January 30th is the 5th Annual Stout & Chili Night, and you can help promote the party by inviting your friends and family.
We have a Facebook event page you can send people to:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1645962345654727/
And this website also has an event page, and membership sign-up:
https://www.chaosbrewclub.net/event/5th-annual-stout-chili-night
https://www.chaosbrewclub.net/membership
Also, we need to focus on promoting Gift Memberships for the holiday season (these are very popular.):
https://www.chaosbrewclub.net/gift/membership
Promotion starts with a very rough sketch of what the party is about, so the initial event descriptions are thin on details. As we figure out beer, food, and event partners (breweries, raffle donors, entertainment, etc.), we have to continue to update event pages and post new info to our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Matt Omura is our Host (Project Manager), so he'll be key in coordinating event planners, designers, and social media editors. I will help a great deal in this effort as well, along with Jeff and Nancy, but we always need more help in the following (feel free to chime in):
1. Design & Copywriting: The event description is thin, but we have a good handle on Beer School (Coffee Beers), and it looks like we are going for a chili cook-off (logistical work needed). Initial event description and graphics are available. We will need to produce more images and copy as details come together.
Volunteers: Steven, Nancy, Conrad (help welcome)
2. Event Pages/Listings: As soon as we have a solid initial draft with graphics, we need to create event pages on Facebook, as well as event calendars and listings in craft/home brew forums, and even sites like http://chicago.metromix.com/.
Volunteers: Steven, Jeff, Nancy, Jim C, Jim V, Conrad (a few others, help welcome)
3. Social Media Posts: As event details come together, is good to create event teasers that link to our event pages and/or membership sign-up (remember to include a final call to action link). Certain club brewers will have pictures and stories about beers in progress, and we have done brewer profiles in the past as weekly posts. Nancy and Jeff have done really cool posts with photos of brewery tours for the pros donating beer. The chili cook-off entries will make for some good posts towards the final two weeks of promotion.
Volunteers: Jeff, Nancy, Jim C, Jim V, Conrad (a few others, help welcome)
4. Press Release: We do not always get to this, but it would be awesome to get some help connecting with local news and entertainment reporters.
Volunteers: Please chime in, help welcome here
5. Paid Advertising: We have paid to boost posts on Facebook. Conrad noticed that we haven't been tracking ads, he is looking into how to do this better, or if it's even worth the cost and effort.
Volunteers: Conrad (help welcome)
6. Print Menu & Fliers: We don't always get around to posting fliers, but it is definitely worth getting fliers out to Brew & Grow and leave a stack by the cash register. The print menu is done in the last two weeks, often going to print morning of party.
Volunteers: Steven, Nancy, Conrad, Bill (help welcome)
7. Event Signage & Decor: Nancy has done great work with Beer School & Raffle signage, but our chalk boards could be a lot better. The print menu is a handy guide as the beers are sorted into groups and placed in different stations: Tent City Taproom, Keezer of Alchemy, The Grand Heineman Bar. We are remodeling the bar area. We also need to work on making the jockey boxes and serving stations look cooler. Lighting is important, and we have a good set of party lights. We could do better with decorating.
Volunteers: Steven, Nancy, Conrad, Jeff (help welcome)
8. Post-Party Thank You & Photos: Not sure if we have a formulated approach here, but when we are doing our best, we follow up with a thank you announcement, photos showing what a great time it was, and invites to upcoming events, classes, and workshops.
Volunteers: Jeff, Nancy, Jim C, Conrad, Freddy, Bill (help welcome)
This thread will act as a repository for promotional graphics and text, and facilitate coordination between volunteers helping to get the message out and create a nicely designed experience.
Here is the event description text so far (edits/additions welcome):
5th Annual Stout & Chili Night
Sat Jan 30, 6pm - 11:30pm
CHAOS Brew Club
2417 W. Hubbard, Chicago, IL 60612
A celebration of bold dark complex ales paired with hot spicy chili to combat the chiberian chill. This year our Beer School series will focus on coffee beers — stay tuned for details!
Facebook Event Banner (click to enlarge):
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Profile image:
Looks good, Steven! Do you think it's worth adding to the banner a small blurb about guest breweries? No one's locked in yet, but there will be a few there.
Thanks Jeff, I'll add it to the write up, and then do a graphic update in a few weeks, got to get back to life.
