YOUR BARTENDERS

SELECTING YOUR BARTENDERS: The most successful events are where the event organizers put the most thought and consideration into who their guest bartenders will be.  Select only two or three people from any one company or professional or social sphere of influence who:

  1. Are well-liked, Can bring a crowd or a few loyal friends or colleagues.

  2. Are reliable in that they will follow through on what you are asking them to do

  3. Are email and social media savvy, approximately 1,000 Facebook friends each

  4. Are competitive

  5. Have friends who are financially capable of supporting their cause

  6. Live within about a 10 mile radius of the host venue

  7. Have an emotional connection

  • You don't need the tallest, the richest, the prettiest, the most employees or political connections, or the person with the fastest car or the biggest house. You want someone who is well-liked, regardless of money, power, or social status. Just someone who, when they put the word out that they have been invited to be a guest bartender that they will have friends, family, and co-workers who will be willing to support them, regardless of what the cause is.

  • Bartenders need to forward their pre-written emails and social media posts once a week for four weeks leading up to the event. This is because it takes this many requests before a potential donor will heed a charitable organization's request for a contribution. Is your bartender professional in that will they follow through and do what they say they are going to do?

  • Does your bartender have a decent list of email contacts? Do they know how to copy and paste the body of that email as a social media post? Look for Bartenders who have at least 1,000 friends on Facebook and 250 Followers on Instagram. It is important that their supporters see the messaging at least once a week for the four weeks leading up to the event.

  • We suggest three contests which are designed to encourage bartender involvement and keep your event top of mind with your bartenders. If your bartenders are not competitive, then they don't compete in the friendly competitions and thus raise less money and less awareness. Read about the contests below.

BARTENDER CHARACTERISTICS: WHEN CONSIDERING YOUR BARTENDERS, THINK ABOUT:

  1. Age: Thinking of people over a certain age, they may not be social media and email savvy, but they may be in a better position financially to make a greater financial contribution. Conversely, your 20-somethings may not be in a position to make a large financial contribution, but they may make up for it in volume as they may be much more savvy with social media.

  2. Profession: Think across a variety of professions so that you can get a good cross section of your community. Our experience has shown that Nurses, Realtors, and Executive Assistants make for great guest bartenders. Each of those professions requires an attention to detail and deadline-oriented skill sets.

RECRUITING YOUR BARTENDERS:  In order to raise the most amount of money and awareness as possible, use the Bartender Recruitment Communication to set your bartenders' expectations of what you are asking them to do.  You are asking them to do a few simple things such as:

  1. Set a personal fundraising goal. They will have a much greater chance of raising this amount of money if they simply forward your pre-written communications according to the schedule laid out by the Guest Bartender Program of once a week for four weeks leading up to the event.

  2. Share the event on their personal Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages and profiles

  3. Invite 125 of their friends, family, and co-workers through social media

  4. Bring a bottle of wine to be used in a Basket of Cheer to be raffled off at the event.

BARTENDER CONTESTS:  Friendly contests are a way to keep your bartenders engaged with promoting your event in the weeks leading up to the big night.  The benefit of the contests is that you will raise more money and awareness because each contest is designed to encourage your bartenders to promote their involvement with the event.  We suggest three contests for your bartenders:

  1. For the Bartender who raises the most amount of money individually

  2. For the Bartender who invites the most amount of friends on Facebook

  3. Split your bartenders into two groups of nine or three groups of six to compete against each other by adding their tips together

  • Which Bartender is raising the most amount of money individually, as determined by Online Donations only. Remember, you want online donations more than cash in the tip jars.

  • Which Bartender has invited the most amount of people on Social Media

  • Split your bartenders into two teams of nine, or three teams of six. Let them know that you will aggregate their online donations and that there will be prizes/bragging rights/special recognition for the team that raises the most amount of money

  • Because this is for charity, we suggest that prizes for contests are bragging rights or special recognition, not cash