After a recent discussion with an organisation who is staging an event to raise funds for a community group I got to thinking about their silence in not talking about the event – their fear was that it’s a ‘private event’ and can’t have every Tom-Dick-or-Harry turning up.
Hello – you should talk about what you’re doing, what you’re able to do for others; you might get others knocking on your door asking you to help them.
Have you ever seen a company say “we can’t promote ourselves, our products, we don’t want new customers”. So why would an organisation helping non-profits (charities) be in this mind-set?
Perhaps they have their blinkers on and don’t realise that there could be others who would like to get involved – sponsors, donors, volunteers – the list could go on.
If you’re an organisation organising a ‘closed door’ event you could be doing yourself a disservice by not letting the wider community know what you’re doing – others DO want to know what you’re doing and what you’re CAPABLE of doing.
Don’t be so short-sighted in your thinking, maybe this event is limited to who can attend, but other events you hold may not be – and by shutting others out now what you’re doing could close the door on future opportunities.
Talk about what you’re doing – put it on your website, your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or other ‘outposts’ – blow your own trumpet.
To only talk about it at the end will do you no justice, maybe if you talk about it before it happens you will gain media attention you may not have been able to gain before. It’s a win for you and the organisation you’re staging the event for.
Talk about the event on Facebook, Twitter – talk about it – email your supporters, talk to media – get the message out there, don’t keep it under the radar.
I want to hear from organisations who feel they can’t talk about their events for fear of getting too much attention, I want to know why – why are you afraid of gaining added support, added attention – anything you talk about your event and the extra attention it gains is surely a benefit, why would you shy away from this?
Do you do events that are closed and you don’t want people other that participants knowing about – why?
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