Recipes for Failure

The success of ORIENTED Happy Hours depends heavily on the efforts of organizing teams to promote the events locally.

Those teams that rely solely on the email newsletters that are sent from home office tend to lose traction very quickly, as they start to see the same faces and lose momentum.

Actively recruiting new blood and ensuring healthy turnover is what keeps old timers coming back and newcomers coming.

Below are some easy steps you can take to ensure healthy attendance.

1. Spend your time promoting the events, not finding new venues.

   Teams that pick 1-3 venues per year and rotate, while spending their time promoting, always succeed.

   Those that spend all their time finding new venues and little time on promotions always fail.

2. Recruit the right people on your team

   All of your team organizers should be enthusiastic, outgoing, and popular people, and be really good at event promotions. If they are, your events will be hopping!

   If your team is weak on promotions, you will have problems...

3. Get personal

   Personally recruiting people to attend our events -- friends, colleagues, new people that you meet -- is critical to a successful turnout.

   Teams that simply post the events on our website and other websites and then sit back and wait for people to come lose traction very fast. It doesn't work that way. No business or organization can survive without "sales" personalities.

4. Forward our email newsletters to friends and colleagues

   Sign-up to receive our email notices, forward them to your friends and colleagues when you receive them, and invite them to come. This is surprisingly one of the most effective and easiest ways to attract a great turnout.

5. Invite other organizations to co-host your happy hour!

   Click here for program details.

   This is by far the easiest way to double your attendance with minimum effort, and is much more effective than posting your event on a general community website.

6. Be active in the community

   Likewise, attend events held by those organizations.

   As ORIENTED Chapter Organizers, regularly attending events that are held by other community groups -- supporting other community efforts while staying in circulation -- further helps to raise awareness of both the ORIENTED chapter in your city and your own personal profile. Be "inclusive", not exclusive.

7. Spend your time promoting the events - not finding new venues

   Teams that spend less time trying to find new venues and more time promoting the events have significantly better turnouts.

   Determine your favorite 2-3 venues and stick to them. Some teams even go back to the same venue three months in a row (every quarter) before switching to a new location.

8. Take great event photos

   If you can't take really great photos, find someone who can. Horrible photos can scare people away. Click here for details.

9. Secure Media Sponsors

   Get yourself in the news! Some of our organizers have been interviewed in magazine publications and even on the radio!

   Convince a local media outlet to be a media sponsor of your happy hours in return for regular exposure in their publications. We've been doing this for several years in some cities and have longstanding relations with some of the largest English-language publications in Asia.

   

   It's a win-win situation, doesn't cost anybody anything, and once you establish the relationship, it gest to be routine. If you get yourselves on the radio or on t.v., even more fun!

10. Appeal to the "Ringleaders" in your local community

    Personally invite those people with a good-sized network, especially officers of related service organizations. Email them a short invitation and ask if they could forward the information along.

11. Post on free Community Events Calendars

    Event calendars and announcements are usually free services with local newspaper, magazines, radio stations, and online community websites.

12. Remind people to sign-up for our mailing list

    Most people who have attended our events or have heard of them would like to be on our mailing list to be notified of upcoming events. They just forget to sign-up, so remind them!

    Once we have them on our mailing list, they will receive our upcoming e-newsletter, and because they are newcomers, they will often forward the newsletters to their friends and colleagues, inviting them to attend future events together.

13. Accept offers to help

    Experienced organizers tend to believe they have everything under control (very true!) so when people offer to help, the common response is, "I think we're okay but thanks for offering!"

    Wrong answer.

    Rule of thumb: Never turn down offers to help as there is always something to be done.

    If anyone asks, "Can I help?" or "Do you need any help?", say "YES, thank you!" and ask them to email/invite their personal distribution list. Ask them to post up flyers and/or send emails to colleagues. Request that they help us spread the word. Ask them to bring 10 friends with to the next event. Have them take additional photos, etc. Just keep asking! Work it, work it!