Keyport Yacht Club put on an Open House to celebrate Summer Sailstice 2017, and here's the full report on just how good it really was.
Keyport Yacht Club's membership officer, Jess Gregory, sent us a detailed account of the day's events:
"We had 89 visitors who signed in and were given tours of the club. Later we learned that additional visitors bypassed the front door and did not sign in, so our count could have been higher. We had two launches running to take our visitors of all ages to 14 moored sailboats with their owners aboard to answer questions about sailing, boat ownership, club membership, etc."
"Afterwards, a senior launch operator volunteered that this was the most traffic he had ever seen, including for club regattas."
Jess said that when the club began planning their Summer Sailstice 'Open House' they established a target audience of 100 visitors "...a big reach over the 25 or 30 open house visitors we typically get."
Throughout the day the 14 volunteer skippers welcomed aboard 64 prospective sailors who had seen the club's excellent new street-side banner, or the event notice which was highlighted on the town's highway bulletin board. Among the welcomed guests were Keyport's mayor, and council members who had the day before proclaimed the celebration "Keyport Yacht Club Day." Local Keyport businesses also got behind the event, and even "the famous Lenora of Lenora's Cafe was persuaded to step aboard a sailboat, possibly for the first time ever."
The club also promoted itself and the Open House with this excellent video produced by Keyport YC member, Daniel Triana.
(More than 1500 people viewed the video via KYC's social media accounts on Facbook and Youtube - perhaps this is an idea you can adopt for your club!)
The event's success can be measured by the fact that dozens of provisional, and young membership-application packets were taken, along with the club's volunteer team responding to numerous inquiries about Junior Sailing, Adult Sailing Lessons and Racing. No doubt this was largely thanks to the efforts of two junior sailors who "rigged the boats on the Junior Sailing dock to show to our visitors. Knowledgeable, spunky and ever cheerful they gave excellent suggestions to make their presentation better. If these two girls represent the future of our country, we're in excellent hands."
Open Houses are always hard work to plan and hard work to run, but with at least 59 club members pitching in to coordinate publicity, sign ups, boat rides, and launches to deliver guests to the waiting fleet, information about sailing, the club, and how to protect waterways, cook hotdogs, burgers, popcorn, and music, this Open Day turned out to be Keyport Yacht Club's most successful Summer Sailstice celebration yet!
We look forward to receiving the report on Keyport Yacht Club's 2018 celebrations. They clearly have a good format, and of course a great new banner, so it's sure to be an excellent event.
Make sure you don't miss it and Sign up for Summer Sailstice 2018 now, and if you're in the Keyport area, take the club's tour. Who knows, you might want to join!
