Fan Club Rally (Event) Organizing Guide A.J. does two kinds of live events. One kind is a company hosted event. A company pays A.J. to come to their location and do a seminar. They pay A.J. a fee to do the event, and it is not cheap. The second kind of live event that A.J. does is a Fan Club Rally! A rally is organized by a non-profit (not for profit) Effortless English Fan Club. The Effortless English members organize the event themselves and invite A.J. to come. A.J. usually gives a big discount on his fees to fan clubs (mostly he just needs to pay for his travel expenses). All of A.J. s events are like rock concerts! They are fun! They are powerful! They are high-energy! The people who attend learn how to use the Effortless English System in the most powerful way. A live Effortless English Rally is the most powerful English training in the world! These events are for intermediate or advanced level English speakers (not for beginners). You are an Effortless English member and you want to bring A.J. to your city! You want other people to experience the power of Effortless English. You want to connect people together and create a strong Effortless English Fan Club in your area. Use this guide to plan your event. This guide helps you, step by step, organize your first Effortless English fan event. Read the guide. Follow the directions. Do the work and then invite A.J. so we can choose a date on his schedule!
Build Your Team Your first step is to build a team. You understand that organizing a big live event is hard work. You can t do it alone. You need a team. Talk to your friends or close co-workers who are fans of Effortless English. Get on the Effortless English VIP Site and/or Effortless English Forums and find people from your area. General EE Forums: http://effortlessenglishforums.com/ Look for other Effortless English fans on the Effortless English Facebook page and on A.J. s Twitter account. Twitter: http://twitter.com/ajhoge Facebook: http://facebook.com/effortlessenglish 1. Your Organizing Team You will probably need at least three people on your organizing team. These must be people who are reliable, energetic and trustworthy. Meet with your team regularly. Organize your communication online with your own private Facebook group, or Basecamp, or even just an email list. 2. Your Volunteer Team You will need a team of volunteers to help at the event. You ll need volunteers to: run registration, provide security, cheerlead and energize the crowd. Give them free tickets and lots of love and appreciation!
Find A Location The first step to planning your Fan event is to find a location. There are several important things to look for: 1. The Location must hold at least 150 people. If you plan to have more people attend, then obviously you ll need a bigger place. The room will only have chairs, no tables and no desks! 2. Your Event Location must have air-conditioning and/or heat The room must be comfortable when it s filled with people! 3. Sound System The room must have a good sound system that can use a wireless headset microphone. There must be loud speakers and the sound in every part of the room must be clear. All people who attend must be able to hear and understand clearly. 4. Sound Equipment The sound system must be able to connect with an ipod and/or a Laptop Computer (Mac). Very Loud music is a necessary part of any Effortless English Event! 5. Projector That Connects To a Mac Laptop and Big Screens The room must have a projector system with large screens. The projector system must connect to a (Mac) laptop. 6. Light System The stage area must have strong bright lighting. A professional lighting system is even better!
Where To Look For A Room Where do you find such a room? There are a number of places to research (internet search, call, visit, etc.): 1. Hotels Hotels, especially large hotels, often have large conference rooms. 2. Community Centers City community centers often have large conference rooms. 3. Convention Centers Convention Centers often have a variety of conference rooms of different sizes. 4. Universities Many universities have conference rooms or theaters for rent. 5. Theaters Some small theaters can be rented by private groups. You will need to find, call and visit several places. Be sure to ask about the requirements (sound system, lighting, etc.). Of course, also ask about the price. You need to know the price so you know how much to charge for tickets. Reserve A Room Once you make a choice, complete the Cost (Expense), Registration, and Marketing Sections, then contact Effortless English with all of your information. We can then schedule a date and you will reserve the room for that date.
