I have started a chess club in Vacaville, CA; however, the member base only consists of a few people. I notice the TD/Affiliate Menu offers a Demographic Query. Am I able to obtain email addresses from the query? Any suggestions on how to get the word out that the club exists? I’ve already listed it with USCF and submitted the info to CalChess (haven’t seen an updated list as of yet though). Of course, I’ll post flyers at other clubs/tournaments…
The USCF does not give out or sell email addresses, but you can purchase an email blast for 5 cents per person (minimum fee $20.) We have email addresses for around 60% of our members, though with older life members we are less likely to have an email address.
For more information, contact Traci Lee at the USCF office, tlee@uschess.org.
Post notice(s) about your club at local libraries. Also, I have seen cards and slips (in the distant past) put into chess books at a library for a chess club. Never forget your local community bulletin board, whether this is in the library, grocery store, or a listing on the local cable channel. You may not get strong or rated players, but you may get more people/players in general. Good luck with the new club.
Best “Chess” Regards,
Larry s. Cohen
Thanks for the advice; I like the idea of slipping in cards in chess books… haven’t heard that before!
Congratulations on your new club! Some other low-cost or no-cost possibilities for getting your club out there:
- Start a Facebook page for your club. Doesn’t have to be fancy - but post something once a week. Take pictures at your meetings, and post a few. You can also do targeted advertising on FB (the ads aren’t free, but they can be done cheaply, and you reach a more interested audience).
- Many cities have papers where you can put in a short advertisement for free. You might not get much out of it, but if it has no cost, it doesn’t hurt to do it.
- Check with your state affiliate - they may be in a better position than USCF to help you make contacts or get the word out in your area. They also may have a website with information about local clubs - if so, you can post there.
I’d add “Don’t forget a good old fashioned regular website, too.” Yes Facebook is mammoth at 13% of world population - not knocking it as something to do. But a mammoth 13% means 87 out of 100 people are not on Facebook, too. (And I wonder out of that 13% how many are like me… have an account and used it for exactly three things in several years, one of which has nothing to do with Facebook itself. Don’t go there, don’t want to.)
On the other hand, number of potential users who might Google, “Chess Club Vacaville,” or, “Chess Club Solano County”
I’d also see if other Bay Area / Sacto clubs are willing to cross-link to you or otherwise help your publicity. I do my very best to talk up events etc. in our radius of Peoria/Springfield/Decatur/Champaign and as far north as DeKalb (and someday I will make it up to Route 20…) Bradley Open tomorrow WOOT! But beyond tournaments we’ll also get people in town for work or school from Peoria and make sure they know about GPCF etc.
Also chess.com and you already made sure your USCF entry is available and correct and listed with your state org. (I found my current club via right here.)
You might also want to get in touch with your local Chamber of Commerce. They might give you some advice on advertising, sites, and businesses looking to sponsor events. Have found them to be very helpful.
Librarians don’t like it. Don’t do it if you value your relationship with the library.
An e-mail blast, or a postcard mailing, is worth the cost, especially if you have an event coming up. This site is a good tool for generating lists of ZIP codes to target for various mailings. From my own experience leading a small-town chess club, I recommend 25 miles for advertising club membership and meetings, 45 miles for a typical rated tournament, and 75 miles for a major tournament (whatever your standards for such are) that you hope to draw strong players to.
There is nothing wrong with having both a regular website and a Facebook site (our state affiliate has both, as well as a Wikipedia entry, which we didn’t start). However, a FB site can be open to anyone to view, even those without an FB account. So that is not a barrier. The benefit of having both, of course, is that they can be used for separate purposes, yet linked to one another.
Don’t be disappointed that your initial efforts to promote bring in only a few people. You have to keep plugging away and networking. We started our club with only 8 players. It has grown to over 140, but only after continuous effort over several years. We have a website (mchess.freehostia.com), put out flyers all of the time at chess events, contact schools, and use word of mouth to promote the club. It is a slow process. There is a tendency to become frustrated and impatient. Put those enemies of promotion aside. Growing a club is a long term process.
Also, make sure that you have a core of at least 3 to 5 people to do work for the club. Don’t let it all devolve onto one person. Delegate. Let the organization be horizontal rather than a vertical hierarchy. Share ideas. Try new things. Have parties to celebrate what club members have achieved, or just as a reward to everybody for enjoying chess.
Make sure you that you are welcoming to kids and parents. This can lead to long term relationships that continually infuse new energy into your club. Have activities for the kids to do. Get the moms involved in helping you run your club. They pay more attention to detail and will make sure that the atmosphere and decorum of the club is maintained.
Don’t let your club focus only on USCF rated play. Use a variety of non-rated activities so that everyone can participate. When everything goes straight USCF rated tournament play, many members will feel left out and disappear. Have a mix with more emphasis on fun than dollars and prizes.
Have interclub matches if there is another club nearby. Put a team in a chess league. Organize a group to take kids to a scholastic tournament. Have simultaneous exhibitions. Show chess videos if you have the equipment to do so - “Searching for Bobby Fischer” and “Chess Kids” are examples. Have a member demonstrate one of his games on a demo board. Teach members how to be TDs so that it lessens the load on the existing expertise. There are lots of things you can do. Put these types of things on flyers and distribute them at tournaments, in libraries, at community centers, and on bulletin boards.