Ep. 108 Performers, Experts, & Marketing, Oh My!

Sunshine and Stories Episode 108: Performers, Experts, & Marketing, Oh My! 

Episode Summary: 
Kate and Kate share their own experiences working with performers and experts to provide a variety of public library programs not only during the summertime, but throughout the year. They also chat marketing strategies as well as tips and tricks they’ve picked up from Colorado library professionals all over the state.  

00:00 – Introduction
01:13 – Professional vs. local performers/experts  
08:55 – Don’t forget the planning and logistics
16:09 – Let’s talk marketing strategies
22:27 – What do you want us to chat about next year?
23:05 – Book and program recommendations
25:17 – Closing 

References:
Collaborative Summer Library Program
Colorado Youth Services Library Network mailing list
The Moth’s Storytelling Tips and Tricks
Spellbinders Storytellers
Colorado Book Awards information and 2024 finalists/winners
Unplugged Voices: 125 Tales of Art and Life from Northern New Mexico, the Four Corners and the West compiled and edited by Sara Frances
Light Speaks written by Christine Layton, illustrated by Luciana Navarro Powell
Colorado Public Library Staff-Recommended Performers and Experts as of Nov 2024    

Colorado Collaborative Summer Library Program Manual Access Code:
Colorado folks, if you still need our state’s CSLP 2025 manual access code, please reach out to Kate Brunner at brunner_k@cde.state.co.us  or Kate Compton at compton_k@cde.state.co.us.  

If you live and work in another US state or territory, please contact your CSLP state/territory representative instead.   

Next Drop-in Chat:
Hey Colorado library folks! Join us on December 3, 2024 at 11:00 am to noon Mountain Time for our next online Summer Drop-in Chat. No need to register. Come when you can, stay for as long as you can. See you soon! 

If you work in a library and gave us a listen, please let us know what you think by completing a short feedback survey for this episode. 

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here. 

This project is made possible in part by a grant from the US Institute of Museum and Library Service. 

Transcript

Sunshine and Stories podcast transcript for Episode 108   

[00:00] [music]  

Kate Compton: You're listening to Sunshine and Stories, a Kate-cast from the Colorado State Library's summer design studio with your hosts,  

Kate Brunner: Kate Brunner  

Kate Compton: And Kate Compton.  

Kate Brunner: Tune in every other week as we explore one summer reading topic. From colorful program ideas to community wide engagement to avoiding burnout, we have got you covered.  

Kate Compton: If you have other questions or want to dive into any topic further, check out Libraries Learn.org for our next live summer drop in chat date happening Tuesdays starting this fall.  

[00:41] Kate Compton: Andrea Gibson sits as Colorado's 10th Poet Laureate, and they will hold the position until 2027. “I want to come up with new and innovative ways to help a larger population fall in love and appreciate poetry. I want everyone to have a poem that they can go to like you would a song. Poetry can be a vehicle that allows us to know each other and expand humanity. That's what I hope to do with this role.”, Gibson said in a statement. Now there is somebody I would love to see perform.

[01:13] Kate Compton: On today's episode, we're going to dive into finding performers and also marketing for those performers, and then also thinking about marketing for your program in a little broader sense. So, summer reading as a whole. And generally, when we think about the State Library and kind of supporting libraries around Colorado with finding performers, we think about providing a list that maybe has performers that are coming to Colorado in general or maybe national performers that are coming out to Colorado. And that's something that this year we're going to dive into in a drop in. We also have a listserv post out to gather ideas, and we'll be working on developing a new spreadsheet with ideas. But in today's episode, we want to think locally and who you can find in your community.

Kate Brunner: And I think maybe a great place to start today, Kate would be talking about different sorts of programs that you might want to hire performer for or find a community expert for. And so, I think you've had some really creative ideas around this. Like around how we think about this when we're wanting to go out and look for that might be a good fit for our community. So, could you maybe start there and share with us some ideas about how to think about what kinds of programs you are looking for when you want to hire someone to help you provide that program to your community? And then maybe some different ideas that fit in well with this year's theme.

