How I Almost Burned Myself Out – Part 2

Last week I wrote the first part of a blog post titled, “How I Almost Burned Myself Out Over An Alzheimer’s and Elder Care Workshop.”  Today I’m going to tell the rest of the story.

Big Stress

Three weeks before the workshop I had two major problems.  1) Only two people were registered and 2) two of my speakers pulled out due to a conflict of interest with a vendor.  Needless to say, I was stressed but determined.  When the speakers decided to pull out I had conflicting thoughts.  “Do I cancel the workshop?” and “If I go ahead with the workshop, where do I find two other speakers to fill these open slots?”

Quite a few people told me to just cancel the workshop rather than lose money.  But to me, that was not a good option and here’s why:

• The workshop space was paid for and non-refundable at this point
• The workshop had been posted on this blog and another of my web sites and both sites had lots of workshop clicks so I knew people were looking into it
• It had been tweeted for several weeks
• I had put ads in two community newspapers that target older adults
• I had mailed out information packets to adult day care centers and Alzheimer’s groups
• Over 800 postcards had been mailed out, handed out and placed in high traffic areas
• Materials had been printed and binders purchased

Because of the way information was distributed, I didn’t know how to get the word out that the workshop had been canceled.  And, everything except the refreshments had already been paid for, so what was I going to lose?  I would lose my reputation.

Had I canceled the workshop, and people showed up at the door, it would generate negative publicity and I didn’t want that so I took a risk.

The Most Important Thing

The most important thing to me was to get useful information to other caregivers.  Period!  If I had to eat the cost, then so be it.  I knew there were caregivers who needed the information and I wanted to be a helpful resource to the community of caregivers.  With that in mind, I did several things to get this show on the road:

• The workshop fee was waived and the change posted on both web sites
• I did a free radio interview the week before the workshop
• My friends who work in ministry were contacted to let their congregations know that the fee had been waived

What About Expenses?

My friends came into play.  I sent out e-mails asking some of my friends to make a $25 donations to be a Caregivers Friend.  I put a link on the web sites for donations.  Each donors name or the name of their business and contact information would be listed in our Resource Binder that each participant received.  For business owners, it was a business expense.  That last minute appeal generated enough income to pay about 60% of my expenses.

The Results

I found a gerontologist who replaced both speakers who pulled out.  She was excellent.  In addition to being an excellent speaker and resource, she is a caregiver for her parents and brother.  We also had representatives from Medicare and Medicaid to help us understand those twin balls of confusion.

During the week preceding the workshop, twenty people registered.  We had five people register at the door.  So, all turned out well and the workshop participants enjoyed themselves and gained lots of valuable information.

I don’t know if the last minute registrations were because of the economy, lack of name recognition or lack of interest but I’m glad we had the workshop and plan to host another one next year.  I know there’s a need and hopefully by next year, I’ll have more insight and more participants.

I would love to hear your comments and opinions on how to generate more interest and participants.

Next Post:  Notes from the workshop.

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