REQUEST FOR QUOTE Ongoing Event Planning Services, 2017 RFP Issued: 1/3/17 Q&A period: 1/3/17-1/13/17 by appointment Proposals due: 1/16/17 Optional Presentations: Week of 1/23/17 Target award date: 2/2/17 ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION 1. COMPANY HISTORY:​ In 2014, over 60 small businesses located in Southeast Evanston signed a petition in support of investigating the creation of a Special Service Area for the commercial districts that currently make up the Chicago/Dempster business district and the Main Street business district. A Special Service Area (SSA) is defined by Illinois State Statute as a contiguous area within a municipality or county in which special services are provided in addition to those services provided generally throughout the municipality or county. Special services include things like landscaping, advertising, public art, and extra garbage collections. The special services are paid from revenues collected from taxes levied or imposed upon property within that area. A steering committee made up of area business and property owners worked with consultant to hold a series of three public meetings to seek feedback from the community about the proposal. Based on the feedback by residents, businesses, and property owners, a proposed budget and tax cap were developed and presented to the Evanston City Council. The City Council adopted the ordinances establishing the SSA during the summer of 2015. OUR VISION:​ To be a creative urban environment with an iconic small town personality OUR MISSION:​ ​ To empower a diverse business district to dare, thrive, and engage – creating an unparalleled experience ​

2. BUSINESS OBJECTIVES:​ We strive to bring more businesses and consumers into the Main-Dempster Mile, and to support and educate local merchants how to bring more consumers into their shops. We also strive to make the neighborhood more beautiful and livable with strolling events, public art, public furniture, and landscaping.

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3. ORGANIZATION’S EVENT-RELATED HISTORY:​ The Main-Dempster Mile conducted 2 events and organized the district for 2 more. These same events will require organization in 2017. a. Annual Sidewalk Sale (May) – organize merchants, keep records of participating businesses, design/purchase/print and deliver collateral, manage budget b. Charity Wine Walk (September) – organize merchants, keep records of participating businesses, design/purchase/print and deliver collateral, manage budget c. Annual Meeting (October) – Secure venue, arrange F&B, AV, design/purchase/print and deliver collateral, manage budget ​ d. Small Business Saturday (November/December) – organize merchants, keep records of participating businesses, design/purchase/print and deliver collateral, manage budget 4. POTENTIAL NEW 2017 PROJECTS​: a. Cold weather strolling event (early March???) b. Holiday Promotion (December) – pictures with the Elf on the Shelf and the Mensch on the Bench

OVERVIEW OF PROJECT The Main-Dempster Mile has been building its infrastructure and organization for almost two years. Thus far, events have been run by committees of volunteers with limited time and bandwidth. With the addition of permanent staff and dedicated event planning help, we are ready to expand our activities and maximize our return on them. We would like to have a single event planner to manage all of our events, so as to become a true part of our team, become familiar and friendly with participating merchants, have an investment in success that lives beyond a single event, and to create efficiencies that make each succeeding event better over time. However, if you are unable to commit to all the projects we run or anticipate, feel free to suggest an hourly rate that you would commit to for any projects that we award ad hoc. 1. Project Objectives

a. Create events that make our vision “to be a creative urban environment with an iconic small town personality” come alive b. Increase merchant satisfaction at all events – minimize their pre-event contributions while maintaining their trust in the Mile’s execution, impress and delight during our interactions with them, inspire and work with them to create high-value experiences inside their shops, and deliver competently on the day of the event.

c. Increase consumer satisfaction at all events – create lasting memories for them, impress and delight them with what we and our businesses deliver d. Plan Annual Meeting and Increase attendee satisfaction We hope increased proactivity and high value deliverables will make create frequent positive conversations about the Main-Dempster Mile resulting in better brand awareness and an excellent reputation. Ultimately, we hope attendees will have a great time and resolve to come back again year after year.

AUDIENCE & STAKEHOLDERS STAKEHOLDERS:​ The primary stakeholders for this project are 1) the Marketing Committee of The Board of Directors of the Main-Dempster Mile, 2) The Board of Directors, a true working board that has given massive amounts of personal time toward the creation and success of Mile events, 3) the local merchants, on whose behalf we work, and who provided the funding for this project with their SSA tax dollars and 4) event attendees, whoever they may be. AUDIENCES:​ There are two audiences for this awareness building project: EXTERNAL: 1) Potential shoppers who live in or near the Main-Dempster Mile, Evanston residents and visitors to the district ● ● ●

To know what businesses are participating in any given Mile event, and what those businesses offer To have the proper amount of information early enough to plan their trip into their district To have a positive experience

INTERNAL: Local merchants who participate in Main-Dempster Mile events. Their needs: ● ● ● ● ●

To clearly understand what will be expected of them if they participate in a given Main-Dempster Mile event To receive information in plenty of time to organize and respond To focus on creating a great experience inside their own business and not worry about the larger event that is happening outside their doors To receive timely answers to questions throughout the process To receive as much support as they require before and after the event

YOUR RESPONSE RESPOND TO: Main-Dempster Mile ATTN: Katherine Gotsick 900 Chicago Ave, Suite 104 Evanston, IL 60202 [email protected] 773-960-8490

Please provide an overview of the process you recommend to best pursue our ​goals, with attention to the following questions:

REQUIRED QUESTIONS: ●

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Company Overview o Company name (and parent company name) o Ownership structure o Years in operation o Mailing address (headquarters) o Other office location(s) o Primary phone o Website and blog URL o Primary point of contact (name, title, phone and email address) o Total number of employees o Name of catering partners, if any (catering costs should be included in your proposal where it makes sense. If you do not have a catering partner, you’ll expected to source catering) o Current client list ​Based on the information provided earlier about our organization and needs, how would you define success? How is a typical client engagement with your firm structured? How are your projects priced? Using an hourly rate? Flat rate per event? If you are selected to provide event planning services, who will be assigned to our business (please provide names, titles and short biographical notes) Please provide three references for event planning work including; company name, primary client name, contact details and brief explanation of services provided

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS: ● ● ●

Who do you consider your primary competitors? At what frequency do you recommend providing optimization and reports? Please provide a case study of your strategy work that resulted in a social media initiative and the business results achieved

NEXT STEPS We will respond to Questions by appointment from 1/2/17 to 1/13/17. Proposals are due by 1/16/17. If necessary, a small group of vendors will be selected to present proposals to the Main-Dempster Mile Marketing Committee the week of 1/23/17. Target date for awarding this project is February 2nd ​ ​, 2017, to be announced at our first quarter Meet and Greet at The Main, 847 Chicago Ave. Thank you in advance for your consideration!