By Paul Peavy
I won’t call it a miracle. But I will call it verrry impressive.
Last year at the end of a kid’s triathlon I heard that the race director was catching a lot of really loud grief from one of his big sponsors. Let’s call it an argument. All the kids (including me) had left. But still, I heard it got pretty bad.
The next day, the sponsor went and legally bought the name of the triathlon out from under the director. The race had begun more than 15 years ago but no one had bothered to legally purchase the name.
For the next couple of weeks I heard a little of this and that and even an attempt from the new owner’s team to get me on their side. All I told anybody was, “Whoever, wherever, I will be more than happy to be the announcer for these kids and bring my usual goofy, unbridled enthusiasm for these kids.”
I didn’t hear anything else until I saw that the director was putting on the same race, same time under a new name and everybody seemed to be on board. When I saw him on race morning as we passed by each other I simply said, “Remembering what happened at the end of last year’s race I am so impressed with today.”
He simply said, “Yeah, rising from the ashes.” We had no time to talk and I didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever garbage happened. All I knew was that more kids than ever (200+) were experiencing this triathlon with enthusiasm and, yes, great SWAG!
Here’s what I learned from this director:
- Leave the garbage at the dump. If it’s garbage, it will not bring the smell of roses to your event. Dump it, get rid of it, no point carrying it around in a bag and telling everybody to take a whiff.
- Get better. He took it on himself to find bigger more involved sponsors like a huge health club that is owned by a hospital. So, he got sponsorship and support from a big group that had a belief in his cause.
- Get louder. He got a local television personality to announce the start of the event. Not only did a recognizable name and face to be at the event but he got free television air time as they chit chatted about it leading up to and even after the event.
So, remember, next time you hit a rough spot with your event, keep the stinky stuff in a sealed container and look for determined ways to let it rise up from the ashes bigger and better than ever.
Paul Peavy, paul@paulpeavy.com or www.paulpeavy.com, is a busy, busy man who is a Licensed Psychotherapist and has found a unique and energetic way to help people. As a former stand-up comic he knows one way to get people unstuck is to get them to lighten up, laugh, and live! Paul competes in Ironman triathlons with his wife, watches his daughter’s swim meets, and emcees numerous sports events.
