Club Promotion Idea

[DesertFencer]

A suggestion was made by someone outside of our club that we hold a demonstration during a local festival and I'd like some input from more experienced people.

Numerous groups hold demonstrations at this event, specifically martial arts schools and the like. We would be given a block of time, probably up to several hours, and a space for a strip or two.

There are a few options as to how we use the time.

First, and my favorite option, is simply to hold a small club tournament with a dozen or so fencers. We could have coaches and other members on hand to answer questions and pass out flyers. I favor this idea as it would show the different types of people who fence, including youth and rec fencers.

Second, we could do the same as the martial artists and have a coach or instructor give a small talk about the sport followed by a bout or two.

The last option, and my least favorite, was suggested by someone outside the club and has been done by other groups at similar events. For a fairly steep fee, anyone could receive a short lesson, borrow a set of club gear and fence a friend in a quick bout. My biggest concern about this, aside from liability, is the wear-and-tear on club equipment by people who have never fenced before. I'm arguing against this one, but the profit potential is making it a difficult battle for me. I've heard of SCA and classical groups who have done this, so I'm listenting for horror stories.

We're mostly a recreational club, so it's a pretty friendly group to hang out with. We have a few snake-eating competitive fencers, but the majority is there for fun and small tournaments.

[chefencer]

We do balloon-schlager: Kids put on full gear on a strip (usually ropes of suitable length along the floor) with a small inflated balloon taped/tied to the top of their mask and a dry saber. There's a brief primer on ref commands (with emphasis on what 'halt' means...) and last balloon left standing is the winner. We usually try to draw a crowd with the chat/demo and then get some of the crowd to do the schlager.

[VorpalCat]

Peter Gustafsson posted something his club did last summer here. I'm planning on giving it a test run for possible incorporation into our next public appearance. Sounds good on the screen, at least!

[Beowulfman6]

We have done demonstrations and provided wacky wackers (foam swords) to anyone who wanted to try it- they are kind of ridiculous, but they are completely harmless.

http://www.tcafencing.com/catalog/pr...roducts_id=367

[jfarmer]

What do you (the club) want to get out of the event? Are you looking to capture the attention of fencers from around the area, possibly from other clubs, or who once fenced (college, etc.) but currently don't. Do you want to attract other martial artists to take up fencing? Do you want to get more students into Introductory programs? Is the target young kids, high schoolers, or adults?

Decide what your goal is, that tells you what to do. If you want to get young kids, tailor it to "Nerf swords" and short individual sessions. High Schoolers (and their parents); stress competitions, the uniqueness of fencing on college applications, etc. Adults, stress the fitness and discipline side of things.

If you're looking at a very broad spectrum of onlookers and you literally don't know what to show them, then recruit several club members and put them in charge of separate demos and displays. That is, split the space you have into different areas and tailor the "pitch" of each area to different crowds. Yeah, that's a lot of work. Usually it's better/easier/cheaper to target one type of prospective member and go after that.

We didn't know what to target when we did a booth at a local Ren Faire event a few years ago. We brought dry foils, masks, jackets, etc. For a donation to the hosting charity, a visitor could suit up, be shown how to move and hold a french grip. Then they could go one on one with an experienced fencer/coach for a few minutes/touches. We also set up a table with various weapons, dry & electric, and a simple flyer.

In terms of attracting people, it worked. I had 20+ students in the fall intro class. But the ages ranged from 12 to 60 and they all had differing goals. We ended up with 1 new club member. Knowing what I know now, I would probably structured our approach and follow-up a bit differently and targeted several groups.

John Farmer
Coach, Oak Ridge Fencers Club

[tlucente]

We have also done demos for very different groups/events. Festivals, elementary schools, and boy scout troop field trips.

For the last 2 years we have been invited and given booth space at the Richmond Highland Games and Celtic Festival. We run this as a demonstration only, so there are Club members of various skill levels fencing each weapon for 10-15 touches and then rotating out. A key feature is to have some of the youngest fencers participate, so passing kids will see that fencing is something they can do...unlike the SCA demos around us. We have a "ringmaster" who describes what is going on and the rules of the weapon being fenced to the spectators, and a few of the fencers "on break" handing out flyers to the crowd. We have a tent area with a table, fencing photos, a few trophies, and we run a raffle where people enter to win a free 8-week beginner class. This allows us to capture their address data and age, so we can target them with an age specific postcard later on. We also brought our "fencing dummy" Aldo, which kids love to beat on. We have found the crowds at this event to be too transient to try and pin down for a mini-lesson, so we just want to peak their interest and get our info into their hands.