Kate Compton: Yeah, one of the things I started thinking about is the difference between an interactive program and something that might be a little more passive. And I think there's kind of some pros and cons to both. Sometimes when you're doing that passive program, you can invite a lot more people, and if it's something where the expert or the performer is going to be interacting with people, they might say I can only have 10 people in the room or I can only allow 25 people. So sometimes that might limit you. But I was thinking, you know, as far as music goes, if we're thinking along those art lines, if you could find somebody in your local community that can teach a class, maybe it's how to learn to play an instrument, maybe it's even just writing music. But then you could also in that more passive program invite a band in. Maybe they're doing a big concert, or I've even seen libraries just have a little local quartet pop up in a corner and provide music for an hour or so. I think this is also a great way to reach out to maybe schools, local cultural groups that might have even a youth group that's wanting to get out there and kind of show what they've been practicing, they don't have a lot of big-time experience but can be a fun pop for your summer. And I think this kind of goes with all of the different. We've talked again and again about the different ways to kind of approach and the different perspectives on art.

So with dance you could bring in a group that does a big performance. Or maybe have a class that's teaching a specific skill or specific type of dance. One of my favorite events is always going to The Moth. So, I think about how can you put on something for local storytelling. But there's also a group, Spellbinders, that can come in and do a storytelling class and teaching people kind of to write their own stories. And then also sharing that on a bigger level as well. We’ve talked about architecture and interior design. Maybe that's doing a community tour, or you bring in that expert to do a design class and think about colors or different organization of a room.

Do you have any other ideas, Kate?

Kate Brunner: Yeah , I love this idea of sort of pairing a bigger performance with like almost like a master class kind of approach. Not that you have to be a master to attend. But just you know that smaller opportunity for people who might want engage or experiment or play with storytelling or with a particular medium of art or whatnot. But then also having this sort of bigger community events where people can come and watch a performance or listen to a speaker or something like that. You know, I really love that. 

And I think again, like craft is another place where you can probably find people in your community that again aren’t those big names, but might be going to also volunteer their time. Or be a low cost option to bring in an expert on a particular craft form and maybe offer a lecture on the history of that form or offer an interactive program where people can, you know, learn more or a demonstration. Even so, I think that there are a lot of options there

And then of course we can always celebrate film. Who doesn't love an outdoor movie? If you have the space and technology to be able to make that happen during the summer, I think those are always popular community events. And then there's the opportunity to maybe play with stage makeup or learn about special effects. But movie special effects or, I don't know, set up a stunt person obstacle course, [laughs] you know, outside for kids to kind of play with or something like that. I think there's a lot of different options. I love that the library in Salida and the library in Buena Vista partnered on a drive-in movie. So I think that's really super fun idea just kind of thinking about that. 

I think also thinking about where your community space is. So could you have a performer community expert in the library but also where else in the community might you be able to host them too? Might be kind of fun to consider.

Kate Compton: And I think you talked about the idea of two birds with one stone or getting double for your money, whereas if you're bringing a group in to do this bigger performance, can you also get in and have them do some sort of class as well. So double dipping there a little bit I think is a great way, especially when maybe funds are tight. I think other interactive ideas for bringing in professionals might be something around photography. I know a lot of people are always interested in learning new techniques, especially the teens. I've seen a lot of the TikTok video. Figuring out how to do the special effects within that. So, thinking about classes to bring in somebody to do that. And then maybe it's an opportunity for that gallery or that artist to market their own work too. Again, I'm always talking about food and cooking, so [laughs] I'm a sucker for class on how to plate food in beautiful ways. We've talked about again and again, how do you get a teen into the room? Maybe they're making fun pancake designs. Food's always a great way.

Kate Brunner: Yeah, I love that. I wonder about looking for food truck folks in your community and maybe inviting them to come do a program of some kind. Yeah, that would be really, really kind of fun to get some folks together there and absolutely a big draw [laughs] for a big draw for teens, for sure.

Kate Compton: I love the food truck idea. And again, that passive versus interactive, you could tap into both. I love that. And I'm also a sucker for the lecture. I'm always interested in learning something more, I think like most librarians. That's why we joined the profession. And so I always think about how can you, you know, tap into local schools or even professionals in your community and think about maybe the science of art, the science of how we see color and rainbows, different things like that too.

