- Had our second planning meeting, still trying to complete the email template and realized we had not clearly defined two tasks for this week; finish the template and send out the first promo for the seminars. Easy to get it jumbled on a call, should have caught it in the notes. Not a huge thing.
- Got the first draft of the email template done. It’s a start, but still needs….something (including it at the end of this for comment 0
- Sent out the first promotional email to almost 2000 addresses. A couple changes and bounces so far, and one that said he had not signed up with us (the list goes back to 2007!)
- I visited the local .Net group (ONETUG) to give a SQL presentation and plug SQLSaturday. Forgot the flyers, but I think the timing was a home run. They’ll mention it in the next two meetings and I think me showing up in July with an interesting topic might translate to them wanting to learn more about SQL in September. Reminder: can’t over state the value of an in-person visit (so where else do we need to visit??)
- Looks like we’re going to set up a twice a year meeting with the ONETUG leaders to share ideas. We’ve always worked well together, but each team has been busy and it will be good to spend some time sharing ideas
- I should have a meeting with our venue partner in the next two weeks about outreach at the college and their other partners (and separately they are going to send out an email to their IT advisory council about SQLSaturday with the message I provide). Side story, as part of my request I suggested that perhaps they do a quarterly email instead of the twice a year they do now (they have two council meetings a year), which gives them a “not spam” place to plug other events (ours!) as well as stuff they have may be working on.
- We’re jam up on speakers so we’re going to close the call early (today at midnight). That’s a nice win because Tues at our weekly meeting we can do a quick talk about how the schedule may look and depending on how much time the team has, we could have the schedule up by the following Tues. Marketing really starts when the schedule goes live because then it “feels real” to potential attendees. Our target date is July 27, so a few days early is a small win, but good!
- One of the things I’ve been looking for is how to apply the ‘sense of urgency’ to register. PASS does it for the Summit with a metronomic series of price increases (yet, incredibly, many still register at the last minute and pay full price). Obviously price won’t work for a free event, so it’s remained on the wish list. Luck however, sometimes favors those who are at least looking. I invited a number of speakers to attend this year (people like to be asked!) and at the same time, I tried to call in a favor to get someone to attend that you rarely see at local events due to his schedule. He was already committed the week of our event, but instead he’ll be speaking to a joint oPASS/MagicPASS meeting in October. That turns out to be even better for us. We’re going to tease it in the SQLSaturday registration, and then the only way to get a guaranteed seat at the October meeting will be to attend SQLSaturday Orlando, where we’ll announce the speaker and topic (we may have to announce it a week or two earlier, we’ll see). Would it intrigue you to know we’re looking for a venue to seat 100+ attendees? (If you guess, please don’t publish it!)
- We’re following 202 on Twitter and have 23 followers. A good start, need to keep at it. Remember, it’s a secondary/alternate channel, more channels are good!
- As of last week we’re still tracking ahead of the previous year registration trend
- Goals for this week:
- Continue on the “bring a friend” plan – still a ways to go
- Find out where we stand on getting local staffing companies as sponsors (and marketing partners)
- See how we did on the seminar email – did it generate sales? Not expecting to see a lot within 7 days, usually takes longer to read, ask, get a decision, authorization, etc
- Typing that bullet spurred an idea, I can’t see the prospects/pipeline. How about we offer a $10 discount to anyone who says they are planning to attend but waiting on approval? That gets me the list!
- Schedule someone to attend the Aug ONETUG meeting to plug for us again
- Get the ONETUG coordination meeting scheduled
