Organize an Educational Tour

The project:
Organize and see through an educational tour for more than 70 people.

Time:
About an hour for reservations, publicity, communications related to RSVPs, responding to questions and sending reminders.

Why bother?
Some organizations offer tours only to groups. While I am sometimes granted access as an author writing about these organizations and their special places, it feels better to go with flow - to share the places. We know lots of folks who are interested in the things we do and the places we go, so I thought we'd make this a shared experience.

Worth it?
Yes. We got to see the place, but so did the families who showed up for the day - plus we played at the beach all afternoon with friends.

Organizing events has been an education. I've learned not only to ask folks for confirmation of their participation, but to confirm again within days of the actual event. In this event, for instance, 77 people initially responded that they would take part. In the week leading up to the event, I asked for confirmations. Of the 34 children and 19 adults who confirmed they would be there, 21 children and 10 adults showed. I've heard that charging fees helps because folks are more likely to show up for things they've already paid for, but I'm hard pressed to charge folks for something that costs me nothing except time. Sure, my time's worth something, but other families like mine probably appreciate no-cost programs, too.