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How do you promote your classes?
How do you promote your classes?
10:20 AM EST 11/8/04
Lately we have been having a drop in attendance at our computer classes. I figure it is one of two problems:

1) We need offer courses that are more advanced as we have reached the saturation point with teaching the basic classes.

2) We need to find new avenues for promoting our classes.

We currently advertise on our homepage, in the local newspaper with an ad about once/month, and with posters/schedules placed around the library.

What else could we be doing... how do you promote your classes?
How do you promote your classes?
4:05 PM EST 11/8/04 as a reply to Janie Hermann.
We are promoting our computer classes the same way you are, i.e. our website, press releases to local newspapers and we continue to get responses. But we are also seeing a bit less responding. I think we need to offer more advance classes for even searching the internet. We also plan on offering different classes like digital photography, how to use a scanner, editing in Word, etc.

Each class has asked when we were going to teach a more advance class, so I guess now is the time to put something together for an advance Internet class.

Bobbie
Re: How do you promote your classes?
4:32 PM EST 11/9/04 as a reply to Janie Hermann.
We do the same as well, but I'm not getting any takers. We're a smaller community (8,000+) and I've been trying to offer 1:1 short classes---nothing! Any new ideas would be really helpful.
Re: How do you promote your classes?
2:39 PM EST 11/10/04 as a reply to Susan Glickman.
Are most of the people who attend your classes home users? If so, I am wondering if it might be effective to have some sort of email distribution list where you send class announcements (and could include some bit of techno wisdom or trivia, too).

Have you partnered with other local organizations (genealogy club, investment groups, daycare providers, for example)? That might be a way to get some "new blood" in for the classes, too.

What about doing a session that is tied to the holidays? Maybe a class about online recipe sites? Or if it's a "digital photography" class, then tie it to the holidays -- "create a holiday photo collage", etc....

Maybe it's just that people are tired after the election and are hibernating before the holiday rush begins??

Good luck!
Brenda
How do you promote your classes?
3:29 PM EST 11/15/04 as a reply to Brenda Hough.
Brenda, that is a great idea of small, mini classes like how to look up holiday recipes on the internet. I also like the idea of contacting local clubs with announcements of computer classes. Computers can be very intimidating to a newcomer, so if we offered a class where all the members of the club could come together - that might be an incentive - learn with your friends. Thanks,

Bobbie