HOW TO HOLD A STAMPIN UP! BINGO EVENT

HOW TO HOLD A STAMPIN UP! BINGO EVENT The Purpose of Holding a Bingo Class The purpose of a Bingo Class is to create sales. You won't make very much income (if any) from this type of class, but you will generate sales. This is particularly helpful for the hobby demonstrator who wants to meet their $300 quarterly minimum without paying for it out of their own pocket. And it's fun!! It's easy to market and fairly easy to prepare for. The Supplies You'll Need for your Bingo Class In future sections, I'll talk about the Stampin' Up! supplies that you'll need to hold a Bingo, but there are some non-stampin' Up! supplies you'll need: Bingo Calling Cards (takes the place of the Bingo "machine") Bingo Playing Cards for your customers Markers for the cards (optional) You can find the Bingo Calling & Playing cards at WalMart & Target. I have an Amazon Prime account and purchased mine on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/b0198pxq0i?psc=1 The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 1

I actually own 2 Bingo "Machines" (the kind with the cage and then you "drop" the ball.) It makes a cool sound but it's slow, bulky and often times the little balls go missing. The Bingo Calling cards are easy to use and truly speed up the Bingo games, which is important in a Stampin' Up! Bingo class. Before purchasing these supplies, I encourage you to either commit to holding 6 Bingo's a year *or* share these supplies with another demonstrator (such as your upline or a sideline) so that you recoup the expense of these items. *Ü* How To Format A Bingo Class I can't stress how important it is for you to follow this format. Even by changing 1 thing, it can effect the success of your event! Class Format the day of the event: Make sure you market your class for starting and ending at a specific time (e.g,, 10AM - Noon) and then stick to it! Send an email the 1-2 days before the event, reminding them of when the class starts - and let them know you'll be starting on time and the doors will open 15 minutes prior to the event. The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 2

Start with your first Make & Take - each set of M&T's should take no longer than 10 minutes for everyone to complete. Then do 1 round of Bingo Then do 2nd Make & Take Followed by Round 2 of Bingo Followed by last (3rd) Make & Take And Finishing with final Round 3 Bingo (black-out) **Each round of M&T's and Bingo should take NO MORE than 30 minutes - so that the 3 rounds take 90 minutes max. You want to leave enough time for eating, schmoozing and ordering!!*** Mine took about 15 minutes and we had plenty of time leftover for chatting & ordering. Bingo Games: Round 1 = "normal" bingo, across or diagonally Round 2 = whatever you want. I did "4 corners" but you can play any game you want (see below) The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 3

Round 3 = blackout Here's a good reference as well: http://www.top10bingo.net/top-10-bingo-patterns In the Pricing section, I'll talk about what you'll provide for each winning Bingo. THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT THE CLASS FORMAT: Bingo Class should last no longer than 2 hours, from start to finish. (more details on this in future section.) Bingo Class can be played in your own home, a host home or even in a restaurant, Starbuck's etc. It's very flexible! Your goal is to have 10 people attend. (More on this in the pricing section.) The less people you have attend, the harder it will be to "break even" on the cost The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 4

of this class. If you don't have 10 customers, work hard to have everyone bring at least 1 guest. Stay in your budget! In the pricing section, I'll go into more details but since this isn't a "money-making" class, it's important to stay within your budget guidelines. Collect your money for this class in advance. This is critical for the success of this event! Market, market, market! This is a great way to meet new people who will be interested in stamping with you. Emailing your customers once about this Class is not going to do it. Slap it all over social media (especially create a Facebook Event!) and work hard at marketing this class. Give yourself at least 6 weeks marketing time. If you run your class in the evening, make sure you start it at a time where traffic won't be an issue. My evening Bingo Classes didn't work very well because everyone showed up at different times and it really affected the outcome of the event. My most successful Bingo class was on a Sunday afternoon because there were fewer family conflicts and everyone arrived on time. The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 5

What Type of Make & Takes you should have I know this will be hard for some of you but it is critical that you keep your Make & Takes as simple as possible. This is easier said that done, but it will make or break your Bingo Event. You will hopefully have new stampers attending and you want them to be successful with their projects. For your more advanced stampers, they'll be ok with the simple projects because this is marketed as a fun, relaxing event and the M&T's will follow that guideline. I encourage you to use ONE stamp set and ONE Designer Paper. This will help you with selling post-event as it will make it easier for new customers to order. Here are the 3 Make & Takes from my first Bingo: The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 6

