What's worked (or not worked) for your club in advertising a major Speaker?

[Lifestudent]

To those that have hosted a Speaker Event where you fly-in a special speaker (e.g. Sprung, Borneman, Calfo) to talk to your club, what have you found to be the best ways to get your Speaking Event publicized?

We'd like to get a really great turnout.

We will be hosting such an event in Atlanta on June 26 and Sanjay Joshi will be speaking on Lighting Basics and Tests of Metal Halide Bulbs, Ballasts and Reflectors.

Thanks in advance!

Bob

[SouthernReefer]

location; having a guest speaker with knowledge that lives within a certian distance wher you can drive to or the speaker can drive to.
timing; if the is an imac forum being held, you could time your meeting that would allow them to speak without having to make a special trip.
food; invite them over for a bbq, just so happens that you also invite all your club member to attend as well!

[Alice]

Door prizes always help

We've seen better turn outs at meetings/events where there is a demonstration involved rather than just a lecture. Date and time are important, too; don't conflict with any holiday or major sporting events (well, that's a no brainer, I guess!) Also, as Sanjay's talk will more than likely not appeal to non-reefing spouses in the way that say, dive pics from the Caribbean would, hold the meeting in the evening to avoid conflicting with family activity time during the day.

Plaster fliers at every LFS and pet shop you can find; they do help. Do you use the Evite system for your club? If not, it's a great way to reach members. Check it out at www.evite.com You can even set it to auto-send a reminder to your club members.

I hope you have a great turn-out!

Alice

[Lifestudent]

Thanks for the ideas SouthernReefer and Alice!

I recognize the premium placed on family time so we'll definitely have the lecture in the evening.

The location will be ideal; in the heart Buckhead north of downtown Atlanta.

I did plan on placing posters at as many LFSs as possible and as soon as possible. As to evite.com, do you use the Private or Public evite?

We will be having raffles. I'll have to consider Door Prizes.

Thanks and keep the ideas flowing!

Bob

[Alice]

I've always used the private evite but if you have enough space at the venue, why not throw it open?

Let other people help you out with the fliers. You can do a pretty good looking flyer just using Word, then email it to other members who can print them out and place them close to where they live.