Welcome Fort Bend County Fair!

Well this post has been a long time coming, but we want to OFFICIALLY announce our partnership with the Fort Bend County Fair in Rosenberg, TX. We got to know Susan at IAFE back in November and made everything official just before the holidays. Several conventions and some lost mail later, we are glad to … Continue reading “Welcome Fort Bend County Fair!”

Well this post has been a long time coming, but we want to OFFICIALLY announce our partnership with the Fort Bend County Fair in Rosenberg, TX.

We got to know Susan at IAFE back in November and made everything official just before the holidays. Several conventions and some lost mail later, we are glad to finally share this exciting news with the Saffire community.

Stay tuned for their new site…soon!

Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals Convention 2012

We were happy to be invited to attend the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals Convention in Baton Rouge, LA over the weekend.  And one thing is safe to say: Louisiana folks know how to party! It was great to see a few old friends from IAFE and make lots of new connections in the … Continue reading “Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals Convention 2012”

We were happy to be invited to attend the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals Convention in Baton Rouge, LA over the weekend.  And one thing is safe to say: Louisiana folks know how to party!

It was great to see a few old friends from IAFE and make lots of new connections in the industry.

Kendra presented on “The Latest and Greatest in Online Marketing.” We may have drawn the short straw, as our time slot was at the same time as the evening gown competition of the Queen of Queens Pageant. But I mean really, who can compete with all of this!

All jokes aside, we had a great conversation and hope that we provided some fresh, new insight to the industry. Thanks again to all of the attendees who took time out of their busy day to listen to our presentation.

And a big thank you to the LAFF for their hospitality. We were glad to be a part of the weekend’s festivities!

Amarillo Tri-State Fair & Rodeo is Live!

The Saffire team is pleased to announce the launch of the Amarillo Tri-State Fair & Rodeo website!  Their website features information about the fair, as well as the year-round events taking place at the Tri-State Expo. Congratulations to Virgil, Angela and the rest of their team on their new site!  We’re excited to see the … Continue reading “Amarillo Tri-State Fair & Rodeo is Live!”

The Saffire team is pleased to announce the launch of the Amarillo Tri-State Fair & Rodeo website!  Their website features information about the fair, as well as the year-round events taking place at the Tri-State Expo.

Congratulations to Virgil, Angela and the rest of their team on their new site!  We’re excited to see the response, so take a look and tell us what you think.

Welcome Central Texas State Fair!

We’ve kept it quiet for a few weeks, but it’s finally time to share the good news: we’ve got a new client! Please join us in welcoming the Central Texas State Fair to the Saffire community! We’ve been talking with Keith for a while, but we finally shook hands and made it official at the … Continue reading “Welcome Central Texas State Fair!”

We’ve kept it quiet for a few weeks, but it’s finally time to share the good news: we’ve got a new client!

Please join us in welcoming the Central Texas State Fair to the Saffire community!

We’ve been talking with Keith for a while, but we finally shook hands and made it official at the TAF&E Convention a few weeks ago.  Since then, we’ve crossed all our t’s and dotted all our i’s, and now we are officially partners.

Their new website will be launching this spring in plenty of time for their event August 31 – September 2, 2012. Stay tuned for more updates.

PS. I got a sneak peek at their design this week, and we are taking their look and feel to a whole new level.  Can’t wait to show you soon!

Welcome Amarillo Tri-State Fair & Rodeo!

Well, I suppose it’s time to OFFICIALLY announce our partnership with the Amarillo Tri-State Fair & Rodeo! While we were in Las Vegas for the IAFE Convention, we came to an agreement and have been working with them to create a new online presence not only for their fair and rodeo, but also for their … Continue reading “Welcome Amarillo Tri-State Fair & Rodeo!”

Well, I suppose it’s time to OFFICIALLY announce our partnership with the Amarillo Tri-State Fair & Rodeo!

While we were in Las Vegas for the IAFE Convention, we came to an agreement and have been working with them to create a new online presence not only for their fair and rodeo, but also for their Expo center.

