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1. There's nothing attractive/interesting at the booth
2. The people sitting at the booth are too busy talking to each other than talking to people who walk by
You know how I mentioned that the guy who goes to these events is old and not very technologically-savvy? Well, I forgot that he's not all that people-savvy either...
One of the reasons we stopped doing our permaculture group's booth at events was because we didn't get any sign-ups from the group. No connections were made, there wasn't really anything being done during those booth events. We weren't making contact, we weren't engaging, we weren't really teaching anything. There wasn't any point.
Well, I went to the event in the morning on Saturday and discover that, at least in part, this is because nothing is done with the booth. Oh, there's pamphlets and signs and sheets, but some of them are at least ten to fifteen years old.
..."Integrated Pest Mangement" "Companion Planting" "32 Plants To Grow In Your Garden"...
I didn't see it this time, but at least one of the previous events had a thing about "Herb Spirals"...
That's not what people want to hear about. That's not what's facing the 30s-and-under crowd. That's not the barrier for people who've been doing permaculture all their lives (at least three or four people knew about permaculture, but they believed that you practised it individually - there was very little focus on community orientation or involvement).
So the material was unattractive (words on a page), there was nothing that wasn't flat on the table - nothing to engage the eye, and nothing that involved stepping in and taking a closer look.
*sigh*
I kind of had an idea the stall was going to be like that - I've been to these events before and came unprepared those times because I presumed Events Guy knew how to run these things. But this time, I knew what it was going to be like and I knew that we needed something more.
I brought fruit and vegies from my garden - pumpkin, tomatoes, an apple, avocados, and a basket I wove at a living skills course that was made for holding garlic. I brought a giant pile of 'permaculture-oriented books' - from the very high-level "Earth User's Guide To Permaculture", to a children's series "the Gardeneers" about kids who are encouraged to explore the world around them by their permaculture-minded teacher.
I also brought a bunch of calendars that illustrate the 12 principles of permaculture - one for each month - and which have a lovely picture to go along with each month.
Additionally, I went and printed out some QR codes for our instagram, FB, and website, so people could easily access them direct on their phone (and join the social media sites, get involved in the conversations ASAP)
So now we had a stall that had a little more personality.
There were six other people at that stall when I turned up, sitting in a half-circle of chairs up the back of the stall, with nobody manning the front of it, and nobody looking like they wanted to step up and talk. *sigh*
So I stood and chatted with the people who came by. I started conversations. I engaged them with what they had in their hands, or whether they lived in the area, or whether they knew about permaculture. I tried to listen to their answers and direct them towards things of interest according to their knowledge level.
One or two people helped, but...not really. I often had to engage someone else who'd paused by the booth while talking with another person, instead of having someone else step up to chat or engage, or even just say 'hi, how's it going?'
It's not easy work, it's not casual. It has to be intentional and focused and specific to the individual. It's outside a comfort zone. But people are looking to work out how they can be more sustainable, and if they can get advice and community while they're at it, great!
Anyway, I had to leave by lunchtime, and I took my fruit and vege, but left the books and calendars and QR codes, which we should get laminated ASAP.
--
I got a comment that night on a group post I made about the day, from one of the people I'd spoken to. He and his wife were already permies, and they were more "oh we just want to see how the movement is going", so I emphasised the community aspect of it - being able to socialise with people of like mind, if that was what they wanted.
From the sound of it, he and his wife were interested in the community aspect of the group - meeting other people, maybe getting involved. At the least, having elders who are personable and practising (a rather large number of our current elders are either not personable or not practising) would be a boon.
--
After some of the conversations of the day, though, I am wondering a little if some of our current members are a bit too focused on what the group can do for them and not what they can do for the group. Specifically the woman who cornered me to suggest that the group buy expensive exotics and propagate or split them (eg. vanilla orchids or pandan plants). I think I suggested she put a request/idea in to the next MC, but I was a little distracted.
She also tried to snaffle one of my tomatoes for seed saving. Which...okay. It just felt more acquisitive than anything else. And it wasn't a "hey, could you put this in the seed bank?" kind of request it was a "I want this for me" sort.
There were also a few questions like "are these books for sale" and "oh, these calendars are lovely we can take these and..."
No. NO. I didn't bring these to be pawed over by the masses. They are not a donation to the group! I brought things to display that would make the stall more interesting than a bunch of flat paper things to read. That someone else should have thought of it long before this - that someone else should have been engaged and involved and conversational and approachable - that's a shortsightedness on the part of the Events Team Leader.
--
Anyway, although I wasn't there for the 2nd half, it seems that things went pretty well with more engagement and involvement across the board.
But, yeah. The core reasons we didn't get any new people signing up from these events? Because we gave them nothing to look at, we didn't engage with them when they did pause by our booth, and we didn't make it easy for them to keep us on their feeds and in their inboxes.
2. The people sitting at the booth are too busy talking to each other than talking to people who walk by
You know how I mentioned that the guy who goes to these events is old and not very technologically-savvy? Well, I forgot that he's not all that people-savvy either...
