Our partnership with the Chowchilla-Madera County Fair has been a long time coming!  We first met them at the IAFE Convention in Las Vegas.  We were so happy they joined us for our happy hour, and we really had a chance to get to know Dana and her husband, Peter, over cotton candy cocktails.

At WFA, we were excited to reconnect and tell them even more about what we had done to enhance the Saffire software since the last time we were together.  After several more meetings, we couldn’t be happier to officially welcome the Chowchilla-Madera County Fair to the Saffire community.

Since they current contract was just about to expire, we are working as fast as we can to get their website back up by March 1.  Can’t wait that long?  Okay, here is a sneak peek of what their website will look like.

Last week we announced that Saffire was expanding east, but today we are excited to tell you that we are now coast-to-coast!

The Amador County Fair in Plymouth, CA is the newest member of the Saffire community.  We first met Troy at the IAFE Convention in Las Vegas, but really had a chance to get to know him at the WFA Convention when he attended our presentation on mobile marketing.  And the rest is history!

We’re getting ready to launch their website soon to give them plenty of time to take advantage of Saffire’s features and benefits before their event this summer from July 26-29.  Check back soon for more details on when you can see their new site for yourself.

When we decided to host a happy hour at the IAFE Convention in Las Vegas, we knew one thing was a must: a cotton candy cocktail.  After a quick search online, we realized there were hundreds of recipes, so the only solution was to have a cotton candy cocktail tasting.

Each of the team members in the Austin office found a recipe that sounded delicious, and we got together for dinner and a tasting one evening after work.

Several rounds of very pink cocktails later, we took a little bit of this recipe and a little bit of that recipe to create the cocktail you’ve all come to love.

At our parties at IAFE and TAF&E, we had several requests for our recipe, so here it is!  Please watch this video as our resident bartender, Jessica, teaches you how to make your very own cotton candy cocktail.

Recipe
One part Pinnacle Cotton Candy Vodka
One part cranberry juice cocktail
A splash of orange juice
A large poof of cotton candy

And remember to upload photos of your staff enjoying a cotton candy cocktail to our Facebook wall.  The best photo will win a cotton candy machine, so be creative!

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!

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!

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

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

As we’ve mentioned, this was our first year to attend the IAFE Convention and Trade Show, so we wanted to make sure and let the fair industry know we had arrived.

We would like to take a brief moment to thank the folks at IAFE and our other friends around the fair industry for answering our countless questions as we planned our trip.   Because trust me, we had a lot of questions!

So 1000 business cards, 600 koozies, 80 square feet, 24 UPS deliveries, 7 hoodies, 5 suitcases and 1 cotton candy machine later….we were ready!

It didn’t take much time walking down aisle 11 at the trade show to spot booth #1122.  We were hard to miss with our turquoise hoodies, shoes, koozies, sign and tablecloth.  At least we hope you saw us!

If you stopped by our booth, you probably caught a glimpse of the “Are you a Saffire Event?” video.  This video gives you a quick, easy overview of all that Saffire Events can do to help give your event the online presence it deserves.  If you didn’t get a change to see it,  you can watch the video again on our website.

Our team wasn’t really sure what to expect this year, but we were thrilled with the traffic at our booth.  We were able to make some wonderful new connections and look forward to working with these folks in the future.

Telling people about Saffire is one thing, but when they get to see it in action is when the light bulb really comes on.  Software can seem a little intangible, so we wanted to show our visitors how user-friendly and intuitive Saffire is for even people that hate computers.

We’re excited about the splash we made at the trade show this year, and are already talking about next year, and we want some feedback from you!  Did you like the turquoise?  Or would you like us to surprise you with an all new color ext year?

- Rebekah

From a beautiful suite in the Paris Hotel & Casino overlooking the Eiffel Tower and water fountain show in front of the Bellagio, we raised glasses with almost 50 new friends from across the country to celebrate Saffire’s first year at the IAFE Convention and Tradeshow, and to how much we look forward to helping members of the industry!

 Folks were greeted with a fair-inspired Cotton Candy Cocktail (featuring real freshly-spun cotton candy on top of a delicious drink) ice cold beer, snacks and some great conversation.

From California to Virginia, Wisconsin to Texas, the whole country was represented. We learned a lot about the bushel weight of farmed soy beans in Nebraska, the geographic politics of the state of Virginia and how to keep a fair alive in Chowchilla, California!

 With such a great turnout, we’re sure we’ll be hosting another cocktail party next year, to meet even more new friends. So be sure to keep your eyes open starting next fall for your invitation!

- Jeremy

Anyone who knows me knows I love an awards ceremony (the Grammies being my favorite, followed by the Oscars when they don’t drag on too much). So I was really looking forward to the awards ceremony at IAFE.

I was particularly excited, because I had gone to Springfield in October to judge the marketing awards (but luckily had subsequently forgotten most of the winners, so it was like new again!). The branding for fairs is so fun, and I love the challenge of conveying the magic of the fair across all the different mediums.

One category, however, that I didn’t judge was websites. And so I was 100% surprised and honored when our websites won two awards!

Rodeo Austin took first place in their division for their website, and this was a particular honor since it was their second year in a row to win. I think this is a first, and we’re so grateful to be their partner!

Also, in a total surprise, Brazos Valley Fair & Expo took third place in their division. Not bad for an event that hasn’t even happened yet!

We appreciate the hard work that goes into creating and maintaining an event site, so we would like to congratulate all of the first place winners in the five divisions.

Division 5:  Erie County Fair, NY
Division 4:  Indiana State Fair
Division 3:  Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo (Rodeo Austin)
Division 2:  Clay County Agricultural Fair, FL
Division 1:  Canyon County Fair, ID

Of course, it feels good to win, and we look forward to working with our clients to create even more award-winning websites next year!

-Kendra