get ideas out in the virtual forum

Fri Apr 3 08:24:08 CDT 2009

Dear Karen et al,
Thank you for your suggestions. I have suggested to members of the council 
for the last couple of years that we offer a conference with a strong focus 
on recovery. If you Google psychodrama, you will find that it is mainly 
recovery programs that are still using and promoting the method in 
agency/program settings. Philadelphia is close to the home of the Caron 
foundation as well as other established recovery centers.

I just got a brochure from Santé, an addictions program in Texas. The 
brochure had a whole article about psychodrama. We need to be doing outreach 
to these programs, to get their folks to present and to get their folks to 
our conferences.

I loved this past conference...it was like a big family reunion and I think 
there is a real need for that. But there is also a need to reach out and 
bring new people in...

One part of the problem is man power. I doubled the amount of ads for the 
conference brochure when they were in Brooklyn that first year simply by 
making hours of phone calls. It takes more people power than the council can 
do alone. Karen, will you help me create a PR plan for the Philadelphia 
conference that we can offer to the council?

Who among us knows what other conferences are coming up, where we can 
present and "advertise" our conference? Especially in the Mid Atlantic 
States.

Rebecca

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karen Carnabucci" <karenc at wi.rr.com>
To: "'Adam Blatner'" <adam at blatner.com>; "grouptalk Listserv" 
<list at grouptalkweb.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 10:50 PM
Subject: RE: get ideas out in the virtual forum

OK, Adam, you got me.

I said I'd make suggestions, and here they are - 28 ideas that might raise
attendance at our conference. I am certain that there are more, and I invite
everyone on this list to add one, two, three or more ideas of their own.

Make the conference as affordable as reasonably possible.

Have a well-thought-out conference theme that attracts people who are
interested in the theme. No more vague theme titles or even "Meet Me In St.
Louis" - one that I myself suggested this year, mind you, as part of the
theme committee - but am now thinking quite differently. Instead make the
theme related to what a person will GET if he or she attends whether he or
she is a psychodramatist or not - or even interested in psychodrama -
Innovative Healing For Trauma, Make Relationships Really Good, Peace Not
War, whatever. The conferences that really draw people - like the
Psychotherapy Networker and Smart Marriages - appeal to many disciplines,
ages and people. The themes are important. Check to see how Smart Marriages
(www.smartmarriages.com) makes its conference so attractive and appealing -
even though the site is rather ordinary. It has a lot of great ideas that we
can use.

Spend some time to write and rewrite what is so special about the conference
so the description is really appealing to people who haven't even heard of
psychodrama. Don't assume that the same people will be coming every year,
just because they love psychodrama and are loyal to it.

Don't have the conference the same time as other major conferences that
might draw like-minded people. The conference of the Psychotherapy Networker
(www.psychotherapynetworker.com) took place March 26-29, 2009. Its site has
some interesting and appealing ways of promoting its conference, including
video previews and bring-a-friend discount.

Update the ASGPP site IMMEDIATELY about the next conference place and date.
This information should be written up and ready to be uploaded on the last
day o the current conference. People need to see this information right now.

The National Wellness Conference (www.nationalwellness.org) offers free
webinars. This idea might be adapted to promote the conference and give a
free psychodrama credit.

Put as much information online as possible for vendors, advertisers,
attendees, presenters. This saves paper, time, postage and mailing costs. In
the catalog, let readers know that more is online.

Have a prize for the lucky person picked out from the first 100
registrations - a free ad in the conference catalog or a really special gift
basket. I sure would contribute one of my books and/or gift certificates and
I bet others would too.

Help attendees, especially new attendees, learn the ins and outs of
attending the conference easily - tips on finding roommates, sharing
shuttles and other transportation, a map with extra food choices, etc. Smart
Marriages does a good job of this also.

