A Product of Downtown Connellsville www.downtownconnellsville.org
Connellsville Community Center Ideas….. Name the Building! Have a Theme and Contest….Two Possibilities: *”The Harold Betters Events Center”—have a Hall dedicated to Herald which showcases his life throughout the years. What a distinctive way of showing a “Connellsville Icon” how much we care, by doing this while he is still alive! Maybe a mural or something to that effect. *Rename the building “Johnny Woodruff Events Center”
(Create an Upbeat Buzz) Have a “Johnny Woodruff Hall” --Displaying memorabilia. Keep his memory alive! --When I named the Edwin S. Porter Theater it seemed to get a lot of attention. It gave the theater a theme and also helped immortalize one of Connellsville’s most talented individuals. It’s very important to keep Connellsville’s Finest in the spot light weather they lived over 100 years ago, or a few years ago. This is Connellsville’s Heritage. *Create a Tag Line Or Slogan for the Building: *The Harold Betters Events Center is at the Heart of it all in Downtown Connellsville! --(If you go that route you would have to get permission to use his name) * “It All Happens At The Woodruff Events Center in Downtown Connellsville”! (If I was from outside the area and I saw a newspaper article Headlined “Connellsville Community Center Sponsors” or “Harold Betters Events Center Sponsors” I would most likely read the one captioned “Harold Betters Events Center”, and skip over the other. The naming of a building is very important! And gives the place an identity. You may be limiting yourself and clients with the Connellsville Community Center name. Some people may not want to move into something that limits themselves to just “Connellsville”. That is why naming it an “…Events Center” is very important. *Sponsor a “Grand Opening” of the Edwin S. Porter Theater. Thank the people that made the renovations in this theater possible. Showcase before and after photos. Invite potential clients that would want to use the theater. Showcase its potential. *Show Movies on Holidays…Get with people from the community that makes movies. Show their movies at the theater… (Jeff Monahan- 72nd Street Films) He lives in Connellsville and produces movies. He has a treasure-trove of movies that he has produced through the years.
*Have a “Dinner Theater” – Have approved and work with Catering Companies. Catering Companies would love to have the opportunity to cater special events here. *The Theater has a business plan. I put a business plan together for the theater and presented it to the old Community Center Board. Did anything happen with that business plan? It had a lot of good ideas. *Sponsor “Open House” for Event Planners *Make a Conference Center that can be rented out. No one in Fayette County has a combined conference center with a 500 plus seat theater together available in one place. *Set up some offices to rent out Space by the day or hour… If you have a conference center, some of those same people may want to rent an office. See if Armstrong would set up free WIFI in the building. Advertise that as one of the advantages relocating here. *Dance Studio (Company that was looking to buy the Armory wanted it for a Dance Hall) Gym would be perfect to teach “Line Dancing” or any other type of dances. There may be a lot of interest for that in the Connellsville Area. *Sponsor Special Dances for Kits or Adults…i.e. Valentine’s Day; End of Summer Dances; Christmas Dance; Father & Daughter Dances etc… *Gym could also be used for Ice Skating. They make ice skating floor kits.
*Birthday Parties… Theater or Gym *Business Incubators *Rent Retail Space *Host Workshops.. Set up a classroom where people can rent it out to teach a class. *I feel renting out space for storage is a very bad idea. Have you checked with your insurance company to see if this is allowed under your policy? If you advertise using rooms for storage, that may and will deter people wanting to rent office space. I know you need the money, but looking at the building as a storage unit is not the way to go in my opinion. Needed…Show people what you have… *Space available maps Blue Prints or Diagrams.. People may want to see a diagram of the building and spaces for rent, and who would be renting space next to them..
*Theater Equipment/Capacity Chart.. What equipment does the Theater possess? Sound, lighting, wireless mikes, etc… List all these things in a brochure, web site, or handout for potential clients. Does anyone here know what the stage dimensions are? These are things that customers will be asking you. *Talk with Real Estate Agents. Rental Space Available NOW… Get the Word OUT…Real Estate Agents would be flattered to help Connellsville out. It makes their jobs much easier selling the Connellsville area with a fully occupied “events center”. *Road Signage to the Building.. There is not one sign directing anyone to the Theater or Building at this time. How can you expect to have people rent spaces in this building if you do not provide signs along the road to direct people here. *Advertising… Armstrong Cable advertises for free to Non-Profits. Is this building listed on Cable Channel 20 for rent? *Look in to partnerships (Have you checked with Fay Penn/Progress Fund?) What can they do for you? Maybe have a guest speaker at meetings. Raimondo-Does brick pointing & cleaning. Maybe he would do some “advertising” work here. *Get a Web Site.. Some Web sites are free… Go Daddy?? *City Web Site you should Create A Separate Page (One thing I saw on the city web site promoting the community center building was “Don’t be afraid because it’s an old building, it has new electric” Maybe another way to phrase that would be “Come work and shop in one of Connellsville’s most historic and grand buildings”… You have to be enthusiastic about what you’re selling to the public. *Downtown Connellsville Web Site: We have a dedicated Page for the Community Center; I’ve gotten no input on what the board would like to see. It is there for you to use for free courtesy of Downtown Connellsville. We get hundreds of hits per month. Lastly: You need to talk about why people are leaving the “Community Center Advisory Board”. Boards are a give and take. Everyone has to come together to make this work. It’s not good publicity for people to see and hear another board member has quit. This may show potential tenants that this building is not going to be a stable and great place to have their business. Hopefully this gives you some fresh ideas on how to market one of Connellsville’s most treasured buildings.