Virgil and Angela are a pleasure to work with, and we’re excited for their launch…soon!

Now, we do need to brag on our friend Virgil for a minute.  He was name the TAF&E Professional of the Year at this year’s convention.  Here is a great article about Virgil from the Amarillo Globe-News.  Congratulations Virgil!

Deep in the heart of Texas: TAFE Convention & Trade Show

After a quick trip to California, we were happy to return to Austin to get ready for the Texas Association of Fairs & Events Convention. It was nice to attend an event here in our hometown, and we can say that these were our kind of folks!  The truth is, TAF&E cleaned us out of … Continue reading “Deep in the heart of Texas: TAFE Convention & Trade Show”

After a quick trip to California, we were happy to return to Austin to get ready for the Texas Association of Fairs & Events Convention.

It was nice to attend an event here in our hometown, and we can say that these were our kind of folks!  The truth is, TAF&E cleaned us out of ALL our boot koozies!  We’ll need to place another order soon.

One of the highlights of the weekend was getting to see so many of our clients here in Texas.  We got to spend time with South Texas State Fair, Brazos Valley Fair and several new clients whose websites aren’t quite ready to show to the world.

But hands-down the BEST part of the weekend was our happy hour on Saturday evening!  Our suite was packed with current clients and, hopefully, soon-to-be clients.  We enjoyed cotton candy cocktails (of course!), beer and lots of snacks.

We also gave away a TV which went to Tanner Moore from the Heart O’ Texas Fair & Rodeo.  Congratulations Tanner!

We wrapped up the weekend by attending the Foundation Night Dinner and Dance.  We appreciate Wes Allison for inviting us to sit at his table.  We enjoyed a night of two-stepping and raising money for scholarships!

It is safe to say we’ve already put next year’s convention on our calendar.  See y’all at TAF&E 2013!

Our trip to sunny California for WFA

Well, to say that last week was a whirlwind doesn’t seem to say quite enough!  We had back-to-back conventions and trade shows, starting out with a trip to sunny Anaheim, California. Since we had worked with the staff at WFA to give them a new website for the WFA Convention, we were excited to see … Continue reading “Our trip to sunny California for WFA”

Well, to say that last week was a whirlwind doesn’t seem to say quite enough!  We had back-to-back conventions and trade shows, starting out with a trip to sunny Anaheim, California.

Since we had worked with the staff at WFA to give them a new website for the WFA Convention, we were excited to see how the website was received.  Several people stopped by our booth to tell us how user-friendly the website was, which was the best compliment we could receive.

We set up our booth and had a chance to chat with our friends Carrie and Liz for just a few minutes.  And we finally got to meet Lori!  We’ve worked with her for months, but it’s always nice to actually meet face-to-face.

The trade show was filled with lots of interesting attractions including butterflies, alligators, knights in shining armor and lots of clowns!

And congratulations to the winner of the TV giveaway: Katherine Rosser from Flying U Rodeos!

After two days at the trade show, Kendra presented on the benefits  of Mobile Marketing.  We had quite the crowd; over 80 people joined us.  If you’re interested in learning more about what Kendra discussed, please feel free to email us at info@saffireevents.com and we can send you the slides from her presentation.

Overall, we had a great time visiting several of the suite parties, the entertainment showcase and listening to keynote speaker Kelly McDonald.

Congrats to our friends at WFA for a job well done on this convention!  Hopefully, we’ll be back again next year.

Welcome Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo!

  Our team couldn’t be more thrilled to announce our partnership with the Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo in Waco.  It was clear from our very first meeting that HOT Fair was ready for something new and really caught the vision for what Saffire could do for their event. Even though we hadn’t made … Continue reading “Welcome Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo!”

 

Our team couldn’t be more thrilled to announce our partnership with the Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo in Waco.  It was clear from our very first meeting that HOT Fair was ready for something new and really caught the vision for what Saffire could do for their event.

Even though we hadn’t made the official announcement, we were glad Wes, Jarrod, J.D., Melinda, Devin, Michelle and Charles were able to join us for dinner in Las Vegas during IAFE.  It was a great chance for us to all get to know one another before we get started on this new project.

