Hi <<First Name>>,
I overhead a conversation while a friend and I were out eating one night.
“Those people, who do they think they are?”
“Well, we have nothing to do with them. We’ll just tell people to not go to their event.”
I had to go visit with them. They were an older couple who had been involved in a 38-year-old event that brings lots of people to town. It was a pretty big event for the over 60 crowd.
I asked who they were talking about and she promptly told me, “that woman who took out a big ad in the paper today.” I hadn’t seen it yet. So, I asked her to explain it to me.
Apparently, a local non-profit organization is having another 2-hour event during the older couples 3-day event.
And the older people were ticked off. They felt that the 2-hour event folks were hanging on their coattails to make some money with their people. And who paid for their ad? Since the 3-day event had to pay for their own ads they thought maybe this nonprofit hosting the 2-day event got city support.
So, I called the lady at the non profit and shared the conversation with her, suggesting she might want to give them a call.
She called and explained a couple of things, calmly and kindly.
- They are donating 20% of the proceeds to the 3-day event.
- They love the 3-day event and don’t want to see it go away, so they thought they’d help by having an event for the women who come to town.
- Some of the folks are looking for something to do during a slow time they could do in town. Why not keep them in town instead of going out of town to shop somewhere else.
- They paid for their own ad, and the event they are planning will not make them any money. They will break even. The goal was to support the 3-day event.
- And, they had shared this one of the organizers (who forget to share it with his team.)
You may laugh at this, but it is more common than you think. If we don’t talk to each other, share ideas and create events that can overlap, that old jealous event bird pops up. And people start to make things up and talk bad about each other.
That old school way of thinking that you can only have one event at a time is outdated. Give people plenty to do with lots of little events and keep them in town.
Want some more ideas about creating events that people will attend? Our video this month is available for purchase through September 15. The good news is that you’ll have 14 days to watch it from the day of purchase!
Thanks!
Deb
cofounder of SaveYour.Town
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