Connundrum on community groups - need ideas!
Where do I even begin? I am looking for peoples thoughts on how to sort this out. Basically the theatre company is ending up being frequently advertised as other local groups (who dont even do similar stuff!), or getting the blame when another local group was doing something that failed, (in the latest case we have just been sent a huge bill for a failed pub theme night event we were not even part of, other than four of our members went along to it as private individuals and happened to be the only people who attended!) ... and in another case it has taken two months of phonecalls to get us credited correctly for an event in August! I jest not!
The confusion seems to be that some of our members are also members of other community groups, so regardless of very clear advertising, booking information, press releases, photos, logos, etc on our part, for the things of which we are involved, the "old dears" seem to assume that just because one of us is a member of whatever group they have seen us with most recently, that this supercedes all our publicity and advertising and booking information.
This has happened on at least five occaisons in the past months, and we are at a loss of how to tackle this, since even what we put in writing gets ignored!
I have drafted this document to go on our website, which will also be sent to all venues/ events booking us, as well as to the groups that have been confused with us, and the people who keep getting us muddled. I would like your thoughts on it, as well as taking it to our next emegency committee meeting for final approval:
Other than this, we dont know what more we can do!We request that everyone (members, event organisers, non-members) makes note of the information in this page.
SUMMARY:
If an event appears on our show dates page, then we are either running it, or appearing at it, as stated in the individual listing. (sometimes we run a full event, sometimes we appear at bigger community festivals or events)
If the event is not listed on that web-page, then the South Devon Players are not involved either in the running or entertainment of the event, regardless of whether individual members have chosen to attend, or be involved in another capacity with the event or not.
Any advertising material sent out for a South Devon Players event or appearance, also clearly states that it is the South Devon Players, on the posters/ documents. If that does not appear, then it is not our group. If it does appear, this is the group which is involved and which must be credited.
There have been several instances in the past months of local event organisers and venues booking us under the wrong name, or believing that we are connected to events which we are not, and frankly, this is causing a lot of issues for everyone concerned.
Quite a few of our members are not only members of the South Devon Players, but other community groups as well, and this appears to be where the confusion is made. Event organisers or venues repeatidly ignore the details actually stated about which group is actually involved in the said event, and instead book it on the premise that "well we know X is a member of XXXXXXX so it must be a booking under XXXXXX", instead of the fact that X is also a member of YYYYYYYY and ZZZZZZZZZZ, and the booking is actually for YYYYYYYYYY!
The results of this include, but are not limited to, incorrect advertising, incorrect credit given, the wrong group being billed, which is highly detrimental to all concerned. It has occurred several times recently and is an issue of growing concern to our committee.
The long and short of it is a request, if in doubt, to check our show dates page. If an event appears on the events page, then we are either running it, or appearing at it, as stated in the individual listing.
If the event is not listed on that web-page, then the South Devon Players are not involved in the running or entertainment of the event, regardless of whether individual members may choose to attend the event or not.
Any advertising material sent out for a South Devon Players event or appearance, also clearly states that it is the South Devon Players, on the posters/ documents. If that does not appear, then it is not our group. If it does appear, this is the group which is involved.
To give you an idea, various members of the South Devon Players, in addition to thier places of work and study, are also active members of up to six each, of the following local groups:
Brixham British Legion Club
Brixham Berzerkers roleplay club
The Flashing Blades Sword dancers
Brixham Buccaneers
BOADs
Perform Players
Shiphay Amateur Dramatic Society
Heart Of Pargon roleplay club
The Knights Templar Of Torbay historical re-enactment team
Please, advertise the CORRECT one! Please dont just "assume" that because you know someone is a member of one group or another, that supercedes the information given to you in the booking and advertising!
If an event is listed on our events page, then we will appear as advertised on our events page.
Additionally, neither the South Devon Players, or individual members, can take responsibility for "assumptions" or errors, made by others. If the event is not listed on our website, and if the posters and advertising materials do not bear the name of the South Devon Players, then we are not involved.
If you have booked us, but then wilfully advertise us under another group name, after requests for corrections, we reserve the right not to appear.
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Originally Posted by darklisruthven
