Event of the Week: Dungog Memorial RSL Clubs Gala Sportmans Dinner

4/06/2016

Dungog Memorial RSL Club’s Gala Sportsman’s Dinner Provides Learning Moments

Sometimes the best plans don’t come through for us, but even when that happens, there’s an opportunity to learn and try again. This was the case for the 23rd of April’s Gala Sportsman’s Dinner at the Dungog Memorial RSL Club in Dungog, NSW.

The club, as its site states, is the largest club in Dungog and has functioned as a town staple for decades. The club is a huge supporter of many of the area’s local senior and junior sporting clubs, such as the Dungog Schoolboys Rugby League, the Dungog Warriors Rugby League Club, the Dungog Soccer Club and the club’s own internal sporting groups. Also according to the site, the club is a major sponsor of the Dungog Rodeo and the Dungog Show. The club also provides space to those hosting parties and galas by renting out its auditorium with dance floor and its dining room.

The Gala Sportsman’s Dinner might have been held in the club’s dining room if everything had gone to plan, but unfortunately, the dinner had to be cancelled. The club wrote in an email interview the types of promotional tools they used in their initial campaign. “Local radio, local newspapers, posters, involved local sporting clubs, in house TV ” were used, and seemingly to good effect. “None of worked,” stated the club.

All of these methods are definitely tried-and-tested by many other promoters; if you are a pillar of a community like the Dungog Memorial RSL Club, it would make sense to reach out to that community through local advertising. A core base of followers should already be in place, ready to spread the word the moment information comes out about an event. Perhaps some of this was happening, but in the end, plans fell through.

So what happens after an event is cancelled? After grieving your monetary losses, it’s probably best to make a note of where the mistakes were. The club cited “insufficient ticket sales,” but it also stated that if advice needed to be given, it would be to get your date right.”

The club has held many events in the past, so this particular event is just one blip on a long history of successes. Right now, the club has a weekly event list full of raffles, dancing, yoga, members-only events, and more; the club is still fulfilling its duty as the hub of Dungog, and that’s what’s most important.