I don't usually add logos, but if we lock in Flossmoor Station on chili and barrel aged beer, I'll add them loud and proud!
Also, Conrad has specs for ad graphics for a variety of social media outlets. I really want to work on specific graphics for posts and ads that feature details (Gift memberships, Member Profiles, Pro Partners, Chili Cook-Off, etc.). I think rolling out details over time is best, once every week or two, then ramp it up closer to showtime.
I'll get the graphics ready, just need help wrangling and pinning down details.
I think getting a graphic featuring gifting a membership is the first priority, it would be cool to follow up with an announcement of our pro partner(s).
Here's the updated text for the event page:
A celebration of bold dark complex ales paired with hot spicy chili to combat the chiberian chill. We will have over 30 CHAOS Home Brews with a few pro brewery additions, and our Chili Cook-Off will offer vegan options. This year our Beer School series focuses on coffee beers — stay tuned for details!
https://www.chaosbrewclub.net/event/5th-annual-stout-chili-night
https://www.facebook.com/events/1645962345654727/
Great, thanks!
Nancy and I have been in touch with Flossmoor, so I'll let you know when they respond.
Hey guys .. I can't find the thread where the coffee beer was talked about for beer school, but I'd like to get in on that if all the beers haven't been spoken for - preferably the brown ale
Here is the Coffee School thread. James has claimed the brown ale, but maybe y'all could hash it out amongst yo'selves since he seemed to think no one else would want it!
Hey Brandon, here is the Beer School thread:
https://www.chaosbrewclub.net/forum/general-discussion/stout-night-v-sch...
Another thing I'd like to promote kind of early is the designated driver entry for $10. I feel like I could have pushed that more for the patties I hosted.
Hey, Guys.
I recall a suggestion at the Pizza Party meeting that we coordinate FB and Twitter postings so as not to be redundant/too much. Given what I've read, we're not in danger of a social media faux pas or "over-doing it" on posts/tweets. Numerous CHAOS people have had access to both outlets for a while now and we haven't seen posts repeated or bunched up. I suggest we worry about this only if/when it actually becomes a problem.
What we should indeed do is take advantage of the scheduled posts. We can write them now and set them to post at whatever dates/times we figure out will maximize exposure.
If anybody wants to run ad copy past a copy editor before they publish it, I'm your guy. I'm not a pro, I'm just a pedant who cringes a little when I catch weird grammar or capitalization on our stuff.
Hey Brock, if the current event description is wonky, go ahead and post an edit here. I'll update our pages.
Scheduling posts is a great idea. Also, party info should be posted to the main CHAOS page and the party page, as those are two different audiences.
Is there a way to link our Facebook page with Twitter and/or Instagram, so the posts can automatically go out to all three?
I can mess around with linking the twitter account to FB. On the surface, it's super easy (just tell Twitter to sync and tell FB to allow it). But, I had tried it in the past and it didn't work.
I'll futz around with it this weekend.
Jim: there's a bunch of services that will tie together all your social media accounts and offer helpers to schedule posts and things like that. https://hootsuite.com is one, I'm sure there are others, and I'll bet we could find one that's free for non-profits like us!
Steve: I'd suggest a couple minor tweaks, since you asked:
Brockula: You can tweak my copy anytime, it's my weak spot.
FWIW, this will get weird if we start talking fonts and kerning, but anyone with concerns of grammar, typos, and inconsistencies, please jump in and post an edit.
I've updated our two event pages, good to get this right before we starting blasting out to other forums.
I made a graphic promoting gift memberships using SCN & Brewing 101 as a 2 for 1 kinda lure.
The perfect gift for the ultimate beer nerd is a CHAOS Brew Club membership. You can gift a 60 day Trial Membership for only $30, which includes access to our 5th Annual Stout & Chili Night, and our Brewing 101 workshop (ingredients not included.)
A chance to party like a rock star and learn how to brew beer, click the link below to give the gift of CHAOS!
https://www.chaosbrewclub.net/gift/membership
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Gonna post on the event page today, then share it to the main page.
I don't know if this thread is the place for it but I'll take care of Untappd once the menu is ready.
(also, if possible, please ask for IBUs for the beers people brew/bring so we have the minimum of usual beer info: name, ABV, IBU, style, description, brewer).