[08:19] Kate Compton: And so as we're thinking about bringing all these people, it's exciting and fun and we can rattle off a million different names and ideas. And at the end of the day, we also have to think about the logistics and [laughs] it's not as much fun maybe to think about getting all of the pieces set up to get somebody in there and make sure it all runs smoothly. Do you have any tips and tricks there?

Kate Brunner: I think one of the things that was helpful to me when working in a small library in a rural community was planning early for one thing, and then also reaching out to neighboring library systems. So, folks I knew at the next library or two over in multiple directions around me to see if they would be interested in the same performers that I was looking for. Or also having leads, if they had leads on performers, they were looking at. Or if they had feedback, if they had had a performer coming that I was considering and they had feedback around how it had gone at their library. I think those were always helpful working in a smaller system and being the only children services person you know planning the children's part of the summer program that was always helpful to me. And a lot of times we were able to team up and be able to book a performer at a reduced rate because we were all booking together in the same region. So, that performer knew that they could come to that particular region of the state and be able to do multiple shows, be guaranteed to be able to visit multiple libraries. But because we sort of banded together and were able to, you know, negotiate with that performer, sometimes we were able to get a significantly reduced price which helps when you have a limited budget for sure.

Kate Compton: Yeah, I love the idea also of booking early. I always was amazed. I think in library land you're thinking so far ahead. Right now it's summer 2024 and we’re thinking about summer 2025. And then that's also around, you know, some library systems. You have to submit your marketing material by a certain date, so you already have everyone set by then.

I was always trying to book people by like January in order to make sure I had them for that next summer. And I think having that much lead time, sometimes you forget. Oh, yeah. I've booked this person, but at the end of the day you know, confirming. Always the delayed send was my best friend. I would set up all of those three months out. Just checking in, seeing, you know what kind of space you need, are there any other specific things as far as loading or unloading and just asking silly questions. I was like, here's my reason to e-mail you today. And then also the week before confirmation, making sure you have my address, my phone number, and also just that day before, just you know want to make sure you're coming.

Because I think that is another thing I always think about is what Plan B is. Life happens. Things happen. Sometimes people don't show up. And I also have a mantra of if you prepare, if you're ready for the problem, the problem will not happen. So, my thought was always OK if I have a program ready to go if this person doesn't show up, they will come. If I don't have that program, something will happen. They’ll get in a car accident. They'll go to the wrong branch. Something will happen, so I always try to think. OK, if I'm bringing in a dance expert, do I have a playlist of songs that I can just use to have a dance party if they don't show up or something along those lines. Or what's my program going to be next week? And have all the supplies ready to go and swap it out. So some way to be thinking, to have that Plan B around what you're doing.

Kate Brunner: Yeah, I think that's really great advice. I think also sometimes just thinking if people are running behind like you know if you're a performer or your community expert is delayed like 15 or 20 minutes. Do you have something in your hip pocket that you can pull out and kind of keep people busy with while they're getting set up? If they're running behind or something. So just kind of thinking through those contingencies are great because I think that has a potential to sort of ease my own anxiety when I do that. Like when I'm kind of worried about things. Like, OK, I know I have a plan. Everything will be fine.

And I love that you mentioned talking about spaces with the performer that you're bringing in because especially if it's someone who's never been to your library before, making sure that they know what your space looks like and what, maybe what technology you have available versus what technology they're bringing, you know. And just making sure they're the right fit for your library, I think as well. So, like right fit logistically, as well as would my community enjoy this particular performance or this particular class or lecture or whatever the case might be.

Kate Compton: And I think something we're encouraging folks is to look past the professional performer and looking locally of who's available. But I think that also comes with some other logistics as far as have they been to the library? Do they know the space? But also have they done a performance for little kids? Thinking about that process of vetting them, maybe you're going to one of their classes to see how they teach if their musician or something like that. Explaining your values around making sure it's interactive if that's something your community’s looking for. Explaining your own values. I've even asked people to come like shadow a program and see how it normally goes. Just so they can get an idea of what people are expecting and what you're hoping for in that space.

Kate Brunner: Yeah. What my young adult children would probably call like getting a sense of the vibe, right? Yeah, I think that's great. 

