So your league wants to host an event for Community League Day on September 18th but you aren’t sure where to begin?
Frequently Asked Questions About Community League Day
- Community League Day is supposed to be casual, friendly and fun. If residents come out and have fun together for community league day and make a couple new friends, they might come back next time, buy a membership and become lifelong members!
People are shy. Anything you can do to help welcome them or help to get to know another person will dramatically increase the likelihood of them returning!
September 18th is about getting new people involved so keep if fun and keep it free. Encourage everyone-- members or not—to participate. Once people know about the great work and benefits that comes with being a community league member, then they’ll be rushing to purchase new memberships!
The more leagues we get doing events at the same time, the bigger the news story it will be. We already have interest from media, the city, and many other partner organizations. Let’s try and get the word out to every Edmontonian
We always do a membership drive and a fall event. Can we just move the event to September 18th?
Absolutely! If you always do a fall festival and you want us to promote it (even if it isn’t on September 18th), email it to us and we will put it up on the website.
If you can move your event to September 18th, we can help leverage all of our events together for event more media!
What event should we do?
Whatever you would like. Big or small, any event is a great opportunity to let the residents of your neighbourhood know that your community league exists! Event the residents who know about the community league, may not know that it is volunteer driven, and that they are allowed to get involved!
To sum up:
- Have any kind of event you’d like
- Make it fun!
Who can help us?
1. Your CRC
3. Partner organizations in the community:
a. Local businesses
b. Local faith organizations
How should we promote community league day?
- Tell the EFCL: If you tell us your event, we can post it on EFCL.org and make it available to the whole city. We will also be working with the Edmonton Journal and other major media contacts to point every Edmontonian to the local events happening in their own backyard. We will also be working to distribute “Sept 18” event flyers to Edmonton Public and Edmonton Catholic to reach all students and families
-Poster and Flyer the Neighbourhood: Make a flyer promoting your local event. If you need to get them printed you can always come to the EFCL office. Post them at local meeting places, on bulletin boards, on lamp posts- wheverever the high traffic areas are in the neighbourhood
- Door to Door canvassing: Going door to door is the best way to ensure that every neighbour knows about the event. Dropping off a small summary flyer is also a great way to let people know about your league, September 18th, and about upcoming events. If you are having problems getting into apartment buildings, contact the EFCL. If you are going door to door for your membership drive, tell your canvasers to mention community league day while they are on the doorsteps!
- Word of mouth: Keep Sept. 18th on your meeting agenda and make sure everyone around the soccer pitch, hockey rink, and coffee shop has the scoop.
- Facebook and Twitter: Start a community league group and invite people from your neighbourhoods. Common Twitter hashtags include #efcl and #yeg. If you want help with social media contact the EFCL
- Businesses in your community area: Many local businesses would be interested in supporting your event with sponsorship dollars or in kind. You never know until you ask them. At a minimum, most businesses would love to put up a “Community League Day” poster in the door with information about your local neighbouhood event.
- Faith organizations in your area: Acknowledging that community leagues are inclusive organizations to anyone and do not exist to promote any faith agenda, faith centers in your community can be another great way to connect to neighbourhood volunteers.
What information should we have for visitors?
New residents might come to the hall that have never heard of your league and have no idea about the work that your league does? Having information on hand for some of the common inquiries is most helpful:
- What activities does your league do?
- What activities would you like to do?
- Who is the soccer coordinator?
- Where is there a day care in the area?
- Who is the neighbourhood watch coordinator?
Make it about the new visitor
With new visitors come new ideas. Make sure that the resident knows they are welcome to join your community league and bring forward new ideas, programs, and initiatives. It is always exciting to try new ideas and rehash old ones.
Tape up a sheet of paper and take suggestions:
- What would they like in their neighbourhood?
- What can we do together to make our neighbourhood awesome?
Be prepared for different points of view.
The EFCL and the community league system are unique to Edmonton. No other city has this structure and this network available. Many new Canadians from other countries may find the idea of a neighbourhood community quite foreign. This might be their first experience visiting a community league so try and make it as inclusive as possible.
- To try and be sensitive to other cultural dietary needs, try and have vegetarian food options available.
- Have non-alcoholic options available should you be serving alcohol.
- Try and be sensitive of residents young and old. Community leagues have residents of all ages!
- For other tips on how leagues can be more culturally inclusive, contact the EFCL
Give them something to put on their fridge
After the day is done and residents have gone home, make sure that they know where to find you in future.
- Give them your events calendar with upcoming meetings, events, and information about how they can get involved.
- Give them your public contact list so they know who to contact.
- Give them a membership form and encourage them to join the league
- Make sure you get their name and email written down so you can contact them in future to come to events, volunteer, and more!
CHECKLIST FOR THE DAY:
- Snacks
- Flipcharts for
- Website
- Soccer Balls and Frisbees for spontaneous sports for kids
- Camera for newsletter photos
What if my league isn’t doing anything?
Check EFCL.org and if your league isn’t doing anything, contact your league president. They might not have had a volunteer come forward yet. You can always join the league and help organize something. They might be planning a big event a different day or maybe the hall was previously in use.
Create your own September 18th picnic. Head over to the park or public space and host your own neighbourhood gathering.