Rally Success In A Nutshell

Transcription

1 Product Sale Kickoff Rally Guide Rally Success In A Nutshell Everyone who participates in the Fall Product Sale Activity knows that it is a positive learning experience for Girl Scouts as well as a financial tool for troops to fund activities throughout their program year. But, there are many girls, parents, and volunteers who have not been involved and do not know the benefits that can be gained by participating in the Product Sale Activity. It is time to Get the Word Out! This Product Sale Kickoff Rally Guide will help you plan a successful Kickoff Rally that will get girls excited, parents informed and volunteers prepared for a successful product sale activity. pg. 1

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Why Have A Rally? 2. Successful Rally Tips 3. Have A Plan 4. Get the Buy In! 5. Get the Word Out 6. Rally Resources 7. Cost Free Rally Activities 8. Earn as You Learn Related Badges 9. Ready, Set, Sell! - Go Nuts! Why Have A Rally? Parents gain insight on the importance of the product sale as a learning tool for their daughters. Give them tools to assist their daughter in her learning process. Share the benefits of girl participation and why they shouldn t just write a check to support their daughter. Explain where the money goes to financially support their daughter s troop and the council. Girls learn goal setting skills, information about the products they are selling, the reasons for their product sale, as well as safety and selling tips. Cadette, Senior and Ambassador Girls can use their past product sale experience to share success stories and serve as mentors to younger girls. They can also help to plan and facilitate the rally activities. Volunteers learn important tools to help them execute the product sale with their girls and where to get needed support and resources. Allowing volunteers to get their product sale training and pick up their materials at the rally is also another way to use their time wisely, and get them prepared and ready for participation in the product sale activity. Everyone is more informed and eager to participate in the product sale! pg. 2

3 Successful Rally Tips: 1. Create a Rally plan that can be adapted and utilized by service units or troops as a tool to help everyone promote the Fall Product Sale Activity. 2. Promote the rally whenever and where possible at council events, in publications at trainings, etc., to get the word out and build excitement. 3. Tailor your message to reach each of your audiences: troop volunteers as well as parents and girls to gain their interest and participation. 4. Promote the quickness and simplicity of the Fall Sale as a means to girl learning and activity funding for troop activities and community service projects. 5. Pinpoint potentially low participating areas and hold your rally in those areas in an effort to build excitement, interest and participation. 6. Have a full set of recognition items available to share with girls to give them a hands on opportunity to see them to gain their interest. 7. Promote the council Care to Share donation program to build awareness and support of the community organization. 8. Incorporate participation at the rally with other incentives such as additional troop and/or service unit bonuses for participation. 9. Possibly provide a Rally Patch for girl participation 10. Promote an Initial Order Incentive that can be promoted at the rally. 11. Provide support in resources or financially to service units or areas that hold or help execute a rally in their area. 12. Incorporate Fall Sale Training and resource pickup for troop volunteers and parents making the rally a one stop event. pg. 3

4 Have A Plan: If possible hold your rally in conjunction with other council-wide activities to incorporate as much participation, information and excitement as possible: o Recruitment Events o Council-wide Program Events o Trainings o Service Unit Programs If holding the event as a stand-alone activity find a location that can accommodate your expected crowd and gives girls, and everyone the ability to move around and have fun. Get The Buy In! Get everyone involved! Collaborating with other departments is a great way to use resources wisely. Sharing of resources, facility locations and volunteers is a great way to promote teamwork and spread the message to an even greater audience. Information is key: Share your council goal with everyone including staff, volunteers, parents and girls. Encourage Service Unit volunteers to set their own goals. Use the goal setting tools provided on our Trophy Nut website to help them encourage their troop volunteers and girls set their own goals. Develop an incentive plan that can be rolled out at the rally that rewards service units and troops for reaching their goals. Involve experienced volunteers and Cadette, Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts in the planning and facilitating of the rally. pg. 4

5 Get the Word Out! Use all available internal and external media outlets to promote the rally and invite participants. Develop a rally flyer that can be customized and utilized by service units and troops with specific information about your event. Collaborate with other departments, to promote the rally at all established program and training events prior to the rally date. Use your council communication outlets: E-Blasts, Council Website, Newsletters, etc., to promote the rally. Utilize experienced volunteers as station facilitators to assist in the council-wide rally or even hold their own rallies. Utilize Cadette, Senior and Ambassador Girls to help facilitate the rally. This experience gives recognition to teens Girl Scouts for their experience and knowledge of the Product Sale Activity. Having girls serve as mentors to younger girls and troops will help new troops gain interest in the Product Sale Activity and in turn, increase girl interest and participation. Make copies of this rally guide available to service units who would like to hold their own rally event. Determine Your Activity Stations: Depending on the amount of time you allot for your rally (usually 2 3 hours works well). You will need to decide on the number of activity stations needed to maintain a positive hands-on experience for your participants. For Girls and Parents: Product Tasting Care to Share Promotion Goal Setting Safety and Selling Tools Recognition Preview pg. 5

