Topic: Successfull Promoter Techniques

[ottawafoos]

Hey Guys:

I am the organizer of the Ottawa Foosball Association.  We are partnered with a vending company that has little interest in foosball.  Our numbers have been dwindling over the past couple of years due to attrition.  We haven't been able to replace the players we loose with new players.  So I am here looking for help on how to promote foosball in our city.

What are the best locations?  Universities, popular bars? 
What are the best techniques to get people to play competitively? 

I have run beginner tournaments where we give away a good prizes, a Nintendo Wii, and we attract 20+ new players but it is very hard to get any of them to keep coming out.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

[Daniel]

Here is some info
http://www.foosball.com/forum/index.php?topic=1013.0
I run a beginners singles once a month on the first Saturday of every month this seems to help.  I give out a trophy for first and after some one wins two of these they are no longer a beginner.

[Old Meister]

Are you teaching them the game also? Kids these days are inundated with a thousand directions that they should go. If a setting that is offering some of their favorites, music, food, atmosphere for socializing, is set up then the competition aspect can be offered too. Give them a good place to be when they're looking for a good time and then let them find this game that is a given for a way to express themselves competitively.  The soda fountain days of the 50's would have been a prime place for foosball should it have been available at the time. Where can these kids go today that is for them?

[MobileFoos]

We have 2 tournaments a week - a bring and a draw. For the past 4 months or so, we've given rookies & beginners free entry to both. It helps get them out on a more regular basis - especially in the DYPs. We've had some rookies take home money. They love it - prize money without entries. For some reason, this has worked out better for us than the Hi-Lo Draw. But then again, this is Mobile, AL so what the hell do I know?

Jay
www.MobileFoos.com

[pinalyzer]

Our Hi-low isn't a draw, it takes the best player and matches them with the worst player and so on down the line. It is kept kind of loose at the top and bottom as we have found that at least 3 teams are teaming parent/child teams where the child is just learning.  Also have several husband/wife teams as well.

[ottawafoos]

We have successfully run a two tiered DYP with the pros and beginners in different brackets - like the shake n' bake format.  It was good.

The problem we are having now is that our major location is isolated and it is difficult to get new people to come out.  It seems for every one or two people we hook, we lose 3 or 4.