Promoting Male Voices

Reflections on the open night and book launch

The book was a 21st anniversary celebration. We arranged a launch at Waterstones. The sales’  profits were invested in an open night for our potential community supporters. The following are a few reflections that could be useful.

Planning

Very few people other than the choir attended the book launch at Waterstones. Following discussions with Holmfirth library about another launch it was obvious that these organisations take little or no responsibility for recruiting an audience. It was clear therefore that these events need guests who are invited personally, from a limited local geographical area and who are likely to be interested and support a local community resource. This list was published on the choir notice board.

It was important to have an endorsement from the committee so the event was part of the choir diary. Initially there was no detailed programme for the night to allow committee members to make suggestions. When the programme was finalised, details were fed to the choir members regularly at rehearsals in small doses.

The purpose of running the event was very clear. So a good idea in search of a hard sell.

Flyers were posted in the library, tourist information, various shops and emailed directly to a second list of organisations such as sports clubs, womens’ groups, music ensembles, churches and schools.

An article appeared in the Holme Valley Review and an ad was placed in the community brochure.

Alan Hicks and Steve Flynn helped out where they could, but with this being a Shalliley Books event, I tried to do most of the planning and organising.

The organisation went very well on the night 

Bar as expected and raised £100 for their current project of an outside fully fitted-out classroom which can double as a facility to hire out to community organisations.

Supper as expected and serving guests by choir members proved to be the right option rather than queuing at the servery.

Signage good, including disabled facilities.

Fire arrangements explained on the programme and outlined by Rupe.

School jazz band was terrific; £50 to their sheet music fund.

Alan and Doug did a good job.

The choir, Alan, Emma and the survivors were terrific.

Rupert was fine as compere.

The hall was big enough, yet not cavernous. The stage risers and piano were fine.

So a very good product in search of a hard sell.

The guest list turned out to be a problem. Despite being invited well in advance to get into diaries and then being reminded two weeks before the event, there were several notable absentees. Another issue was the choice of a Thursday night. It coincided with many choir practices.

Things to think about should the committee wish to repeat the event

Have a clear reason for doing it is a start. We felt part of the community, so we had the notion of inviting the community to join with us in a celebration. It would raise our profile and help promote future concerts.

It would have been naive to simply expect the community to respond to something we thought worthwhile. I spoke at Rotary, Selwyn spoke at Probus and I rang and then met the rest personally, extolling the benefits of attendance and explaining that it was free. I then emailed a programme to them all within 2 weeks of the event. I think any future event should plan to have a success rate with invited guests of a half to two-thirds and think of venue size on that basis.

I am no longer confident that I understand what community is. It would help to unravel this so the guest list might better reflect ‘community’. When I rang Probus, the guy who answered stated there would be little interest because he was from Colne Valley MVC. He put his own interests ahead of the wider community. At Rotary, I got the sense of a group of business men enjoying a meal and company, who are committed to charitable works, but who are not much interested in anything else. Maybe there is scope for re-evaluating the purpose of the event.

It is mandatory that other rehearsals, concerts and conflicting interests are assessed when trying to fix a date.

Whilst flyers are important, I sense the return is small compared to the hard work involved in production and distribution.

Get a team of committed individuals to plan and execute. There is help available from the likes of departments at the University that second students as part of their degree courses. Marketing and event management are two courses that come to mind. I chatted to Mandy White from the Business School and we generated a check list for the night (see overleaf).

Checklist on the night (assume you are a punter expecting ‘duty of care’)