All 3 of these cards used the Label Me Pretty Bundle and the Whole Lot of Lovely Designer Paper. I *should* have only used the base cards in the Whole Lot of Lovely Cardstock Pack (Pool Party/Powder Pink/Tranquil Tide) but my class was called "Peachy Keen Bingo" so I swapped out the Pool Party cardstock for the PeekaBoo Peach/Tangerine Tango cardstocks. I sold a ton of the Bundle & DSP - in my Sunday class I had over $700 in sales alone. This was because I kept the projects simple and it was easy for them to order. In the "pricing" section, I'll talk about how you also tie these M&T's into your Bingo Prizes for maximum strategy. Things to Think About When Putting Together Your Make & Takes Make sure you can get 3 cards using separate pieces from your Stamp Set. For example, "This Little Piggy" has 3 separate images you can use, whereas Delightful Daisy really only has 2. So you'll either have to purchase or borrow another set. Choosing Bundles works best for Bingo's because it makes ordering easy. Be creative in your use of Designer Paper. This Paper wasn't made to go together with this Bundle, but it worked! Make good use of your embellishments so you can upsell! Why It's Important to Theme Your Bingo Class Using a Theme for your Bingo Party is what will create the fun and make your marketing much easier! The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 7

I decided to try this format out in the Summer, so all 3 of my Bingo Parties are built around a summer theme. Theme 1: Peachy Keen Bingo Stamp Set = Label Me Pretty Bundle DSP = Whole Lot of Lovely (has peaches in it) Bingo Gifts = Prize 1: Whole Lot of Lovely DSP, Lovely Leaves Embossing Folder (should have used in M&T) Prize 2: Whole Lot of Lovely Cardstock, combined with Pink & Black Shimmer Ribbon Prize 3 is always a coupon (more on this in pricing) Everyone gift (more on this in pricing) Glitter Dots Food = Peach Bellini's and Chips/Dips Theme 2: Flamingo Bingo Stamp Set = Fabulous Flamingo (had to buy 3 sets) DSP= Naturally Eclectic DSP Prize 1: Gold & Silver Foil with Fabulous Foil Acetate Prize 2: Naturally Eclectic DSP with Naturally Eclectic Cardstock and Berry Burst Ribbon Everyone Gift = Gold Faceted Gems Food = Margarita's & Nacho's (tropical theme) Theme 3: Backyard BBQ Stamp Set = This Little Piggy The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 8

DSP = Wood Textures Paper Stack Prize 1: = Wood Textures Paper Stack + Neutrals Asstd Cardstock Prize 2: = Wood Crate Framelit Everyone Gift = Copper Trim Ribbon Food = Hot Dogs (I have cute old-fashioned cooker), Chips & Rootbeer Floats I am not a creative person but it was pretty easy to come up with these themes. You want it to sound fun, be fun, and not be too difficult to decorate and create food around. You can do it! How To Price Your Bingo Class And we're finally down to the nitty gritty of this event - pricing and how it benefits you. *Ü* I originally priced my Bingo for $25 per person as it's a good price point for my customers. That said, you need to have at least 10 people attending if you use the $25 price point. If you're only going to have 5 people, you need to charge at least $10 more. The best of all worlds would be to have 5 of your customers attend where they all bring a guest. Make sure you highlight in your marketing that you do not have to be an experienced stamper to attend if you need to go this route. Pricing at $25 per person, 10 people attending $5 comes right off the top for your Grand Prize Bingo ($5 x 10 people = $50 so your grand prize for the final Bingo is a $50 gift certificate.) The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 9

$5 per person (based on your costs after discount) for an everyone gift. I feel it's very important that everyone who attends gets a gift *and* that you package it up in a cute way. (This is especially true if you live in Washington State because if eveyone gets a gift, you eliminate the problem of the "game of chance" which is illegal in WA state.) You can use retired ribbon and some of the retired gift sacks or make an envelope out of retired DSP. Here's the gift I made for the Peachy Keen Bingo: $5 - $7 per person for the Bingo Prizes and the Make & Take costs. Make sure you use all SU! product. You may also want to purchase 2-3 small items in case you have people Bingo at the same time. I have them pick a card from my Bingo Calling cards and the person with the highest # wins. The "loser" then The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 10

