Just spent some time re-reading my notes far and my ideas from before – glad I wrote them down, lots and lots to think on and easy to forget something (though I will probably miss some things anyway). Updated thoughts:

What list is the list? We have an oPASS list, a MagicPass list, and the list (yet to be populated) for the SQLSaturday this year, plus we have the list from SQLSaturday last year. If we blast messages to all three or four lists we’re going to risk annoying some people that are on all of them. How to handle that? Even without the complexity of having two chapters that rotate ownership, what makes sense? I like the idea of marketing messages coming from the Chapter address and status/update messages coming from SQLSaturday. It would help cement the membership drive/membership focus of the event, and it might lessen the confusion about the paid seminars vs the free Saturday event. Not all the MagicPass members are members of oPASS or vice versa though, so that is tricky/ugly. SQLSaturday gives us a way to email to the previous year list, but then we’re sending multiple messages again. None of these sound great. Needs more thought.

I don’t think we have our own twitter handle, so all the follower would be to some event organizer. We need something that will stay fixed over changes in leaders (and Chapter switch offs here in Orlando).

I like the idea of tempo zones for messaging. I see three of them:

• Launch (ideally 6 months out) to T-60. During this period there is no dedicated messaging to potential attendees, it just gets backed into Chapter messages (different schedule for sponsors/speakers). The goal si to get the early birds and get everyone thinking about putting it on their calendar, but that won’t be a lot.
• T-60 to T-14. Once a week email (though if you read above, that could be once a week from multiple places). The idea here is to market once the schedule is set – this is why you should attend.
• T-14-Launch. Every day. That’s 10 emails, a different reason each time on why to attend – speaker spotlights, contests, etc, plus logistiss

I really want the seminars mentioned in every email. This is going to require effort to get a format that shows them, but doesn’t hijack the main message.

The event flyer should mention the seminars. We need separate flyers for the two seminars, something they can print and hand to the boss.

I’d like to look at titles/counts from last year. Maybe that will change content mix, probably not, but might also remind of a group we’re not targeting.

Start work this week on the list of people/companies with lists/reach/voice because it’s going to grow. Good to get it started and them amend as we go.

We need to write something about “how to get the boss to pay for a seminar”

I think the “bring someone” idea is our best bet for growth. We need to coach them on how and why and why, common fears/objections, how to do it without being obnoxious. How to measure it? Incent it? Needs work, but we should do even if we can’t do either of those well, or at all.

There should be an easy way for groups to subscribe to a calendar so they can pick up events automatically.

It looks like I’ll be presenting at ONETUG in July (Orlando .net group), perfect timing to plug the event. Schedule team, give me something I can talk to them about! Something for developers. I’ll also be asking them to take flyers back to the office, make sure the DBA/BI/SSIS teams know about it.

We should log everything we do. Which may or may not overlap with building/updating a calendar/plan document. My idea right now is to post the plan for the week each week from now until launch, that will become the log and a decent way to communicate with the rest of the team (but not the only way).

What is best day for for messaging? We should not do Wed so we don’t collide with PASS Connector (except in the T-14 window). I like Tuesday!

We have to decide if we can sustain a URL tracking strategy. My thought is that any registration URL should be a tiny URL or similar, something that will show us metrics. It’s a little extra work with unknown reward, but we can’t know without trying.

My plan is be organized, work on getting message out using alternate lists, use twitter more, build a “bring one” plan, build/work to calendar, log activities, and adapt as we go/think of stuff. Hows that for a one line plan?

The good news is that we have some time.  Not a lot, but some. I need to talk to the team some, get some feedback after they read all my notes, and get started on the most immediate deliverables:

• Building our Twitter followers
• Building the list of people with a list/reach
• Building the flyers
• Deciding on a list management plan
• Writing the working plan and calendar