Below is a checklist to assist you in making your Rick Recht event a big success. This list contains years of experience to guide you in preparation. Though not all of the information below may pertain to your engagement with Rick, we assure you that most of it is very valuable. Please take time to carefully review this checklist. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.
ON-STAGE PARTICIPATION
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THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO PR0MOTE YOUR EVENT AND GUARANTEE
LARGE ATTENDANCE!
The concert pack we sent you has a songleader kit enclosed. Please use this
to prepare people to perform with Rick. Rick is a truly unique entertainer
in that he has a phenomenal ability to make 'stars' out of members of your
community regardless of their musical ability. He insists on this technique
because it truly touches the on-stage participants and makes the experience
more exciting and memorable for the community. After years of experience, we
have found this is single greatest way to promote your event. IF YOU
WERE TO DO ONE THING TO PROMOTE YOUR EVENT, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ON-STAGE PARTICIPATION. (It
is a common misconception that flyers and posters bring people to events. Flyers
and posters are really great reminders, but the best promotion is on-stage
participation.)
All levels of musicians are welcome. Singers, Choirs, Acoustic Guitar players,
Wind and Horn players, Strings, and Hand Percussion are
all encouraged and welcome. Full Drum Kits and Bass instruments are not compatible.
Please have musicians and singers prepare 1-2
songs each. Rick will typically meet with participants briefly 45 min -2 hours
before the show for a quick rehearsal. Participants do not need to necessarily
know how to sing/ play Rick Recht songs. He is great at teaching them on the
spot. Participants should be urged to be
prompt.
-Have you rounded up participation for the event?
-Have you set a 'call time' for pre concert/ service rehearsal (please contact
us to set this time up)?
-Please let musician participants know that they do not have to know Rick's
music well to participate - in the 'call time' he will work with them
and make sure everyone feels comfortable before the engagement.
THANK YOU'S
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Rick feels it is important to recognize special people who have made
your event possible. Please provide a large font (readable from the
floor) list of people you would like to have Rick thank.
COMMITTEE
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(Day schools, preschools, religious schools, Hillels and youth groups dramatically
benefit from forming a small committee to help with the large responsibility
of making a successful event.)
- Do you have a committee organized to help do the brainstorming,
footwork and word-of-mouth for your Rick Recht concert/service?
- How many people are on your committee?
HOSPITALITY
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- Have you made arrangements to provide bottled water (2 dozen smaller bottles)
and snacks or meals for four?
(Rick and the band typically prefer healthy food - sandwiches,
fruit, juice, etc lo carb is cool too)
- Do you have a secure room near the event for Rick and his band
members to store their personal belongings?
- Do you have 2-4 strong volunteers to help the band load in and
out?
MERCHANDISE
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- Have you found two 8 ft. tables for the band to use for selling
merchandise at the show?
-Have you assign the merchandise helpers (Please make sure these
individuals are over the age of 16. The same people need to be
available both before and after the event.)?
PRESS/ PUBLICITY
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- Have you given us all of the contact information for all media
in your area?
- Is the concert/service mentioned in the synagogue/ school
bulletin or news letter?
- Are all posters hung up and flyers distributed?
- Is the concert listed in your community calendar?
PARENTS
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-Have parents been invited?
-Has a parent chair or committee been set up to help motivate
parents to come to the show/ service?
(Parent chairs/ committees make a dramatic difference in
parental attendance through word of mouth)
- Have you done RSVP for parent attendance?
- How many parents are you expecting?
- Have concert/service flyers been sent home to parents with a personalized message in the white space at the top (the flyer sent with your concert package)?
- Preschool, day school
and religious school shows are tremendously enhanced when there is a substantial
attendance of parents. Both
parents and kids love Rick so this a unique and powerful
opportunity to make your event bring parents and kids
closer together in a Jewish, musical, and educational context!
TEENS
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- Are you expecting teenager attendance?
- If so, what are the names of your teen chairs/ co-chairs?
(Teens are typically motivated to attend Rick Recht events
because they love him. They also need to feel that
a critical mass of their friends will be attending. It is crucial that there
are teen chairs who will motivate their friends to attend.)
- Have all local youth advisors been contacted?
- Have all local youth advisors
marked the Rick Recht event as an 'Official event' in their master calendars?
- Have all local youth advisors received a black and
white flyer original for the Rick Recht event (the
one we sent you in the concert package) to send out with their personal written
message (in the white space at the top of the flyer)
to all of their youth groupers?
- Have all youth group advisors and teen chairs been notified that they should find talented, fun, enthusiastic teen musicians, singers, and leaders to join Rick as on-stage participants at the event?
NOTE: Participants should be found by word of mouth with teenagers, not by advertising openly on a flyer - this is not cool for teens! Youth group advisors and teen chairs should submit a list of volunteers to you. The list of volunteers guarantees that this youth group advisor/ teen chair 'to do' gets done)?
- Have teen chairs sent out a mass email to all
of their friends including the information for
the Rick Recht event?
- Have you received your list of musical participants
from the youth group advisors/teens?
- Have posters been hung up in all synagogues,
youth lounges, schools, JCCs, etc where your
target teens hang out?
- Have CDs been given out to a select group of teens to help generate familiarity with Rick's music? We have special bulk disounts for venues hosting Rick Recht events.
- Has someone followed up to make sure advisors
have marked their master calendars with the
Rick Recht event and sent out the flyers to their youth groupers?
RELIGIOUS SCHOOL
---------------------------------------------
- Are you expecting religious school(s) attendance?
- How many students from your religious school do you expect to attend the
event?
- Have you invited the parents of religious schoolers?