Determine The Costs (Expenses) Once you find a good location, you need to estimate the cost of your event. You need to add up all of the expenses so you know how much to charge for tickets. You Need To Know The Following Costs: 1. Conference Room Rental Do they charge a snack or meal fee? Any equipment fees? Any other hidden fees? 2. Equipment Rental Wireless Headset Microphone, Projector, Extra Lights (?), Extra Speakers(?) 3. Marketing You will need to advertise the event in order to sell tickets. How much will you spend on fliers, posters, small newspaper ads, and other ads? 4. Banners & Room Decoration Will you have banners and a background on the stage? How much will they cost. 5. A.J. s Expenses & Fee You will need to pay the travel expenses (flights, hotel, food) of A.J. s team, and possibly a fee (this depends on the time, size, and location of your event). Submit Your Event Plan to Effortless English for more details: events@effortlessenglishclub.com
Determine Ticket Price Once you know the expenses and the number of people to attend, you can choose a ticket price. Choose a ticket price that will cover all expenses, plus just a little extra in case of surprise problems or expenses. Determine Registration & Payment System You know the ticket price. Great! Now, how will people pay for their tickets and how will you confirm registration? One easy way is to use a free online registration system such as EventBrite: http://eventbrite.com With EventBrite, people can buy their tickets directly online. If you want to accept cash and bank transfers too, you can accept them and then manually register (type them in) people in EventBrite. All ticket buyers receive their ticket by email. They print it and bring it to your Event. You also get a full list of registered and paid people. Print this, copy it a few times, and bring it to your event. If someone forgets their ticket, you can still check the list and find their name!
Marketing Plan You have a great room. You have a registration system. Great! Now you are ready to sell tickets! How will you tell people about your event? Where will you advertise? Who really wants to learn English? Where are the intermediate English speakers in your area? Here Are Some Marketing Ideas: 1. Contact Local Newspapers, Radio Stations, & TV Stations Tell them about your event and the special way that we learn with Effortless English. Invite them to your event. Offer to send them more information (links to Effortless English web pages, EE contact information, etc..). 2. Posters and Fliers Create simple posters and fliers. Put them around your town, especially where there might be English learners. If you have a university nearby, definitely put posters or fliers there. 3. Facebook & Twitter Find Effortless English fans in your country on Facebook. Friend them and tell them about your event. Post about the event on your Facebook page and your Twitter account frequently. 4. Friends and Co-workers Invite your friends and co-workers. Tell them about Effortless English. Encourage them to join our free email course at: http://effortlessenglishclub.com/7rules 5. Local Companies Contact local companies that might be interested in English. Tell them about your event and invite their employees to attend.
6. Nearby Towns or Cities You can do all of the above things in other cities nearby. Many Effortless English fans are willing to travel 6 or more hours to attend an event. 7. Effortless English Effortless English will also help. We will email members and fans in your country who are subscribers to our free course. Media Plan Local newspapers, radio stations and TV stations can help you sell tickets before your event, as we discussed above. It is also very important to invite the media to your event. Invite them to attend for free, take pictures, and learn about Effortless English. Let them know it will be a very different, very energetic, very powerful and kind of crazy way to learn English. The media will help you create your local Effortless English Fan Club during and after your event! Make friends with them! Submit These Plans To Effortless English After you have found a location, determined costs, determined a basic ticket price, chosen a registration system, and written a marketing and media plan; it s time to send all of this information to Effortless English: events@effortlessenglishclub.com We will use this information to schedule your event and determine A.J. s expenses and fee, and whether he can attend. We will tell you how to make the payment. We can then choose an exact date and officially schedule your event!
Running Your Rally Event You did it! You built your team and did all of the planning. You contacted Effortless English and now your event is officially scheduled! Great work! Now it s time to actually do your event! What needs to be done before, during and after your Fan Rally? Before Your Event: Rehearsal & Check The day before your event, it is very important to do a complete rehearsal and check. This guarantees that all equipment works and that everyone knows what they are doing. Contact the location and be sure one of their technicians will attend the rehearsal-- in case there are questions or problems. We must specifically check: 1. Sound System Microphone: Connect the wireless headset microphone, turn on the sound system and guarantee that everything is working correctly. Music: Connect the ipod and/or laptop and play LOUD music. Check that everything is working and sounds good! Also practice communicating with A.J. about when to play music, when to stop, when to increase volume and when to decrease volume. 2. Projector & Slides Connect A.J. s laptop to the projector system. Test the projector and slides. Be sure that everything is working correctly.
