Our community hosted it’s first Geist Half Marathon & 5K race yesterday, and running it was tough. My feet and legs never got tired. I didn’t even break a sweat. Actually, I’m the president of this great not for profit organization so I was “running” or “managing” the day’s activities which went off flawlessly.

For all of you out there doing your own local neighborhood portal, creating a community showcase event like the Geist Half Marathon & 5K is a great way to rally your neighbors to volunteer, sponsor, or participate. Here is some advice from a guy that’s spent the last 15 months planning this community event:

• Hire professionals: We hired Vision Event Management as our race director and boy are we glad we did. Don’t rely on volunteers to steer the ship, every good army needs some paid mercenaries.
• Focus on kids: Our event benefits health and wellness programs in the local schools. Kids are great networking and marketing vehicles, but go through their schools.
• Focus on volunteers: We ended up with over 700 volunteers, but it was a last-minute drive that put us over the top.
• Get all sponsor agreements in writing: We had a key sponsor start acting squirrelly the day before the event. Manage expectations by putting everything a sponsor is expected to do in writing.
• Bench politics: Don’t allow politicians, lobbyists, activist groups, or other polarizing persons to exhibit or pass out flyers at your event.
• Choose a great venue: If you could take a postcard photo anywhere in your community, where would it be? Wherever that is, host your event there somehow.