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Post by マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 on Jun 4, 2015 13:20:25 GMT 9
So, I have long thought that our international exchange events were a bit lacking in participants and while I have some theories about this, one of our 国際交流団体 members mentioned that getting people to come out to events is our week point. I would like to fix this problem and start increasing the turnout.
Here is our situation: We are a humble 団体 that usually relies on its members for most activities. We do the same 12 activities per year with minor changes from year to year. Our website is in shambles and despite me designing a new one for them, they turned it down in a roundabout way. They do not have their own Facebook page, and usually rely on the town to post Facebook posts regarding their events. Other than that recruiting for events is done by flier, and most fliers are primarily text based with a small picture.
My impression is that the following is what is hurting us:
-Same events every year
-Events are often very different from what their title implies (国際理解フェスティバル was actually just 4 lecturers and some students doing a play in English)
-Our website deters people from looking at it.
-Lack of presence on facebook makes us detached.
-Fliers have too much text and aren't eye-catching, may not be dispersed to as many places
Does anyone opinions, suggestions, or examples of what their town is doing? Concrete evidences such as チラシ, facebook links, webpages etc.
I understand that this could potentially link your user name to your town, etc. so only do what you are comfortable with!
Thanks.
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Post by Ividia on Jun 4, 2015 14:11:45 GMT 9
We had a similar problem with lack of attendees.
What we did:
Changed the title to reflect the contents
Increased advertising to a wider audience (e.g. the town bulletin, Facebook, mailing list)
Whether this works or not we still have to see, but the increased advertising saw immediate impact.
Good luck!
PS the HICE Facebook page might interest you (or its website)
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Post by むちゃRABU❤ on Jun 4, 2015 14:14:06 GMT 9
Can you suggest designing their fliers?
I stay in a city so our outreach is better.
We have a proper working and updated website, (since you know my city google it and show it to them? like, HEY this place does it this way why not us?) and twitter or something I think.
Also, flyers are distributed in Universities? And a newsletter than gives out information on a periodical basis.
So you can try to improve say, the consistency of information that is being given out.
Additionally, for the initial attracting people or just getting the word out, setting up a rewards system might be useful?
Not sure if you have money, but just having something like "Free GAIKOKU biscuits" may perk some interest?
In any case, I think what you can try to do it create a flyer on your own, try to network with other places like the tourism center or schools and ask to place your fliers there and do this with as little interference from your bosses as possible.
If you don't have a rigid system in place, you can do it first, and account for it later.
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Post by マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 on Jun 4, 2015 14:32:28 GMT 9
Good information. And だmn HICE's facebook page is rolling in likes compared to my town. I agree with the increased advertising. We don't have a university in town but we have a lot of 企業s so I was thinking that we could try distributing them there. I plan to ask to make the next flier, but considering they turned down my website redesign I am worried that they might turn it down also. むちゃRABU❤ I plan to use concrete examples to show them what I am talking about, but we don't really have a budget for events at the moment. We might be able to add a small fee, but we haven't before so I will have to investigate a bit. |
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Post by mytoothbrush on Jun 9, 2015 10:26:14 GMT 9
I have a similar problem here, but it's not really an attendance problem. The real problem is that participants are usually elders and we can't succeed to attract youths to the events. Besides, the events the association usually organizes just can't attract foreign residents (especially western), who often told me to not be interested in acting like "clowns" and "entartainers" for Japanese people at these kinds of events (and I totally support the point of view actually, I would avoid them too, if I don't have to go there for work).
I think in my case we just need to change the content of activities and to adjust the website to be a little less flashy than it is (we also should use FB and Twitter actually), but when I tried to explain my opinions I didn't even get to finish to talk, so I just decided to let them do what they want and don't interfere more than it's necessary.
If they don't want to listen to your suggestions, try to write down everything you want to suggest in details and let the papers going 回覧 to the people in your office and/or to the association. If they want to solve the situation, they will give it a try, if not let them sink in their stubborness... but I think at some point they will have to listen if they don't want to close. This is my opinion.
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guyjean
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 2 
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Post by guyjean on Jun 12, 2015 16:36:06 GMT 9
Who is your target audience? ie Who do you want to attract to your events? And how can you appeal to them specifically?
If this year's events don't change, you can make use of past events, for example:
-make requests to people who attended past events to come again this year AND bring a hulemdo
(if the events are actually good, you can advertise through word of mouth this way)
-use pictures from past events on the fliers, and this will also give a better idea of what the events are like
In my city everyone reads the 広報, or at least all the Japanese citizens do. All major events are posted in it (and there are very few fliers posted around town).
Making new events is a great idea, but also possibly "a lot of work" and "MUZUKASHI" and you'd have to overcome that.
I think everyone's ideas are great though - I just wanted to throw in a different perspective... Good luck!
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Post by マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 on Jun 12, 2015 17:03:27 GMT 9
Yeah, lots of good info. I think the main problem is that I just need to take the reigns on some stuff and forcibly change it. The reason we have low numbers is probably because our events are either bad or misleading (we had a 国際理解フェスティバル which was literally just speeches), our handouts and fliers are extremely boring, we are talking overwhelming amounts of text, and we are bad about advertising to people. We should have a mailing list for all the people who come to events but don't want to be volunteers.
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Post by marudate on Jun 18, 2015 14:49:36 GMT 9
Also consider partnering with another group that has a base of the type of people you want to attract (like youth.) If they help with the event in any way they are likely to come and infuse some new energy into it. It's easier to work with people who are already organized than the public at large.
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Post by マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 on Jun 19, 2015 9:29:21 GMT 9
We also have some issues with who we can partner with. We try and do events with our local middle school's international clubs, but its hardly organized and usually ends with them reciting a play in English or something. Other than that they usually avoid doing anything with groups outside of the town.
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