Also you know, if you have the opportunity to sort of lift up and showcase someone's talents in your community, I think that can be amazing. But there may be like the need to sort of mentor them a little bit or coach them a little bit on facilitating a program that does showcase their talents in a local environment. And also I think we’re talking about bringing, like looking for and bringing in those local community folks that might be willing to come in and do something like this for the library. We’re not necessarily talking about them coming in and you know you unlocking the room for them and being like “Great! See ya!” Like, “Have a nice program.” Like we're still talking about being present in the program, introducing them, helping them, keeping an eye on what's going on, maybe even managing behavior in the room if that becomes a thing that becomes necessary at some point in time depending on what age group you're working with. Just thinking through things like that. Those might be extra steps that you don't necessarily have to go through with a contracted professional performer, which both are a lot of fun. So I think they're both options to consider. And I think the relationship building that can come out of showcasing local talent and creating a space for local community experts to come in and speak is something that can actually reap really rich rewards throughout the year, not just summer when you're building those relationships in your community.

[15:28] Kate Compton: And I think that's a great opportunity also for marketing and almost a symbiotic relationship, right? If you are bringing them in, they're getting to showcase their skills, their craft to your community. But you may also have an opportunity to tap into that community as well and reach new people.

I also think when we're doing all of this work to create bigger programs, we're spending some extra money on a bigger event, we do also have to remember in our logistics of like doing a little extra promotion. So, it's great when a performer has their own website, maybe a newsletter. They’re doing some of their marketing that reaches new people. But you may also need to do a little more work for your summer program, plugging in different ways, so. We've talked in previous episodes around displays and make-and-takes that highlight what's coming. Using your tracking in a community way to highlight something. Or maybe even voting on whether you want the band to play this music or that music. What other promoting or marketing ideas do you have, Kate?

Kate Brunner: I think thinking about how you're going to get that information out and on what platforms and pairing that with what's the age group or target audience you want to bring in for that program. You know, thinking really strategically about that. If you're bringing in a community expert or performer and you really want teens to show up? Facebook might not be the best place to advertise that program, right? [laughs] I mean, maybe it is because you're reaching the parents of the teens who don't drive if they need a ride to the library. But maybe also like, how else could you get that information directly to your teen community members who might be interested in that program? So just kind of thinking through and thinking through what you know about your community, like where are those avenues of communication in your community that you believe are particularly effective based on, you know, past experiences?

Kate Compton: Yeah, I love thinking about for the people who are coming in, the make-and-take, the display works great. But there's also a lot of people who aren't entering your building. That is kind of this untapped potential. And I got to hear at the CLiC and Connect last fall that Southwest La Plata used a postcard invitation campaign. And so they just sent postcards to everyone in their community inviting them in. And I think this is a cool idea, especially for summer. If you're having a bigger event inviting people to come watch this band or partake in some program.

Kate Brunner: I think that's really creative. Thinking about fresh ideas, maybe. I think that lots of folks connect with their local public radio stations for example. And share, you know the library schedule and maybe they have like a community calendar events on that radio station that they will share events and so the library can add their events to that calendar and the radio station will promote them. And couple of library systems have also looked into reaching out to their local Spanish language stations as well. So, they are not only talking to their big name English speaking local public radio station, but also deliberately and intentionally seeking out the Spanish language station as well to amplify their efforts to reach the Spanish speaking community in their library. I think that sort of thinking about how do I build on what I'm already doing and extend that reach a little bit further? And the other idea that I love that came out of another Colorado library was that Buena Vista, while they were participating in the Growing Readers Together grant program. 

They decided to reach out to the water company and they actually ended up getting promotional copy included in the water bill, which went to almost every household in the community, right? People got their water bill and then there's a little bit of information around about upcoming library programs they might be interested in. I think that that was so creative, like a way to reach folks, in a manner in which the library wasn't already leveraging. They did need to pay for that, so they did have to budget for it. It was not a free promotional offering, but I just thought that was a really interesting strategy to get information about the library into information that's already being distributed to households in the community.

