keeping class numbers up

Hi all,

everyone in rbsd has experience of low turn out (I'm guessing), there does appear to be finite demand for what we do and for every person who says they will come only 1/2 turn up and only 1/2 of those stay for any lenght of time.

anyone found any good ways of keeping the numbers up?

what do you find are the most popular aspects of your class?

cheers

paul

I think it's the nature of the beast if you're training for reality, cos it hurts, it's hard and it's uncomfortable - and not many people Really want that.

Lots of people want to learn to swim without getting wet - want to learn to box without getting a nose-bleed.

For me, I think the most important thing is to keep it fun.
Make it enjoyable.

And whilst training for reality does require some resemblence to reality in your training, there is also a place to train for the sake of the art and also just to train for fun and fitness.

Worst case - get them to sign up for a year - doesn't matter if they show up or not after the first session then

That last bit was a joke!!!

AL

Ho No I thought Al had gone Mc Dojo on us
I think Al's right I try to keep things fit ,fun and functional
We have squad training for the fighters that can end up looking like something out of private ryan.But there's always smiles at the end of it.
If find my biggest drop off is August an the later half if December anyone else?

Paul i think you should tap into the areas of the community that you think need it most. Go to local cahriys that work in vunarable situations and offer free taster courses that way they will find out what you teach and continue if they like yor angle. Other local people to target are nurses, traffic wardens,teachers,local shop workers etc. I have found that this approach really does work. I put on a free 4 hour taster session for some local nurses and they have now booked four, four hour sessions a year as part of their in house training.

Hey Peter

Nice call mate
I was finding the same thing with drop a drop off in numbers due to certain classes. Like Al says not everyone wants the reality training. but like you say it does work to go to the places. I have done it with shop keepers, some of the guys in the shops had some local yobs coming in, and felt threatened before I knew it we were getting the word spread around and people wanting to come to various class my friends and I had run.

especially with the shop community and charities all knowing each other word spreads really fast.

Exploration and word of mouth are a fantastic tool, but even the places where you think there may not be any foot hold, its worth asking and telling people what you do, if they are not interested, they may know someone who will be.

Best of luck with mate
Craig

Couple of nice ideas there guys mind if I give them ago?

Karl

Hey Karl they are ideas mate
and ones which we have found works for us
if they work for you, best of luck mate

Craig

I remember spending saturday mornings down in portsmouth shopping centre walking around handing flyers out and chatting. All it cost was time and a little spend out on flyers. The response was not brilliant but you can end up with 3 students you never would have had.
I think the key is location to start with once your known they should find you or at least thats what i would hope.

Keep it coming people this is interesting for me as i am now due to start teaching again with a class.

Dave

Apart from the usual European police, special forces, bodyguards etc... we've worked with:
Insurance companies
Midwives
Doctors on call
Rape crisis groups
Womens Institute
Adult Education
Large store's staff
Schoolteachers
People on the front line for abuse at surgeries, council departments, Rates, rents, Housing, leisure centre staff etc.

TBH they all came to us, but I'm sure that if you approach them you will get work.

In classes, the broader perspective you take, the longer people stay, the longer they stay, the less you have to recruit.

just make sure people actually know you exist can help ... although to be honest my stuff will never be popular .. its the nature of the beast

cheers for the tips guys, great stuff

was anyone here around when Geoff was getting enormous class sizes? like dozens 15-20 years ago? what lessons can we take from what he was doing then?

cheers

paul

Hi Paul - I was around when Geoff's class was very much a traditional Shotokan Karate class - back in the early 80's
Training in a roller skating hall in Longford (Les Allen's Billiard Hall)

We had quite large numbers back then - even though the training was pretty tough.
Probably a regular 40 attendees to each session but a general membership of well over that.

I was also there when the club moved to different locations including Foxford School, AT7, back to Foxford School, then up to 6 nights per week, training at several locations in order to try to attract different students from different areas of the city.
One venue was the old co-op hall which is now Glen Smith's excellent Red Corner - although it was only a bare wooden floored hall when we were there.

The training had become particularly tough by this point and I remember quite a few occasions where it was just me, Geoff and Sharon turning up to the Co-op hall.

So, one extreme to the other - but I think alot of it was that we were wanting to train 6 nights per week but alot of the students didn't want to - and there's obviously nothing wrong with that.

I guess a problem we all have to deal with as instructors is that often our priorities with regards to training are different to our students.
And I think this goes for everyone we deal with regardless of the situation - judging and expecting others to deliver to our own standards not theirs!

The main lessons learned was that, if you have a tough, realistic, honest club that wants to pressure test at a high level - you're not going to keep many students.

Things have now done a ful circle for Geoff though because now people are queing up to train with him again.
Partly because he has moved on from the real heavy stuff, but also because of his level of expertise.
I dare say, even if Geoff resurrected animal days on his seminars, he'd still have a long queue of people wanting to train.

Not sure if that answers the original question though

Cheers

AL

Paul you can always pay them to come and train.
I'll definately be bere
Ha ha ha

Hi Alban (Hi Paul & the rest of you guys

When are you starting your classes in London? Where & when?

Steve T

Paul
I already have a couple of schools/housing associations interested in some instruction (they might even pay!). I'll let you know & you can come along & we can 'dynamic duo' it! You'll have to be Robin

Steve

Hey Tommo
welcome on board mate
can you drop us an intro please mate and let us know where your from etc
would be good to see some background please mate.

Thanks

Craig

Hi Steve,
I'm based in Bethnal Green, just had the first class now so they gonna be every friday, from 6 30 to 7 45, at Oxford house, Derbyshire road just off the Bethnal Green road, round the corner from the Halifax bank. Only 5 mins walk from the tube station.
Cheers Alban

Hi Steve,

sounds like you're doing an excellent sales job, i shall recline in my smoking jacket while you sell for us

on another note, you've nicked my avatar you bugger!

cheers

paul

HI Paul

It only looks that way - mine stands for ulcerative colitis

Steve

hi mate,

a friend of mine runs a large krav maga and self defence class. it's linked in with one of the universities and i think he regularly has 40-50 attendees every week during term. he runs a couple of social things throughout the year and charity events. i don't think he did it as a marketing ploy but if you think about it, if there is a fun social side to the rigorous and stressful training it may make people more loyal to the club? if you know your other mates are going to be there then that's enough reason for some. maybe not the right reason but a reason nevertheless.

maybe also have female classes and male classes as seperate training. i know women sometimes prefer to keep their training seperate. hence the abundance of womens only gyms.

People also like progression and recognition as they improve and progress so after a couple of weeks why not involve some of the less experienced guys when demonstrating drills (check with them before hand if needed).

Andy