Marketing Tips & Tricks
How to Introduce New Players to Duplicate Bridge
TIP – Submitted by John Grossman, Colorado Springs, CO, Unit 360
Summer Open House Program
In August 2009, Colorado Springs (Unit 360) hosted a four-week series of Open Houses on Saturday night. These were designed to attract social bridge players in the community. We used a combination of advertising, posters, community calendars (TV stations and newspapers), PSAs, our web site and member networking to find bridge players. This program produced 90 new faces (15 to 18 tables each night) with about a 50/50 mix of members and visitors. Four visitors have since become ACBL members, and we expect more down the road. During the first month, about a dozen visitors have sampled other games.
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Our members know that for every one ACBL member there were 10 to 20 non-member bridge players in our city. Novice players, especially, are aware of dozens of bridge players and often play in community bridge groups (church, country club, neighborhood, military facility, employer and special social groups). We encourage our players to don their "host" cap and bring their entire neighborhood bridge group! Member networking accounted for about 80% of the visitors!
Our Open House included a free light meal: chicken and brats on the grill for opening night, NYC deli the next week. The entire event was free for both visitors and members.
As visitors registered, they were given a newcomer package that included: a game schedule, list of bridge education activities, copy of the Bridge Bulletin, "Welcome to Your First Duplicate Game" pamphlet, sample mini-lesson called "Whoops, things that go wrong at trick #1" and personalized free play. Bottles of wine and bridge books served as door prizes. We introduced the three directors that run our critical novice program, EasyBridge!, and our under 20 pot luck and lesson/game where newcomers often start.
After the meal, it was "shuffle and play." Our primary goals were to have a fun evening and encourage social bonding among players.
We ran a free 18 board open game with masterpoint awards. While we encouraged the use of bid boxes, we did not use a clock (shocking!) and highly discouraged director calls.
We are now entering the second phase of this program. We have a data base with 90 names. Everyone will get a follow-up letter and phone call. Our experience with other outreach programs suggests that we will retain less than 50% of the folks who visited. From a financial perspective, we are successful if we find a dozen new casual players and just one “bridge addict.” Attendance from Open House visitors will be tracked over the next two years.
We recommended to our Board that we run a program like this each year, utilizing the power of “networking” by our existing members. We got Board approval for a once a month “Comfort Food Bridge” on Saturday nights for the rest of 2009. We will feature “Invite a Friend”.
TIP – Submitted by John Grossman, Colorado Springs, CO, Unit 360:
Social bridge players outnumber ACBL members in some cities by 10:1. Colorado Springs, Unit 360, targeted this group by mimicking a neighborhood game at our building. We called this event the "Summer Bridge Festival", our fancy name for a combination open house and community game.
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We advertised in weekly neighborhood newspapers for an old fashion Saturday night bridge game. Our Unit rolled out our best red carpet hospitality. A few stand-by players were available in case some folks needed partners. New players readily adapted to bidding boxes. Convention cards were optional. We did not charge admission, but just like many neighborhood games, a buck went into the basket and was passed out as prize money for the top pairs. We offered decks of cards and bridge books as door prizes. The game was run by one of our regular directors with a relaxed rules format. Players got duplicate scoring summaries and master points. The total sunk cost for this experimental program was about $1,000.
Was it worth it? Yes. While, we had hoped for a bigger turnout, most folks had never been to our facility and marveled at the idea of having 10 games a week. We captured a half-dozen of players who now come to our games on a regular basis. Two players have become "bridge addicts" playing more than four times a week. One addict hit the tournament trail, became a bronze life master and now has passed the ACBL director test and runs one of our open games. (We plan on running a modified version of this event in 2009.)
Colorado Springs, Unit 360, owns the Bridge Center. This was a Unit run activity, in contrast to the independent franchises that run regular games. The Unit charges game owners $6 per table for building expenses. To recover $1,000 expense, we needed to increase table count by 167 tables or increase attendance by 667. The simple payback time for our investment with the Summer Bridge Festival was about one year.
TIP – Submitted by Kathie Walsh, Hilton Head Island Bridge Club, South Carolina:
Last summer, when our club was looking for creative ways to lure new duplicate players, I decided to organize a "land cruise."
