[SEL] A topic for discussion.......How to promote a show.

[Russell Gilbert]

Hi Curt
Our club run in conjunction with the steam guys "The Junction Rally" 
(the place we took you to by the river) which is only held every 3 
years. Every show has been succesfull over the past 15 years or there 
abouts. Maybe this is because we are not asking enthuriest to rock up 
every year.?? Our last show which was last year had numbers down 
about 10% to 15% but the general consensis was that this was because 
of the timming beiong so cl;ose to the National held in Queensland.

I think it's important to realy make everyone feel welcome and 
appreciated for making the effort to come. Location location 
location! Get a nice area to hold your rally. We dont charge 
exhibitors fees, we do give a nice cast rally badge and entrants bag. 
We used to have free camping on site but due to the rally growing 
over the past years and limited space we have had to make the camping 
area at Wentworth show ground. (4 minute drive) (still free) We 
provide 24/7 security for all displays over the weekend, The local 
fire brigade come in and fill engines with water etc. They do this 
nice and early in the morning so entrants are not waiting to be 
looked after. Good support from local business with the donating of a 
huge crane etc for loading and unloading and the local council 
providing a ramp for the fatg. Flee markets, food stalls run by other 
groups like the lyons club and rotary, scouts etc.

What I've heard recently about some rally's where folks are 
disapointed are: charging exhibitors! charging exhibitors, charging 
exhibitors! If you want to go down this track you will kill your 
rally over night!  If you need a few buck to chip into covering costs 
then run a raffle. Most guys would by $5 of raffle tickets but tell 
you to jam your entrants fee  you know where!

Another interesting thing was the effort given by the host clubs 
members in displaying their own engines. We often learn over the 
years what some guys have in their collections yet we never se them 
on display. Many who travel to rallies make a real effort to bring 
their latest prized restoration which is in itself a draw card to 
your rallies, yet some locals drag out the closest engine to the door 
of the shed with no real effort put in to making an intesresting 
display. I live 30km from where our rally is held. I make 3 trips 
each way to set up and return home as I want to take 3 engines. Other 
local members do similar things. One of our guys who lives a little 
further away brought 3 big engines and 3 tracotrs. Our club owns a 
few portable engines which we also bring down to the rally site and 
display. At a recent Rally that I attanded we were invited to a host 
club shed that housed club engines plus some members engines. It was 
great to be invited but when seeing the nice stuff that was there one 
felt a little let down that some of this gear was not on display at 
the rally feild. This to me is so important because the more engines 
you can have on display the better the atmospher your create for the 
visisting exhibitors.

Just my opinion on some of the important things to consider.
Russell




At 12:02 AM 18/06/2008, you wrote:
>Guys and gals,
>Here is a topic for discussion. How do clubs promote their shows to get
>maximum show displays and to get maximum spectator traffic?
>
>As fuel prices go higher the hobby is certainly going to feel the pinch
>with smaller display and spectator turnouts. No doubt these fuel prices
>are here to stay, so a club has to stir the interest really well to get
>people back out the show grounds. It's going to require a strong effort by
>clubs to get these results.
>
>It would be great to hear what clubs are doing to promote their shows.
>-What efforts in advance of the show? publications, fliers, TV, radio, cable?
>-What efforts the days of the show? TV, cable, local radio?
>-What efforts draw local displays?
>-What efforts draw far away displays?
>-What efforts draw spectators vs. displays.
>-Other unique ways to get folks to the show grounds.
>
>It would be great to get lots of discussion on this. I'd like to summarize
>the comments and read them at our next Cotton Ginning Days Club meeting in
>July. We have about 25,000 spectators and 300 displayers come to our show
>every year, so it is of paramount importance to keep the displays coming!
>Post and post often!
>
>Thanks,
>Curt Holland
>Gastonia, NC
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Russell Gilbert
Sunny Sunraysia
russell at ncable.com.au
http://community.webshots.com/user/russellsrelics