We’ve done a few experiments with Facebook Live broadcasts from the club before, but on May 3 we’re going to GO BIG — that means trying to attract the biggest live audience, the most likes and shares, and lots of replay views of the video. Ultimately, we want that online activity to translate into new visitors to our club.
To make that happen, I’ve created a scheduled event that will go live Friday at 7 am from our Facebook page. The placeholder post for that event is here:
Please Like, Share, and also click the “Get Reminder” button to make it easier to tune in for the live event. Share it now and again later in the week. If you’re in the room on Friday, we’ll ask you to take a moment to pull out your phone and share the video feed with your friends. If you can’t join us in person Friday, you can still help us spread the word and make this a bigger event.
If you are uncomfortable being part of the live video for any reason, you can just watch — but I hope most of you will find this to be a fun way of sharing what we enjoy about this club with a wider audience. I’m promoting it as a way for people to get a glimpse of the learning, laughter and applause we share every Friday. Guests should be reassured that they are invited to participate but do not have to.
To maximize the opportunity, we will tweak our agenda slightly to make this “good TV”:
- Sgt. at Arms should recognize the Facebook Live audience during the meeting opening.
- Whoever does the invocation should be prepared to do it without reading off their phone or a piece of paper.
- As President, I will explain what we’re doing and why. Give a little spiel about the meaning and value of the club.
- For self introductions, members will be called up to the front of the room. We will not be doing introductions of roles separately, so if you have a role, explain it during this time. Try to do it in an entertaining way, if possible.
- Example: Good morning, Toastmasters of Club Awesome, welcome guests and whoever is watching on Facebook. My name is John Smith, and I love this club because of X, Y, and Z. Today, I am also the Ah Counter, which means I will be keeping track of what comes out of people’s mouths when they don’t know what to say.
- Toastmaster of the Day will be the last person to be introduced and will take over the meeting at that point. TOD gets to make their own speech about the great meeting they have organized, then we go straight to …
- Table Topics – keep it lively. Members who do not want to participate in TT via Facebook Live should let the topics master know in advance.
- Humorist – make it count.
- Speech by Madalina on video marketing.
- Toastmaster of the Day thanks everyone who participated and thanks the Facebook Live audience for joining.
- Broadcast ends. We have our 5-minute break.
- VPE Minute and any other business can wait until the end of the meeting.
This is an experiment, which I hope we can use as a worthwhile club marketing and recruiting tool. If it works, maybe we’ll try it again in a month or so. Meanwhile, let’s just try to have fun with it.