I took 16 players who had never played in a club game (but had taken bridge lessons) to Tuscany. Each player had to find their own way to the train station in Arezzo, the closest station to our destination, Podere Spedalone, a 6th century farmhouse. The farm house had been a waystation for pilgrims traveling from France to Rome and a hospital/hostel in the Middle Ages. Read more...
We played bridge on the train ride from Rome to Tuscany; we played late each afternoon when the shopkeepers and tourist-spot employees were taking siestas; and we played bridge after the multi-course meals that our host and his staff provided for us
The trip was successful beyond my wildest dreams; all sixteen players now play in our duplicate games and have told so many friends about the trip that I have another 16 ready to go next year.
TIP – Submitted by Sue Kroning, Seaside Bridge Club, Seaside Oregon:
I recently persuaded a reluctant pair from the supervised play group to try duplicate in a half table game. I told them they were doing me and the sit out pair a real favor by playing with them. I also told them that they were welcome to opt out at any time. I suggested that the sit out pair play two boards instead of three and give themselves an Average+ for the third board. Read more...
At the end of the round I asked the newcomers if they wanted to continue, took them to the next table and introduced them. They ended up playing the whole session, finishing all three boards after the first four rounds. Now they are quite thrilled and are planning to return.
Note: I run a limited masterpoint game with 21 boards. The purpose is to create a "starter game" so the players will welcome newcomers. I was prepared to reconfigure the game back to the half table if the newcomers had wanted to opt out at any time.
TIP – Submitted by Kathie Walsh, Hilton Head Island Bridge Club, South Carolina:
The transition from being an absolute novice and workshop participant to playing in a game can be daunting. There are so many things to learn - manners, methods, etc. In 2006, our club developed the Hilton Head Island Bridge Ambassadors program to help with this transition. Read more..
Ten ambassadors (experienced bridge players) were recruited at the commencement of the program. New ambassadors are recruited each fall when intermediate workshops are conducted. At the same time, beginner workshop players ("ambassa-dees") are recruited to play with ambassadors. We have found this to be a successful program and there are currently seven ambassadors enlisted in the program. Below is the guide we developed for this program:
The Ambassadors Program Guide
Objective : To make duplicate bridge newcomers (including recent EasyBridge graduates) feel comfortable in our friendly-but-competitive environment.
Procedure : Hilton Head Island Bridge Club (HHIBA) will provide bridge newcomers with a more experienced playing partner who will :
- Be your point of contact with the HHIBA bridge club.
- Will introduce you to other members at the club.
- Will play six games - either “restricted to 299ers” or “open” - within a two-month period as your partner.
- Guide you “real time” in current bidding and playing techniques.
Requirements to be an Ambassador:
- Must be an HHIBA member.
- Be willing to coach your newcomer using the Zero-Tolerance goodwill standards; and
- Not have attained Life Master (or higher) ACBL status.
Requirements of an Ambassa-dee:
- Must be a duplicate bridge newcomer
- Must be willing to become an ambassador up on successful completion of this program.
Subsidies: The Ambassador will be play for free during the six games he/she is playing with a bridge club newcomer.
Note: Upon completion of the program, newcomers who reach 75 masterpoints and who are willing to commit significant time to a learning effort, will want to investigate the club’s mentoring program as a way to further their duplicate bridge skills..
TIP – Submitted by Kathie Walsh, Hilton Head Island Bridge Club, South Carolina:
I found that at the conclusion of my workshops, that students were reluctant to dip their feet into the duplicate waters, even though our club offers one 199 and two 499 games/week.We decided to offer a FREE two-hour workshop entitled "Methods, Mechanics and Manners of Duplicate Bridge." This workshop was taught by three of us and it was organized this way: Read more...
- Presenter #1 explained general methods of duplicate; the players played three boards, which we scored with travelers and pick-up slips;
- Presenter #2 then explained mechanics of duplicate; the players played another three boards, this time seeing what the pair before them had done with the same boards.
- Presenter #3 then explained the manners of duplicate; the players played the last three boards, this time seeing what two other pairs before them had done with the same boards.
At the end of the session, a director posted a list of scores for all to see.
The workshop attracted twenty potential players and their favorite part of the workshop? Playing the nine hands, of course! All feedback about the free workshop was positive, and our club plans to repeat this event twice/year, once following my Fall Workshops and again following my Winter Workshops.