We’ll be working with HOT Fair to create an entire new online presence for their event located at the Extraco Events Center in McLennan County.  The 2012 Heart O’ Texas Fair & Rodeo will be October 4-13.

Don’t you think Emily Dressen and Jarrod Metzgar look great in their Saffire t-shirts?

Welcome to Saffire, HOT Fair!

 

IAFE 2011: Top 6 Questions from the Trade Show

One of the best parts about the IAFE Convention was getting to talk to individuals in the fair industry.  It was a great chance for us to find out exactly what you want to know about Saffire!  We compiled a list of the most popular questions, so if these were your questions…here are your answers! … Continue reading “IAFE 2011: Top 6 Questions from the Trade Show”

One of the best parts about the IAFE Convention was getting to talk to individuals in the fair industry.  It was a great chance for us to find out exactly what you want to know about Saffire!  We compiled a list of the most popular questions, so if these were your questions…here are your answers!

 

1)      Does Saffire help with people using Google to search for us?
Yes, in fact you have the ability to control not only the content within each page you create, you can also individually manage all SEO related page information (page title, keywords, meta description) from the same tool. This ensures you can target searches most likely to bring people to your site.

 

 

2)      Can I sell tickets with your software?
You bet! In January, Saffire will be implementing a new bar code system to let you create and validate tickets with barcodes right on the receipt to the customers. Already have a ticketing system you love? No problem! Saffire also lets you link directly into your existing ticketing system from each page to drive your customers to EXACTLY the tickets and purchases they are looking for.

 

 

 

3)      My current site doesn’t let me change the layout of my pages, does Saffire?
Absolutely! Our content management lets you decide what to include on your pages and how you want it to layout. We currently have over 10 page modules you can include and we’ll be adding more. Have something you’d like us to include? Send us an email with your suggestions! Saffire features are customer driven and we are always looking for new features and ideas!

 

4)      Can I get include Google analytics in my site?
Of course you can! Saffire is built to include Google analytics with every site. You’ll also receive training on how to view and interpret your site stats so you can continually improve your content and offerings to your customers.

 

5)      My biggest issue is I have to wait forever for my guy (or gal) to make the updates we asked for. We’re still showing stuff from last year!
Well…that’s not really a question, but we understand!  The whole point of Saffire is to let YOU control and update you site whenever YOU want to. No waiting for us or anyone else. Just update your site and see results instantly!

6)      Can I get an extra koozie?
Of course you can!

– Aaron

IAFE 2011: Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

So here’s the scoop: We needed a BIG TV for our booth at the convention trade show and we had two options: We could pay to rent one and give it back, or buy one when we got there and send it in the mail to a lucky winner. Since Vegas is all about playing … Continue reading “IAFE 2011: Winner, winner, chicken dinner!”

So here’s the scoop: We needed a BIG TV for our booth at the convention trade show and we had two options: We could pay to rent one and give it back, or buy one when we got there and send it in the mail to a lucky winner. Since Vegas is all about playing the odds, we thought everyone would love a good giveaway. Turns out we were right!

The rules were simple. All contestants had to do was collect two cards from us by visiting us at the booth, coming to our presentation in the Product Showcase Room or stopping to talk to us while we walked around the trade show. Once people saw our TV, everyone wanted to enter the contest!

So as the trade show was ending on Wednesday afternoon, Kendra drew the lucky winner, and we’re happy to announce: Terry Burroughs from the Okeechobee County Fair as the proud owner of a new 47” LCD Vizio Television! He was so excited he came right over to take a picture with us.

We loved hosting this contest and -shhhh! We’ll let you in on a little secret! Our giveaway was so popular, we’re doing it again at the TAFE Convention in Austin, TX right after the new year. Texas fairs, come find us at the trade show January 13-14 for your chance to win!

If you’re not from Texas and you want to come to our booth at the TAFE convention anyway, don’t worry.  We know how to keep a secret.

– Cassie