With summer in full swing, road trips, pool parties, and backyard BBQs may be on the mind, but an experienced event planner knows that this is an important time to do this. register for EV-focused events as part of National Electric Drive Week (NDEW). It may sound like September 27-October 6, NDEW week, is far away, but it's only 3 months away!
We always encourage event planners to register their events as soon as possible as there are many benefits to early registration. However, it's great to hear and learn from the event organizers themselves, so we asked veteran event organizers to share their experience, how-to, and advice about registering NDEW events.
Photo by: Gary Miller
Hilo, Hawaii, Noel Morin he leads the organization of Ye Ala Pono EV and Sustainability Fair. Here he is registering early. (These kind words made us feel warm and fuzzy inside.)
“Big Island EV is thrilled to be a part of NDEW and looks forward to each event and the positive impact it has on EV adoption in Hawaii. Big Island EV has hosted these events for over a decade and appreciates the variety of tools that national organizers have to offer.
We strive to register early, as it not only allows our team to start planning the venue but also allows us access to the essentials that we regularly use at our events and keeps the event at a high level for our local team. Importantly, early registration creates momentum for other planners throughout our region and helps increase visibility and interest in EVs. Big Island EV is now part of a coalition of Hawaii EV chapters that includes Kauai EV, Maui EV, and the Tesla Hawaii Club. Together we strive to make NDEW a global celebration each year!
NDEW team, thank you for supporting the [electrification of transportation] effort and to help build and promote a global community of EV advocates and supporters. Your resources—marketing and communication templates and information about the latest in EVs—make our jobs easier and help us inspire others to convert to EVs.”
Photo by: Jack Goodwin
On the other side of the US in Tennessee, Susan Goodwin is one of the main editors of Knoxville Drive Electric Festival. This event ranks as one of the largest free standing EV events registered as part of the NDEW campaign. Many organizations support EV adoption and advocacy efforts in Tennessee – most notably the Knoxville Electric Vehicle Association (KEVA) and Drive Electric Tennessee (DET). Susan explains why early registration is important because they “have an ever-growing EV family/community, which extends beyond the KEVA chapter.”
“As KEVA members help others [EVA and DET] chapters and since they participate in NDEW events beyond Tennessee, we register our event immediately, which helps other organizers within a three-hour driving radius to avoid overlap. [the scheduling of events] if possible,” said Susan. “[Registration also] providing information on other events as they are added.”
Susan provides insight into the additional benefits of NDEW registration as she shares further.
“Since we are registering, we can see if we are doing well compared to previous years. Guest RSVPs help us get financial support when potential sponsors see that people are signing up.
The Knoxville Drive Electric Festival is a true festival with show cars, rides and drives, live music, food trucks, and other activities. Each year we try to have something that people have never seen before. Last year, we had an electric boat built in East Tennessee by Ingenity. Last year, we had a 1966 Ford Bronco that was converted to fully electric by local company Kinser Chassis, along with other conversions. We highlight all of them on our NDEW event page. “
As an experienced event planner, Susan appreciates NDEW's regular webcast (first coming June 29 and July 24) is now a repair resource for herself and her veteran colleagues, but she still recommends it to others, especially new event planners. Susan also advises new event planners navigating NDEW registration to “be prepared to be frustrated. The learning curve is small.”
We appreciate this loyalty and agree with Susan, which is why Plug In America is working to make changes to the NDEW website to make the event registration, volunteer registration, and event RSVP process easier to navigate. Look for those changes to start rolling out in the next few months leading up to NDEW.
As always, if you have any questions or experience any challenges registering your EV-focused event at NDEW, please contact support@driveelectricweek.org – we're here to help!
If you would like to learn more about NDEW and what it means to take on the role of event organizer, please sign up for one of our informational webinars.
Organizing a webinar for an NDEW event: An introduction to this exciting role