gets the consolation prize (dimensionals, snail refill, etc.) $3-$5 per person for refreshments and decorations. Do NOT spend a lot of $$ on food - they truly don't eat that much. Just make it fun! $5 per person for a discount coupon if they order that night. This is important!!! Because your customers will have to pay in advance 2 weeks prior to the event (this is where you'll get the $$$ to place your order for all the prizes), when they see this $5 coupon, they will buy! I don't place a minimum order because they've basically already paid me this $5 in their registration fee. Almost everyone will order - and if they don't, you just made an extra $5 that night. Couple of guidelines - they need to place their order that night and YOU get all the host benefits from these orders. So let's recap - from the $25 fee (based on 10 people) Prior to Event ($100- $120 order - try to get to $150 and have host free offset M&T costs - remember you're dealing with discounted prices and that you're putting everything in this order, including commissions, back into product.) $50 = $70 for "everyone gets" gift (remember, you're using net price) $50 - $70 for Bingo Prizes (you have to balance this with food/decorations) Post Event $50 for grand prize bingo - remind them that is like getting a $50 bill so they can either pay shipping or order less and have shipping covered $50 for $5 coupon orders (assumes everyone only orders $5 in product so you break even, but in most cases, they'll order way more!) If they don't order, you The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 11

just "made" an extra $5. Total in minimum orders for the event: $250 (mine for 10 people averaged $470 per event; I had a lot of demonstrators who attended and that dropped my average as they didn't order.) AGAIN - I can't stress this enough - you will not make any money from this event but you should break even on costs and have the potential for making money IF your customers order at the Bingo Event. (You'll get the commission from these sales and you'll get to keep any host benefits.) Marketing Your Bingo Event It's very important that you do everything you can to market this event. Sending out one email (or even 2) isn't going to do it. You want to try and reach as many people as you can. Give yourself at least 4-6 weeks of marketing before you have your registration deadline, if possible. Here are some marketing ideas for you: create an event on your Facebook Business Page send a Private Message individually to all of your friends (even those that don't stamp) and invite them. this is more than stamping event so don't pre-judge if someone wants to attend or not - invite everyone! The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 12

use a "bring a friend" incentive - but make sure it doesn't put you over budget (give away retired stuff) consider sending out a snail mail invitation. You'd be amazed at how much response you'll get from "happy mail". pick up the phone and call - chances are you'll get their answering machine but make it sound FUN! make sure you make it easy for them to pre-pay. If you accept checks, make sure you give them (and you) time to receive those checks prior to you having to order your supplies make it VERY clear in your marketing that you don't have to be an experienced stamper & that this is not a stamp party but an event! If using email, email 4-6 weeks before the event registration deadline, 2 weeks prior to the event deadline and then again do a "last chance to register" 1-2 days before the event deadline. Truth: I usually get most of my registrations 2-3 days before the registration deadline. Create a true "Event": Make sure when they walk through the door, this event feels different than any other event you've done. Make sure you have your gifts wrapped up in a cute way, including the bingo prizes. (I used cute gift bags from the Dollar Store.) Have upbeat music going when they arrive (turn it down/off when you start calling Bingo) and depending on the time of day, serve the refreshments in the beginning while everyone is arriving or 90 minutes in, when everyone is starting to order. The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 13

Plan way in advance so that you will be relaxed the day of the Bingo Event. This is just as important as all the other planning! Marketing Verbage Each of your Bingo events should be tied into your Theme - which should help make the marketing easier. But here is some generic verbage that you can use: (Example for Flamingo Bingo Tropical Theme) This is not your ordinary Bingo! Enjoy Flamingo s, Mojito s and Stamping what could be better?!? Free product for everyone attending Bingo 3 make & take projects highlighting the Fabulous Flamingo set 3 games of Bingo for BIG prizes Light Refreshments including Nacho s and Mojito s (alcoholic & non-alcoholic) $25 Pre-payment due by XXX IN SUMMARY If you've read all the previous units, you can see that this isn't a difficult class to hold. The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 14

The key is to get all of your registrations paid for at least 2 weeks prior to the event. This will be the monies you use to purchase all of your supplies - and it will help your customers order the day of the event since the money they've paid is already accounted for and forgotten. *Ü* Because this class isn't designed to make money, make sure you plan your costs carefully and stay within in your budget!!! And finally, HAVE FUN!!!!! This event is all about being relaxing, fun and spending time with people you enjoy being with. If you make it fun for new customers, they're sure to come back to your other events as well! Note: Thank you to Demonstrator Lisa Curcio, who provided the original idea for this event. Lisa was gracious and shared all of her marketing ideas, which I ve modified to make work for our area. The BZBStampers ~ July 2017 ~ Page 15