6 For Volunteers: Hold Product Sale Training as a station for new troop volunteers Allow Sales Material Pick Up for experienced volunteers Share council and service unit goals in a Goal Setting Activity Offer an Incentive for rally participation attending training and meeting sales their goals. Rally Resources & Tools Use the tools and resources on our website as rally activities Activity content could include:. o Use the Bright Ideas Planning Sheet as a tool to get troops and girls started on making decisions and choosing their planned activities. o Follow the steps on the Budget Worksheet to determine the Per Girl Average goals for the product sale activity. o Determining troop and individual goals for the product sale activity. o Deciding on a Community Service or Take Action Project to use a portion of their proceeds to fund. o Play the Super Star Selling Game to practice safety and selling tips. o Play Nutty Bingo o Use the My Selling Goals sheet to learn the important dates and selling tools of the Product Sale. o Have Cadette, Senior and Ambassador Girls share selling success stories and strategies. pg. 6

7 Cost Free Activities Nutty Bingo Use the Nutty Bingo Cards from our website to play bingo to reinforce the safety and selling tips of the product sale activity. Order Card Etiquette Each girl receives an order card and answers questions about the information she finds there: Some examples could be: o What are their favorite products? o Use the order card to practice learning and pronouncing all of the names of the products they will be selling. o What are the prices of each of the products? o What organizations will benefit from their Care to Share Donation Program? o Are there any new products this year? o What recognition items do they want to earn? o When is the start date for their sale? This could also be a good place to have girls sample some of the items they will be selling. Recognition Review Have a full set of the council recognitions along with information on what it takes to earn each item for girls to preview. Giving girls the opportunity to touch and feel the recognitions helps build excitement and encourages goal setting. pg. 7

8 Booth Sale Basics PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Learn the Booth Sale Basics Even if troops do not plan to have a booth sale this is a great way to sharpen business skills, make decisions, manage money, and work with people using the Girl Scout Promise and Law to guide their business ethics. To practice selling skills set up a pretend booth sale with the girls. Have all of the supplies needed and follow all of the required guidelines to have a successful sale. Check out the Booth Selling Instruction Sheet on the website for tools to help. Have girls take turns being each participant of the booth sale experience: the customer, the banker (making correct change), and the friendly knowledgeable Girl Scout Seller who shares her goals and suggests additional items to her customers. Don t forget to have each girl thank each customer with a smile (even if they don t buy an item from them). Create Your Own Promo Let girls create a cheer, jingle or rap to promote their product sale. Divide girls into small groups of 4 to 6 girls. Give the groups a designated amount of time to create their promo. Possibly supply a box of props, hats, costumes for their use for inspiration. If time permits have each group share their creation as a wrap up with all of the rally participants. pg. 8

9 Dance Like Me! Choose music with a strong beat and try this fun and often surprising imitation dance. Girls stand and form a circle. One by one, a girl will go in the middle of the circle and do a movement while people around the circle imitate that movement. A girl can do two or three movements, all in time with the music. They can be twirls, claps and steps or anything she can think of. Then the girl points to the next person in the circle to come into the middle to make a fun dance move for the group to imitate. Go all the way around the circle until everyone has a turn and the music ends. Pass It Along PLAY A PANTOMIME GAME Girls stand in a line. The first player pretends to pick up something and pass it to the player next to her. She will pick up different things in different ways. A big stone would be hard to lift. She would strain her back. She would grab the stone with both hands, fingers outstretched. For a pin, she would use her thumb and first finger. She would hold a baby in her arms and pass it gently. The second player tries to pass the object in the same way that the first player did. When the last player receives the object, she tries to guess what she has. If she guesses wrong, each player up the line has a chance to guess. If no one can guess correctly, the first player tells. Then she goes to the end of the line and the game begins again. If there are a large number of players, divide into teams. One person tells the leader of each team what object she must pick up. pg. 9

10 Act It Out! ACT IT OUT WITH PUPPETS! Make bag puppets and practice selling techniques by putting on a puppet show! A bag-head puppet shows only the head when it acts. To make a bag-head puppet, stuff a paper bag loosely with newspaper. Leave room at the bottom for tying. Put a sturdy stick or ruler about a foot longer than the bag, well into the stuffing, rearranging the paper if necessary. Tie the bottom of the bag around the stick using ribbon or string. Paint or drawn on features, or paste on features cut from colored paper, or combine the two. Use strips of crepe paper or ribbon for hair. Add a collar, or even clothes if you like. Puppets can be made beforehand, or have girls make their own. Get behind a covered table, sofa or bookcase, or secure a clothesline or rope and drape a sheet or tablecloth across it. Hold the sticks up so that only the puppets heads show. Practice selling techniques by having one puppet as the customer and the other being the Girl Scout. Use a different voice for each Puppet, according the character. Puppets usually wiggle when they speak so that the audience can tell which is talking. In Addition Incorporate any additional activities that you feel will bring excitement to your rally. Check the GSUSA Rally Guide for more ideas. Have service units or older girls create their own activities. pg. 10

11 Earn As You Learn There are many rally activities that fulfill some of the requirements needed for several of the Financial Literacy badges. Reference the Girl s Guide to Girl Scouting Handbooks for each age level to find out more information. Ready, Set, Sell! Be sure to send out messages of encouragement, additional selling tips and tools as well as reminders of sales deadlines to volunteers, parents and girls throughout the selling timeframe through social media and other council correspondences. Go Nuts! Now that everyone is informed, have set goals and are excited about the Product Sale Activity it is time to Go Nuts and celebrate your success! pg. 11