One of the reasons we stopped doing our permaculture group's booth at events was because we didn't get any sign-ups from the group. No connections were made, there wasn't really anything being done during those booth events. We weren't making contact, we weren't engaging, we weren't really teaching anything. There wasn't any point.
Well, I went to the event in the morning on Saturday and discover that, at least in part, this is because nothing is done with the booth. Oh, there's pamphlets and signs and sheets, but some of them are at least ten to fifteen years old.
..."Integrated Pest Mangement" "Companion Planting" "32 Plants To Grow In Your Garden"...
I didn't see it this time, but at least one of the previous events had a thing about "Herb Spirals"...
That's not what people want to hear about. That's not what's facing the 30s-and-under crowd. That's not the barrier for people who've been doing permaculture all their lives (at least three or four people knew about permaculture, but they believed that you practised it individually - there was very little focus on community orientation or involvement).
So the material was unattractive (words on a page), there was nothing that wasn't flat on the table - nothing to engage the eye, and nothing that involved stepping in and taking a closer look.
*sigh*
I kind of had an idea the stall was going to be like that - I've been to these events before and came unprepared those times because I presumed Events Guy knew how to run these things. But this time, I knew what it was going to be like and I knew that we needed something more.
I brought fruit and vegies from my garden - pumpkin, tomatoes, an apple, avocados, and a basket I wove at a living skills course that was made for holding garlic. I brought a giant pile of 'permaculture-oriented books' - from the very high-level "Earth User's Guide To Permaculture", to a children's series "the Gardeneers" about kids who are encouraged to explore the world around them by their permaculture-minded teacher.
I also brought a bunch of calendars that illustrate the 12 principles of permaculture - one for each month - and which have a lovely picture to go along with each month.
Additionally, I went and printed out some QR codes for our instagram, FB, and website, so people could easily access them direct on their phone (and join the social media sites, get involved in the conversations ASAP)
So now we had a stall that had a little more personality.
There were six other people at that stall when I turned up, sitting in a half-circle of chairs up the back of the stall, with nobody manning the front of it, and nobody looking like they wanted to step up and talk. *sigh*
So I stood and chatted with the people who came by. I started conversations. I engaged them with what they had in their hands, or whether they lived in the area, or whether they knew about permaculture. I tried to listen to their answers and direct them towards things of interest according to their knowledge level.
One or two people helped, but...not really. I often had to engage someone else who'd paused by the booth while talking with another person, instead of having someone else step up to chat or engage, or even just say 'hi, how's it going?'
It's not easy work, it's not casual. It has to be intentional and focused and specific to the individual. It's outside a comfort zone. But people are looking to work out how they can be more sustainable, and if they can get advice and community while they're at it, great!
Anyway, I had to leave by lunchtime, and I took my fruit and vege, but left the books and calendars and QR codes, which we should get laminated ASAP.
--
I got a comment that night on a group post I made about the day, from one of the people I'd spoken to. He and his wife were already permies, and they were more "oh we just want to see how the movement is going", so I emphasised the community aspect of it - being able to socialise with people of like mind, if that was what they wanted.
From the sound of it, he and his wife were interested in the community aspect of the group - meeting other people, maybe getting involved. At the least, having elders who are personable and practising (a rather large number of our current elders are either not personable or not practising) would be a boon.
--
After some of the conversations of the day, though, I am wondering a little if some of our current members are a bit too focused on what the group can do for them and not what they can do for the group. Specifically the woman who cornered me to suggest that the group buy expensive exotics and propagate or split them (eg. vanilla orchids or pandan plants). I think I suggested she put a request/idea in to the next MC, but I was a little distracted.
She also tried to snaffle one of my tomatoes for seed saving. Which...okay. It just felt more acquisitive than anything else. And it wasn't a "hey, could you put this in the seed bank?" kind of request it was a "I want this for me" sort.
There were also a few questions like "are these books for sale" and "oh, these calendars are lovely we can take these and..."
No. NO. I didn't bring these to be pawed over by the masses. They are not a donation to the group! I brought things to display that would make the stall more interesting than a bunch of flat paper things to read. That someone else should have thought of it long before this - that someone else should have been engaged and involved and conversational and approachable - that's a shortsightedness on the part of the Events Team Leader.
--
Anyway, although I wasn't there for the 2nd half, it seems that things went pretty well with more engagement and involvement across the board.
But, yeah. The core reasons we didn't get any new people signing up from these events? Because we gave them nothing to look at, we didn't engage with them when they did pause by our booth, and we didn't make it easy for them to keep us on their feeds and in their inboxes.
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So many possibilities and they didn't even do the basics of talking to people walking past.
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*shakes head*
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Too much effort and forethought. Easier just to turn up and talk to anyone who's willing to interrupt the conversation and ask questions.
Having the fruits and vegies on the table, the basket I wove, the lovely images from the calendars - those were points of interest, drawing people closer.
I was thinking about bringing a small tub of compost or a worm farm, too, as part of a talk. However, it was going to be messy so I didn't. The talk didn't end up happening anyway.
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