Two show in two consecutive nights and two different stories:
Night number one, last Thursday night, I was to perform at a high school in Rhode Island for the very first time. The student who took care of all the arrangements was very excited about me coming to perform. I had previously performed at 3 other schools in the state and the word spread about how much fun my shows were. She said she and her classmates wanted my show as a fundraiser for their class. I had suggested putting up posters in the school to advertise the show and adding a facebook event page to help spread the word. I have been using facebook events for the last couple of months with modest results, even though many students have their own facebook page. This she did. What happened over the next few weeks was astounding.
432 students acknowledged this event. 115 confirmed the date, 135 said maybe attending, 144 were not attending and 38 was waiting to reply. It didn't matter that one third of those aware of the show were not coming. They KNEW about the show. In fact 432 students KNEW about the show. How many students were aware of the show but don't have facebook and didn't figure into this equation. I am sure there were many. I am totally blown away with the effort that went into this simple facebook event notice. No school has ever had this kind of response. Great job everyone.
Night number one, last Thursday night, I was to perform at a high school in Rhode Island for the very first time. The student who took care of all the arrangements was very excited about me coming to perform. I had previously performed at 3 other schools in the state and the word spread about how much fun my shows were. She said she and her classmates wanted my show as a fundraiser for their class. I had suggested putting up posters in the school to advertise the show and adding a facebook event page to help spread the word. I have been using facebook events for the last couple of months with modest results, even though many students have their own facebook page. This she did. What happened over the next few weeks was astounding.
432 students acknowledged this event. 115 confirmed the date, 135 said maybe attending, 144 were not attending and 38 was waiting to reply. It didn't matter that one third of those aware of the show were not coming. They KNEW about the show. In fact 432 students KNEW about the show. How many students were aware of the show but don't have facebook and didn't figure into this equation. I am sure there were many. I am totally blown away with the effort that went into this simple facebook event notice. No school has ever had this kind of response. Great job everyone.
And now we come to the night of the show. 7PM start time and the kids were still lined up at the door to get in. $10 a ticket, too. Not only the students but parents and families as well. We waited until everyone got in before we started the show. When I was introduced, you could have lit up a small city with the energy from this audience. The sense that something special was going to happen permeated the air.
I won't go into all the details of the show, especially not Sara's wild dancing ;-) but the moment I asked for volunteers, (and there were many), to the final bow, this was a sensational show. I really had a great time. And I never expected this to be as it did. Thank you SHS!
BTW, as I write this, I have been friended by 46 of the students on facebook and their comments were very high praise. They posted many photo galleries and added many video clips on YouTube. I really hope we can do this again next year.
Then there was my 7PM show on Friday night...
Let's compare this to my last show. Those that came out, came out to have a good time. That's where the comparison ends. Let's contrast this . Only 24 students came out. I had performed in this New Hampshire high school for the past 3 years with spectacular results; really good shows. But this group just didn't do anything to advertise the show except put up a (meaning 1) sign saying: Comedy Show, May 8, 7PM, Students $5, Adults $8. That was it. In the past, they advertised this show on their local cable access channel, put up posters all over town and papered the school walls with posters as well. This time nothing. The students' advisor wondered where everyone was.
Anyway I still did the show. The audience had 24 students, the advisor and 9 adults from the community. Joe DiMaggio once said, "I give 100% every day because there may be someone in the crowd that has never seen me play, and that person deserves my best". Rules to live by. I hypnotized 11 students and had another good time. I do wish we had a lot more in the audience because they lost a lot of money on this fundraiser. They just made no effort to promote it.
After the NH show I had the first of this year's after prom party. The show started at 2:00 AM.It was a fun show even though I was totally exhausted after driving up to New Hampshire, doing the show, then driving back down to Tufts University near Boston. But I enjoy this school and the party they put on is a lot of fun. Good food too 'cause you tend to get a little hungry at that time of night. It was a long drive home in pouring rain. Got in around 6:00AM, and went to sleep.
Next weekend , I start all over again. I can't wait!
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