Dare I say the telephone system here in Cairo occasionally leaves something to be desired. And it can be quite difficult to get a second in-house phone line. And with everyone getting on the Net, their phones are always busy (that's what people trying to call me say anyway). And then the congestion on the mobile network... But I digress.

So, if you want to have a party, how can you get the RSVPs out there and returned without battling busy signal,, answering machines and the frustration of telephone tag? Via the Internet, of course.

Try the new free service called Evite. Like most free services you have to sign-up for a free account with a password. You can sign up from the link I've set up on http://y2kegypt.com/eviteme.htm. When you answer the single page questionnaire Evite sends you a confirmation email. Just reply to it and your account is ready to go.

Once you have an Evite account, go to http://www.evite.com and log in.

The first thing you should do is use the "Import" tool under the "Addresses" tab. This allows you to import all the email addresses you have in your PC's email program into your Evite Address Book. That will make mailing out your E-vitations easier. Instead of typing in each e-mail address, you can select them from the online address book.

Types of E-vents

The first step in creating an Evite is choosing one of the many from preformatted E-vitations from a large selection including: On-line Event, Vacation, Sports, Performance, Club Event, Dining Out, Night On the Town, BBQ/Picnic, Movie, Dinner Party, Party, Day Trip, Weekend Getaway and Meeting. These provide a good starting point for any type of event you might want to organize and they are completely customizable.

Robust E-vitations

The next step in the Evite process is customizing your invitation.

You use the easy fill in the blanks forms wizard to create your Evite. The first form asks you when the event starts, how long it lasts and where it will be held.

You can also include a "What to bring" list , extra text notes with special information and you specify option which allow or disallow your invitees to invite other people. If you allow others to make new invitations you can even have a web link that let's people invite themselves to your E-vent.

Then, you can add up to eight customized questions for your invitees. For example, you might want to ask if they have any spare seats in their car to give someone else a lift or if they could bring along an ice bucket.
 
 

USA-only features For user in the States Evite provide have features to add detailed street maps, driving directions and even an up to date weather report attached to the E-vitation.

When you have filled in all the blanks with the details of your Evite you add email addresses by selecting them from your E-vite address book or just type them in individually.

Administering your E-vent for your new Web Page

When you have finished the setup, Evite builds a formatted web site for your E-vent. As organizer of the E-vent, you have full rights on this web site to edit your Evite at any time, send e-mail to any invitee, review any RSVPs or other responses form the invitees.

When you are ready,, you tell Evite to send out the invitations by email. Each email will include a link, that looks something like: http://www.evite.com/respond?iid=SELMOCIKPRDHMOPRDGAFQ that is unique to each invitee. It is pretty neat, it already knows their email address, asks them to confirm their identity and lets them RSVP and answer any questions you have for your invitees.

They can also send any questions or comments to you right from the custom built Evite web site of your E-vent. You'll receive those comments by email and they will also be collected in online database which you, as the organizer of the event, can review and manage.

Further, as the organizer of the E-vent, when you log in your Evite page shows a list of all outstanding Evites you have created as well as any E-vitations you have received.

You can keep things private so only you can see who is invited or you may allow everyone to see all invitees and their responses with a simple selection option. Make sure thaT you bookmark your E-vent web page so you can jump to it easily and check the status of your RSVPs.

Other Features

• Automatic E-mail Reminders: You can tell Evite to automatically email out reminders to everyone on the E-vitation list a specific number of hours, days or weeks before your event.
• Countdown Timer: You can request a neat digital clock which shows the days, hours, minutes and seconds until your E-vent. It will be added to the event web page.
• Evite points. Evite.com offers "Evite points" something like frequent flyer miles and they occasionally offer prizes such as gift certificates which you can claim with enough Evite points. Often, Evite has short surveys on their web site which you can complete to earn more Evite points.

Feedback
Hate this column? Love this column? Have ideas for what should be covered - Send suggestions for Internet Basics topics by email to basics@y2kegypt.com. The best suggestion gets a PC World-Egypt T-shirt! Kilen Matthews (kilenm@bigfoot.com) is an Internet and Year 2000 Consultant for Y2KEgypt LLC (http://ww.y2kegypt.com).