- Don't miss out on this opportunity to bring your religious schoolers and
parents together for a Jewish program that both will love equally - this is
an unusually positive event for both parents and kids and, of course, attendance
and word of mouth rises and dramatically!
- How many parents are you expecting? Take an RSVP to get an idea of how many
parents are planning to attend.
- Is your Rick Recht event taking place during religious school hours? (If
your event is close to religious school hours, try to make the show DURING
religious school hours. This guarantees the entire population of the religious
school and their parents. Try not to lose
this fantastic attendance opportunity!)
- What religious schools are invited?
- Have you contacted the other religious school directors to confirm that they have marked the Rick Recht event into their master calendars as an official event?
- Will the religious school director be present at the show/ service?
- Has the songleader kit been handed out to the cantor, youth choir director,
songleader, etc along with an invitation to email Rick at rick@rickrecht.com
to discuss song selection details?
- What ages from the religious school (s) are you targeting?
- Have posters been hung up in all synagogues, schools, delis, Jewish bookstores,
JCCs, etc where your religious schoolers and their parents
hang out?
- Is the cantor, song leader, music director teaching Rick Recht song(s) to the different grade levels?
- What song(s)?
- Which grades are learning songs?
(Religious school kid attendance is dramatically greater when kids know one
or more Rick Recht songs and they are specifically invited to come and sing
with
him and the band. It's ok to simply invite religious school kids to 'come out
and sing with Rick,' but much, much more effective to let them know that they
are expected to attend the service/ concert to
sing a particular song with Rick.)
- Have flyers been sent home to the parents of religious school participants with a personalized message from the cantor, music specialist, song leader in the white space at the top of the flyer (the flyer we sent you in the concert package)?
- Have the promotional CDs: TOV/Shabbat Alive/Free To Be/The Hope from the
Concert package been distributed as gifts to organizers?
- Have the promotional CDs: TOV/Shabbat Alive/Free To Be/The Hope from
the Concert package been used as giveaways/contests at the religious
school?
- Have the promotional CDs: TOV/Shabbat Alive/Free To Be/The Hope from
the Concert package been distributed to the teachers to play in classrooms
and in the hallway/ atrium at break time?
- Does the religious school(s) have a youth choir? If so, have they been invited
to sing a song with Rick?
(The invitation of a youth choir(s) brings tons of people to your event: parents,
siblings, grandparents and lots of word of mouth. Even if the youth choir hasn't
been trained, Rick can teach them a song before the concert. If your religious
school (s) doesn't have a choir, make a choir by inviting a grade i.e. 3rd
graders or have a mixed grade group. Youth choirs are huge for making religious
school shows the ultimate success.)
- Have CDs been given out to a select group of religious schoolers to help
generate familiarity with Rick's music?
We have special bulk disounts for venues hosting Rick Recht events.
DAY SCHOOL
---------------------------------------------
- Are you expecting Day School school (s) attendance?
- How many students from your day school do you expect to attend the
event?
- Have you invited the parents of religious day schoolers?
Don't miss out on this opportunity to bring your day schoolers and parents
together for a Jewish program that both will love equally - this is an unusually
positive event for both parents and kids and, of course, attendance and word
of mouth rises and dramatically!
- How many parents are you expecting?
Take an RSVP to get an idea of how many parents are planning to attend.
- Is your Rick Recht event taking place during day school hours?
(If your show time is close to day school hours, try to make the show DURING
day school hours. This guarantees the entire population of the day school
and their parents. Try not to lose this fantastic attendance opportunity!)
- Will the day school director be present at the show/ service?
- Has the songleader kit been handed out to the music teacher and cantor along
with an invitation to email Rick at rick@rickrecht.com to discuss song selection
details?
- What ages from the day school (s) are you targeting?
- Is the cantor, song leader, music director teaching Rick Recht song(s)
to the different grade levels?
- What song (s)?
- Which grades are learning songs?
(Day school kid excitement is dramatically greater when kids know one
or more Rick Recht songs and they are specifically invited to come
and sing with him and the band.)
- Have flyers been sent home to the parents of day school participants with
a personalized message from the cantor, music specialist, song
leader in the white space at the top of the flyer (the flyer we sent
you in the concert package)?
- Have the promotional CDs: TOV/Shabbat Alive/Free To Be/The Hope
from the Concert package been distributed as gifts to organizers?
- Have the promotional CDs: TOV/Shabbat Alive/Free To Be/The Hope from the Concert package been used as giveaways/contests at the day school?
- Have the promotional CDs: TOV/Shabbat Alive/Free To Be/The Hope
from the Concert package been distributed to the teachers to play
in classrooms and in the hallway/ atrium at break time?
- Does the day school(s) have a youth choir? If so, have they been invited
to sing a song with Rick?
(The invitation of a youth choir(s) brings tons of people to your
event: parents, siblings, grandparents and lots of word of mouth.
Even if the
youth choir hasn't been trained, Rick can teach them a song before
the concert. If your day school(s) doesn't have a choir, make a
choir
by inviting a grade i.e.3rd graders or have a mixed grade group.
Youth choirs are huge for making day school shows the ultimate
success.)
- Have CDs been give out to a select group of day schoolers to help generate
familiarity with Rick's music? We have special bulk disounts for
venues hosting Rick Recht events.
SEATING
---------------------------------------------
- Have you determined a seating plan for your event?
- Is your seating general or set seating?
- If you are having set seating, have you made sure that teens and
older youth will be equally distributed, if not prejudiced, toward
sitting in
the front? (We have found in religious school, family and day school shows,
appropriate seating is critical. Putting teens and the 'older kids' in
the back is a huge mistake. They feel distanced from the event,
have a more difficult time participating, and feel like it's
a 'kids show' when
all the little kids are up front. Make sure you disperse the
'older kids' and teens toward the front.)