3. Registration Rehearsal Talk to your registration team (volunteers). Where will the tables be? How will they check tickets? What if someone forgot to bring their ticket? Will you accept cash payment at the door... if yes, how? Who will check tickets or badges or nametags at the entrance doors? 4. Cheerleading Rehearsal An important part of an Effortless English Rally is to create high-energy before the event event starts! As people enter, VERY LOUD exciting music will already be playing. There will also be volunteer cheerleaders on stage and around the room... clapping, dancing, jumping, smiling... and encouraging everyone to dance and move with the music. Play some fun songs that are fun and popular in your country! Create a fun dance party while people are just entering the room. Rehearse with your cheerleaders. Which songs will you play? Where will the cheerleaders stand? What kind of dances will they do? How will they encourage the audience to have fun and join them? 5. Rehearse The Opening The beginning of your event is very important. It creates powerful positive energy for everyone. It s important to create a big, fun, loud, super-energetic beginning as A.J. comes onto the stage. Play his theme song (Joker & The Thief by Wolfmother) and he will get everyone jumping. Cheerleaders on stage and around the room will help him. The music must be very loud! Also, there should be some volunteer security at the front of the stage. Rehearse and practice all of this the day before your event!
During Your Event It s here.. the day of your event. Basically, we will follow the rehearsal plan! Sound & Projector Check Again Before people come in the entrance, it s very important to once again connect all of the equipment and check it: wireless headset microphone, projector and laptop, music, etc. Then start the Loud music, start the cheerleaders, and open the doors! Have Backups! It s very important to have the following backup equipment: 1. Extra AA batteries for the microphone & extra microphone 2. Extra ipod/laptop with the Music Playlists 3. Extra Laptop with the PowerPoint Slides Event Photographer Choose your event photographer! You can hire a professional, or choose someone from your team. During your event, this person will walk around and take pictures constantly: of A.J., of attendees, of your team. After your event, please send a copy of the pictures to Effortless English and also post these pictures to your own Facebook accounts to celebrate your event! Recording & Photographs By Attendees A.J. has no problem with fans who take pictures or record during your rally! They are free to share their pictures and recordings on the internet as they please, so long as they do not charge money. We love Effortless English fans!
After The Event Backstage Sanctuary After an event A.J. is usually exhausted! He gives all of his energy to the fans and he needs to rest after the event! For this reason, it s important to have a private backstage area where A.J. can rest during breaks and when the event ends. There must be security at all entrances to the backstage area. The backstage area must be a quiet protected area. Press Conference If members of the media wish to interview A.J. immediately after your event, this should be done backstage in the quiet area. A.J. is happy to talk to the media. It s much easier to do in a quiet place! Dinner With You and Your Team A.J. enjoys having dinner with you and your team after your event. Just be aware that he will probably be very tired. Also, his voice is usually very weak after an event, so he tries to talk quietly after your event is over. A.J. will be happy to have pictures with you and your team as well. Just respect that he is tired and needs to rest. To Bed As Early As Possible After your event, A.J. prefers to eat with the organizing team and then get to bed early. He s usually exhausted after an event. After eating, he prefers to go straight back to his hotel for a shower and sleep!! Unless he has an early flight, he usually sleeps late the next day too! Be aware that his voice is usually weak for a few days after an event.
After Event Report & Improvement An important value of Effortless English is Constant And Never-ending Improvement. Your event was great and now it s time to report the results and plan how to make the next one even better! Report To Effortless English Please report the following to Effortless English so we can continue working with you for your future great events: 1. Number of Tickets Sold How many tickets did you sell? How big was your event? 2. Event Successes In your opinion, what was successful about your event. Be specific. What worked great? What was powerful? What did the attendees love? What did your team love? 3. Event Challenges There are always problems and challenges! What did not work so well? What needs improvement? 4. Improvement Plan & Suggestions What s your plan to make the next one even better? What specific improvements does your team recommend? How will you do it differently and better next time? AJ s Report A.J. will also send you a report. He will also discuss his thought about: Event Successes, Event Challenges, and Improvement & Suggestions. Together, we constantly and never-endingly improve!
Random Optional Extras To Think About 1. Your Fan Club s Facebook Group Create a Facebook Group for your Effortless English Fan Club. Use Fan Club in your name. Tell everyone who attends about your FB Fan Club group and invite them to join! 2. Twitter #Hashtag For Your Event Choose a specific #hashtag for twitter users to use before, during, and after the event. For example, a Bangkok Fan Event might use: #effengbkk 3. Fan Club Meeting After Your Event A few days or weeks after your event, have a relaxed social meeting of your fan club. Meet at a restaurant, or coffee shop, or park and connect with each other. Keep your fan club strong! 4. Start Planning Your Next Event Everything is fresh in your mind-- start planning the next one! Just repeat the process. It will be much easier and much better the second time because now you have experience!