When doing a school demo there is usually a time constraint, so we do something similar to a "first night of class" talk about the 3 weapons, teach them advance-retreat and lunge, and let them play some distance games. (glove game/tag) Then, single file line for hitting the Coach or fencing dummy. Putting a mask on them for this makes it "cooler", and we usually let them choose a sabre or foil.

When we have a captive audience, as we try to do if possible, there is alot more flexibility. You have all your usual equipment, space, and can do more. For a "home" demo, we do the "3 weapon talk", show equipment, do a demo 5 point bout of each weapon (should be close/exciting), teach them advance-retreat-lunge, and then suit them up for dry bouting. This usually takes 1-1.5 hours, and we sometimes suit them up electric if any of the scouts have "unresolved issues".

Tailor your demo to the audience, space, and goal...as said in an earlier post.

[Allen Evans]

The Anchorage Fencing Club in Anchorage, Alaska, had a booth at the Anchorage Ren Faire every summer. The club staffed the booth with very experianced members who did a number of staged fights in costume to attract the crowd. The times were announced, and posted, so people would know when and where to gather.

At the end of the demos, they offered "lessons" for $5. The students (mostly young kids) would put on a mask, be given a weapon and taught a few simple actions (parry and thrust) and got to hit a coach for a few minutes. They got to "fence"!

In the 4-5 years that I assisted I know that the Anchorage club got a number of members out of these demos, and never had a problem while giving the lessons. Of course, only the most experianced fencers and coaches staffed the booth.

Some ideas that I think help makes demos successful:

1. Most people like to DO things rather than watch things. You might not want visitors banging on coaches or fencers, but hitting a fencing dummy is a great idea. Holding a little tournament is probably the worst of both worlds: the spectators don't know what's going on, don't feel involved, and the tournament moves slowly for them. Better to do staged fights that move quickly and have "winners" and "losers". A sense of humour and a sense of theatre helps (on several occasions, the Anchorage club "ended" fights with a flintlock cap pistol).

2. Make personal contact. Use your name when you talk to people. Have names on cards and flyers. First time visitors to a club are always a little intimidated and it helps if they can walk into your club (later) and feel that they have a personal connection to someone there.

3. Make sure a class is starting soon (preferably in less than a week) to the demo. The longer the time between the demo and an activity someone can participate in, the less connection you'll keep.

4. Be generous in giving out promotional membership/class/lessons. Remember the hardest part about getting new members is getting them in the door. If a free class membership turns into two to three years of dues and lessons, it's a small price to pay.

A

[tlucente]

I had this crazy idea how we could maximize the use of our fencing space. Some background: We, Richmond fencing Club, currently have a 5300+ sqft. fulltime space, and can run classes, camps, and open fencing basically anytime we want.

Some things that made me come up with the idea:
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Remember, for those around my age, when there were "lock-ins" at roller rinks? Your parents would drop you off, and you'd get locked into the roller rink and either spend all/most of the night skating or socializing?

Many businesses do "team building", or corporate outings where their employees do a new fun activity...usually laser tag, go carts, bowling, or paintball.

We run Summer Camps, where the kids watch fencing competition video or other movies as part of their lunchtime activities.
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So, I thought to myself "Why couldn't fencing be one of those team building activities", and "what can I do to tie in the business aspect, while adding something to the Club that would make a lock-in and Summer Camp better/more fun?" What did I do, you ask? Build an 8' X 16' movie screen on the wall of the Club, of course.

I followed the directions on an AV site I found, built and finished 4 sheets of sheetrock on our wall, found a new and reasonably priced projector, and used surround sound system on craigslist, and a million hours of work later...BAM, giant screen.

I hope that this will make any lock-in we have (soon) alot of fun. Fencing for 3-4 hours, followed by a movie with a fencing tie-in...Princess Bride, Star Wars, Count of Monte Cristo, etc..with popcorn, etc.

A corporate outing would be our regular "intro to fencing" for a group, followed by either a business meeting or fun movie...as the projector has the usual DB-15 for a laptop to connect.

Our Summer campers can now watch their movies "bigger than life", and a group of 20 can easily follow a fencing bout on the bigscreen.

In the next few weeks we'll have our first Club Movie Night as a test, but I'll let everyone know how it works out for the camps ,team building, and future lock-ins.

If anyone is interested in costs, procedure, or other details, please let me know. Anyone else doing something similar?