A couple of weeks ago I was faced with a challenge unlike anything I’d experienced in the last few years while attending the Professional Golf Association’s premier event – the
PGA Championship — at the beautiful
Whistling Straights golf course in Kohler, Wis. I went to the tourney as a fan, not as a member of the
media, which limited my communication throughout the day.
According to PGA rules, I was not allowed to bring a phone or mobile device of any kind (which in my case, are one in the same) into the venue. I could deal with having to silence my phone, but to be removed from social media and email was trying for someone who depends on those tools to run and monitor a publicity business.
After all, I was pretty excited about the prospects of how I could monitor other holes from my iPhone – the PGA touted its apps like few other organizations do. But they weren’t app-licable to me. I was there.
As it turns out, it was a Friday in August and people who may have contacted me were either at the beach or cutting their days short so correspondence wasn’t crucial. There’s always that “what if” though, and I was nervous that the biggest opportunity of my career might come across in a tweet while I was incommunicado.
Alas, all remained calm on the social media front. [click to continue…]
Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.
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(This is a guest article by Dan Westervelt)
Mistake 1: We’ll rent a golf course that charges a $65 green fees and charge our golfers $165 to play in the event. While this may seem like a reasonable price you must remember that golfers are very familiar with the local courses and their green fees. Better to offer them a higher priced course to justify the increased fee, golfers will pay more for perceived value i.e. it is far easier to sell an event on a $150 course at $250 than a $65 course for $165.
HINT: Private club green fees are now definitely negotiable and sadly, people don’t bother to ask about them about their current rates, you will be surprised by doing so.
Mistake 2: Our format has always worked with our golfers so we’ll stick with what worked last year. The big problem with this thinking is that as golfers improve their needs change, for example a starting golfer is very happy to play in a scramble format. An advanced golfer probably is not, they either want to play their ball throughout the match or at least have a more hands on approach in play. SOLUTION: Before you announce the format, survey the golfers from last year, ask if they would prefer a change?
HINT: This should be a part of your regular tournament promotion activity anyway, as once you have hosted a golfer, you need to stay in touch with them about upcoming events and a short 3 question survey is the way to gain valuable information before making this mistake.
[click to continue…]
(This is a guest article by Dan Westervelt)
One of the first mistakes that inexperienced event planners make with golf tournaments is to ask for donations for arrival gifts. This usually results in a hodgepodge of miscellaneous and unrelated logo’d merchandise like pens, mouse pads, drink cozies in a recycled plastic bag. What message does this send to the players? This is an unprofessional/budget event. The problem with this is that your experienced players have come to expect a quality arrival gift and will judge your tournament very harshly without it, i.e. they won’t be back next year.
Solution? Find a sponsor for the arrival gifts and buy nice ones, like leather duffel bags, shoe bags, a golfer kit, or maybe a valuable pouch to clip on their golf bag. These all come with your sponsor’s logo on them so look for items that can be attached to the golfer’s bag. Classy but inexpensive, keep in mind this is the ‘first impression’ your tournament makes on these golfers, and they are your next year’s starting lineup of repeat players. The average successful event spends $30- $40 per player on these items. A 100 man event times the $30 budget is $3,000 but you sell this package for $4,000.
[click to continue…]
I’m banging my hands against my head as one of my favorite NCAA basketball teams turns the ball over …again.
The Big Dance, March Madness, the NCAA Tournament … it’s begun in a big way!
There’s not a neater publicity package that exists than the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. CBS Sports, the event’s current television partner, revs up its coverage with an exclusive unveiling of 65 teams and follows it with three weekends of some of the best the sport has to offer.
The Dan Patrick Show conducted a poll and more than half who responded said that they’d rather attend an NCAA Basketball Tournament than a Super Bowl. A couple of callers said they’d attend just the first weekend of the hoops if given the chance between it and the Super Bowl or World Series.
[click to continue…]
Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.
Web | More Posts (39)
A couple of weeks ago I was faced with a challenge unlike anything I’d experienced in the last few years while attending the Professional Golf Association’s premier event – the PGA Championship — at the beautiful Whistling Straights golf course in Kohler, Wis. I went to the tourney as a fan, not as a member of the media, which limited my communication throughout the day.
According to PGA rules, I was not allowed to bring a phone or mobile device of any kind (which in my case, are one in the same) into the venue. I could deal with having to silence my phone, but to be removed from social media and email was trying for someone who depends on those tools to run and monitor a publicity business.
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