!
The day has finally arrived! The invitations have been sent, supplies have been gathered, and a schedule has been set in stone! Being the hosts, you and your friends will want to arrive 10 or 15 minutes early to go over any last minute details and set-up any necessary rooms/activities.
As the party starts kicking into gear, be sure to follow the schedule to keep the party moving and ensure organization. Don't get frustrated if things don't turn out exactly the way you anticipated, there are flaws in every plan. Just keep with the flow and do what needs to be done to ensure everyone is having an enjoyable time.
Coming from experience and trying to keep as kind as possible, when throwing a large party there will be a fair share of annoying people. There will be multiple questions whispered to you, people complaining, and possibly even trolls lurking around. No matter the situation, remember to remain calm and keep a kind, but stern attitude.
If people are whispering questions that are applicable to the whole group, you may want to answer out loud to avoid repetitive questions. When receiving any complaints that don't need immediate attention, calmly ask the person to y-mail their concern and get back to them as soon as possible. In the event any trolls decide to crash the party, simply vaporize them! Most of all, try not to get stressed out and be sure to enjoy the party!
Step 7: Follow Up
After the party is over, be sure to send out any clams or face parts that were awarded to people in a timely fashion. If there are going to be a lot of prizes to award, it may be wise to reserve an extra account for the party specifically to keep an address book with a list of the people who win anything. After it's all said and done, be sure to thank those who helped contribute to the party's success!
Hopefully you found our party planning guide helpful and are now equipped with the knowledge to go out and host your own Whyville events! Obviously, this is only a guide and you are free to tweak any steps to fit your own unique party planning style. We hope to see a lot more fun events out there and look forward to attending a few ourselves!