Kate Compton: I love the creative, fresh takes and excited to hear what other people come up with. I think we're giving a little snippet into marketing and we can talk a little deeper in the drop-in chat about that since we only have so much time in so many episodes that we can share this year, but certainly open to feedback if people are excited to talk about this more and want to address this next year too. We can dive further into other ideas.

But I do love also the traditional swag. I think you know as people see you know a cool water bottle. Or this year, Clear Creek County, Holly had some really fun scout adventure bags that were fitting the theme but also very useful. In the school library episode we talked about JeffCo sharing shirts with teachers about summer reading. And of course this year, Douglas County's bird shirts have just been everywhere. And I think that gets people thinking like, oh, what is this? I want to be a part of what's going on. Maybe it's not exactly promoting one particular event, but it gets people talking about your whole summer and gets them involved that way too. I’m excited to see what else is out there.

Kate Brunner: Yeah, I think folks have all sorts of creative tips, tricks and strategies that they have tried out with marketing, and I think we're always kind of learning. I think maybe this falls into the category of things we learn on the job, you know? I don't always think that necessarily marketing strategies are included in training and educational pathways for folks who are working in libraries. But we do seem to need that. It seems to be a piece because many, many of our library systems don't have, you know, dedicated marketing staff. So, it's something we kind of have to fold into our workflow for summer reading. So I think that that's a thing we have to keep in mind and try to think creatively about. I think yeah, the drop-in sessions would be a great place to sort of trade tips and tricks on that, I think.

[22:27] Kate Brunner: Thanks for mentioning topics too because yeah, if you would like to see us do a deeper dive into marketing next summer, we would be happy to do that. And really, we're going to start asking at the drop-in sessions during the second half of the year, what other topics you all feel maybe are missing? Like we generated a bunch that we thought would be helpful, but we would definitely want to hear if we missed anything that you all would like to see in an episode next year. And if you, you know, want to come chat with us [laughs] and be part of our podcast, that is something that we would love to… we would love to hear from you about as well.

[23:05] Kate Brunner: One of the organizational recommendations Colorado library professionals have made for sourcing potential summer program speakers is the Colorado Center for the Book’s Authors Bureau. The Colorado Center for the Book is part of Colorado Humanities and is home of the Colorado Book Awards. So, this week we're featuring a couple of art-themed titles that were shortlisted for a 2024 Colorado Book Award. 

A finalist in the Anthology category, Unplugged Voices: 125 Tales of Art and Life from Northern New Mexico, the Four Corners and the West is curated and edited by photojournalist Sarah Francis. This volume is a combination of words and images in which Sarah brings together artists and storytellers across the Four Corners area who share their expertise with her, collaborating to build a record of their stories and creativity and their lives in a unique region of this country.

Light Speaks by Christine Leighton and illustrated by Luciana Powell is a gorgeous picture book that was a 2024 Colorado Book Awards finalist in the Children's Literature category. This book teaches children about the natural history of light via lyrical prose and luminous illustrations of all the different manifestations of light children can discover in the world around them.

Contact information for Colorado Center for the Book’s Authors Bureau is listed in the Colorado performers and experts document that is updated annually from recommendations made by library professionals across Colorado. We've included a link to that document in this episode show notes. Please remember we only take recommendations from people currently working in a Colorado library who are involved in summer program design and facilitation in their communities. We do not accept solicitations from performers themselves. Also, please remember that being listed in this document does not constitute an endorsement of any particular performer or expert by the Colorado State Library.

[25:17] Kate Brunner: That's our Kate cast for today, y’all but we hope you'll join the upcoming community drop in discussion.  

Kate Compton: We're hosting these discussions all year long. All Colorado library professionals involved in summer programming are welcome. No need to register, stay for the full hour or just pop in to say hi to colleagues across the state. Details for the next drop-in session can be found in the show notes for this episode and on Libraries Learn.org the Colorado State Library’s continuing education calendar and archive. 

Kate Brunner: We'd like to say thank you to all the Colorado library professionals who shared book recommendations, program successes and other artful ideas with us as we were designing this year's podcast. This project is also made possible by a grant from the US Institute for Museum and Library Services.  

Kate Compton: Thanks for joining us and we'll catch you next time.  

[26:05] [music]