Make the conference catalog less expensive - use cheaper paper for printing
and therefore have more affordable ads, and forget the multiple on-and-on
credentials of the presenters. Many people would appreciate this and more
ads would be received. Support advertisers to write better and more engaging
ads. Smart Marriages does this and has a beautiful catalog and the cheaper
paper holds color well.

Use the extra space in the catalog to mention the award winners and why they
are so wonderful - even just ½ page would be fine for this.

Don't bother having a really big catalog during the conference. Save paper
and save money. Just tell us what rooms to go to on one sheet of paper,
using front and back.

Solicit ads for the conference catalog from people and places other than
just psychodramatists and ASGPP members --  book publishers, therapy supply
businesses, educators, Web sites, treatment centers, colleges, therapy
products, marketing and practice-building coaches, Psychotherapy Networker,
other conferences, etc. (I recognize this trend has been started but it can
be expanded significantly).

Use the internet much, much more widely to publicize the conference. So much
is free, and all is needed is the time it take to post.

Have spouse/partner discount rate if they are willing to share materials.

Offer attendees the opportunity to pick and choose. If they want to attend
Friday night and Saturday morning, make it easy to do so.

Announce conference on discussion lists for all professionals who would
benefit, not just Grouptalk and Dramatherapy List and a couple of others.
There are zillions of lists.

Create YouTube videos; send the public to the addresses of the videos and
always mention the time, date and place of the conference in the video
description. Ask psychodramatists who already have YouTube videos add or
change this information if possible.

Upload conference catalog on www.scribd.com.

Have a conference flyer online at the ASGPP site to download and post.

Ask every trainer, practitioner and creative arts therapist and member to
put the conference info on their Web sites and/or blogs and/or e-mail
newsletters. Provide an electronic announcement to ease the

Add ASGPP to Facebook with special Facebook page. Then "friend" the page.
Lots of people will be exposed to ASGPP.

Put up a MySpace page about ASGPP. Mention the conference.

Ask all LinkedIn members to mention conference their member page "doings"
and ask LinkedIn members to announce on the groups they belong to. There are
hundreds of therapy groups, attorney groups, geographic groups, educator
groups and training groups on LinkedIn.

Provide a pre-written press release to all presenters - in electronic format
- for the presenters to send to their local newspapers, newsletters and
other media 1-2 months prior to the conference.

Ask the conference city's Chamber of Commerce and/or visitor info group to
publicize the conference in the city's tourist literature, Web site, etc.,
starting NOW.

Provide a CD with all the handouts of all the conference presenters to all
attendees. This would require presenters to create their handouts early
enough to be integrated into the CD but would a wonderful resource because
as we all know, there are so many good topics that are presented at the same
time. The Qualitative Research Consultants Organization (www.qrca.org) does
this. I presented there several years ago and still have my copy.

Consider what would need to happen for YOU to make this a must-attend event.

Having written these, I am mindful that we are mostly volunteers with lots
of other things on our plates. However, the more people who attend our
conference benefit all of us, members, practitioners, trainers, the
organization and the public itself.

Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Lake House Health & Learning Center
932 Lake Ave.
Racine, WI 53403

(262) 633-2645
karenc at wi.rr.com

www.lakehousecenter.com
http://midwestpsychodrama.blogspot.com
http://lakehouseracine.blogspot.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Adam Blatner [mailto:ablatner at verizon.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 1:40 PM
To: karenc at wi.rr.com; grouptalk Listserv
Subject: get ideas out in the virtual forum

Hi Karen, you said, in your interesting last email just now, " I have a
number of ideas
regarding ways to create more interest in attending and updating the
conference, and I
would like to make these ideas available to whoever wishes to hear them. A
number of these
ideas have to do with marketing the organization, using the internet more
creatively and
languaging.
     AB: Sure, let's get this stuff out in our community.
                Some might be more relevant for the ASGPP in the USA, but
from what you
said, I suspect some of your ideas might be useful to our colleagues in Oz,
UK, and
elsewhere.

    warmly, adam

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