Relationship Building and Brand Awareness: Everything We Learned from Perform Festival 2024

At ClassForKids, you know we love a good chinwag with our customers and businesses that operate within the kids activity industry. Some of our team recently travelled to Dublin (our first time in Ireland!) to attend Perform Ireland 2024 – and it didn’t disappoint. We like to think of ourselves as event pros these days because we attend so many of them throughout the year (spoiler: we might even be running some this year), so we thought we’d share our top three learnings from the event with you. Why? Because there’s a lot you can learn from the way events are managed – from building relationships to conversations with potential customers to having fun – we're about to unpack our juiciest learnings. Ready to dive in? Let’s get started.

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Relationship Building

Events are a great place to build relationships with other businesses where there are opportunities to benefit from each other’s networks. But networking is more than just exchanging a business card and feeling like you’ve ticked something off a list – it's about getting to know people, their brand and ways you could work together to maximise your brand’s awareness. So, why are we so big on building relationships with like-minded individuals and businesses? Because it provides insights into diverse perspectives, strategies, and challenges with the aim of these connections evolving into collaborations or partnerships.

If you’re running a kids activity business, you need to think beyond the boundaries of your venue – where else could your skillset be used? And how are you learning from others within your industry? Maybe you’re thinking of joining an online group, or maybe you’re thinking of attending your first in-person event. Rory Hughes from BOOM Arts highlighted this point at Perform Ireland, highlighting the importance of providing educational experiences to further knowledge by looking to others within your industry. [.pink__text]Tune into our first ever live podcast to hear more on what Rory has to say.[.pink__text]

Learning from Beyond Our Business Sphere:

Perform Ireland was unlike any other event we’ve attended before. Its non-competitive focus and family environment created a great atmosphere for talking to Dance School and Performing Arts Academy owners, as well as other businesses. 

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Speaking to other people from a wide variety of backgrounds allows you to look at things from a fresh perspective and build business strategies based on a whole new outlook. But sometimes you don’t need to look too far beyond the everyday to find inspiration.

Josh from SOAR events who runs the Superweekender spoke to us on our podcast about sharing your learnings with like-minded business owners. Our biggest learning here? Competition is healthy. As long as you know your value and what makes you stand out, working with people in your industry can be a positive learning experience.

[.blue__text]You can now hear from Steven and Rebecca live from the event by tuning into our BRAND NEW podcast episode.[.blue__text]

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Spotlight from the Event:

It’s always hard to pick a conversation that stands out because we love chatting to all of our podcast guests. But Keaton from Move Your Mind made a big impact on our whole team at ClassForKids. Keaton set up his charity to “support children and young adults to develop healthy minds, healthy bodies & dream big in life.” He now provides workshops to support young people, building in mental wellbeing and providing coping mechanisms, both of which are vital skill sets to include in your classes and sessions.

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Building Brand Awareness

We’ll be the first to admit it: we’re big on brand at ClassForKids. Why? Because it’s what makes you unique. It starts with your service – the classes you offer – but it goes beyond this. It’s your people, it’s how you speak to your customers and how you advertise. It’s all encompassing. Effective brand building goes beyond logos and taglines; it's about creating memorable experiences. Perform Ireland reinforced the significance of engaging with relevant audiences, whether through interactive workshops or thought-provoking discussions.

Over on our podcast, Josh Ricketts from SOAR UK spoke to us about how he lost out on £12,000 of revenue because he didn’t have a proper booking system in place. Before moving into events, Josh had his own booking system, running his business from spreadsheets and paper. Fast forward ten years, Josh now understands the importance of tracking payments - and getting paid on time. With a booking software, everything from payments at the point of booking to parent communication is automated, removing the awkward conversations we all dread.

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[.orange__text]Curious to see if ClassForKids to help you track your earnings? Find out more today.[.orange__text]