Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonshine D Clown
I am wondering ... has this lost its flair?
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It seems to me that the larger matter is a struggle with promotions. We can not rely solely or even primarily upon marketing the event via this forum. There are several of us here who hope to attend, but even if all of these clowns showed up (and especially if we are sharing rooms) this won't likely amount to more than five rooms total. It needs to be advertised, also via other avenues with the larger degree of encouragement placed there to attend, at this point.
Secondly, everything is coming together quickly and on relatively short notice. The hotel has only put up the reservations link this week. With an expected deadline of the coming Monday. It is not likely that the majority of people who may potentially attend will be ready to book by then. Simply, there is a need for additional time to see how things fall into place.
Thirdly, my understanding has always been that the most significant number of attendees is expected to be from the local area around South Bend or thereabouts. Will they be willing to book into the hotel if they can just drive home each evening and back in the AM?
Also, let's not expect too much, here. I think that the hope (and the practical accomodations) are for 25 - 40 clowns, no? This is still quite doable, under reasonable expectations and circumstances with diligence offered to continuing to build it up from here on out.
Fourth, we need a more clear process of registering for the get together, itself (beyond the hotel reservations.) This ought to be a relatively simple task, actually. Someone needs to be designated the "registration secretary." They should be contacted (a phone call or email should do) in order to be added to the list of expected attendees. This will give us something much closer to our real count of heads to be prepared for.
Fifth, there probably needs to be a clear decision made as to any sort of registration costs and plan. There WILL be costs, even if they are nominal. If we need to pay for the meeting room, then they will be a bit extra. Plus, I am of the opinion that something which you have to pay (at least a little) for will probably be valued more than something which is seen as totally free. In the latter situation, people may not commit to it; preferring to think that they can too easily take it or leave it. So let's decide on some sort of plan along this line whereby we are asking for a fee of whatever it will be (probably in the neighborhood of $10 - $25 as it would seem worthwhile at this time.) If we want to offer some sort of cut rate on that (or waived fee) for people who are booking rooms at the hotel, that may be a small way to offer some incentive for making reservations while rewarding those who do with a little discount.
All said, we need to be better planning now and clearly implementing that plan for getting people to attend the get together.