Basic Steps: Planning Each Gathering

1. Find a venue. We encourage home-based Gatherings. If you do not have a suitable home or access to one, venues must be free or fee-waived. See HOW TO FIND A VENUE. Some venues will waive fees in return for digital marketing. We call this an In-Kind Sponsorship, essentially a barter – space for services. This is NOT a donation. If the venue you secure has a fee, you must first secure a sponsor to cover that cost each month.

1. Pick dates. Please pick the same day/time such as 3rd Thursday of every month and let us know your choice. Ideally, pick 1-2 months that you’ll take off and hold a total of 10 Gatherings per year. Please provide us with your launch date within 30 days of signing the Independent Contractor Agreement and hold your launch within 90 days of signing.

1. Determine admission fee. Most Leaders set an Early Bird ticket at $10 ($15 CAD) and an “At the Door” fee at $5 to $10 more to encourage advance registrations. You can honor the Early Bird price at the door if you’d like. Gatherings should be accessible to all women. You can let a woman in for free if she requests a scholarship or comp ticket. You can also arrange for a local sponsor to pay for a set number of admissions in advance and offer a limited number of free tickets. Let us know if this is the case, and we can create the special free ticket option on Eventbrite that women can get on a first-come/first-served basis.

1. Provide dates, times, topic and program details in the Gathering Planner. From the information you provide us in the Gathering Planner at http://planner.ellementa.com, we create Eventbrites, Facebook Events, and ellementa.com listings. Once confirmed, we encourage you to start marketing ASAP. You have the option to print flyers if you’d like. See DISTRIBUTING MARKETING MATERIALS. Work ahead and fill in Next 3 Dates.

1. Identify potential guest experts. See EXPERTS AND GATHERING TOPICS.

1. Identify potential sponsors. If you want to sell sponsors, we furnish you with materials for selling local sponsorship and offer 3 levels of sponsorship. You have the option to sell local sponsorships, and we’ll handle contracts and billing then pay you your percentage within 30 days after your Gathering. If a local company sells nationally, we ask that you run them by us to make sure we aren’t already in touch with them. Try to secure your sponsors at least 3-4 weeks prior to each date so we have time to provide sufficient exposure for them. Last minute sponsors can still get value and exposure from us with post-Gathering marketing. Email [email protected] for more info about sponsorships to get started.

1. Start marketing your Gatherings. Invite women you know via email, invite female friends on Facebook from your Facebook Event, share your Eventbrite link in social media. There are lots of ways to market your Gatherings. See GETTING WOMEN TO YOUR GATHERINGS. If you haven’t received the 10 Ways to Market Your Gathering tips, let us know, and we will send it to you! Email [email protected].