Often, when one thinks about a martial arts demonstration, the image of a parking lot or the concourse of a mall with crowds milling about comes to mind.
And, while those large demonstrations make for great fundraising and promotional opportunities, there’s really no reason to limit your demonstrations to such a grand scale.
Demonstrations can be performed on a variety of scales for various groups of citizens. Virtually any group that caters to members of your target market will make a good audience for a small, but exciting demonstration.
In addition to acquiring new students, demonstrations make a great public relations tool. With demonstrations, you’ll be able to create a sense of goodwill, and well as to convey the important elements that make up the black belt – including discipline, motivation, respect, and so forth.
Your students and their families will be involved with some of these groups. They may be members of the Girl Scouts, or Boy Scouts; or perhaps they are part of a church or youth group. These are all opportunities just waiting to be developed.
During your classes, hand a form to each student to take home to their parents. These forms should invite the students and their parents to come up with a name of a group – or several groups – who may be interested in a martial arts demonstration.
Ask them, also, to provide you with the name of a contact person, and a phone number that you can use to follow up the lead with.
Groups can include…
- Daycare
- Scout groups
- Outdoor or wilderness clubs
- Social clubs
- Jaycee’s
- Lion’s club
- Hospital staff
- Fire or police departments
Of course, this list could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Be sure to tell the students, that each person that attends the presentation will receive two coupons for a free week of martial arts lessons.
